Another day of running around, first to the chiropractor, then to a Western store looking for good riding pants or jeans for riding, but couldn’t find anything, then drove all the way up to Stuart to another Western store, couldn’t find jeans, but did get another pair of Ariat Terrain boots (which I love, this is my second pair, I wore the first pair out!), and Hubby found a great hat. Went to the Wal-mart to see what they had there, couldn’t find anything, but Hubby did talk to someone who recommended Bealls, so we went there and found the perfect jeans for both Hubby and I (Lee Riders Stretch) which have a higher waist than most others we found (I don’t like the mid or low rise, I like when the waist is at the waist!). I also find a nice pair Levis that were incredibly comfortable. Hubby found something he liked, but I persuaded him to try on one of my pair, and he fell in love with those! They have much better stretch and are much more comfortable than the men’s! Why not? I wore men’s jeans for years, because they used to fit better, but styles have changed, so we’ll go wherever the comfort is! Anyway, got home late, got everyone us fed, settled in for the evening.
Archives for 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 – First Ride in Jupiter
Decided that the only way we’re really going to keep us and the horses fit is to get up early and ride in the morning, then get our work done the rest of the day, at least on days when we aren’t running around, so today we got up with the alarm, had breakfast (both us and the horses) before saddling up and heading out into the neighborhood. Most of the roads around here are dirt and sand, and usually they are very hard-packed and washboardy, but apparently they’ve got some new maintenance regime because this time driving in last Friday, there was no washboard feeling at all. We headed out to the nearest canal and started weaving around the canals and roads for about a little over two hours. At first the horses, particularly mine, was spooking at everything, obviously too much oats and not enough exercise in the last three days (how little time it takes for them to accumulate excess energy when they’re fit!), but eventually they settled down, and we ended up getting a lot of nice canters in. We figure that on shorter rides we have to work them harder in order to build their stamina, so that’s what we did. Great straightaways along the canals make it easy to go fast! Saw a lot of wildlife, too, birds and a turtle and a glimpse of a racoon. You can see some of them if you look carefully at the pix. After we got back, we had our lunch, then we started on the list of chores again. I washed and conditioned the rubber roof on the RV while Hubby did some work on the stabilizers underneath (dodging over-spray from me, of course). Had a relaxing evening, now off to bed!Tuesday, January 24, 2012 – Out and About
Hubby had a chiropractic appointment in the morning, and we went shopping and to the post office afterwards. Got a few things done on the computer when we got back, just a regular day!
Monday, January 23, 2012 – Odds and Ends
Managed to sleep a few hours, then awake a bit, then another good sleep after dawn. After breakfast we started to attack the list we had made of all the things that need doing while we are here in one spot, though we didn’t get as much done as we had hoped. We were also trying to get a short ride around the neighborhood in, but Hubby’s back was bothering him too much, so we decided to wait until he had another chiropractic treatment (which is scheduled for tomorrow) and hope that will help. Watched a beautiful sunset in our new “backyard”, then relaxed in the evening just watching TV.Sunday, January 22, 2012 – Complete Day Off
Had a good night sleep for a change, yeah! Not sure which change made it happen, but it happened and I am grateful. Slept late, watched movies and football all day, had dinner with my brother and his girlfriend, hoping for another good night sleep tonight.
Saturday, January 21, 2012 – Runaround Day
Woke up early to the alarm so that Hubby could make an early chiropractic appointment. Afterward did some shopping and running around before coming back for an early evening. Neighbor was having a party so we go to listen to loud music and crowd noises all evening, plus fireworks and gunfire all day, not quite sure what that was all about, but c’est la vie, we’re in the country, sort of. A relatively relaxing day, nevertheless, had a good dinner with a bit of a change in diet today, hoping to start a downward trend, I’ve been stuck at the same weight for a while now, ready to do whatever’s necessary to loss that next ten pounds, plus I haven’t been sleeping well and I’m hoping a change will help that. We’ll see!
Friday, January 20, 2012 – Travel Day
Woke up to the alarm this morning, packed up and left by 11:00, then had to line up at the dump station for over 40 minutes before we could get in. Stopped in Okeechobee for hay, then headed over to brother Jeff’s, arriving about 3:00. No one home yet, so we got everything set up pretty quick. He arrived home about 4:30, met his girlfriend Tracy and her two sons a bit later, then they went off to the races and we settled down for the evening. Planning on taking the weekend off, though we do have some running around to do tomorrow. Looking forward to getting some rest before we get busy with a long honeydo list that’s likely to keep us going for weeks!
Thursday, January 19, 2012 – Rest Day
Hubby and I both woke up feeling a bit achy, and after awhile we decided we were better off resting today rather than riding, even though we both wanted to. We just couldn’t get ourselves going enough to do it, so I spent the day catching up on with work on the computer, and Hubby spent the day reading a new book on his Kindle. Brother in the hospital is off the ventilator, sitting up and eating solid food, so progress is made on that front. Watched TV for the evening, including the latest CNN GOP Presidential Debate (now down to four candidates), amused at how trivial the media keeps wanting to make this race by asking ridiculous and irrelevant questions. Travel day tomorrow, picking up hay in Okeechobee before heading to my other brother’s, where we’ll be spending the next couple of months. Lots of local riding there, though, so stay tuned!
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 – Second Ride Day at Highlands Hammock
Headed out a bit earlier today after getting a bunch of work and phone calls done. Brother in ICU is doing better, still on a ventilator, but that’s supposed to be coming later off today. On the trail by 11:15, taking some secondary trails that aren’t marked on the map, beginning with leaving the horse camp to the north, then west, which was essentially a perimeter trail and a firebreak. It was a wide swath of grass that was pretty badly torn up by the wild pigs in a lot of places. We headed south on the first main trail, which soon ran us right into the main trail again. We took that west some more, then north again at an intersection that had a big X marking the spot, as if it had been a makeshift helipad of sorts. It’s also where the bike trail joins the horse trail. Took that back to the firebreak, headed west again until we came across another trail heading south, but this one was SO much better. It headed into what is truly the first tropical forest we’ve seen yet. Lots of palm trees among some scattered old live oak and magnolia, along with lots of scrub palms on the ground. It felt really magical there, like an enchanted forest, and it obviously hadn’t been traveled anywhere near as much as the rest of the trails we had seen, though there were some signs of a few horse passings. That meandered around a bit, which was a nice change from all the straight lines we’d been doing, until it finally met up with the main trail again. We turned around at that point, though, because we had seen another trail head off to the northeast, so we backtracked to there. Along the way, we not only came across lots of pig sign, we came across lots of pigs as well. Though the horses did a lot of snorting and whirling and sometimes just froze in place, they were a bit less reluctant to move forward when asked, as if they were starting to get used to the pigs. At one point, I swear, Apollo was actually strutting at the fact he managed to get the pigs to run away from him, as if to say, “I’m the Man!” At any rate, we made progress getting over the pig phobia they’ve had, which will be helpful as time goes on, since there’s obviously a major pig infestation going on in south Florida these days. We also saw a couple of white tail deer, and they, too, caused only a small start from the horses before they moved on. Good to see them getting used to wildlife around them! Got back early, as we want them to get used to being ridden every day, but not for hours and hours every day, at least until they’re better conditioned. Rinsed them off, which was pretty pointless as they both rolled in the sand within a few minutes of that exercise. Fortunately it rained later on in the evening, and that rinsed them off again. Had a quiet evening, then heard that my brother was off the ventilator and doing better shortly before heading off to bed.Tuesday, January 17, 2012 – First Ride at Highlands Hammock
First things first today, I had to run down and drop off an envelope for the outgoing mail at the ranger station, running the gauntlet through the sugar sand again, slipping and sliding in several spots, but it was to pay our taxes, so I couldn’t let it go another day. Got back and had a leisurely breakfast, and did some work on the computer. Just as we were getting ready to go, I got a call from my brother here in Florida (the one we’re on our way to visit), to tell me that one of our other brothers (who was supposed to be flying from Texas to Florida today for a week of rest and to visit the same brother) was in the hospital undergoing some sort of heart surgery. Not a heart attack, apparently, but a torn aorta. Kept the phone with me for updates, and fortunately, the surgery went well and he’s going to be under careful observation for a few days, but don’t know yet about the recovery involved. Easy to deduce he won’t be flying to Florida any time soon! Well, Hubby had already saddled up his horse, so I saddled mine and away we went! It was an absolutely perfect day weather-wise, one of the best we’ve had in awhile, so nice I only had to have a tank top on. It’s great to get some sun. We did the full official trail today, which is about 10 miles, but we saw lots of side trails we’ll explore later in the week. It began with a very long, very straight stretch with old growth and palm trees along a little river which is shared with the bikers (we passed several along the way), crossed a good sized wooden bridge over the river, then eventually worked our way out to the country road. The trees thinned out until we were essentially in almost open fields with just a few pines and lots of squash palms. After that we crossed the county road, did some pretty straight runs along the boundary, came across a lot of pig sign that got the horses snorting and whirling around a bit. We crossed the road again and came across some actual pigs crossing the trail, a couple of mamas and some babies, and the horses were like statues at first. Once they caught sight of us, they ran off, which seemed to give Apollo some confidence, so he strutted past the area with a bit more panache and a lot less fuss. I guess he finally figured out that the pigs were more afraid that we were pig-eating monsters than he was that they were horse-eating pigs. We had some fantastic canters and lovely long trots, as everyone is getting more and more fit. We even trotted across the bridge on the way back, about 10-15 yards of planking that made a wonderful clippety-clop sound as we went over it. A great ride! We arrived back at camp about 4:00, just as one of my brothers texted me to let me know that my other brother was out of surgery and seemed to be doing okay, though we’ll know better in a few days in the ICU. Settled in for a relaxing evening, enjoying the quiet solitude of this place.