Archives for September 2019

Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019 – Got My Kayak, Drove to Jeez Overlook

Surprisingly, Fedex actually found us this morning, right here at the campsite. I wasn't sure they would, and the driver did say they don't usually deliver direct to campsites (I was sorry to hear that), but he did, so now I have my new inflatable kayak! We also took a quick ride up to the Jeez overlook, a high point in the area that lets you see most of the Malabar Farm, then we went to the Big Fish convenience store just up the road, we thought about having lunch there, but Hubby was in the mood for chili on a baked potato, so I just bought a can of Hormel to take back with us, as well as some ice cream, which was the REAL reason we decided to take a trip out today! When we got back I unpacked my kayak, and it didn't take me long to get it out of the box and inflated with the high-capacity hand-pump they provided, so naturally I had to take a quick spin around the cove to see how it works. I'm going to enjoy a lot of peaceful hours in this boat!

Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2019 – Lunch, Dialysis and Hay

Another quiet morning of chores, fishing and fetching with Lola before Hubby and I decided to have our lunch at the Mohican Lodge today. Got out there early, because we had to dialyze, then I had to go pick up some hay. I used the last of it this morning, and I found someone only 15 minutes with second cutting that was just coming in from the field today, though not early enough for me to pick up this morning. It was quite misty and overcast this morning, despite a partly cloudy forecast, so I guess we had to wait until it was a bit drier. The lunch was very nice, and we could actually see our campsite from the restaurant picture window, just a half mile by lake, but over 20 minutes by twisty road. Got back and got Hubby dialyzing, though we had some trouble with one of his access points, so it took a lot longer than usual. Figures, since we had to pick up hay afterward, thought we’d be early, turned out to be late. Got a good load of some nice hay, though, enough to last us for the duration of our stay here. Hope the horses like it!

Monday, Sept. 16, 2019 – Lovely, Lazy Day

Slept late, then after chores I got out my fishing pole and sat on the bank and fished for awhile, and tossed various things for Lola to fetch. It was Roy’s sister’s birthday in England, so I spent some time getting Skype running (though we were late because my microphone was giving me trouble), but then got that done. We had planned on going over to the Mohican lodge for lunch for a change, but they had already closed their lunch hours by the time we got off the phone, so that will have to happen another day. Neither one of us was in the mood to ride, so we just had a lovely lazy day. A couple of local women came with their horses and I struck up a nice conversation with them, and we chatted for quite awhile before Hubby and I settled down for the night. Sweet, sitting by the lake and watching the sun go down!

Sunday, Sept. 15, 2019 – Ride Day with Hubby

We both got another excellent night sleep, now that the heat wave was pushed out by yesterday's storms, and the temps and humidity are way down. Hubby woke up ready to go on a ride, so after a glass of juice, I saddled up the horses and got going. We essentially did the same trail as before only backward, with the addition of a section of purple trail I hadn't found before, but discovered when I took Lola for her walk this morning. We cut out a small section of the white trail, so the ride was only 2.8 miles and under an hour, but it suited him just fine. If he rides more often it will make up for it. I'm hoping he'll be able to go every morning before he dialyzes, which will make it every other day, so that should strengthen him up. Again, he was able to climb on Apollo from the bench of the picnic table, and I only had to give him the smallest bit of help getting his leg back over when he was getting off, so he keeps improving, yay! It was a lovely ride, perfect weather, fabulous day! Got back, put the horses away and got him dialyzing pretty early, so we should have a nice quiet night tonight. Folks have been pulling out all day and by suppertime, it was empty again, thank goodness. Not that we don't like people, mind you, we just like being on our own a little better. No need to compromise or make the effort to be tolerant of other's odd ways. Looking forward to a quiet week!

Saturday, Sept. 14, 2019 – Long Ride on Flash

I had an excellent night sleep last night, following a rainstorm and a serious drop in temperature, so I'm feeling better all around, so today's the day I want to explore Malabar Farms. I have a poor map of both Pleasant Hill Lake and Malabar Farms, and no map of the trails in between, but I had already reconnoitered which trail would head me in the right direction, so I saddled up Flash and away we went! I passed several folks along the way, including a friendly couple I met yesterday, Jim and Ruth, who were one of the many folks who piled in yesterday for the weekend. Flash was full of energy since he had only gone on one short ride this week, so I let him go whatever speed he wanted, which, as always, was about as fast as the trails allowed. I had no trouble following the trail markers, crossing the road in the right place, then reaching the first intersection where I had to make a choice of which way to go. When I realized I had traveled about four miles to get the Malabar, and that the Malabar perimeter trail was about 7 miles, meaning if I took that we'd have a 15+ mile day, I decided that was plenty do-able, as we had left camp a little after 11:00 a.m. So I turned left/west which did take me out the perimeter trail on the west side. I had to stop one and clear the trail, a fairly small limb had fallen over it, but had dragged a huge amount of vines with it, so it was impassable, but didn't take much to clear it. It wasn't long before we came to the campground area. I had been told that our unit wouldn't fit in there, and it was true that some of the sites were fairly short, but I saw at least two that would have suited us just fine. Food for thought the next time we come through this area! I went to the kiosk there hoping they had some better trail maps, but no such luck, so we got back on the trail and continued around. Not sure if I missed something after that, because I ended up going right out to the big house and the main farm area, where they have a big parking lot and lots of activities going on. Some kids started yelling "horses, horses" like they so often do when they see a horse and rider, even though there were horses in a field on the other side of the road! Flash was too hyped up to stop and socialize, so we kept going, largo-ing across the edge of the yard and out to another section of the farm. I missed one turn, but then I accidentally found the Farm's restaurant, so now I can figure out the quickest way there. Hubby and I want to eat there one day, thinking I might ride out and have him meet me with the truck. Or we'll just drive, whatever. Anyway, I took a nice canter across their newly shorn hay field, then picked up the turn I missed, which pretty much brought me back to the trail back to Pleasant Hill. It did end up being about 15.4 miles, but we did it in about 3:45, pretty good time. GPS app said we were averaging about 4.6 miles an hour. Man, this horse likes to run! But it is a workout for me, too! Got back and relaxed with what remained of the day, trying to avoid the people that moved in next door to us, as they have a lab that wanted to play with Lola so bad, and even though I asked them for a play date, they wouldn't agree, and the poor dog was left to leap and jump at the end of his cable. I thought he'd just about break his neck! And they also had a little yippy dog that barked at every darn thing that moved. Rather irritating, but what can you do? Lola has had to stay on a leash with all the people here, looking forward to tomorrow when we figure everyone will go home and we'll be on our own again. Lake has been busy today, too, lots of boats running around, so we've had something to look at as well. Did some reading and napping later in the day before settling in to our nightly routine.

Friday, Sept. 13, 2019 – Ride Day with Hubby

Slept a bit better last night, and we both wanted to take a short ride today, so I got the horses saddled up and followed what I knew to be fairly easy trails, just over three miles and an hour long, the perfect length for him. He was very happy that he was able to get up on Apollo on his own, though I did have to pull his leg over the top of his saddle when it was time to get off. Used to be I had to help him get on, too, so progress is made! His legs are definitely getting stronger. Relaxed a bit before dialysis, I did a few chores, just another regular day on the horsecamping circuit!

Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019 – Recoup Day

For some strange reason, despite the fact that we were both incredibly tired, neither one of us got a good night sleep last night. I literally got less than 4 hours sleep, so I got up feeling more tired than I went to bed. I had planned on taking a long ride today, but I just wasn’t up to it, so we decided to just relax today, sitting outside in our screen room (best investment I’ve made this year!!), reading and napping pretty much all day. Nice lazy day!

Wed., Sept. 11, 2019 – Errands, Brake Job and Late Dialysis

Had to run a bunch of errands today, to Tractor Supply for horse feed while my 10% off couplon was still good, Home Depot to return yet another one of the inadequate inflators I bought in recent weeks, and, of course, Walmart for everything else. The front brakes on my truck have been chirping for a while, so I pulled into Monro to see if they could do it, but they couldn’t get to it for awhile, so I made an appointment for Friday, then just happen to pass another Monro, pulled into that, and they happen to be having a lull and took us in right away. Conveniently located across the parking lot from a nice Mexican restaurant, Hubby and I walked down and treated ourselves to a nice meal. Unfortunately the brakes took longer than anyone anticipated, and we didn’t get out of there until well after 3:00, so by the time we did Walmart and got back to camp, we had a very late start on Hubby’s dialysis, not finishing up until nearly 9:00, way later than we like. We had to wind down a bit after that, but not heading off to bed until much later than usual. Tiring day, but productive!

Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019 – Exploratory Ride on Apollo

The attraction of this park isn't all its trails (there aren't very many), that attraction is the lake and all it's activities, and it's proximity to both Malabar Farms trails and the Mohican State Forest trails, though evidently you can't get to the latter by trail, you have to trailer down to it, so they say. There are only a few miles of trails in the park, and I set off today with the intention of riding just about every one of them. Once again, it was a case of what is on the map is not what is out there. The trails are all color-coded, but the colors are not shown on the map. There was one trail that was completely missing, apparently they were eliminated when the park started building cabins in the forest and just clear cut a whole area, so that made it even less trails than I thought. The yellow trail around the primitive area proved to be under-maintained, with quite a few areas that had trees down, as well as some steeper grades, not too much for me, but it will be too much for Hubby. The rest of the park was very easy, and altogether I only went about 4.5 miles, so carving out an hour of riding on easy terrain for him will be no problem. Spent a nice relaxing afternoon in the screen room and by the picnic table playing with Lola, who's been getting a lot of swimming in today!

Monday, Sept. 9, 2019 – Travel Day to Pleasant Hill Lake Park

Up at 7:00, out of the campground by 9:30, on our way for a thankfully uneventful drive to Pleasant Hill Lake Park on the other side of the state. This park is a lot more crowded, has a lot more activity, is a lot more manicured than most places we've been this year, but the horse camp is right on the lake. After stopping in the office, and per Hubby's request asked if we didn't like the spot we had reserved were there others we might have for the two weeks we booked, and the nice guy in the office made out a whole list for me. We drove out to the horse camp and found our spot, and it was pretty nice, but the highlines for that site were a long way up a hill, and it was mostly in shade, which would be problematic for storing up solar power since there's no electric in the horse camp here. We reconnoitered, and discovered site 518 was longer, also right on the lake, and the water spigot was directly across from us, which will make life so much easier. The highlines are still about 30 yards away, but there are no sites between us and them, so the horses will be just fine. We called the office and officially changed our site, then proceeded to get settled in. Uncharacteristically, we traveled on a dialysis day, so first thing I did was get Hubby hooked up to his machine, then gave him his walkie-talkie and got busy setting up. Though they have cables on their highline posts, I put up my highline, one side on the post, the other on a nearby tree, just so they can run the length of their highline in their usual way, with a water bucket in the middle. I filled up the trailer and the barrel in the truck with water, got the screen room up and the chairs out, and before long, we were home sweet home again! The lake was active with boats (any size motor is allowed here), some fishing, some water skiing and tubing, and we have a front row seat to it all! Feels a lot like being at the cottage where I spent the summers in my formative years in upstate NY, very nostalgic! I think we're really going to like this place!