Hi Sweetie,
Well, my plan to rest today didn’t exactly work out. I was so tired last night I evidently forgot to take the feed bags off the horses, so when I got up this morning, they still had full bags of hay! They didn’t complain, though, surprisingly, you know how vocal Apollo can get when he wants to, but I guess they ate enough of that fresh grass in the field to not be too bothered. Anyway, I fed them, then decided to head straight out to do a few errands. I programmed IHOP into my phone, but instead of taking me to the nearest one, where I had several other stops planned, it took me 20 miles in a different direction. I didn’t even realize it until I was heading to my second stop, which went from the five minute drive I was expecting to 35 minutes because I was in the wrong place. Grrrr! It took me much longer to do all the running around I needed to do, so it was well after 3:00 by the time I got back to camp. I let the horses off the highline to graze for a few hours, and I settled down to a movie, trying to get some rest in, but it wasn’t enough. I’m hoping I’ll be able to get some tomorrow, the forecast is rain all day so that would actually be a good thing. I’m going to need another day to even start to recover! So I’m off for my shower and bed, hoping for a good night sleep. Love you, darlin’! Good night!
Archives for November 2020
Monday, Nov. 9, 2020 – Travel Day to McIntosh Preserve, GA
Hello my love!
Had a hard time getting to sleep and yet woke up at the crack of dawn this morning. Managed to grab a few more winks before finally getting up and getting busy. Finished packing, had breakfast, hooked up the truck, loaded the horses, and was finally on my way at about 10:30. I didn’t have much of a chance to say good-bye to Jerry and Charlotte, they were out working, but we kind of did that last night anyway. Had a wonderful and uneventful trip to McIntosh, GA, SO HAPPY to be back in Eastern time, where at least it will be nearly 6:00 before it gets dark! I stopped at the park office, though I didn’t try to pull around the gate, it was a bit too sharp of a turn, so I walked over the check in. I had asked several people earlier, including those at the park office, about the availability of water, and was told there were spigots, which I made the error of assuming they were in the campground, as one would expect, but in fact, they are not. I was hoping to get some laundry done, but the nearest spigot is WAY too far away for that. I got out a hose and filled up the trailer at the park office, thank goodness my tank in the truck was full when I left, so at least I was able to fill up the horses’ water from that. A nice staff member named Neal led me down to the camping area, pointing out where the nearest spigot was (at least a quarter mile away), and there were a bunch of workers (inmates, actually) mowing the lawn and blowing leaves out, but I found a lovely campsite, the last one of the four, backed up against the river and across the field from a giant open pasture. There were a few piles of leaves around, one right where I wanted to park, and they offered to move it, but I just told them I’d burn it, and set it on fire after awhile. Neal said there’s another lady that comes here that just lets her horses graze out there, so I decided to do the same. I put Apollo on his anchors (one of which he lost somewhere along the way, but it was too late to look for it today), but Flash I just let roam free, since he never gets too far from Apollo anyway. After being tied up on a highline for the last 10 days, he took the opportunity to gallop across the field and back a couple of times, and wandering amongst the trees, but of course they both came back when I called them for dinner. For some reason, Flash stood right next to the smoke coming from the fire for the longest time! Maybe that’s why the previous owners called him Smoky, do you think? He seemed to enjoy having the smoke waft over him, weird little dude! I put up the highline, but I’ll just use it overnight while the camp area is empty, and let them graze during the day when I’m around. I got settled, glad I’m on almost level ground so that was pretty easy, and Lola got to explore quite a bit, too. First time we haven’t been on a busy road for quite a while, I really like that we’re at a dead end with no traffic. Grabbed some dinner, watched a movie, but am feeling really tired, so I’m heading for the shower early, I’ll probably just read in bed and try to get about 10 hours sleep, now that it won’t get light until nearly 7:00. I’ve been told there’s a family of bald eagles with a nest right across the river from me, and we saw one flying across the field, but I’d like to get a few more glimpses if I can. But not tomorrow, and probably not the next day, they’re calling for rain, and I’m feeling pretty tired, so I think a couple of days off are in order. That said, I’m heading to the shower. Love you, babe, Good night!
Sunday, Nov. 8, 2020 – Another Work Day
Hi Babe,
Another great night sleep, another day of great, hard physical labor. I started the day working with Beth on measuring all the sites, then I made a quick map of the temporary campground so that Charlotte could assign some spaces, then in the afternoon after we went to lunch at the Grill (at the country club) we put up most of the pipe corrals where they were needed. At the end of the day Chad and Ponda (who traded me six bales of hay for a copy of my book this morning), helped me put a few of the last boxes from the house that have been taking up space on the passenger seat of my truck up into the “attic.” It was nearly dark by that time, so everyone cleared out and I fed the horses (they had been nickering for dinner for half an hour!), and Lola, and we all settled down for the evening with another fishing village movie. I’ve already taken my shower, now I’m off to bed shortly. It’s only about a 90 minute drive tomorrow, so I’m not worried about getting up at the crack of dawn or leaving that early, so I didn’t do much packing up tonight, not that there’s much to do. I’ve already stored the new hay in the back, and put the saddles and stuff away, so it won’t take me long to finish that up. Anyway, time for bed! Love you, sweetie! Good night!
Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020 – Work Day
Hiya Sweetie,
Another busy day. Just as I was finishing up chores, the septic guy for the porta-potties arrived, and I managed to persuade him to clear out my black water tank for a small fee, I was starting to get full and I hadn’t been able to find a conveniently located dump at the next couple of stops, so I was happy to get that done. I had a quick breakfast, then joined the work crew, and spent the day clearing up more of the camping area, building a community fire ring, and going out through the trails they plan on taking the group next weekend. JD and his granddaughter Caroline cooked hot dogs on the grill for lunch, and I managed to score a few leftovers for later. We quite about 4:30, just enough time to feed the horses before it got dark, and it’s warm enough where I don’t have to put blankets on them tonight. We’ll do some more work tomorrow, but then on Monday I plan to move on. They evidently have enough volunteers to help them through the week, so they don’t need me, and I don’t really need to pack up tomorrow, since I’m only going about 60 miles away, so I can just do that Monday morning. Once again I settled down early, just because it’s so dang dark now, but I’ll be in the Eastern time zone by Monday afternoon, so that will help. And it looks like they’re calling the presidential elections for the Democrats, after finagling with recounts and provisional ballots and the like. Hope everybody’s looking forward to paying more taxes! It will be interesting to see just how fast our economy will change in the coming months. Anyway, I’ll keep living on a trailhead, so hopefully none of that will affect me, unless, or course, they’re dream of $5+ gallon of gas comes true, in which case I’ll probably just spend more time at each place and cut back on my traveling. We’ll see. As it will be another busy day tomorrow, I’m off to my shower and bed. Good night, darlin’! Love you!
Friday, Nov. 6, 2020 – Finished Up the Trails Ride
Hey Babe,
After another good night sleep, breakfast and chores (which once again included sewing up Lola’s bed, which she ripped all up again), I saddled up Apollo with the plan to finish off all the rest of the trails, which I figured would be about eight miles, most of which would be on the side trails. We managed to get it done, took us about four hours. I have to say, though, that the more I ride here the less I like it. Mostly that’s because of the fact they’ve marked the trails the way they have. I hadn’t realized just how ingrained my trail expectations are. Every time I saw a marker on the left I was expecting a left turn. Not only were there no left turns, there were many cases when there was a RIGHT turn, but they didn’t have any markings for the turn, no double marker, no arrow, nothing. I found myself in a constant state of frustration. Furthermore, some of the side trails just don’t take the terrain into consideration the way they should. This place is really hilly, and they had so many opportunities to create some fabulous switchbacks, but many of the trails go practically straight up and down. Several trails really went through some really rocky bits, too, not my favorite. Suffice it to say, I had the map or the GPS in my hand at all times, and never got to relax, at least not until we were on the main trail heading back to camp, which is the antithesis of why I ride. This place has so much potential, but they really need to revisit their trail design and their markers to at least meet minimum “industry standards,” which they are far from at the moment. Riding the carriage roads are about the only stress-free riding there is, and even that can be frustrating with all the letters and numbers and names that it takes just to get around using their map. Oh, well, I’ve done it now, and I’ll write them an analysis and leave it with them, they can do what they want with it. Meanwhile, it was 3:00 when we got back to camp, I put Apollo away and fixed the stirrup on my saddle. I lost the nut on the end of the carriage bolt while climbing a hill, but fortunately I found a spare and repaired it. Not long after I was joined by another camper, Wendy, who is here for the work day tomorrow, though I gather she intends to ride her horse out to her adopted trail to check it out. I fed the horses, made some noodles and settled down for the evening. At 6:00, I swear it felt closer to 9:00, these evenings are just dragging out in the dark! Well, I have a busy day tomorrow on the work crew, so early to bed would be a good idea anyway. Good night, babe! Love you!
Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020 – Laundry, Errands and Another Reconnaissance Ride
Hiya Babe,
A beautiful morning this morning, with temps starting out warmer than they have been, thank goodness! After chores and breakfast I did a load of laundry and hung it out, then filled the trailer and the horses water buckets from the tank on the pickup, then took two of the older propane tanks down to Walmart to trade them in. I discovered that the reason I couldn’t get one filled was that despite the fact the tank is rated to last 12 years, there’s an Alabama state law that requires them to expire after 10 years. Guess the gas lobby has some pull in Montgomery! Anyway, these two were original with the trailer from 2011 anyway, so I decided to switch them out so the issue wouldn’t occur again, so I made sure I got two tanks that were very close to being new, and with a 2020 date on them, will last about as long as I will! On the way back to camp I went to the highway dept. and refilled the truck’s water tank just in case I need any more, though I should have enough now to get through to when I leave, probably Monday or Tuesday. I still haven’t decided yet where I’m going when I leave here, there are pros and cons to every place I’ve looked at, but I do want to end up at Mingo Trails as my last stop before Florida, and hopefully stay for at least a week or more. I have a vet lined up to get my horse passports so I can get into Florida, that will take a few days to complete, which should be no problem. I got back to camp and saddled up Apollo, and we headed out to hit some more sections of the trail that I wanted to experience. They were mostly marked “challenging” but I wouldn’t consider them more than moderate, except possibly one trail called Jerry Hill, which is very rocky and quite steep. I probably should have done that one earlier instead of last, Apollo was pretty wrung out by the time we came off that trail, but who knew? He did great, though. I’m finding the trail markers a bit unsettling because they aren’t all on the same side of the trail as they should be, and every time I see a marker on the left I keep looking for a left turn which isn’t there. On top of that, there are no double markings for turns, so I got off-track several times today by going straight on a trail before realizing the trail had turned off somewhere and had to backtrack. There are some hills where they really need to add some switchbacks, or they’re going to have erosion problems later, plus it’s a lot steeper in some places than it needs to be. Anyway, I’m going to write a report for their trail committee with more details when I get the chance. It was a good ride, though, I enjoyed it other than that, though Apollo worked up quite a sweat on that last hill! Got back to camp just before 4:00, I grabbed some dinner, got my laundry in, then fed everyone else and settled down for the evening, once again lamenting how early it gets dark these days in the central time zone. I managed to finish off the Gary Cooper movie I had trouble with the other day, and tried to watch another movie, but again, halfway through it quit, so I took my shower, then went to a SHIELD while I had my sleepytime tea, now I’m ready for bed. Good night, my darlin’! Love you!
Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020 – Double Ride Today
Hey Darlin’,
Stayed up later than I should have watching election returns, went to bed thinking Trump was ahead in all the important places, but woke up this morning with the numbers not looking so good. I didn’t want to think about it, and I needed to start getting a handle on these trails, since I volunteered to see if I can create a more user-friendly map, so after chores, breakfast, and poking the big fires a bit, I saddled up Flash and headed out. I wanted to see what all these side trails were like, so I started out on the south trailhead and took the first couple of trails there. The first section wasn’t too bad, though there were a couple of places I would have liked to see another switchback or two, but then I got on to the second trail, War Horse, and after about half a mile the markers just seemed to disappear. I circled around awhile but never could pick it up again, and Flash, for some reason, was getting very excitable on these relatively raw trails, so rather than risk it, I got him back to the main road, which I think they should refer to as a carriage road. Anyway, that nixed my idea of riding all of the yellow trail today, which was the plan, so instead I stayed on the carriage road and took pictures of all the trail entrances so I could figure out which trails were easy, moderate and challenging. When I got back to camp, I switched horses, because you know Apollo, he doesn’t get very excited about anything, unless he’s jacked up on alfalfa, which certainly hasn’t been the case lately. Anyway, I started on the north trailhead this time, and it turned out that the first two sections of trail there were both easy and with a lot less stone and rocks, which will actually make a very nice four mile loop for beginners. My plan for tomorrow is to pick up where I left off on Apollo (though getting there more directly), and doing as much of the rest of the side trails as I can. From there, I should be able to gang some trails together that make sense. Anyway, because of the geography of the place, it seemed like it was practically starting to get dark barely after 3:00, since the sun is setting behind some hills, and I was getting chilly early, so we got back to camp shortly after 3:00. After putting Apollo away, I fixed some leftover Mexican for my meal, then I finally took down the fence and did some cleanup, fed the horses and Lola, then was settled down by the time it got dark at five. I can’t wait to get back into Eastern time, at least it won’t seem like it’s getting dark THAT early! Watched a movie and a couple of SHIELDs, but now it’s shower and bedtime! Good night, sweetie! Love you!
Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020 – Election Day
Hi Sweetie,
A good night sleep, no drama this morning, but still really chilly, almost down to freezing. Wore my long underwear to bed, and left them on under my clothes today, though it warmed up nicely in the afternoon. After breakfast, chores and a couple of conversations with Jerry and JD, I ran out and filled up two propane tanks, then went to lunch with Charlotte at the golf course grill, and by the time I got back to camp it was too late to go riding, so I helped poke at a burn pile for awhile, while Jerry kept clearing trees, and gravel was starting to get delivered. It was getting dark by 4:30 (yuk!), so we finished for the day, feeding the horses before it got too dark. I was getting intermittent cell phone service and my hot spot kept wonking out, but I managed to get half a Gary Cooper movie in, and one episode of SHIELD before calling it quits. I’m watching the returns from the election (I voted early in TN a few weeks ago), and I just saw Ohio and PA swing from possible blue to possible red, so I guess things are really in flux right now. I can’t get any local stations, so I’m just dipping in and out of various websites for updates, probably won’t know for sure for awhile, though I still believe Trump will be reelected in a landslide, but we’ll see! Meanwhile, I’m headed for shower and bed, and I’ll guess I’ll see the results in the morning. Everyone is expecting that if the Dems lose they’re going to do anything they can to delay the finish by using lawsuits and even violence in the streets. A lot of government buildings and business have been closed because they think things could get rough out there. Glad I’m in the middle of nowhere! Anyway, off I go! Good night, baby! Love you!
Monday, Nov. 2, 2020 – Good Morning, Wretched Afternoon
Hey Babe,
With both horses on a highline, no escapees this morning, thank goodness! My big chore for the morning was to deal with the water issue, after filling the horses’ water buckets I pretty much finished off the tank in the back of the truck. I still have about a third of a tank in the trailer, but I don’t want to run out completely. I did a few chores in the morning, including filling up both tires on the water trailer a bit higher, then Jerry showed up, and at about 11:00 I followed him pulling the trailer to the county highway department to get filled up. When I got back to camp, JD was there, so the three of us had a long chat. Finally I turned to the job of transferring the water, and I had to do some finagling to get the water in, what with water not able to flow uphill by itself, but I finally managed to get it done. I had to pull part way up the hill, lower the trailer jacks down all the way to the bottom, and add some extra hose before it was all said and done, but I managed. After filling up the trailer and the horse buckets as much as I could, I headed back to the highway department to top off again, then to the post office to pick up my package with the battery jumper in it (yay!), then headed to the nearest Tractor Supply that I could find that had at least two out of three of the kinds of feed I needed. I had to go over 30 miles to Pell City, and when I got there, I stocked up a bit on the horse feed. This was one of the few Tractor Supplies around here that refilled propane tanks, so I asked for that service, then waited, and waited, and waited, calling twice to find out what was happening, only to be told, “she’ll be there in a few minutes.” After thirty minutes (I was keeping track), she FINALLY arrived, but not before another customer got tired of waiting and left. Well then she looks at my tanks and decided that she can’t fill one of them because it was outdated, which is not true! I just had it filled, and I know I have another year on it, but I guess in Alabama 9 plus 12 is 20, which is the only way my tank would have been out of date. There was no reasoning with her, and not even a math lecture changed her mind, and I got so mad I grabbed both tanks and sped off. I still had shopping to do, and that half hour was the difference between getting back to camp in daylight or darkness, so I was NOT a happy camper! So I headed to the next Tractor Supply in Talladega, which I had been trying to call all day because they were actually closer to camp, but their phones weren’t working properly and I could never reach them, which is why I didn’t go there in the first place. So I drove another 30 minutes out of my way, glad to see the propane tank, only to learn they were empty! Grrrrr! They also didn’t have the last type of feed (Balancer) that I needed, so it was a complete bust! I left there empty-handed and drove to the Walmart almost right next door, where Lola and I ran through the store quickly getting the few items we needed, but the sun had already gone down by the time we came out. The only saving grace was that I was almost out of diesel in the truck, and they had it for the lowest price I had seen all day, $1.88 a gallon, so I filled up there for less than $60. Then I drove back in the dark, fed the horses in the dark, emptied the groceries in the dark, not happy! Finally I settled down to some ramen noodles for dinner and a movie about Edward Snowden, and now I’m ready to head to shower and bed. Whew! Glad this day is over! Good night, my sweet! Love you!
Sunday, Nov. 1, 2020 – Changed Horse Containment, Lunch Out and Ride w/ New Friends
Hiya sweetie!
Despite my knocking every fence post with my mallet, I woke up at 4:30 (the new 4:30 with the time change overnight), hearing a little knicker every couple of minutes. By the third knicker I knew I had a problem, so I got up, put my robe and boots on, took my flashlight, and sure enough, two posts were down and Apollo was missing. Thank goodness Flash didn’t escape, too. I headed toward the round pen, and with my bright flashlight I soon saw photo-flash eyes near the edge the of the woods beyond the pen, and walked right up to him, put on his halter and walked him back to my site. This time, I hung him up on a highline that’s a permanent fixtures between some trees, so at least he was safe until morning. I went back to bed, read for a while, then managed to get back to sleep. I woke up a few hours later, fed them both, had my breakfast, then got busy putting up my highline a bit closer to the trailer and put him on there. I decided to let Flash stay inside the fence for awhile, to let him finish the hay, but I moved over a water bucket for Apollo, and all was well. I blew up the tire on the water trailer that they have here, and it looks like it isn’t leaking, but I don’t seem to have a trailer ball small enough to fit that trailer, but I am still going to have to find some place where I can fill up with water tomorrow when I’m out shopping. Not long after that, a couple of the members here, Craig and Susan and Ashley invited me to lunch, so we headed out to the Mexican restaurant and had a nice lunch. When I got back to camp, Wayne was here, and he had brought me a pile of hay bales! All these folks are just so kind and generous! They treat me like I’m celebrity, and I’m truly flattered. JD was here, too, with his granddaughter, and I asked her if she’d like to go riding, and she said yes, so we saddled up both Flash and Apollo, then had another member, Bob, join us on his gigantic Fresian/Walker cross, and we took a nice 90 minute ride, mostly on trails I hadn’t been on before, which was lovely. Saw a few nice deer, and really enjoyed it. One trail we took was the MIA trail, and the ladies that have adopted it have put up all kinds of artwork and decorations along the way, which made it even more fun. It was a beautiful day, and I wanted to take advantage since the weather is taking a turn toward freezing, supposed to get down in the low 30’s tonight! I put the warm winter blankets on the horses, got Flash on the highline and fed them with a combination of new and old hay, chatted with Bob for a bit, then Wayne stopped by after he quite raking the campground (after dark!), cleaning up after all the work we did yesterday. These guys are working so hard to get this place in shape. They are really a great bunch of folks! Once the place cleared out, I settled down for the evening. Season 7 of Agents of SHEILD was just released, so after watching a movie I watched a couple of those episodes. Of course, with the time change, it’s now dark at 5:00 (ugh!), so I’m looking forward to getting back to Eastern time in the near future. Took my shower early so I’m not going to bed with a wet head, but tonight I’m sleeping in long underwear so I won’t be freezing in the morning! It’s still pretty early, but I’m going to bed anyway, once I get the place warmed up with the furnace in a few minutes. It’s definitely going to be a cold one tonight, so I’m going up to get warm before it gets too bad. So good night, my darlin’! Love you!