Hi Darlin',
Well, once again the forecaster have gone bonkers. Last night when I went to bed, the rain wasn't coming in until 4:00 pm. When I woke up this morning, it suddenly moved up to noon! I decided skip breakfast and just get packed up and go, and it's a good thing. When I stepped out of the trailer, my neighbors were just getting ready to ride off (it was barely 8:00!), and I needed help with the slide that sticks, so I managed to get one of them to help me before they rode off. I had done so much work getting ready yesterday that I finished packing up in no time, and was heading to the dump just after 8:30, and driving out of the park just after 9:00. It was only a little over an hour drive, so I arrived at my new campsite before 10:30! There were three people on lawnmowers in the campground just finishing up (that's the problem with state parks, they always seem to be mowing the lawn!), but I found my site, #10, which turned out to be just perfect! There was a bit of an incline, but once I unhooked I managed to level it off just fine (though the work in the basement may have to wait, as there's no room to crawl underneath anymore), the horses are comfortable on a highline I strung between one of their posts and a tree, and before I even finished getting them settled in, a rider came by and we had a nice chat for quite a while, very friendly and welcoming. I don't want to say that the people at Chickasaw were unfriendly, but they certainly weren't very hospitable, not like I've been used to at horse camps in the past. Turns out this rider, Carol, lives nearby, she recognized my name, and she even has a copy of my book! Whoo-hoo! I invited her to come by later after her ride, and she took my number and friended me on Facebook, texted me to ask if I needed anything as she was going shopping, and when she came back for happy hour, she even brought me a bottle of wine! Now that's what I call hospitable! I spent most of the afternoon sitting the screen room getting caught up on something I discovered on my new horse camps supplement, apparently all of the work I had done last summer disappeared when my computer crashed and my Carbonite had neglected to back up for several month, grrrrr, so I started to rebuild that file by downloading it from my Facebook Book page. I managed to get that mostly caught up when Carol came back around 4:00, and we ended up chatting until nearly 7:00. We arranged to go riding in the morning, weather permitting, but who can tell? It never rained at all today, the storm that was over Arkansas petered out. Tomorrow they're calling for rain about 1:00, but I really have my doubts about all weather forecasts these days. We'll see what happens in the morning. Anyway, my site is really nice, and I think I'm really going to enjoy it here, even though there isn't an accurate trail map (what else is new?), and Carol has warned me that some of the trails are in really rough shape because of rain, and trees down from storms a few weeks ago, but again, what else is new? Anyway, it was a fairly relaxing day, an uneventful drive and setup, and it looks like a good place to spend a couple of weeks. And now it's time for shower and bed! Love you, darlin'! Good night!
Archives for 2020
Thursday, May 14, 2020 – Prep for Departure Day
Hiya Babe,
Well, no floods today inside the trailer, but there’s still a leak of some kind in the basement, so I guess one of my first chores after I’ve settled in at Natchez Trace is going to be removing the basement covers and seeing exactly what is going on down there. Be a good chance to fix a bunch of stuff, I guess, maybe even adjusting the slide so that it closes properly, if I can figure out how to do that. Thank goodness for the internet! Meanwhile, I spent the day breaking everything down and putting stuff away. I also moved the horses over to a highline next door so I could try to clean up the area that I fenced in, but it’s so muddy there wasn’t a whole lot I could do except scatter manure around and try to step down some of the worst divots. There’s no special footing under the highlines and with all the rain, it’s just a big area of sloppy mud. I paced myself, so it ended up taking up most of the day, but I even hooked up the truck so I should be able to get out pretty early. Of course I’ll have to divert to the RV dump first, but I should still arrive plenty early enough to get things set up, unless it starts to rain. Naturally, one of the reasons I decided to travel tomorrow was because earlier in the week the forecast was for a sunny day, but that has since changed, first 10%, then 20%, now it’s up to 50% chance of rain, but they are still saying in the afternoon, so hopefully I can be fairly settled in before that happens. The whole weekend is supposed to be wet, but next week is looking a lot better, if you believe the forecast… Anyway, I finally settled down for the evening after taking Lola for her last walk, and I’m heading off to shower and bed! Good night, my love!
Tuesday, May 12, 2020 – An Uneventful Rainy Day
Hey Babe,
Well, the rain came in on schedule overnight and continued off and on all day. After feeding the horses, all I did today was try to fix the leak in the ice-maker hose (oh, yeah, I forgot to mention the start of a small flood in the kitchen last night when I discovered the leak in the usual place) but the fix didn’t work because I need a new fitting, the old one didn’t hold up well to me removing it, so that’s on my shopping list for tomorrow. After that I did a little work updating my bookkeeping so I can get around to doing my taxes on the next rainy day when I have time. Lola was confined to her quarters or on a leash after her misbehavior yesterday, so we went for a couple of walks around the baseball field that’s next to the horse camp, which is all the running around she’s going be allowed for awhile. I spent part of the afternoon shopping online, buying a couple of decent rainsheets for the horses. One of the old ones has completely been ripped apart, and the $5.00 one I bought at the tack shop is in even worse shape. I figure since these guys are going to be spending a lot of time out in the elements from now on, they deserve a decent rainsheet, so I ordered a couple that had good reviews online. I also managed to find a set of those foldable loppers like the one I used to clear out trails during the Goethe endurance race. They turned out to be hard to find, as they had discontinued the model I was looking for, but then I think I found a newer model at a decent price and ordered those, too. I finally got the back-pay from Social Security, it’s taken months for them to get everything processed, but it looks like we’re on track with that now, should be getting a monthly deposit. Still haven’t heard from the British system, don’t know if I’ll be getting anything from them or not. I also went ahead and made reservations for several of my upcoming stays at horse camps for the next month or so, hopefully all will go according to plan and I won’t lose any money on canceled reservations. Spent over an hour on the phone with my friend Nancy from high school, talked so long the battery on my phone died! We’re tentatively scheduling a camping trip at Watkins Glen for next 4th of July, figured since I was spending the summer in Michigan this year I can spend next summer in NY. Otherwise a really quiet and slow day and evening. I’m going to take Lola for one quick last walk before my shower and bed, so off I go! Good night, my love!
Friday, May 8, 2020 – Rainy Day of Planning
Hi Baby,
SO glad I took advantage of the nice weather yesterday, because rain came in overnight along with colder temps. They’re even talking about patchy frost tomorrow morning!! I can’t believe that at this time of the year it’s so chilly! Anyway, I had a fantastic night sleep for a change, I guess Lola got enough exercise to sleep through the night because she never bothered me, even with the storms that came in. Also, I had put in my earplugs, which helped, and I took a couple of painkillers because somewhere along the way yesterday I got a leaf cut on one of my eyes, and that was hurting pretty bad, so some Bufferin helped with that. It was still raining when I got up after 10 hours of sleep, but stopped shortly afterward, so I got the horses fed before too long, but it’s a soggy mess under their highline. I’d move them again but they’re all like that so there’s no point. I spent a large part of the day figuring out my schedule for the next few months. I just got it confirmed that the Shore-to-Shore ride in Michigan has been cancelled, so that freed my schedule up enormously, though I’m rather sorry about it, I was really looking forward to it. The governor of Michigan is being slow to open things up with the coronavirus lockdown, and apparently the Federal lands along the route are still closed too, despite mounting evidence that the virus doesn’t survive very well outside, it thrives inside, which is why we have so many more cases than many other countries that aren’t doing a lockdown. Anyway, I’m putting together a route to stay two weeks at a series of camps to get me to Lansing for the job that’s scheduled for the end of July, including doing Memorial Day at Loretta Lynn’s for their June organized ride. I think I’ll be meeting up with Callie again, you remember the girl we met there a few years ago that went riding with me on Clio? She stays in touch, and they’re going to be there, so I thought it might be nice to hook up with them again. I’ve got a pretty good plan, the only thing that might get in the way is if the job in Vegas gets rescheduled during that time. I mean, I hope it does, since I could use the work, but I’ll have to be flexible to make it work, like always. The good news is I’ve been lucky on my timing of investing the house proceeds on the stock market, it’s been up significantly every day this week, so it looks like I’ll be recouping the losses from the virus shutdown, and then some before too long. Spent the rest of the day watching DS9s, except I needed a change for the evening so I watched a romantic comedy about Valentines Day, which confirmed all the reasons why I was glad you and I never really celebrated Hallmark Holidays like that one! Too much pressure! A nice break, though, it did make me laugh a bit. Now it’s time for shower and bed, hope I sleep well tonight, too! Good night, babe. Love you!
Thursday, May 7, 2020 – Double Ride Day At Chickasaw
Hello, darlin’!
Finally, a nice day! It’s been the strangest weather lately! We’ve had wet weather and cold weather, and nothing like the kind of weather you’d expect in May in Tennessee, so unpredictable! But today was wonderful! It started out cool but warmed up nicely, and since more rain is forecast overnight and cold temps to follow, I figured I better take the absolute best chance of riding this week and making the most of it! So after breakfast, I saddled up Apollo first, since he’s my go-to trail horse, and we headed out. Like Brookfield in NYS, the only way out of camp is uphill, so that’s where we started. I decided to try to follow the stable’s horse trail ride, but before long we got off track somewhere. I was glad to have my GPS and a map one of the ladies from last Sunday gave me, it had some hand-made markings of where some horse trails are. This place is really nuts, I have no idea how they get away with it! There are miles of trails interweaving in the wood, yet none of them are marked, nor is there a map that identifies them. The only maps just show the main roads, and though they delineate between a “dirt” road and a “gravel” road, frankly, I couldn’t tell the difference. Apollo didn’t much like being on the gravel, so I ended up following the edge and getting smacked with a lot of branches, including one where I think I got a leaf cut in my eye, so that’s all red and hurts now. We did almost six miles, about half on gravel and the other half on a not too bad single-track trail. The only saving grace was that I could figure out a general direction every time I came to a road intersection, but even then I had to figure out how to read the signs. Apollo was great, though, he’s such a sure-footed old guy I had not trouble letting him pick his way up and down hills. Once we got back to camp, I put him away with a flake of hay and saddled up Flash. I put boots on him because I expected to be on more of the roads, and had GPS’ed a track out to Lake Loop, which also passed by the Owen Cemetery, where I met a caretaker that I spoke to for a few minutes. Flash loved being out on the road, but even with boots, he wasn’t too thrilled with the footing. We got turned around a couple of times, just trying to explore a bit, so now I have a better feel for the place. We passed one group of day riders, but other than that, it was super quiet out here. Lola came with me on both trips, I sincerely hope she’s tuckered out tonight, she woke me up a dozen times last night with her scratching and restless, so much so I’m considering putting her back in the truck so I can get a good night sleep! Since there are storms forecast for tonight, I might just give here a pill to be on the safe side, but we’ll see. She’s been pretty knocked out since we’ve been home. Anyway, it was a really great day, I feel better than I have in a long time. Just something about being on the back of a horse in the wilderness that’s just good for the soul! Both horses seemed to enjoy themselves, small wonder, it’s gotta be better than standing on a highline all way, hay or not! I put their rainsheets on because of the rain coming in, and it’s supposed to get colder so this might be my last chance this week. There was one campsite that was supposed to be reserved for today, but no one came is, maybe the weather scared them off and I’ll see them tomorrow. Anyway, this is the start of a new rhythm in my life, it’s going to take some getting used to, that’s for sure! Meanwhile, another DS9, another shower, and off to bed, hopefully to get a better night sleep than I have been lately! Good night, my love!
Wednesday, May 6, 2020 – Slow Day
Hey Sweetie!
The best laid plans…! I did my chores this morning, including moving the highline to a different set of posts because the ones the horses were on were at kind of a low spot that had turned pretty muddy, so I put them on slightly higher ground. I had every intention of going riding today, but the temperatures, unbelievably, hardly reached 60 today, and that was late in the afternoon. I decided it was too cold to go riding, in fact, I’ve made a new rule. If it’s too cold to sit in the screen porch, it’s too cold to go riding! Instead, I did some bookkeeping on my computer. My previous bookkeeping program expired, and they changed their method from being on my computer as a permanent program to being a subscription in the cloud. I waited around for their offer of a discount to get better, and finally they got down to 25 percent off, so I went ahead and ordered in. That meant some housekeeping to get it all working again properly, so I spend part of the afternnon doing that. I also did some reading for a while, and generally had a pretty lazy day. What a luxury! It won’t last, I know, but at least I can take advantage of it while it’s here. I noticed a leak coming out under the basement, so I took a quick peak at that, but the only way to see it is going to be to take the basement panels off. The good news is, contrary to thinking it was all one piece, it’s actually in about 3-4 foot sections, so I should be able to get into without too much trouble. The bad news is, all the screws are those crazy 8 point stars, which I’ve read can be turned with a 4 point square, but the last time I tried that I had dubious results. Considering that many of them are rusted, it’s not likely to be an easy task. I may just have to replace all the screws with something sensible. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY knows about these weird screws except the people in the RV building business! But that’s a chore for another day. Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer, and I really have to get the horses out, they’ve been standing there for days with no relief, and the ground has been too soft to even let them roam in the fenced in area, they would just tear it up in no time, and I don’t need to make any enemies while I’m here. Lola and I took a short walk around the campground, and there’s a few posts with reservation cards on them, so it looks like I’ll have a little company this weekend, which wouldn’t be a bad thing. Not sure I want to go riding with anyone, though, because it seems like every time I do I end up not particularly enjoying myself for any variety of reasons. I guess I’ve been on my own riding for so long I’m kind of stuck in my ways. Anyway, it was a pretty lazy day, and now it’s time to put it to bed. Off I go! Good night, baby! Love you!
Tuesday, May 5, 2020 – Busy Productive Day
Hi Darlin’!
Just as I had planned it was a busy day! Great night sleep for both me and Lola, then after chores and breakfast we headed out for shopping. Unfortunately the Tractor Supply in Henderson didn’t have anything I was looking for so I ended up driving to the north end of Jackson to another Tractor Supply, where I at least got feed for Flash. Another quick stop at Lowes to pick up the fitting I needed to finish the ice-maker repair, a full shopping at Walmart, and a quick stop at the Farmers Coop in Henderson for 10 bales of Bermuda hay for the horses. Big bales, but light, not too well packed, but it seems pretty find so hopefully they’ll like it. Got back mid-afternoon, unloaded everything, then after a short break for Lola playtime I finished the job on the ice-maker, which only took a few minutes and worked brilliantly, no leaks! Then I cleaned under all the cupboards in preparation for returning all the pots and pans in there, and found a bunch of dead roaches, yay! I sprayed around the edges again, just to set up a border that will hopefully keep them out for a while, and put everything except the plastics back in the cupboards. I want to go through those again and cut down on them, I have way more than I need. Of course, once I got started on cleaning, you know me, I started to get carried away, and scrubbed down the entire floor just for the heck of it. It was cloudy all day until late in the afternoon, then it cleared up beautifully, though a bit cooler, and once I scrubbed the floor we sat out in the screen room for a while, me reading and enjoying a bit of wine and Lola standing guard and getting excited at a passing big bird every once in a while. Before I knew it, it was dinner time, so I fed us all and settled down for the evening. Got a lot done today! I’m hoping to take a ride, maybe even two, tomorrow, these horses have really been patient standing around on a highline for the last couple of days! I really hope I can get them out tomorrow. Meanwhile, it’s that time again, for shower and bed! Good night, my love!