Archives for 2020

Hiya Darlin’,
Slept like a log most of the night, not surprisingly! Spent the day cleaning out and putting away camp gear, doing laundry, catching up on email, designing awards for the OTL, finishing off the maps for Day One and Two and other business matters, and generally getting things back where they belonged. I took a quick trip over to Anita’s to pick up some more trail markers, as there are still some sections that need doing, and I thought I would take the day tomorrow and do as much of it as I can. It poured with rain here over the weekend, so I imagine Corbett is swamped again, I hope it’s not too bad on the other sections. I’m going to check Cypress Creek and the section that leads out to the old cow pastures and the critter crossing under the freeways, there’s been a report of some new gates with barbed wire, that needs to be checked out in case something has to be done about it. So it should be busy again tomorrow. There’s still some question about what route we’ll be taking once we get across the Ditch into Jonathan Dickinson State Park, hopefully that will be resolved by the time we have our next meeting on Wednesday evening. Finally relaxed with a glass of wine or two, some TV, and now off to bed. Good night, babe, I love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
First order of the day was to deliver the lift chair to it’s new owner down in Boca, right on the intracoastal, not far from where we got married, kind of full circle again. Glad it went to someone who needed it, and it works fine now with the new controller. It’s strange, though, even though we only lived here in Florida together for a couple of years, and stayed away for so many years afterward, you were right when you said it felt like we were coming home this time. Despite all the places we’ve been, all the traveling we did, there seem to be more memories here than just about any place else, except possibly the house in Tennessee. It makes me miss you even more, if that’s possible. Anyway, the rest of the day was spent packing stuff for the camping trip this weekend. It should be interesting, camping with my brother, something we’ve never done together in our lives, so we’ll see how it goes. The weather isn’t going to be the best, but it’s hard to predict at this time of year. I trust I’ve remembered everything we need, but if not, no problem, we’ll make do or go out and get it. Heading off for my last shower, then heading off to bed. Love you, darling, good night!

Hi Babe,
Spent some time on the phone with Social Security trying to figure out what happens with your pension, among other things, pulled out the camping gear to make sure it was all there, sprayed some camp dry spray on the tent to make sure it stays dry (hopefully better than it did on the cattle drive when it poured for three days!), drove up to the senior center and played euchre, though we didn’t do very well today, and finally met a young couple up in Port St. Lucie to buy a new personal GPS tracker. It’s pretty much the same as the last one I liked so much, and I really miss not being able to download a trail that I can actually follow (which I could probably do on my phone app, but have never been able to figure out) but I got a good deal on it through Facebook Marketplace. I managed to just get to Ranch Feed before they closed to pick up the three bales of hay I need for the weekend, and got home just as the sun was setting, so it was mosquito hour by the time Jeff was ready to swap out the horses, but we got it done. Later it started raining really hard, with lightning and thunder, and Lola kept trying to crawl into my lap. I was up in the bed on a phone call (about the only place inside the trailer where the signal is good enough) and she climbed up and started sprawling all over the bed, so I had to get her down, then she went outside and disappeared. I eventually found her in the house, I guess Jeff let her in when she came scratching at the door. I put her in the truck, in her nice comfy bed, where she feels the safest. Finally finished off the binge of Cheers, was pretty disappointed because I thought I remembered the Diane and Sam got together and stayed together, but that’s not what happened. Sam went back to an empty bar, which was really depressing in the end. Oh, well, no accounting for Hollywood writers, they haven’t been able to write a happy ending in decades, have they? Anyway, it rained most of the evening, though it sounds like it’s just about done, and now it’s time for a shower and bed again. Good night, darlin’. Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Did a little work on the computer this morning, then finally went out to work on the tractor. I drained some oil out of it because I overfilled it yesterday, but still couldn’t find the reason why it didn’t start, but Jeff did some testing and figures it’s the starter, so I’m having to look to see if I can get a new one, or have that one rebuilt (he knows a guy, no surprise!). Met Jayne and Irene for dinner at Duffy’s down in West Palm, sat on the patio so Lola could be there, too. Got back late, but Jeff had already fed the horses for me, so I just settled down for the night. Was surprised that Tom Berenger played a bit part on one of the Cheers episodes I watched, didn’t realize he’d done that. Anyway, settled down for the evening, though I’m getting to bed a bit late. Good night, my love!

Hi Sweetie,
Lots of physical labor today, I finished moving the pile of concrete blocks, got rid of the junk that was left, ripped out the bad trees by the roots and put them on the burn pile. Just on my last load, though, for some reason the tractor decided not to start (it has been fine for the last two days), so I have no idea what’s going on with it, but that’s a problem for another day. I got everything done except a final leveling and bush hog of the area, but hopefully I can do that later this week. Then I washed the truck, it was filthy from the several trips out to Corbett last week. By that time it was just getting dark, so we did feeding, and settled down for the night. Off to the shower, and then to bed. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Baby,
Had another good night sleep last night, feel like I’m finally getting caught up on my zzzzz’s! I had set the day aside to do a brake job on the truck. I told Jeff I wanted to start early, and I managed to get him on the job by a little after 10:00, which was early by his standards, as you know! Believe it or not, everything went smoothly, except for one minor hitch with the rotors, when they didn’t get to the parts store last night, but the manager went above and beyond and sent his driver out to go get the missing rotor, so it was waiting for us when we got to the Autozone around 12:30. The rotors and brake pads were under warranty, so I didn’t have to pay for anything except stuff like brake cleaner and Permatex, and we decided to replace the seals even though the ones on there looked pretty good, we figured better safe than sorry. We stopped at that little Mexican place Jeff was raving about, the one we didn’t get a chance to go to like we had wanted, and I bought him lunch, which really was nice. They obviously make their own tortillas, and they were wonderful! Fast, too, we were in and out in about half an hour, and back on the job in no time. We managed to get the whole job done by about 5:00, including putting all the tools away. I test drove it down to the end of the road so that I could put out the sign I made this morning while I was waiting for Jeff, about the Open Range trailer being for sale. The brakes actually felt better now than when our mechanic in TN did them! It’s a good job done, now I don’t have to worry about those for awhile. I hooked up the little horse trailer just as it was getting dark, because I’m off with Anita out to Dupuis tomorrow to do another reconnaissance of the OTL trail. I’m really looking forward to this one, and I’m doing all I can to help. I discovered that the president of the group has a little in-home studio, so I think I’m going to write a PSA and do the voiceover and send it out to the local radio stations to get more publicity. I’m hoping I’ll have time to contact the TV stations as well, Tim’s been trying to get me to do that, but I just haven’t had time yet, but I’m going to try next week. Did my usual chores and settled down for the evening, still trying to finish off Suits and Cheers, but now it’s bedtime. Good night, my love!