Hey Babe!
Had a great night sleep, temps got into the 30’s again last night, but I kept warm! Got all my chores done, and while I was cleaning up the paddock and the horses were out grazing (Apollo with his anchors, Flash just roaming nearby), the two rangers came by for a chat. They didn’t seem to mind the horses and Lola being loose, at least they didn’t say anything, they were cool about it. After they left and I finished my chores, I drove over to the ranger station to get water in the truck tank. Both guys happen to be there, looked like they were just leaving but hung around to help me. Once I got back to camp I saddled up Flash and headed out. This trail turned out to be a lot more beautiful and interesting than I thought it would. At first, it was all dry, open prairie, but after a few miles, I suddenly was having to wade in several feet of water for quite a long ways! Surprised me, but it was no problem. We kept going it eventually passed through some beautiful woods, with more water on the trail. We finally reached one point where the water got so deep I thought we were about to go swimming, so I backed up and worked our way along the shoreline until we could get back on the trail. Literally, there was a trail marker post about halfway across the lake, so I knew we were in the right place, I just wasn’t in the mood to go swimming! (though Lola was doing a lot of that to keep up!) We ran into the two rangers again, they were out freshening up the trail markings (good thing, too, it was right after I got a little misplaced, because the map didn’t go the same way that the trail does, so my GPS prep was off. What else is new?) Then we came up to a beautiful cypress swamp, very spooky, and the trail looked like it had been rutted up by about a hundred hogs. We finally got out of the woods to some wide open prairie again, and Flash was in the mood to go, go, go, so we cantered and largoed for quite awhile, till he finally slowed down about a quarter mile from camp, so he could cool down. Smart horse, he did that on his own! He worked up quite a sweat though, and with no running water, the first thing he did after I let him out was a nice dirty roll! A very nice ride, temp was perfect, beautiful blue sky, couldn’t have asked for a better day! Got back and checked on a package I was expecting, discovered it had arrived at the local post office (General Delivery), so I jumped in the truck and ran the mile down the road to get there before they closed at 4:00. That little garden sprayer I used for fly spray broke a few weeks ago, and I had a heck of a time trying to find a replacement, but once again, Amazon came through! Right on schedule, too, thanks to UPS! They delivered it right to the PO for me. Got back, filled that with fly spray, looks like it will work great! Metal sprayer instead of plastic, and a really nice fine spray, though with all the cold weather, I’ve hardly seen any flies around the last few weeks anyway. Grilled up a sausage, made dinner, had a nice quiet evening, so you know what comes next, shower and bed! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!