Hi Sweetie,
Had a decent night sleep, then fed the critters, then, since Jeff doesn’t do breakfast, Bill and Sandy came down to my trailer and we all had breakfast together. Afterward they went up to the Church in the Farms for Easter Services, then later they did a little fishing in the pond, then they all went down the road to the menagerie for a bit. We tried everything we could to have a nice ham dinner at 3:00, but as is always the case around here, we didn’t actually get to it until about 5:00. Not for lack of trying, believe me! It was good, though, and James joined us as well. We were going to play some euchre but Jeff’s boarder showed up and kept him busy for quite a while, and by then it was too late, so I came home and settled in for the evening. Possible fishing trip tomorrow, we’ll see. I’ve had my shower, now it’s just a matter of making the bed and climbing into it! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Sweetheart!
Woke up to a much chillier morning today, then went off to breakfast with our friends down to First Watch. Afterward they went shopping while I drove down to a truck place to have an estimate done for work on the truck, and received a much more amenable estimate than the previous place. They’ve even got the springs in stock for a very reasonable price, and with the added benefit that they will install new shocks to replace the old ones at no charge for labor if I provide the shocks, which I ordered off Amazon later in the day. Spent most of the rest of the day sitting out by the pool, where it had warmed up a bit, but a cool wind kept it from being perfectly comfortable, until we finally put dinner together, including pork chops on the grill, though all of our efforts to get brother Jeff to eat earlier seems to be for naught, as it was still 8:00 by the time we finally ate. After that I fill by iceman with ice and went back to the trailer to get some icing done on my knee. I did managed to slip away long enough to get most of my PT exercises, and am glad to say that my knee felt a lot better today. I can’t believe they’re going to make me wait another full month to ride, my walking is practically normal now, and it’s only a little discomfort, which I feel will be gone very soon. Fingers crossed they let me off the hook a little earlier! Anyway, settled down for a much appreviated evening before heading off to bed. Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Spent the larger part of the day doing some overdue housekeeping, until an old friend of my brother’s and his wife (who’s a horse lover and follower) arrived around 5:00. We got reacquainted, had a nice spaghetti dinner and a pleasant evening before I headed back to the trailer to turn in. That’s about it for today, work, work, work! Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Sweetie!
Had an early PT session today, starting to really see some progress now, am doing a good job of not limping, and I even went up and down the stairs at the clinic without too much trouble, yay! When I got back I changed into my new bathing suit and carried the pressure washer over to the pool to clean the deck up. It was in much better shape this year than last year, when I had to wash up all kinds of green stuff, but most of it this year was just dirt, so it wasn’t that hard, though it took until 5:00 to finish. Took a shower and settled down for the evening after feeding the critters, nice to have a productive day outside! But time for bed now! Good nigh, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’!
Slept a bit late this morning, then after chores and breakfast I got busy on the truck. I finally changed out the fuel filter, which was long overdue, and changed the air filter out as well. The actual time to do those two things was minimal, but I had quite a bit of trouble getting the old fuel filter off, which took a long time, but finally managed it. I was so dirty by the end of that I had to jump straight into the shower, then I spent some time in the afternoon working on my proposal for a new contract with Equity. I have just enough time to get a contract (if they’ll let me) to qualify for health insurance before the national free benefits run out. Hopefully I can get it through this time, since I’ll have had both of my Covid shots by the time the contract is scheduled to begin. We’ll see! Did my PT exercises and spent the day icing my knee again. I was told I needed to slow down my walking and try to walk without a limp, but it’s kind of hard since I’ve been limping for over seven years, I’m not sure I know how anymore! So that’s what I’m working on now. It mostly doesn’t hurt anymore, it just feels stiff and blocky, and I’m getting a bit tired of it, but at least I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Finally settled down for the evening, and now I’m just about ready for bed. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe!
Had a good night sleep (with earplugs and the fan going), and woke up with the alarm right on schedule. After morning chores and breakfast I headed down to the fairgrounds where I was assigned to get my first (of two) covid shots. It was very well organized, and everything moved along very nicely, no long lines, everything went perfectly, and I was in and out of there in less than 30 minutes. Afterward I went out to the Red Barn feed store, because they carry all the Nutrena products I use and it saves me a trip all the way up to Ranch Feed near Stuart. Then I stopped for fuel, then headed over to where my PT was, but I was early so I decided to have some lunch at a little restaurant in the same plaza, the Hurricane Grill. It wasn’t bad, more of a sports bar atmosphere, but I had a very nice Quesadilla Burger that I only ate half of, and took the rest home for later. That killed enough time till my PT session, and that went very well today, too. I got the same girl that beat me up last week, but she was much gentler (though still firm!) on me today, so I felt pretty good when I left. Headed home, put the feed away with James’ help, then settled down for the rest of the day. I got the fuel and air filters through Prime today, so that will be my job tomorrow, along with a few more odds and ends. Had a relaxing evening, still too hot, though a small cool front is supposed to go through tonight. Felt like a good, productive day today! At least now I have some more clarity as to when I’ll be able to leave Florida and head north. My PT is scheduled through April 15, my second covid shot is April 19, so I guess any time after that I’ll be clear, barring any other complications. I’m considering going to Loretta Lynn’s again for their summer ride the first week of June, though I doubt I’ll join in the organized rides again, it’s just too frustrating having one horse that’s too fast and one that’s too slow for either the fast or the slow groups! I’ll just ride on my own, or hook up with smaller groups that go my speed. Anyway, off to shower and bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
It’s been so hot lately I had to leave the fan on in the bedroom, so I put in my earplugs, and got a really good night sleep as a result. Didn’t do much today except clean out the pool filters because the little vacuum wasn’t working so the pool was starting to get a little dingy, and then I decided to gather all of the maintenance and repair information on the truck and put it in one place so I could do a better job of remembering what had been done and what needed to be done a little more consistently. That took a few hours, but I think it was very helpful to review everything, and for the future. It was too hot to do much else today, so I spent the day bingeing New Tricks on Prime and icing down and stretching my knee. It’s getting a lot better, though it does still feel a bit stiff, but otherwise I’m not have too much trouble with it. They did a great job with the stitches and superglue, the skin is healing really nicely, don’t think I’ll have too much of a scar. The top half is completely healed over, the bottom half well on it’s way. As soon as it’s done healing, I’ll be able to go swimming, and I’m really looking forward to that! I even bought a new bathing suit, something I haven’t done in years! It’s going to be another hot night, it’s 9:30 now and it still almost 80 degrees outside, so I’ll no doubt be running the fan again tonight. Busy day tomorrow, though, so I’ll be getting up a bit early. So I’m off for shower and bed here shortly! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Babe!
Well, not surprisingly, I had a hard time getting to sleep, then I was awakened by a barking dog, (probably Rosie), then I woke up the whippoorwills about two hours before I had to get up, and barely got any sleep after that. Why does it always happen that on the days when I set my alarm to get up early, I never seem to get a good night sleep? Crazy! I did get up on schedule, had breakfast, finished loading up the trailer, got the horses in right on schedule at 8:30, and was ready to go at 8:45, right on my window of 8:45-9:00. Jeff did pretty well, he managed to get Frost fed and put in the paddock and was climbing into the truck right at 9:00. Happily, the truck started up with no problem, and we made it to Dupuis without incident, yay! Scott was riding Apollo, and because Jeff’s boarder wouldn’t let us bring Frost because of a back problem she thinks he’s having, we brought Flash for him, though Jeff wasn’t too happy about that. Flash is a bit hard to handle, and takes some careful consideration, and Jeff just isn’t too well attuned to Flash’s needs, so he did end up getting kind of beat up by the end of the day (he described it as ‘fighting with a grizzly the whole way’. For the uninitiated, a Poker run is when you stop at stations along a designated trail, and pull playing cards out of a “hat” so to speak, and whatever card you choose is written down on a game card, and whoever had the best poker hand back at camp at the end of the ride wins the pot. They also held a raffle and provided lunch at the end of the trail. Unfortunately, as is so often the case with these club events, it wasn’t terribly well organized. There was no water provided on the trail for horses or humans, and since it has’t rained in a couple of weeks, no natural water on the trail either. The trails was poorly marked and nearly everyone got lost, so it was much longer than anyone expected. I was a dealer at the fourth station with another woman, and we sat out there for nearly 2 ½ hours before the first horse showed up, and she said she had been one of the last to leave camp, so where everyone else went, we have no idea. Several riders missed the third station completely! Just a matter of poor organization and poor communication, not to mention inadequate trail markings, which, as you know, is one of my pet peeves to begin with. Oh, well, I had a lively conversation with my station partner, and we mostly sat in her air-conditioned Lexus so at least we weren’t out in the blazing hot sun all day. When Jeff et al came through, he was not having much fun on Flash, and apparently his stirrup strap gave out when he first got on, so he was afraid to get down because he didn’t think he’d be able to get back up again, and you know how cranky he can get when he doesn’t stop every half hour or so. Of course, he was trying to hold Flash back, and Flash didn’t like that and apparently tried to get Jeff off of him several times, but at least he didn’t get thrown. There was a palomino nearby that Flash didn’t like either, I suspect because it reminded him too much of his boarder Frost, who’s just downright mean to other horses. Anyway, we finally had the last rider (that we knew of) pass through and headed back to camp. We stayed long enough to have lunch and chat a little, but Jeff had a couple of service calls he was still planning on trying to get to, so we packed up and left shortly after that. We had another uneventful drive home, thank goodness, and I put everything away while Jeff got ready for his calls, pre-feeding some of the critters and leaving me food to do the rest, since James went out for the day. Scott came by to pick up his truck a bit later, and that was about it for the day. Oh, and after a few investigative questions, I think we’ve arrived at the conclusion that what’s probably wrong with the truck is that the fuel and air filters haven’t been changed in a long time, (mea culpa) so I’ve ordered both online (at a fraction of what they want at the local auto parts store), with a Prime arrival on Monday, so that will be Tuesday’s job. Phew! What a long day after a poor night sleep!
So I’m heading to shower and bed, hoping I can sleep in late tomorrow! Good night, my love!

Hi Darlin’!
Had a much better PT session today, they actually got me on a stationery bike and after some stretching, I was able to spin all the way around for several minutes, which is really some progress, as bending my knee is the biggest restriction I have at the moment. Jeff borrowed my truck so he could haul his trailer full of junk down to the scrapyard, and he got back in good time, but when I got in my truck and started down the driveway, I only got as far as the paddock when it conked out, just like it did last week after we brought the big trailer home. I didn’t have time to mess with it, so I borrowed the Bronco to get to PT (with no AC at 88 degrees!), and when it was time to leave, I couldn’t get it started. He has this crazy kill switch, but I did everything he told me, but I had zero power. I managed to get him on the phone and he said it had to be a fuse (evidently he’s had the problem many times before), so I found that and changed it, and then had to push a couple of wires together that had come apart, and I was finally able to start it. I managed to just get in parked when it died, so he’s going to have to take a look at it. Meanwhile, I got a text about my appointment for my covid vaccination, but I couldn’t answer it with all that was going on until I got home, and when I followed the link I discovered I was number 17565 in the queue! I watched it for a bit but it wasn’t exactly going down quickly, so I went about the rest of my business. By around 7:30 when I’d finished feeding the animals and packing up the small horse trailer (for the event tomorrow), I went back to the truck to try to start it. It was a bit reluctant, but I pumped the accelerator (something I shouldn’t need to do on a fuel injected diesel), and it apparently helped and it started up. I managed to back up and get it hooked up to the small trailer, which I pulled back out front okay, so fingers crossed it will work okay. Anita’s fiancé Scott had come to help me, and in the end, he let me bring over his big Dodge 3500 just in case I couldn’t get mine going so I could still bring the horses out to Dupuis if necessary. Of course, I’m hoping my truck will work fine so I won’t have to. Anyway, but that time, when I got back on my computer, I was down to about 1200 and dropping fast, and a timer kicked in and I watched it get all the way down to about five minutes and 648 people in front of me, when suddenly the line was “paused.” I was not too happy about that! It was nearly two hours before the line started moving again, and at last, I was transferred over to the registration site. That had all kinds of problems, too, it kept telling me the dates I wanted were all full, and they only were showing one week ahead, and the only choice of location was the fairgrounds, and if I didn’t register in ten minutes I’d have to go back to the end of the line… It was a nightmare! FINALLY, I managed to finesse it so that I got an open date and time and miraculously it was for this Monday morning! Fantastic! So I managed to get assigned, so hopefully that’s the beginning of the end of my stay in Florida. I have to stay long enough for PT and to get my second covid shot, which is 21-28 days after the first, so hopefully by the first or second week of May I’ll be heading north. I certainly hope so, it’s going to be murderously hot here by then! It was nearly 11:00 by the time I got all that accomplished, and I had to shower because it had been so hot today, so it was a late night, which was the exact opposite of what I had hoped would happen, since I have to get up early for the Poker Run out at Dupuis tomorrow. So I’m off, albeit late, to bed! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
It took a long time to get to sleep again last night, but eventually I got a solid 7+ hours. Fortunately, with all the icing and rest I gave my knee yesterday and again this morning, it felt a lot better, and I was able to get my exercises in without a lot of pain. Spent almost the entire day balancing my credit card, I hadn’t reconciled it manually in a long time, so the numbers were off, and I’m starting to prepare to do my taxes. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, and I managed to get it all done by the end of the day. Jeff’s been scrapping up a storm because the prices are higher now than they have been in a while, so he’s got the big trailer all loaded up, but he ran out of time today so he’s going to take it tomorrow. Settled down for the evening, continuing my icing and doing some extra stretching to make up for not doing it all yesterday, now I’m ready for shower and bed, so good night, babe! Love you!