Archives for June 2022

Thursday, June 30, 2022 – Runaround Vet and Phone Return Day

Hi Darlin’,
Woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t get back to sleep for a long time, so I ended up not getting out of bed until almost 8:30, don’t know what was up with that! The good news is, the dog bitch was gone this morning, evidently one of the other campers persuaded her that it would be cheaper and easier to just take an Uber home (to the tune of $350) than to waste another day waiting for a tow truck, when the dealer said it would be $600 just to make her two new key fobs, with towing extra, so that what she did. She managed to get packed up on her own after all, though I think she might have had her son or someone with her, and they departed camp at 1:00 in the morning. So that made it a much happier morning for me! After chores and breakfast, I hooked up the little horse trailer, loaded up Lola and all my phone stuff, and went into Verizon to return the A42 that I hated, and got some good advice about not sending in the Nokia return until it’s confirmed they’ll refund my money when they get it. Then I did some shopping at the Walmart next door, and timed it perfectly to get to Lola’s vet appointment at 2:00 for her annual exam and shots. I have lots of leftover heartworm tablets that Jeff had, expired but I figure they’re air tight so they’re probably still good, no sense wasting them considering how much they cost! All clear for worms, though, so she’s as healthy as she can be! Headed from there out to the other vet for the horses, got their annuals and blood taken for their Coggins, a bit overdue, but since I haven’t been traveling, I haven’t worried about it. Rain built up all around us but we missed most of it. One last stop at the IGA for a few frozen items, then back to camp around 5:00, got the horses put away, the trailer unhooked, the tractor turned around so I can unhook the bush hog for some further 3-point hitch diagnostics tomorrow, if I’m up for it. Grilled a hot dog and settled down after rounds, the camp is empty now except for one woman in a tent who’s been perfectly charming and very patient with the dog bitch, actually counseled her for a while yesterday, but I expect she’s too old to change her ways. Anyway, time for ice cream, then shower, then bed! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Wednesday, June 29, 2022 – Got My New Phone Working, Yay!

Hey Sweetie,
Changed my mind about going to Okeechobee, figured if I picked up the phone from the post office, I’d be able to activate it and start working on it, which is exactly what I did. I also stopped at Tractor Supply for feed and hydraulic oil before getting back to camp. The crazy dog lady was still here, and so was her truck, even though she’d been borrowing phones and making calls again to get a wrecker out here to take it to the dealer. Apparently, several people came out several times and for some reason, they couldn’t get in (I’m guessing she gave them the wrong combination, and they didn’t bother to climb the fence), but she should have waited at the gate for them and never did. Anyway, I spent the afternoon getting my new phone in order, though I’m embarrassed to say that, in fact, the first phone did have a battery, hidden in a little cardboard compartment that I never saw, but found with the second phone. I’ll be sending that phone back anyway, hopefully I’ll get the full refund. This new phone fits perfectly in a nice little wallet case I bought, and once I got it up and running, it’s working perfectly. Spent a lot of time talking to the other campers, they’re all pretty tired of the dog lady using them. One camper is a psychologist and took the time to counsel her a bit, though I doubt it will do much good. At the end of the day, someone came and got her, but her truck is still blocking half the road. James came by to check it out, but there wasn’t anything to be done at that point. Later the Law Enforcement guy called, I told him we’d have a trespassing problem after noon tomorrow, since her permit expires tomorrow. I don’t think I’ll be around for the fireworks, though, I have two vet appointments near Okeechobee, and I have to return these two phones tomorrow to the Verizon store, so I’ll probably be gone before he gets here. Probably for the best, since I’m public enemy #1 in her eyes. Settled down for the evening, very happy with how my new phone is working, texting, phoning, all that good stuff. Time for shower and bed now, though! Good night, babe! Love you!

Tuesday, June 28, 2022 – Laziest Day Ever

Hey Babe,
Got up at what’s become my usual 7:30, did chores and breakfast, then essentially waited around for my Fedex package to be delivered to the post office. I was hoping it would come early enough to make a trip to the Verizon store to get it working, but it didn’t, so I ended up doing literally nothing all day except reading and watching TV. The guy from the dog couple came by and gave me an earful about his problems with his girlfriend, and I guess he took some things from the trailer, then disappeared, then in the late afternoon, the woman came back, and immediately made problems, stopping her truck on the road for some unknown reason, then couldn’t start it again because she left her key fob and home and it wouldn’t start again (she blamed the truck for ‘letting her drive away without the fob’), but one of the other campers helped her call a wrecker to tow the truck to the dealer where they are apparently going to reprogram it or something. Some people just put out such negative vibes they surround themselves with a bubble of negativity, just like the dust boy in the Peanuts cartoons, and she’s a great example of that. She’s apparently staying here overnight and pulling the trailer out tomorrow when she gets her truck back, hopefully. I haven’t been receiving text messages for five days, and I made the mistake of trying to call Verizon to fix it, and in the end, once again, I ended up being told to do a factory reset, now I can’t get into my Google account so my phone has nothing on it. If I can’t fix it in the morning, I’ll go to Okeechobee tomorrow and spend the day in the Verizon store straightening all this mess out, though I was hoping to wait until Thursday, since I have appointments at two vets for the horses at one, for Lola at the other. I may just postpone those until my next necessary trip, trying to cut down on as much travel as possible, what with diesel at nearly $6/gal. We’ll see what happens in the morning. Anyway, I spent most of the day sitting in my recliner, and if it’s true that sitting is the new smoking when it comes to heart disease, I smoked a pack today! Heading off to shower and bed, though I don’t have a book to read because I can’t download Kindle on my phone because now I can’t get into my Google account because I tried too many times and it shut me out. Verizon……Grrrrrrrrrrrrr! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Monday, June 27, 2022 – Bad Start, But Ended Up Quiet

Hi Darlin’,
Never a dull moment around here! After chores, I did my rounds, and as I was passing the “dog trailer” on my way back home, the couple were having a very loud and violent argument. He was throwing stuff into the back of his truck and she was screaming at him, and I saw they had four dogs with them. They paused their argument enough for me to say that I noticed they had four dogs, and she answered back that they had two permits, which I explained was for two campsites and they were only occupying one, and intimated they were related, or at least together. She quickly refuted that they weren’t family, so the two permits were valid, which was ridiculous. Then with all their ranting, the dogs got loose and started wandering off, and they chased after them trying to round them up, and they actually started following me! The woman caught one, the other three were following me, the guy managed to grab two and I grabbed the other, and the guy was saying something about, the way she treated me yesterday was the same way she was treating him all day, and evidently he was sick of it. He returned the dogs, then came back to tell me he was leaving, and that he was taking his generator and the rest of his stuff with him. Then she showed up all fake crying and claiming that he had pushed her, he said she was lying, I asked if she wanted me to call law enforcement, she said yes, then I said that they would be citing her for having four dogs, which shut her down instantly. He left and she was forced to grovel a bit, asking to use my phone so she could call her son to come help here. The guy drove off, I let her use my phone, she said she’d be back to pick up her trailer “later”, and I informed her that in accordance with the rules she had 24 hours to either stay in it or remove it, though I know there’s now way anyone could stay in it without a generator running the AC, and the guy took that with him. She finished her call and went to pack up, though she didn’t do much before she drove off with her dogs, well puppies, actually, humongous 6 or 7 month old puppies that already had 20 lbs. on Lola. Needless to say, things got a lot quieter after that! James called and we chatted about it, but I told him it was pretty much resolved at that point, just a matter of getting the trailer moved, though I mentioned I had a trailer hitch and could tow it wherever they wanted were it not claimed :-). I did few chores, swept out the porch, fixed one of the snaps for the screen skirting that came off a while back, made Lola her satin balls, then figured out how many more posts I needed for the green trail after my reconnaissance the other day, finally settled down for a quiet afternoon and evening of TV binge-watching. Ready for shower and bed, so good night, sweetie! Love you!

Sunday, June 26, 2022 – Good Start, But The End, Not So Much

Hi Honey,
Woke up even earlier at first this morning, 5:30, but I read and fell back to sleep and it was after 7:30 by the time I woke the next time. After chores, starting some laundry, and some more research on the tractor, I decided to take the plunge, so I drained the hydraulic fluid and found the strainer just above the drain plug, managed to get that out and clean it. Not as dirty as I thought it was going to be, so it remains to be seen if that’s the actual problem with my 3PH. I don’t have hydraulic fluid yet, so I just let it drain, cleaned the strainer as best I could and put it back in, just need to fill it back up, then I can check it. I did find a good website that gives me a step-by-step diagnostic procedure to determine the problem, so if cleaning the strainer doesn’t work, I have a process for narrowing down the problem. A thunderstorm came in just as I finished the job, and it rained on and off all afternoon, so I spent the rainy Sunday binge-watching Supernatural, all quiet for awhile. Then that woman with the dogs, who didn’t come back yesterday, finally arrived here late in the afternoon. After I fed my horses I went to do rounds, chatting with everyone, but when I passed her, I simply tried to let her know another big storm was coming, but she immediately started picking a fight with me, and had her tablet up recording the whole thing. Ridiculous. She started ranting about how she was going to demand reimbursement for her gas because she had to take her dogs to a sitter, and show she was going to sue, and get me fired, and all sorts of crazy threats and lies. I almost laughed out loud when she accused Lola of “taunting” her dogs, while Lola was on her cable in the screen room and her seven dogs were running around free in a paddock! She was crazy rabid! She ignored the fact that I let her stay overnight the first night even when she had all those dogs that weren’t allowed, and the fact that it clearly stated on the website that only two dogs are allowed, and that all I was doing was enforcing the rules. I don’t understand people that get that miserable, and try to make everyone around them as miserable as they are. Sigh… So another tense week here, evidently, since their permit goes until Thursday. I’ve already told James to expect a complaint, I’m sure I’m not hearing the last of this. It’s too bad they allow regular campers here, if it was exclusively a horse camp like it used to be, I’d be on my own, which suits me just fine! Well, after that whole mess, I’m just about ready for another shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Saturday, June 25, 2022 – Bad Start, But Mostly Quiet Day

Hi Sweetie,
Another 6:30 morning, really starting to get to be a habit! Fed the horses, then I had to go over to those campers that have seven dogs, yeah seven, I missed one yesterday, and told them they couldn’t stay here with that many. At first they seemed fine with it, but then the woman got all belligerent with me about it, saying the information wasn’t on the permit or anywhere else except the sign on the front gate, and that after driving three hours to be here, what was wrong and she was going to sue and all kinds of over the top threats. Well, I found that information on the first paragraph on the first page of the Dupuis website, printed it out and gave it to her, so that should have ended that discussion. I thought they were going to pack up and leave, but eventually they just left with their dogs, saying they were going to take them to a dog sitter and come back, but I didn’t see them for the rest of the day. I had to take down the tent that this woman and her two kids left behind, apparently having car trouble (so she told the office) and didn’t know when she’d be back, so I packed everything up and stored it for her, though I’m not holding my breath that she’ll ever come back for it. Then I spent several hours on the computer researching the problems with my 3 point hitch on the Yanmar, and think I’ve got it figured out how to fix it, but it was too late in the day to start, so I just took the rest of the day off for a change. Of course, I’m still pulling out ragweed galore whenever I come over to the barn, and it seems like I pull scores of them every time, hoping that makes enough of a dent where I can stay ahead of them when they start to flower again. Read for awhile, then binge-watched some more Supernaturals, I’m nearing the end of Season 12, not quite as good as some of the earlier seasons, but still keeping my interest. Gave Lola a bath, she’s been scratching a lot, and vacuumed her bed and chair hoping to keep the fleas down. She’s a lot more comfortable now. So just need to do my Spanish lesson and I’ll be ready for shower and bed! I can hear some thunder coming, so it looks like we’ll get some more much needed rain. Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Friday, June 24, 2022 – Busy Work Around Camp, Useless Hours on Phone with Verizon

Hey Darlin’,
Body clocks getting adjusted, up at 6:30 again this morning, which was good because it turned out to be a very hot day. After chores and breakfast I spent time on the phone again with Verizon, their Indian chapter of customer support, because they didn’t call yesterday like they promised. I went through the whole story again, and again was promised that I would get a call back within four hours. So to kill time, I made some final touches to the post with some adjustments that needed to be done, then pulled out the blue paint and painted all the tops of the post where the water spigots are, a job I promised James I would do. That took me to nearly noon, so I killed some more time trying to find a vet where I can get the horses’ Coggins done, as they’re overdue. Another problem there! In the past, all of my certificates from the past have been in my account, now all of them are gone except for my EECVI which expired in March, while my Coggins, which expired in April, weren’t there. They tried to convince me it was always like that, that they purge files once they’re expired, but I know that’s not true because last time I looked I had documents from YEARS ago in there. Well, since I’m not traveling out of state this year, or at least this summer, I don’t need a Health Certificate, but I do need a Coggins so I can get that anywhere. Just didn’t really need to have yet another argument with someone! Finally, by 1:00, four and a half hours later, I again didn’t receive a call. So I called again, and spent another two hours on the phone with their Indian chapter, and in the end, they once again promised to call me within three hours, which, unfortunately, would once again put it past the time when they could overnight me a new phone. I did some more chores, and by 4:30 hadn’t heard anything, so I tried to call again and got another bunch of runarounds like you wouldn’t believe! It wouldn’t even connect me to a person for a long time! Then I finally got another woman to promise she’d call back in five minutes, never happened. Obviously, Verizon has hired a bunch of liars who specialize in hanging up on people. So I started to research getting a phone from elsewhere, and ended up just ordering another phone from Verizon, starting from scratch, since that seems to be the only way to get it in a reasonable amount of time, at least by Tuesday. I’ll sort out the return and cancellation of the other order later, but meanwhile I’m so peeved at being lied to over and over and over again, I wish there were some alternatives! Finally settled in for the evening, though it got a late start with all this phone nonsense. I just barely finished my rounds before we had a downpour, lots of thunder and lightening which scared poor Lola. We needed the rain, though! I had several new campers show up, one came with six dogs! There’s a limit of 2 per permit, I don’t know what these people were thinking. They said they came last year and had three, so I guess they got away with that, put SIX! And they look like pit pulls to boot! I don’t know what I’m supposed to do about it, I told them they’re only allowed two, but am I supposed to kick them out? I guess I’ll talk to them tomorrow, the rain was just starting by the time I got their permit in, figure something out. Took my shower early, so I’ll be ready for bed soon, so good night, babe! Love you!

Thursday, June 23, 2022 – Nice Ride on Apollo, Mowing and Hours on Phone with Verizon

Hi Babe,
Got up even earlier today, 6:30, and it was an absolutely gorgeous morning! Got down to 67, so it even felt a bit cool! Got chores and breakfast done, and was out on the trail on Apollo by 9:00. We just did the green trail loop, with was a bit over 5 miles, but took over two hours, he’s such a slug these days! Took Lola along this time, was hoping there would be some water on the trail, but there wasn’t, but there was lots of shade so she managed okay. It was a lovely ride, though he was a bit skittish at a few things, I guess because it’s been so long since he’s been on the trail! Got back and decided I should mow the part of the campground (which was most of the actual camp sites) since for some inexplicable reason, the contract mowers mowed everything EXCEPT the actual sites, so the grass was getting too long, which make the bugs out here worst. That took me a couple of hours. Thanks goodness the District is giving me the diesel to do these jobs! After I got back I noticed a text from Fedex saying my package had actually been delivered already, but when I called the office, they hadn’t seen it. I drove over, and old James found a tag on the gate saying it was in the mailbox, so I picked it up. Got back to camp, unpacked it, plugged it in figuring to charge it up. Then I noticed that on the bill they had charged me a $35 “upgrade” fee which no one had mentioned, so I called, and after some running around, managed to get them to drop that charge. Considering I can get the exact same phone for $100 less at any other retail store, I wasn’t about to pay another $35! So I was momentarily happy with Verizon. After a couple of hours, I still couldn’t turn it on, so I downloaded a manual to figure out how to get to the inside, thinking maybe I had to pull off a plastic tab on the battery or something and when I pulled the back off, to my astonishment, there was NO BATTERY! How the hell do they send out a phone with no battery?? So I got on the phone again, got transferred at least 7-8 times, spent an hour and a half trying to sort it out, was told they didn’t have a battery so they would send me a new phone, but then the order wouldn’t got through, that was another department, and finally I was forced to leave it with a woman promising “to call me back” once the order, which now had to go outside the system to accomplish. I asked repeatedly for a way to reach back to her, which I never got, except she promised to call back. That was two hours ago, still nothing. When I started the call, there was plenty of time to get the package overnight, which they said they would do, but by the end of the call, after 7:00, not holding my breath. Grrrrrrrrrrr! I had ordered a cover, which I should get tomorrow, but now I have no idea when I’ll get the phone, because even if they send it overnight tomorrow, I probably won’t get it until Monday. I HATE this other phone I got on Sunday, too big, too clunky, won’t fit in my hand or my pocket, can’t WAIT to replace it, but there you go. Stuck again. NOT happy with Verizon again. Sigh. Anyway, watched a little TV, now I’m ready for early bed again, just my Spanish lesson and to finish by nightcap, and off I’ll be going! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Wednesday, June 22, 2022 – A Great Ride on Flash

Hi Sweetie!
Well, my body clock is definitely moving earlier, was up and about just after 7:00, and what a gorgeous morning! Temps actually got into the upper 60’s overnight, just enough cloud cover to keep it from getting too hot, and by the time I got on the trail just after 9:00, there was a lovely breeze to boot. Absolutely gorgeous! Flash and I did nearly 12 miles, and I was very surprised at how wet some of the sections of the trail were already. We haven’t really had all that much rain, but it seems to be raising the water levels, so we spent quite a bit of the trail wading in ankle deep water, with the occasional deeper creek crossing. Flash seemed to like it, he was splashing away like a mad horse! Tried to get down to the office to see if my package with my new phone had arrived yet, but it’s a different combination, which I don’t have, and it’s all fenced off, so I just went back to camp, arriving at about 12:30. Spent most of the afternoon on the phone with the IRS, only to learn that the problem I was having was entirely of my own making, so I’m not getting as big a tax return as I had hoped, darn it! Good thing I have a job in Vegas next month, getting a little short on ready funds! And once again, not surprisingly, Fedex failed to deliver my package today, I got a notice at 4:45 that it was being delayed until tomorrow, probably because the office was closed by then, what did I expect? Fedex has only ever delivered one package in 35 years on the day it was supposed to arrive, so once again, I’m left empty-handed. For some reason, they won’t deliver it to me at the campground, it has to go to the office. So another day with this clunky phone! Grrr! So once I got off the phone, it was a day of reading and TV again. Won’t be long out of bed again tonight, going to try to keep this early bird schedule going. That said, good night, by darlin’! Love you!

Tuesday, June 21, 2022 – More Painting and Planning

Hi Darlin’!
Having gone to bed a little earlier, I was up a little earlier, and was out painting posts right after chores and breakfast. Today it was all about finalizing the colors on every post, making sure I had every post that I needed, and checking that I had the right materials coming. It took longer than I thought, didn’t get finished until 12:30, then spent several more hours on the computer verifying everything, finding a couple of additions I need to complete, but I’m feeling pretty confident that it’s settling down nicely. It may be a whole other story once I get out there, but on paper and computer, it sure is looking fine! Kept busy with that until 4:00, then settled in for the evening, chicken on the grill and binge TV. No storms today, but there’s a cooler northern breeze, I think I might actually try to get a ride in tomorrow! Seems like it’s been ages! And it won’t be in order to check on anything, it will be purely for pleasure for a change. Though you know me, I’m bound to be keeping an eye out for something that needs doing! My new phone is supposed to be arriving by Fedex (yeah, right, we’ll see about that!) and if it comes early enough, I may take a run up to Okeechobee again and finish this swap-out of phones, we’ll see. Meanwhile, a quiet evening, shower and bed are in my near future! Good night, baby! Love you!