Archives for August 2022

Hey Babe,
As promised, I had a very lazy day today. Woke up at the usual time but laid in for a couple of hours reading, so horses had a late breakfast. Finished my book off, did one load of laundry, watched a couple of movies, and otherwise just had a much needed lazy day of nothing. A lovely break! Should be raring to go tomorrow, which is likely to be a very busy day! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Getting used to getting up between 7:00 and 7:30 these days, fed the horses, then immediately brought Flash over and saddled him up. Grabbed a quick breakfast, then headed out just after 8:00. I wanted to check out a couple of trails to see if I can get the tractor in them, yes on two and no on one, so as long as we don’t have too much rain in the near future, I’ll be doing just a bit more mowing in some spots. You won’t believe this, but I found another section on the red trail that I’ve never been on or even noticed before! It’s a cutoff of sorts, takes out a corner, but it’s nice and shady, so I’m going to have to map it and mow it and put markers on the intersections now. Read and relaxed for a bit, then eventually headed over to Jeff’s for Karl’s last full day, they were working on his big Dodge and doing a few other mechanical things which I watched for a bit, then got into my bathing suit and Lola and I took a swim for awhile. We still had stuff left from the party last weekend, so we cooked some burgers and finished off a few things. I finally left around 7:30 to get back to camp before dark, a beautiful sky as I was driving in. Did my rounds, then settled down for the evening, though I’m pretty ready to go to bed early! Feel like it’s been a long, busy and strenuous week for some reason, so I’m planning on taking the day off completely tomorrow. Good night, my sweet! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Had a good night sleep, then after chores and breakfast I ran down to the post office to pick up my ignition module for the Buick, drop off the workshop Certificates, and pick up a star screwdriver set, something I’ve needed for a long time and specifically need for this module changeover. Got back to camp and started pulling out the old module, managed to get it out fine, a little tricky, but then discovered I hadn’t done it exactly right, but it didn’t matter, at least I got it out. I was changing the coil over to the module when, despite great care by me because I was aware of the danger, one of the wire blades swung upwards, and I knew that was it. As expected, when I swung it back down into position, the blade broke, making the ignition coil useless, darn it. I called the local NAPA and they told me they had one, so I ran into town, only to discover that they only had TYPE II, which was the wrong one. They could get TYPE I by tomorrow morning, but the price they were asking was about double what I could on Amazon, by a good manufacturer, so I decided to order it through them instead. It’s due to be at the post office on Monday, which is fine, because my other parts for the Buick are arriving there the same day. Meanwhile, the truck needed more parts, wiring harnesses for the injectors, which won’t be here until Monday, so I had to extend my rental car until then. Just as I got back from my second trip to Indiantown, James was just about to come out of the gate as I arrived, so he turned around and came back to spend some time with me. A lot of good news, bad news there. Still don’t know exactly when the plumber will be here to fix the plumbing in the “new” showerhouse, though I’m glad we have good water to the barn now. Budget for the new camp host site is on hold until the new fiscal year, so it looks like I might have to move off the camp host site I’m in now to let the new camp hosts in (still to be hired), until they get around to doing that. He’s promised to at least get me electricity, which will help, and we can work out the rest until they get the site built. Settled down for the evening after he left, watched a movie, then remembered that I had put the horses in a stall while the mowers were here, so I had to go and let them out again. Pretty quiet the rest of the day, so now I’m ready for shower and bed. No campers, first time I think I’ve been alone on a Friday night! Very peaceful! Thinking about taking a ride in the morning, maybe fix a couple of signs while I’m out there. I’ll see how it goes in the morning. Good night, baby! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Didn’t have a very good night sleep, and was up pretty early. Horses weren’t in their stalls, they were out munching, so I didn’t bother to feed them, but I noticed they had drank a healthy portion of their water, so I guess the plumber did a good job! Had a quick breakfast, then was out on the tractor by just a little bit after 8:00. I ended up getting just about all the signs out save two that were just too far south and wet to get to, and mowed nearly 12 more miles of trails! The tractor was running great, last night I had flushed out the radiator and cleaned off the front grill, which was full of dirt, and it never even came close to overheating, which has been a problem I’ve been having with it. Barely reached the halfway point on the gauge today! Glad to see that! I got back to camp around 1:30, then kept busy with other stuff. Finished off the certificates and sent links to the participants in my workshop last month. Later than usual, but I only got their full names this week, they’re pretty busy out there these days. Did a load of laundry, dumped my black water, moved all the posts James dropped off yesterday to a painting position, interspersed that with a couple of good movies (Thirteen Lives, a film by Ron Howard about that kids Thai soccer team that got stuck in a cave that got flooded, and a sad little movie with Josh Brolin and Kate Winslet) and two showers, and I’d say it was a full day! I also got a call from the mechanic working on my truck, it seems it may take more time to get my truck back, they’re waiting on additional parts, wiring harnesses which seem to be in short supply these days, so I many not get it tomorrow, which means I’ll have to rent this car for a few more days, unless I can get the Buick running. One of the parts is waiting for me at the post office, I may just go pick it up in the morning and see if I can get it fixed. I sure hope all this activity helps me get a good night sleep tonight! Off I go! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
While I was hoping to make more progress on my mowing and sign installation today, I was asked to hang around for the plumber who would be working the old well, so I spent the morning cutting some more boards to length, painting the ends, correcting one board that I had put the number upside down on, then did some figuring out on the computer how many more posts I would need to fill in some of the blanks that have become apparent to me out there. Meanwhile, the plumber had two emergencies and didn’t get here until almost 4:00, but he did manage to fix the problem with the old well, so now we have fully chlorinated and carbon filtered water that smells fine, rather than that stinky sulfur smell we’ve had for the last couple of weeks. Old James came by with the grader and cleaned up the gravel they dropped us a few weeks ago, did a nice job with it, then he also brought me 40 more posts, which I figure is about what I need to truly finish the job here, with maybe half a dozen extra just in case. So not a productive day in what I had intended, but I made something out of it anyway. Relaxed for the evening, finished off my latest binge series, watched a movie, so now it’s time for shower and bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Sweetie!
Up at the crack of dawn, got chores and breakfast done, and was out on the trail by a little after 8:00, this time working my way all the way down to the far end of the property. Did some more mowing as well as putting up signs, got back a little after 2:00, and relaxed for the rest of the day. Making some great progress, but will have to make a couple of changes on a sign or two, and put one sign in the wrong place, but didn’t realize it until a lot later in the day, but I can fix all of that once I start going out and painting, assuming I’ve found all the mistakes, which is not a certainty yet. Oh well, it will all get done eventually! Mowed most of the trails on the west side of the property, tried to do some on the yellow trail further east, but got stopped by a couple of drainage ditches that were too deep for my tractor. Saw a gator cross the trail in front of me at one point, just as I was stopping to let the tractor cool down a bit, nice place for a respite! Anyway, had a pleasant rest of the day. Took my shower as soon as I got back, so it’s straight off to bed for me, as soon as I finish my tea and Spanish lesson! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hey Babe!
Got kind of a late start this morning, spent some time finding parts for the Buick, but finally got out on the tractor around 10:30 and put up a bunch more signs. It’s been very dry for more than a week here, so I took advantage of the opportunity to get some mowing done in some areas that were very wet the last time I was out on horseback, and today they were quite dry, so I got almost all the way down to the boardwalk, except for the very last stretch. Not that anyone is likely to be riding this week, but at least it will be easier to mow next time, maybe. I stopped next to Jim Lake to let the tractor cool down for a bit, then did another short stretch on the teal trail on my way back to camp, finishing off just after 2:00. Relaxed the rest of the day, which was just as well, because I felt tired this morning and really struggled to get myself going. Ordered the parts I need for the Buick, due on Friday, hoping I can get a couple of the boys over to help me get the work done on it, but we’ll see. A quiet evening of TV viewing, off to shower and bed. Camp is empty right now, though we’re hoping some of the various plumbing issues get addressed this week. It sure would be nice to get all that resolved! Anyway, good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
After a reasonable night sleep, albeit a slow start, I spent awhile dealing with a shower house problem. One of the showers suddenly seems to have popped its cork and was running full bore, with hot water streaming out of it. I had to shut down the entire shower house, since the individual showers don’t have shutoff valves yet. Once that was dealt with, and chores were done, eventually met two of the brothers at my Buick to try to get it started, and it surprisingly actually started once, but it died as soon as I put it in gear, so we ended up towing it back to camp, with no incidents, thank goodness. We did some diagnoses and testing using the shop manual that I’m so glad we got on the Buick so many years ago, and determined what the probably causes are for it’s non-starting situation, i.e. the ignition module, possibly the camshaft sensor, and just for good measure, a set of spark plug wires. Hopefully, that will be Panther back on the road! Then we headed to brother Glenn’s new house so Karl could see it, then we were all set to head out to his condo on the beach when there was a change of plan, and everyone headed to their respective homes instead, which was just as well, as I’m feeling a bit sore, tired and achy for some reason. Probably need a day off, feels like I haven’t had one it awhile. Settled down for the evening, now I’m ready for shower and bed. Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Woke up even before the alarm, got my chores and breakfast done, then headed over to Jeff’s. After awhile, brother Karl and I went to Publix to do all the shopping for the party, then when I got back, I got in my bathing suit and spend some time cleaning up the pool. Friends of Jeff’s came in through the afternoon, brother Glenn and wife Dena showed up around three, and we started grilling awhile after that. It was a beautiful day, just enough clouds and rain to cool it down nicely. A good time was had by all! Lola got lots of exercise, did a lot of swimming and fetching, so she was out like a light as soon as we got home. I left around 7:30 so I could get back before dark, then settled down for the evening, while Lola positively crashed. I drove around the campground first, and there was absolutely no one else here, I think this is the first Saturday night that’s ever happened! Nice and quiet, the way I like it. Feeling tired from all the activity, won’t be long out of bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Went to be early enough, but then woke up around 4:00 and couldn’t get back to sleep, then when I finally did, woke up after 9:00! So a late start to the day. After chores and breakfast, I loaded up the tractor with cross pieces and went out the green trail, mowing as I went as much as I could, and put up another half dozen plus signs. Starting to look like something! Got back just as it started to sprinkle, and shortly thereafter we had a good rain. It’s been dry all week, so it was a welcome change. Relaxed the rest of the day, just did a little housework, that was about it. I need to get to bed early, though, brother Karl is flying in from Texas tonight and I promised we’d go shopping in the morning for Jeff’s birthday party. So off to my shower and bed soon! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!