Archives for October 2022

Hey Babe,
As much as I wanted to ride again today, the logic side of my brain decided that I really needed to spend time getting ready for my trip next week, so I got my chores done, which included sewing a new bottom on to Apollo’s feed bag which he had chewed through, then had a nice breakfast of blueberry pancakes, which used to be out Sunday ritual but that I haven’t done since your passing but decided to do today, then I did some prep work for my trip next week. I went to Glenn’s and serviced his pool, picked up some feed for the horses, moved a feed bin into the small trailer, filled a couple of tires with air until the compressor battery quit (got two tires done, will do the other two tomorrow), did a couple of loads of laundry, got my suitcase from the attic and my computer bag from the back of the trailer, then finally settled down to some Outlander binge-watching for the afternoon and evening. I feel like I needed some rest, my back was hurting a little bit, can’t afford to be in pain next week. Tomorrow I’ll finish up with my prep, and rest as well, so I’ll be ready to spend the day traveling on Tuesday. Ready for shower and bed, so good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
Another nice night of sleep, then after chores and breakfast, and checking in a whole gaggle of Miami Cubans who came out for the day (and who offered me wine at 10:00 this morning!), I saddled up Apollo again so I could ride out with a camper named Cindy from Morriston, who had brought her horse to Jupiter to get out of the path of the hurricane. I didn’t think it was possible, but her mare was just as much of a slug as Apollo! Perfectly matched at about 2.5 mph, though we did jog occasionally. We went a bit over eight miles, which took us almost three hours, so yeah, a sloooow ride. But at least he got some exercise again, I’ve been neglecting him for too long. Many of the trails that were wet earlier in the week are a lot drier now, the Jim Lake is definitely back within its banks, so things are improving. As we were getting close to camp, the we passed the Cuban brigade, it was after 1:00 and they were just getting out of camp! Three hours of wine later… and they had this big boom box with huge stereo speakers cranked WAY up playing mariachi music. Not exactly the peace and quiet that most folks come out here for, but hey, it takes all kinds to make a world, right? When we got back, I just let Apollo graze around behind the trailer on his anchor for awhile, and I tried to work on my Buick, hoping I could round out the fuel injection rail that I inadvertently bent up a few weeks ago. I improved it, but still couldn’t get it quite right, not surprisingly. Anyway, I’ll definitely have to take a trip up to Snake Road Salvage when I get back from my job in Arizona next week. Although, I did find one on ebay that looks like the right thing, so I may have to break down and buy one instead. Anyway, settled down for the evening, watched a few Outlanders, and we’ve once again reached shower and bedtime. Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
I’m certainly enjoying these cooler nights, Hurricane Ian did a great and instantaneous job of ushering out summer and welcoming fall temps! Had a good night sleep, got my chores done, read a little bit, then finally around noon, got out the tractor and spent about three hours working on post-storm cleanup. An equestrian camper from the west coast up near Goethe State Forest, Cindy, had brought her horse over here to Jupiter to be safe from the storm, and she helped me by burning all the piles I kept bringing her, so we got a lot more done. I burned another pile as well, so it’s starting to look a lot nicer. I’ve been encouraging campers to burn whatever’s around them, so hopefully, the rest of the cleanup will mostly take care of itself, except the paddocks, which are still a mess. Otherwise, it was a quiet day. Binged on some Outlander, and now I’m more than ready for shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Had a decent night’s sleep, though it took a long while to nod off, still up at around 7:30. Did my chores and had a quick breakfast, finish just in time before Karen and her friend Laura showed up for a ride. They were on stock horses, and didn’t want to take too long of a ride, so I decided to join them on Apollo. Poor old guy hasn’t been ridden in a long time, and he certainly needs the exercise! We rode for just under two hours, first taking the teal trail, included the very wet area between Intersections 7 & 9, drier out to the powerline and back to the grade on the red trail, then decided to take the red trail back to camp, which was wetter than I expected, though only a few inches in most places. The two water crossings were pretty high, but that only means above the knees, almost to the horses’ bellies, but no big deal. Was a very nice ride. I had intended to pick up some palm fronds this afternoon, but decided I wasn’t in the mood, so I finished reading a book instead. Took a shot at trying to fix the dead drill/driver that went kaput on me last week, no luck there. Changed the water filter in my hose, it’s been very slow and full of algae, so I put in a new one along with a bleach tablet just to try to keep my tank a little clearer. Settled down for the evening, watched a couple of Outlanders, now it’s shower and bed time! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Got up a little late, got my chores and breakfast done, then headed up to Sam’s Club in Stuart to pick up some pool salt for Glenn’s. They screwed up the order and didn’t give me 10 bags, only 8, so I had to go back and get the other two. Nearly made me late for my euchre game at the Kane Center, well, actually I didn’t make it into one of the foursomes, so had to play cutthroat for a bit before we rotated out into the teams. Lots of folks there, though, they’ve been getting better turnouts lately. Finished up at 3:00, headed to Walmart, picked up fuel ($65 for half a tank!), did my shopping and headed home. After 6:00 by the time I got back, grilled a nice T-bone (thanks, Luis!) and settled down for the evening. Been bingeing on Outlander. I know we watched the first couple of seasons together, but I don’t think we watched the last few, so I went back to start over (I couldn’t remember too much), and am remembering as it goes along. Had a couple of campers come in today, so I guess it’s back to normal! Really enjoyed being on my own, but as the season progress, I’m sure that won’t happen any more, darn it. 🙂 Ready for shower and bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Such a busy day today! James came by just as I was feeding the horses, and we chatted for a bit. First time he’s been here since the hurricane, just checking it out to see what needs to be done. After he left I had breakfast, fixed a plumbing problem I was having with my kitchen sink, then headed over to the chiropractor, but it turned out I had the time wrong, so I left and went up to Glenn’s to mow his yard. Had a little trouble, got stuck in the mud, had to use the truck to pull out the mower. Ended up only getting about half of it done before I had to go back down to the chiropractor. Not sure anything he did really helped, since most of my pain was already gone, but hopefully it will help prevent a reoccurrence. Headed back to Glenn’s to finish the mowing, stopping for gas for the mower along the way, also did some weed-whacking, then had to try to fix his pool, it’s not getting the flow that it’s supposed to, but I couldn’t get the big filter open so we had to leave it off. By then it was after 6:00, and I was glad to get home! Made a quick dinner and settled down for the evening. A very busy day! More than ready for my shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Amazingly, I was able to find a dentist who could see me this afternoon, so I spent most of the day up until 2:00 doing more housework. Had a clog in the kitchen sink, had to work on that a bit as well. The dentist was a young woman, did a great job of just sanding down the edges of my tooth so it wouldn’t rub my tongue raw, but said we really need to put a crown on it, so I’m going to have to investigate my dental insurance options when I have a chance. Discovered that Equity had completely changed their health insurance requirements, and that I’ve actually been without it since April! They’re only allowing 6-month policies since Covid, and since I thought I had qualified for a year, I hadn’t paid attention. So now I need a 16 week contract just to earn 6 months of insurance! Going to have to look at some other options on that, too, see what’s a better deal. Good thing I didn’t have to have any medical emergencies since April or I’d have been in a lot of trouble. Anyway, my coverage just started, so I’m good until the end of March, but I don’t know what to do after that. Can’t get another 16 week contract in before then, I don’t think! Might have to try, though. Anyway, a busy day, cleaning is mostly done thank goodness. Settled down for a quiet evening, soon off to bed! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
Love these cooler night time temps, had another good night sleep, without the AC coming on. Got bit by the housework bug today, since I haven’t done much deep cleaning since I started this trail project, I figured I was way overdue, so after breakfast, I got busy. I couldn’t believe how much dust had collected on the ceiling above the fans, and the whole place was, frankly, filthy, so I spent nearly all day cleaning and still only got about 2/3 of it done. I’ll finish off the rest tomorrow. Worked until after 4:00 on the cleaning, then settled down for the evening. I had a few day riders I let come in from Jupiter, they helped pick up a few palm fronds for me. I’m glad my back is feeling so much better, though I still intend to see the chiropractor on Tuesday, just to see if there is an ongoing issue. Then this evening, while I was eating some mint chocolate ice cream, I suddenly bit down on something hard. I thought it might be something in the ice cream, turned out to be a little chip had come off of my back left molar! What’s up with that? So now I have to find a dentist and get that fixed. Always something! Sure glad I have a job in a couple of weeks, what with all these extraneous expenditures. Soon be ready for shower and bed! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’!
Had another good night sleep, got my chores done, had breakfast, then got busy cleaning up all the flotsam that came down from the palm trees during the hurricane. Tied the tarp to the back of the tractor, filled it up and dragged it over to the nearest firepit, dropped it off and went back form more. Once I had a good pile at four different firepits, I started a good bonfire at each, and managed to burn just about all of it. Took me from 10:00-3:00 to get it all done, and boy, was I tired by the end of it! My back flared up just a little, but nothing too bad, surprisingly. I put the heating pad on it after my shower just to keep it loose, we’ll see how it feels in the morning. I’ve been trying to stay away from the ibuprofen, that just dulls the pain and then I try to do too much and end up paying for it when the pills wear off, so I haven’t taken any in a few days. Settled down to reading and TV for the rest of the day, already did my Spanish lesson, and plan on getting to bed good and early tonight! Think will all the physical activity today, I should sleep well again, I hope! I’ve got some riders coming in tomorrow, they said they’d help with some of the cleanup as well, so hopefully I can make a bigger dent tomorrow. I’d say I might have done about 25-30% of the campground, not including the paddocks, which are a real mess, and that’s my first priority, the campground. I can tackle the paddocks later. So that was my day, busy and productive, just the way I like them! Love you, babe! Good night!