Hey Sweetie,
Had a decent night sleep, spent most of the day just hanging out reading, then headed down to Hale for the rodeo at the Iosco County Fair around 3:30. Wandered around a bit, then met up with Sandy and wandered some more, had some food, first a pulled pork dinner provided by the FFA (not quite as tender as some I've had), then Sandy and I split an elephant ear, the only junk fair food I'll allow myself. I couldn't believe it was $13 for one elephant ear! Then we watched a rather strange bubble-making show, and finally headed off to the rodeo where she met up with a bunch of her friends from the not-for-profit organization that she volunteers for, that deals with horses and at-risk kids, as well as others. There was a fine mist in the air, but no real rain, and the temps were quite comfortable, and it turned out to be a lot of fun. Crazy stunts by the rodeo clown, games for the kids involving bouncing dragons and one-shoed foot races, a touching celebration of small town rural America. So great to see these kinds of traditions being passed down, and so many kids being raised right! A fun way to spend the afternoon and evening. Got back to camp just after 9:00, fed the horses, ran the AC long enough to cool it down to outside temps, now I'm ready for shower and bed! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Had a pretty good night sleep, then once I got chores and breakfast done, I concentrated on doing all the internet computer work done that's been put on the back burner while I had such a terrible cell phone signal. Did a lot of Peru vacation planning, reduced my cell phone plan, and generally ran down the list of things I've been accumulating for awhile now. It turned out to be quite a hot day, would have been nice to be on the water, but plans to kayak fell through, and it was just as well, I needed to get this work done. I put the horses out on another site south of me, and for some unknown reason, Flash decided to head down an old trail I hadn't even noticed (probably a perimeter trail around the campground, or down to the group camp), wandering much farther than I would have expected away from his buddy Apollo, until he tangled himself up, and started whinnying for help. I actually had a hard time finding him, he had gone so deep into the brush! Silly horse! Got him untangled and back home, but a few minutes later, he went back into the paddock and started eating hay, so I closed the gate and disconnected him from his anchor, since he obviously wasn't interested in eating fresh grass. Apollo stayed out, though. Finally settled down for the evening to few episodes of House, so happy that I am able to do all of this will minimal delays and buffering! Such an improvement! Not perfect, I did lose the signal a couple of times, but it usually remedied itself before too long. The app says there's an obstruction, but it can only be the tips of trees, so it comes and goes. No worries, I'm thrilled with it! I'm obviously going to have to find a more open site at Hungerford, which could be tough considering how wooded it is there, but at least I know what direction I need to have clear, and unlike the old satellite dish, it's NOT to the southwest, but rather to the north! Sort of the opposite of what I usually like to do, but it is what it is! Just need to adjust to the new normal. Settled down for the evening, shower and bed soon! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Woke up to another gorgeous morning, did my chores and breakfast, then saddled up Flash to try to find the missing trail out of camp to the north. I couldn't find it out of camp, so I decided to try to find it from the other side, going out past the swimming hole in the river, but once I got to where my GPS said it should be, there was nothing, not a trace. Whatever trail had been there that's shown on the map is obliterated. So I went back down around the other way, the section of trail that was used for the endurance 10 mile trail, and decided that would be just fine. Got back to camp and diddled around for awhile, mostly reading, then Sandy arrived after 3:00 (with my freshly delivered Starlink in hand!), and we saddled up both horses to take that same route, only this time I went backwards, saving the best for last. I had her ride Flash while I rode Apollo, worried a bit about his stumbling, but I had given him a bute at breakfast and he seemed to be handling it pretty well today. Slow, as always, and he had some challenges climbing up some hills, but he did more trotting, even up hills, so I think the exercise is doing him good. I hope so, anyway! When we reached the waterhole spot where folks like to swim their horses, Sandy and I took a nice dip, marveling at the fast current, but quickly getting used to the cooler temps. It was lovely! Feels like the first time I've been in natural water for a long time! Got back to camp after 6:30, she headed out and I took care of the horses, then set up my new Starlink, which took me all of two minutes! So easy! I made some supper and finally settled down to a couple of episodes of House on my TV instead of my tablet, a nice change. Afterward, I did a couple of things online just to check it out, like uploading some pix on past diary entries, and it was blazingly fast, at least compared to what I've been used to lately. I have a lot of stuff to do online over the weekend, and since I rode twice today, and it's supposed to rain tomorrow afternoon, I'm guessing I'll spend the day getting caught up on computer work tomorrow. A great day, had a wonderful time with Sandy, love having both horse out together (even though it was mostly a slow ride), and ending on a positive note that my future internet and communications issues are now solved! Off to shower and bed! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Had a bunch of thunderstorms come through in the evening, and despite giving Lola two gabapentins along with her Carprofen, she paced and panted for nearly two hours! Not sure if she finally quieted down because the pills finally kicked in or if she just wore herself out. Rain continued past my getting to bed, so I put in my earplugs and enjoyed a nice sleep, and even laid in for an extra hour of reading, just to get my day off started. At first it was pretty cloudy, but as noon approached, the sun started peaking through, so I started on a couple of loads of laundry, and also hooked up the hose and filled up everything, which should now last me most if not all of the week. Spend the in-between time reading, and later in the day, watching some more episodes of House on my tablet. Made Lola some Satin Balls, walked her a couple of times, but otherwise spent the day doing as little as possible to recharge my personal battery banks. Looking forward to a good night sleep as well! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Let myself lay in late this morning, the first step of recovery from this long couple of weeks. Wished I could have stayed in bed longer, but I had some things I had to do today. By noon I headed out to Tawas, dropping off the rim of the remaining wheel that needed a tire, as I had ordered it from Simple Tire and had it sent to Janis Tire there. It was due to be delivered, though it didn't arrive until after 3:00. Meanwhile I parked for awhile in the McDonald's parking lot and did some necessary computer work, reserving a car for my upcoming reunion, selling some stocks to pay for my Peru trip, getting fuel, shopping at Walmart for some essentials, watching the swarms of Mayflies that had inundated the town, the likes of which I had never seen before! Apparently they only live a few days, but they were in full force along the coast today! Went back to the tire store and did some more computer work in their parking lot until the tire was ready (only $25 for mounting, the best price I've seen in years!), then headed back to camp. Had a nice steak dinner and watched some episodes of House on my tablet which I had downloaded in town. Glad to finally have something to watch! Can't wait to get my Starlink! Ordered a few more things to be sent to Sandy's, due on Wednesday, though Starlink is still saying Thursday for that package. I felt more rested earlier, but all the running around and walking Lola has worn me out again, so I'm heading to bed soon. Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Woke up with the alarm, did chores and breakfast, then drove over to the group camp and got started on my day of vet scribing. Was just settling in when my friend Sandy arrived, and we had a nice gap between horses when we were able to visit and get caught up before she had to go to a birthday party. It was a very casual day, and there were quite a few differences between this ride and many others I've worked, the most notable being that the horses didn't have numbers, everybody went by their names, so it was a bit more difficult to fit into the system, since they all knew each other, but we managed to make it work. This ride had both endurance and competitive trail riders, which are two quite different sets of protocols, so I asked a lot of questions and learned quite a bit more about the CTR, which is primarily a regional thing that I first came across at Kankakee. The day moved fairly quickly, then mid-afternoon I went back to camp to fill up my water tanks, using the new sillcock key that Sandy delivered to me after I had it delivered to her. It was slow going, and I nearly fell asleep waiting. I finished off my deviled eggs for the potluck tonight, then read for a tiny bit before heading over in time for supper, awards and the riders meeting for tomorrow. I was back at my site by 8:00, took Lola for a walk, fed the horses, and will soon head to bed. I felt exhausted this afternoon, not having a day off in quite awhile is taking it's toll on me. It's particularly frustrating because I can't watch an hour of TV, which always helps me unwind. Can't wait to get my Starlink! Off to bed soon, hope to put a small deposit in my sleep bank tonight, if I can manage to get to bed early enough! Good night, babe! Love you!