The storms continued through the night, I had to get up and bring the awning in, the wind gusts got so bad. The yard is a swamp again! Watched the playoffs and some other shows in between getting out the tack and attire we'll be taking with us on the cattle drive. Getting everything spit polished! Then towards late afternoon, my brother, who had been working on a cleaning project all weekend, decided he still had enough energy for a ride, his first since we've arrived in December, so we saddled up the horses and headed out the driveway, taking our usual nice 90 minute ride back into the picnic gazebo under the banyan tree in Hungryland. Being so late in the day, there was a lot more bird activity, we saw a couple of storks, a young hawk, and lots of other birds hunting dinner. Being the Sunday before a Monday holiday, there was a lot more human activity as well, we had two vehicles pass us on the access road back to the gazebo, which was unusual. I always thought that gate was locked, but brother seems to think they unlock it during hunting season, and indeed, one of the vehicles that passed us held a couple that promptly started putting camouflage gear on when they parked. Later we heard rifle fire coming from that direction, so obviously, something's in season in January here! Got back just as the sun was setting, and it didn't take long to get the horses, and us, settled in for the night.

Since the forecast was predicting rain coming in this afternoon, Hubby and I got up a little earlier and were out on the trails by 11:00 (okay, that may not be early for some, but we want to make as many deposits in our sleep bank as possible, since we'll be getting up around 5 a.m. during the Cattle Drive!) This time we took a slightly different route, heading east on the canal that heads to Mack Dairy Road before going out to the gazebo, adding some extra mileage, though not extra time because we spent a lot more time jogging and cantering along the way. Dogs enjoyed it as well, and we managed to get back by about 1:00, the time when rain was supposed to be moving in. Of course, it didn't, but it was getting cloudier. Hubby and I had some shopping to do, for clothes for the cattle drive and a few other odds and ends, so we headed out after putting the horses away, getting back just before the rain finally DID arrive. There's a major front coming through that looks like it will sock us in all day tomorrow, which is fine, because I'm due to receive my new new computer (I sent my old new computer back earlier this week, too unreliable), and that will be a few days to get that up and running and everything moved over. Settled down for a pleasant evening of dinner and movies!

After a rainy day yesterday, it was back on the trails again today, once again weaving through the neighborhood, down to Hungryland. This time, instead of going to the gazebo, we had noticed they had opened up a pass-through gate along the canal on the southernmost edge of the WMA, which had previously been blocked off. We didn't know how far we could go, so we went exploring. It was a good mile from the gate to the corner of the section where the canal turned south, and we followed that nearly another mile, almost to Route 706. Down and back fit the allotted time frame we had set aside, and we did a huge amount of jogging and some cantering as well, to up the condition of the horses and us. Hubby's back is still doing fine, the dogs had a great time, and the horses, of course, we once again brilliant! Another gorgeous day in Florida!

After a week of recuperating from completing the book, plus doing a bunch of other mundane stuff, the weather has finally turned perfect and Hubby and I have, at last, been able to take a ride! With the Cattle Drive looming, we simply have to get ourselves and the horses fit before we head up to St. Cloud. Hubby's acupuncture has been doing wonders for him, he's feeling much better, and we have high hopes that this will solve his back problem, if not permanently, at least for a long time. So under gorgeous skies, we saddled up the frisky horses and headed down the driveway. We decided this time to take the dogs, as we'll only be going past a few houses before reaching the canal, then heading back out to the Hungryland WMA. It's not a thrilling ride by any means, but it's nice, and it gets everybody back into the swing of things. Apollo was brilliant, he was so frisky yesterday when I trimmed his feet I was afraid he would be hard to handle at the beginning today, but he seemed so grateful to have something else to do, he was fabulous. The last few days, the horses have been hanging out at the gate, looking longingly down the driveway, so I know they were ready for a change of venue! We did a bit more jogging than we've done in a while, for conditioning as well as to check out Hubby's back, and he was fine when we got back. He's feeling so much stronger, and he's able to sit his horse so much better now that he has improved his posture considerably. Acupuncture seems to be doing the trick! Anyway, another very nice 2 hour ride to start our conditioning, we have plans to do at least 2 more rides this week. We'd love to ride every day, but there's some nasty weather in the forecast, and until it's absolutely necessary, we're still fair weather riders for the most part! And the dogs finally got some exercise, too, Lola's been going crazy with only tennis balls and frisbees to catch!