Hi Darlin',
Had a good night sleep, with earplugs to drown out the constant sound of rain, rain and more rain. Fortunately it wasn't accompanied by a lot of wind during the night, but wind did come up considerably during the day. Other than having to re-repair my ice-maker connection (I think I tightened it too much and the plastic ferring popped off, so I had to do it again), and cleaning up the flood that caused and putting all those towels in the dryer for about the fourth time, I spent the day reading and watching movies. It was the perfect day for that. I'm happy to report that Lola went out to play with Linda's dog Ivy during a break in the rain, so she's obviously feeling better with her new arthritis treatment, yay! Otherwise, a pretty uneventful day, waiting for the tropical storm to pass. Off to bed soon! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!
Thursday, September 26, 2024 – A Few Chores, Then Lots of Necessary Rain
Hiya Sweetie,
Slept better last night, thank goodness, then did a few chores this morning. Finished fixing the leak in my ice maker line first, put some tape on my awning topper, but that's clearly not going to fix the problem, so I ordered a new one. I decided to stay on here at Linda's for a bit, she has some more trail clearing rides in store, so I can help with that before I need to get down to Sandhills, and I can get some things delivered here that I need. The rain from a tropical storm arrived around 2:00 and it's been raining steadily every since. No wind, thank goodness, just lots of much needed rain, they've been in a drought here for some time. Perfect movie day! I cooked up some popcorn and was watching a movie when I got a call from an old friend of ours, TA, whom I haven't spoken to in years! It was nice to get caught up, and we're going to try to get together once I get to Florida. She and her partner Barry evidently still talk about us, would you believe! Anyway, spent the rest of the day listening to the rain and watching TV, glad to finally have a day off (mostly) after the busy two weeks I've had. Shower and bed soon! Good night, baby! Love you!
Wednesday, September 25, 2024 – Some Repairs, Shopping and No Progress on Brakes
Hi Babe,
Was very late when I finally got to sleep last night, got up and found a flood on the floor again. After breakfast, I started tracing it down, and was afraid it was a big water pipe that would be very hard to reach, but with further investigation, I found it once again to be the ice-maker hose springing a leak in the outside compartment, but eventually dripping back inside. I turned the water off, then just isolated the icemaker and started to make the repair. Turned out I didn't have everything that I needed, so I had to run into town to get some things. Filled up with fuel as well, then came back and went to work on that. It wasn't long before I realized I needed something else. Meanwhile, I found what I thought would be the right brakes in Illinois, so I gave the number to Russell and Truck and Trailer USA and asked him to speak with Paul there and see what they could work out. Took a second trip into town to get the rest of the parts I needed, dropped a book off at the post office, and stopped at the vet's to pick up Lola's medication for the next two months. BTW, she was feeling a lot better this morning, the pills seems to be working well for the time being. She was quite frisky and able to jump into the truck a couple of times without my help, though by the end of the day I did need to help her. I finally heard from Russell, and he had a long chat with Paul and they determined he didn't have the right parts, so we're back to needing new axles. Only problem is, according to Russell, I have some kind of hybrid axle, and we can't seem to locate the serial number, which is usually on a metal plate somewhere. He had looked for it yesterday, and I crawled under and looked again this evening, but no luck finding it. I seem to recall there had once been a sticker under there, but it's long gone. So, I think my only option at this point is to make an appointment with the folks in Florida and have them order the axles after they measure it, apparently it may take some custom fabrication. Sigh... Now I have to look at my schedule and see when I can get down there, when I can make an appointment, and make arrangements for somewhere to stay while they do the job, assuming it will take more than a day, though who knows, maybe not. Anyway, finally settled down to dinner and a quirky little movie with Simon Pegg about a talking mongoose. It rained several times during the day, and that's not even part of the tropical storm that's on it's way, so its a rainy forecast. May be a good time to do some deep cleaning, if I wake up in the mood. Of course, I have to finish with my icemaker repair first. But that's tomorrow. Tonight, it's good night, darlin'! Love you!
Tuesday, September 24, 2024 – Busy Day of Ups and Downs
Hiya Darlin'!
Late last night I discovered I had voicemails. I don't know what's up with that, but ever since I got this new phone, it doesn't seem to notify me very well about voicemails. Anyway, I had one from the trailer place in Chattanooga from Friday, saying they were ready for my trailer either Monday or Tuesday! I thought it would be another week. I wasn't sure what to do, but I woke up around 5:30 and decided I should take it down this morning, so I texted them to let them know I was coming, and got up early to pack up and got. We got caught in rush hour traffic, naturally, but made it down about 8:15. I was hoping for a simple solution, but alas, that was not to be. I waited around for a couple of hours until I got the first bad news. They had to replace everything. Not just the brake assembly, but the hubs and backing plates, essentially everything that fit on the axle, to the tune of about $3100. Not what I wanted to hear. Since they were getting parts in later, I unhooked because I had made an appointment for Lola at Linda's vet to see what could be done about her back leg. I came back to Linda's first since I had some time, and I'm happy to say that it didn't take long to find Flash's lost fly mask, tucked away under a small copse of trees. I killed some time until her appointment, then ran down there for our 2:00. Dr. Lee had to take a couple more x-rays, but clarified that it was, indeed, arthritis that is catching up to her. He told me about a relatively new monthly injection that he thought would be helpful, so he gave her her first monthly shot, and will have more to give me tomorrow, along with some pills to take until the injection kicked in in a couple of weeks. After that, we went to a little Indian restaurant in Cleveland, Naan House, which was more of a take-out place, though there were tables, but it didn't have any charm at all. The food was good, though, and I had enough leftover for another meal. Just after I ordered, I got a call from the trailer place, talked to a new guy that is apparently their Dexter axle expert, and got even more bad news. They tried three different places and none of the parts they had fit, so we're back to the idea that if I want to get my brakes fixed, I have to completely replace the entire axle, and he wasn't even sure if he could get the parts to fit properly. All this time I though I had 7000 lb. axles, turns out they're 8000, so different animal altogether apparently. They evidently used to make a conversion kit, but they don't anymore, it's not available anywhere. I've been doing a little research and will talk to the guy, Russell, again tomorrow, he's going to call Harmar to see if he can get any more info on the specs. Of course, if I need new axles, how were talking $6000 for parts and who knows how much for labor, and it will take 3-4 weeks to get the parts. As it was, he was kind enough to only charge me for an hour of labor, still almost $150, and they put it back together so I could bring it back to Linda's. At least I'll be in my own bed tonight. It's been a frustrating day on many fronts, but who knows? Maybe it will all work out in the end. At least if we can narrow down what we need, if we can't get the parts in time, I should be able to have the trailer place in Florida order them and have them for when I get down there. It's always something. Speaking of, I discovered a leak under my refrigerator, something I fixed awhile back, but is leaking again, so that's another chore on my to do list! Always something! Anyway, after not getting enough sleep last night, I'm ready for an early night, so good night, sweetheart! Love you!
Monday, September 23, 2024 – Laundry and Bookkeeping
Hey Sweetie!
Took a long time to get to sleep again, I thought for sure my body would shut down, but it still didn't. Probably because it's so bloody hot here right now. Slept late to make up for it, I guess. Spent the day doing laundry and getting caught up on my bookkeeping, which took me much longer than I figured, but I got well and truly caught up, balancing accounts and reconciling everything, and if I keep that up, doing my taxes next year will be a breeze, hopefully! After dinner, I went to give the horses an apple and some mints, and I discovered Flash had lost his brand new fly mask, which I deliberately left on because it's a smaller size and I was sure he wouldn't lose it. So much for THAT idea! I drove around with Linda's utility vehicle in a grid pattern, but haven't found it before it got too dark. I'll look again in the morning. I sure hope I find it, but from now on, it's not going on in a five acre field, only when he's in close quarters! It was another very hot day, in the mid-90's, and I tried to run the AC off the 15 amp power but it didn't work. I ran every other fan I could just to keep the air moving, it was still barely tolerable. Came south too early, obviously! Anyway, didn't get the rest I was hoping for, but did get some less physical things accomplished, so I guess that's something. Heading for a cold shower and early bedtime, too late for a movie after running around the field until dark! Good night, baby! Love you!
Sunday, September 22, 2024 – Drive Day Back to Linda’s
Hiya Babe,
Had a lot of trouble getting to sleep last night, but felt okay this morning. Rather than doing my usual Monday drive, I decided since it was such a straightforward trip, I'd leave today. Still, I took my time packing, still managed to get out before noon. It was straightforward, but slow. I ran into enough traffic so that it seemed like 50 miles of rush hour traffic! That surprised me, but I usually drive on Mondays so I guess I forgot how bad it can be. It was after 3:30 by the time I got to Linda's, got the trailer in place, then took Flash out to the pasture. I thought he'd be thrilled to see Apollo, but he kind of gave him the cold shoulder for some reason. Maybe he thinks it's Apollo's fault for abandoning him! Apollo squealed like a mare half a dozen times trying to get his attention, but Flash just got a drink and started grazing. I put their new fly masks on, I hope they stay on, I don't want to be wandering around a five acre field looking for them. It got decidedly hot today. In Knoxville, the temp on the truck thermometer was reading 98! It got cloudy and a little cooler later on, but still, very warm. Even though I have electric, it's only 15 amp so I can't really run the AC, though I've been running all my fans today. Still over 80 in the trailer at 8:30.. It's supposed to rain in a couple of days, maybe get a little cooler, I hope. It was nicer in the mountains of NC, that's for sure! Guess maybe I'm heading south too soon! You can never tell at this time of year. Anyway, I got all moved in, did one load of laundry and will do a bunch more, but mostly I just need to rest. I can feel I'm on the edge of crashing after all that activity last week, so tomorrow is likely to be a down day. Not planning on doing much anyway! Skipping tea tonight, too darn hot, but ready to take a cool shower and hit the fresh sheets. Good night, my darlin'! Love you!
Saturday, September 21, 2024 – Drag Riding Day, Whoo-hoo!
Hey Darlin'!
What a fun day today! Flash and I did 23 miles today, some of it at a wonderful high speed. It seems I finally got my horse back! It started with a leisurely morning, having been instructed to not leave camp until 10:30 so as not to get in the way of the other competing riders, so I had Flash saddled and ready to go by that time. I gotta say, Flash was a different horse today. He was frisky and energetic and wanted to be in with the groups of horses that were riding by. He obviously though he was part of the race! So glad to have my speed demon back! I was told to take the shortcut on the bike path, so I was at the French Broad River (FBR) bridge in less than two miles. Apparently a lot of the 50's hadn't gone though yet, so I sat and chatted with Steve and Cam, who were spotters there, taking numbers as the riders went in and out of the west side until all but a few had gone through. Since my job was drag, I probably should have waited, but I figured I would be going slower and the rest would pass me. As it turned out, there were only three, and they did pass me about halfway through the ten mile loop, so I followed along, staying far enough behind to stay out of their way. The orange trail was first, and it was just lovely. We passed a lot of the farm animals, as this part of the estate is dedicated to that, with beautiful black cows and lots of sheep being guarded by Great Pyrenees. There was a sign for pigs, but I didn't see any. The weather was perfect, a bit on the warm side but gorgeous as far as I was concerned. Flash was brilliant, we did run across sections of gravel, but he didn't have any trouble powering through it, and there was mostly enough room along the side of those roads to avoid it. He kept up well, and we arrived back over the bridge very shortly after the last riders did. Just as we were on the last approach, a couple of riders that were on their third loop, the blue trail, turned up right in front of us, and Flash decided he needed to catch them, and he leapt forward and began to race with them in earnest. He's so competitive! We stayed with those long legged trotters all the way to the bridge. Once I arrived back at the spotter site, I made the decision that I would go ahead and drag the third loop, as some of the riders were already over there, and I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity and ride the blue trail while I had the chance, so I waited with Steve and Cam. As it turned out, there was a little miscommunication, and we waited about 15-20 minutes longer than necessary, as there were three riders who weren't coming that we were expecting. It was nearly 5:30 by this time, so I hopped on Flash and we headed out, trying to catch up with the last rider in true drag fashion. We never did quite catch up, but we came close! Flash clocked 6.8-7.0 mph the ENTIRE blue trail, PLUS the shortcut trail all the way back to camp! That was over seven miles! I finally brought him to a walk the last hundred yards or so, just to cool him down, but he was raring to go! So nice to have my REAL horse back! He performed brilliantly, I'm so proud of him! We arrived back at the trailer right at 7:00, I fed him, then jumped in the truck to get down to the awards ceremony. I was a little late, but it was all good. The trail gals I've been working with were very complimentary with their appreciation for all the work I did, especially sending them pindrops with any problem areas, they were able to find them easily. They gave me a bottle of wine and a nice snack bag for Flash, and were thrilled to hear that Flash was back to his old self today, they were worried about him being sad and depressed, but I let them know he seemed to be fully recovered because he thought he was in the ride! Finally got back to the trailer with some pizza Rachel had brought out to us at the spotter site, and settled down for a short evening. Can't wait to take my shower and get to bed! Feeling very satisfied, though, it was such a fun day. I'm going to have a leisurely morning and get out whenever I feel like it, since it's less than three hours of driving on freeway tomorrow. Looking forward to crashing when I get back to Linda's, though, I need a day off! Love you, sweetheart! Good night!
Friday, September 20, 2024 – Last Trail Check Ride
Hi Sweetie,
An excellent night sleep, a good start to our final day of trail checking. Today it's the white trail, and a mystery from the spring ride was solved. Apparently there are two white trails, the white river trail and the white forest trail. I had been told by several people that the white trail was their favorite, and the only one I knew about was the white river trail, and I didn't particularly like it. Today, however, I was checking the white FOREST trail, and I can certainly see why people liked it, it was lovely. Not quite 15 miles, it did mostly meander through the woods, so there was only the occasional bit of gravel and stone to cope with. Once again, I didn't put boots on Flash, but he was still pretty slow at first. I'm now pretty sure his problem is simply that he's depressed and missing Apollo. He's been laying down even more than usual, which is really saying something, but he didn't have any signs of limping or discomfort, he is just going really slow. Once we got turned back toward camp, though, his pace picked up considerably, so I'm thinking his slowness isn't physical, it's mental. He might be a little tired, after all he's done over 50 miles this week now, but I'm not convinced it's that. I'm continuing him on the bute, though, just in case. Normally I would give him a day off, but the trailmaster Stagg is giving me the extreme honor of being able to ride on the west trails, a rare privilege usually only reserved for the 50 milers or more, and is closed off the guests the rest of the time, so I just don't want to miss this chance! We're labeling me as a "drag rider," following behind everyone else to make sure everybody gets out okay. They apparently used to do it but quit when drag riders were getting lost, something he knows he doesn't have to worry about with me. Anyway, Flash is just going to have to tough it out for me tomorrow. I learned of a shortcut that will take about four miles off, and I'm taking the orange west trail, so in all it will be about the same as today, about 15 miles. Got back today before 3:15, chatted with Patsy a minute, then got back to camp and put Flash away, giving him some feed. He's not liking this hay too much, I'll be glad to get rid of it! Drove down to have dinner with the group, a nice self-serve buffet of rigatoni lasagna, salad and garlic knots, and sat in the riders meeting, where Stagg and I worked out the logistics for tomorrow. Got back after 7:30, watched a Farscape, won't be long out of bed! Good night, babe! Love you!
Thursday, September 19, 2024 – Finally, A Nice Weather Day!
Hiya Babe,
A great night sleep, managed to get out on the trail just after 10:30. Flash seems to be feeling better, though he was still crying for Apollo this morning, and he's doing a lot of laying down. That's not really unusual, it just seems he's doing it even more than ever. I know it sounds crazy, but I suspect he's depressed. I didn't put boots on this morning, and he did a lot better, though I don't know if it's the bute or the boots. Regardless, our task today was Lime Green out and Purple back, which we've done before, and it was a nice ride. I took my rain jacket along just in case, but as it turned out, it cleared up and we had blue skies for a few hours, then a few clouds came in. I heard it sprinkle for about 30 seconds, but otherwise it was a beautiful day! Today's ride took us past the goats, and they were actually in their pen today. We passed yesterday but they weren't there. We also passed by the sheep, they were just being let out into the pasture, and there were so many babies! Flash was a bit startled by them, not sure why. Their Great Pyrenees guard dog saw Flash looking at them intently, and it started him off barking away, making sure his warning was heard! Finally, we passed by the big carriage draft horses in another paddock. Busy day for the animals! It was a nice ride, and Flash did seem to move along a lot better. One more trail tomorrow! When I got back, I swung over by where the competitors were camping, and found Patsy in the same spot as in the Spring. We chatted for a bit, then I sent back and put Flash away and did some work on the computer. I made myself a nice shrimp salad and drove down to share a meal with Patsy, chatted until almost 7:00, came back and fed Flash and caught a short movie. Won't be long before shower and bed! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!
Wednesday, September 18, 2024 – A Day Of Many Mistakes
Hey Darlin',
Had a little lazier start to the day, didn't get out on the trail until around noon. Flash was giving me a hard time, really fussing about his boots, and when I tried to ride him, he seriously limped for a few steps. I seemed to remember the Red trail, which is our assignment today, didn't have that much rock and gravel, so I ended up taking the boots off and putting them in my saddle bags. Since there was supposedly only a very slight chance of rain today, I took out my slicker to make room for them. That was a mistake. I also decided not to wear my rain suit again today. That was another mistake. Of course, halfway through the ride it started raining, and fortunately I did have an old holey poncho in my saddle back, which helped somewhat, both in keeping me dry and also warmer. I thought it would warm up in the afternoon, but it really didn't. With Flash limping off and on like he was, I began to think that leaving Apollo in TN was another mistake. He didn't seem as bad once the boots were off, but he was a terrible slug again today, barely topping 2.5 mph on average. It was 3:45 when we got back, which, for a ten mile ride was ridiculous! Sometime he seemed to be limping, but most of the time not, so I'm not sure if he was just playing silly buggers with me or if he was truly having a problem. Anyway, the markers were in good shape, but there was one small blockage with a bunch of vines across the trail, dragged there by a small dead tree, but I didn't have my leather gloves with me, and it looked like brambles, so I just reported it. There was another much larger tree down later, probably close to three feet in diameter across the trail, I reported that, too. Once we dragged ourselves back to camp, I gave Flash an apple spiked with bute, so hopefully he'll feel better after that. Spent a little time cleaning my tack, there was so much accumulated mud on it, it was long overdue. Around supper time, at last, a couple of other trailers started coming in. I was surprised it took so long, I seem to remember it was a lot more crowded here by this time in the spring ride, but I may be wrong. Steve and Cam arrived, they were here last time, and another couple who are just camping, though their kids will be riding this weekend. We all sat around chatting until nearly 9:00, so I'm just getting my tea and cookies now. Just about back on schedule! I'll give Flash another dose of bute in the morning, hopefully that will make it easier for him on the ride. I'm doing Lime and Purple tomorrow, together they're only about nine miles, so that should be easier, and he'll get a longer rest afterward. I hope he recovers okay, Friday's ride is about 14.5 miles, and I might even be able to get over to the west side on Saturday, that will be the longest ride yet, but I really want to do it because it's highly restricted over there and it's my only chance. Of course, I won't if he's not fit, but I'll do everything I can to get him right! Anyway, time for shower and bed. Good night, sweetie! Love you!