Hey Babe,
Took a long time getting to sleep, but got up around 8:00. After chores and breakfast I ran into town to fill up a propane tank and swap out a couple of items that I bought yesterday at Tractor Supply that were wrong. Lola's been scratching up a storm, so I had to buy a cone for her head, but the one I got yesterday was too small. She's been bleary-eyed from lack of sleep, but now she's succumbed to the fact that she can't scratch (plus I slathered her up with inch relief medicine), she seems a lot more settled. I also bought marker light for the back end of the trailer that got knocked out at the first camp of the Shore-to-Shore when the ladder came off on a tree, that was also too small, so I swapped both out. I went to the feed store to get eight bales of that nice coastal, though I'm not sure this is quite the same, it's still good. Got that stored when I got back, then went to work on the marker light. Naturally, I thought it would be a fairly easy job that turned out not to be, because the screws actually broke off and I don't have a drill bit good enough to tap it. Then I discovered I had to add a negative ground to make it work right, and without a screw, that was a challenge. I ended up trying to solder it into one of the holes and taping it, I doubt it will last long, but at least it's working at the moment. Without screws, I've used Liquid Nails to try to hold it on, not sure that's going to hold either. So the whole thing is a temporary mess for the moment. I finished greasing the truck as well. That was my day, pretty much. There's loud music coming from Spirit of Suwannee all day and probably will be most of the night, if it's this loud here, I can't even imagine the loss of hearing that's occurring with people any closer to it! Watched an unfortunately depressing movie, ready for shower and bed shortly. Good night, darlin'! Love you!
Wednesday, October 25, 2023 – Massage Day
Hiya Darlin'!
Had a great night sleep, didn't do much in the morning because I had an appointment for a massage this afternoon. My hosts gifted it to me in appreciation for all my volunteer work. Wendy did a great job, really listened to me and worked hard on my shoulder, should be interesting to see how it takes over the next few days. Stopped at Tractor Supply to pick up feed, they didn't have the Balance so I many be running out of that soon. Went to Lowes but didn't find the trailer hardware I was looking for (found it on Amazon later and ordered it), finally a stop at Walmart for a few essentials. Got tied up in traffic on the way back to camp, there's a big "Hulaween" event at Spirit of Suwannee this weekend, so I'll be hearing the sound of deep bass thumping all weekend. Good thing I wear earplugs at night! Settled down for the evening, watched a pretty bad movie with an all-star cast, go figure. Heading for my shower and bed soon! Love you, sweetheart! Good night!
Tuesday, October 24, 2023 – Busy Day, Full of Energy!
Hi Sweetie!
Set the alarm to get an early start on the day, had a busy day planned. After chores and breakfast, I was raring to go before 9:00, starting with the biggest job, washing the outside of the trailer. The roof itself took over an hour and a half, what with the awning and slide-topper and hay box. Before coming down I let down the pressure washer and the grease gun, to finish the job I left when I changed the oil in the truck the other day. I did the rest of the exterior of the trailer, including the underside of the awning, then put some silver tape on the front end of the trailer. I've sealed that front aluminum panel six different ways, and the adhesive never stays, so now I've just put some silver duct tape on it, the good stuff with the backing, and I'm hoping that will keep the panel in the frame the way it's supposed to be. Not really counting on it, though. Then I pressure washed the water barrel in the truck, it's gotten full of algae lately. I left it dry for now, I'll fill it when I need it, that way it will stay clean until then. I pressure washed the tires on the trailer and truck, got a lot of grease off one trailer tire that was overflowing with grease since my last brake job. By then I was too tired to worry about doing the last couple of grease fittings, so I postponed that until tomorrow. Swept off the porch carpet, put all the tools and furniture back, finally wrapping up at 4:30, having only taken two short breaks all day. Feeling like my energy was well spent today, and happily, I'm physically tired, so I'm hoping to go to bed early and still get a full night sleep. Watched an old James Stewart movie with dinner, heading soon to shower and bed. I love busy and demanding days like this! And I STILL feel twenty years younger with my shoulder in a much better place. Still a few kinks to work out, but I have a massage scheduled for tomorrow, I'm hoping between the labor and the massage, I'll feel even better later in the week! Good night, baby! Love you!
Monday, October 23, 2023 – Shoulder Definitely Better!
Hey Babe!
I feel twenty years younger! After sleeping way too late again this morning, I got up and started doing my usual routines, and it was like a whole new experience! I was able to get dressed without pain in my arm, comb my hair without pain in my arm, feed the horses, have breakfast, drive my truck to run errands, all without hardly any pain in my arm! I had to almost force myself to remember that I didn't have to shift my shoulder before reaching for something, I could just reach for it! It feels GLORIOUS! There's the tiniest bit of pain when I reach to extremes, but everyday stuff is almost back to my norm from fifteen years ago. I hadn't realize just how much I was compensating with my shoulder, but am so glad that era is behind me. Better late than never, right? Anyway, I only did a few things today, I didn't want to stress it out, I wanted to let it settle slowly back in place, so I went into town to a computer repair shop for something I ended up not being able to do, then stopped for a few bales of hay at a feed store. It was only fifty cents more than the last bales I bought, but the hay is much nicer, so if the horses like it as much as I think they will, I'm going to stock up with than before I leave here next week. Anyway, otherwise a nice relaxing day, feeling so happy!! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!
Sunday, October 22, 2023 – Ride on Apollo, Shoulder on the Mend?
Hiya Darlin',
You know that for the last almost fifteen years I've been struggling with a shoulder injury from a day when I spent so long using a chainsaw that I thought I shifted something out of place, but I haven't ever been able to convince any practitioner of any kind to really help locate and solve the problem. They all wanted to treat it but no one wanted to solve it, because they didn't believe my description of what I thought was wrong. Well, I think I might finally have made some significant progress! Since my last deep tissue massage over a year ago, where the masseuse managed to shift something, and it felt better for awhile but since then it's been hurting worse for a long time, I decided I needed to try everything I could to solve the problem once and for all, or else look for a doctor when I get down to Goethe, since I will be in one place for a while. Anyway, I've been taking advantage of the available time and having the round-the-clock electricity to pull out that old hand-held shiatsu massager, and have been really going at my shoulder and my back for the last couple of weeks. I tried putting ice on it one day to see if that helped, but it only made things worse, so I got out the heating pad instead, and for the last few days I've really been putting some heat on it. Then this morning, I woke up a couple of hours before dawn, so I pulled out the massager and really went at all the tight and sore spots. Lo and behold, about an hour later, I suddenly felt something big shift in my back, and it seemed like a whole lot of the tension suddenly released. Wow! I'm not saying it's perfect yet, but it sure feels like a HUGE step in the right direction. I discovered I could now reach for something and not have to shift my shoulder to a different position to avoid the pain, which I've been doing subconsciously for a very long time now. In fact, that was the weirdest part of the day, trying to NOT shift my shoulder, and only having the tiniest bit of pain when I reach for something. What a breakthrough! I can still feel a few spots of tightness and tenderness, which is certainly to be expected considering how much I've been beating on it lately, but I feel like everything will eventually settle down in the right place and maybe even get back to pre-2009 levels, which would be absolutely fantastic! Whoo-hoo! Of course, I finally fell back to sleep and ended up getting up late again, then after awhile I saddled up Apollo for a ride. I haven't ridden him in awhile, and he seemed ready and willing, so we headed out to do the trail down to the river to the west. I had cleared most of that so that it was passable except for the very end, a short path leading down to the river itself, so when we got there, I went ahead and cleared that out while I was there. Despite the fact that we haven't had much rain for a long time, the river seemed a lot higher to me. The last time I went down that path there was a good 10 yards of beach, but today there was only about 5 or 6 feet at the widest point. Enough for Apollo to get a drink and Lola to take a swim. On the way back, Apollo, who hasn't been on any of these sections of trail in several years, found and took every shortcut he could find, even ones I wasn't sure about, and except for one trail I insisted upon, he found the shortest way home. What a navigator! Got back to camp by 4:00, rinsed him off and settled down for the evening to dinner and a movie, and my usual routine, all feeling much better about the progress I've made with my shoulder. Can't wait to see how it plays out in the next few days! Love you, sweetheart! Good night!Hiya Darlin',
You know that for the last almost fifteen years I've been struggling with a shoulder injury from a day when I spent so long using a chainsaw that I thought I shifted something out of place, but I haven't ever been able to convince any practitioner of any kind to really help locate and solve the problem. They all wanted to treat it but no one wanted to solve it, because they didn't believe my description of what I thought was wrong. Well, I think I might finally have made some significant progress! Since my last deep tissue massage over a year ago, where the masseuse managed to shift something, and it felt better for awhile but since then it's been hurting worse for a long time, I decided I needed to try everything I could to solve the problem once and for all, or else look for a doctor when I get down to Goethe, since I will be in one place for a while. Anyway, I've been taking advantage of the available time and having the round-the-clock electricity to pull out that old hand-held shiatsu massager, and have been really going at my shoulder and my back for the last couple of weeks. I tried putting ice on it one day to see if that helped, but it only made things worse, so I got out the heating pad instead, and for the last few days I've really been putting some heat on it. Then this morning, I woke up a couple of hours before dawn, so I pulled out the massager and really went at all the tight and sore spots. Lo and behold, about an hour later, I suddenly felt something big shift in my back, and it seemed like a whole lot of the tension suddenly released. Wow! I'm not saying it's perfect yet, but it sure feels like a HUGE step in the right direction. I discovered I could now reach for something and not have to shift my shoulder to a different position to avoid the pain, which I've been doing subconsciously for a very long time now. In fact, that was the weirdest part of the day, trying to NOT shift my shoulder, and only having the tiniest bit of pain when I reach for something. What a breakthrough! I can still feel a few spots of tightness and tenderness, which is certainly to be expected considering how much I've been beating on it lately, but I feel like everything will eventually settle down in the right place and maybe even get back to pre-2009 levels, which would be absolutely fantastic! Whoo-hoo! Of course, I finally fell back to sleep and ended up getting up late again, then after awhile I saddled up Apollo for a ride. I haven't ridden him in awhile, and he seemed ready and willing, so we headed out to do the trail down to the river to the west. I had cleared most of that so that it was passable except for the very end, a short path leading down to the river itself, so when we got there, I went ahead and cleared that out while I was there. Despite the fact that we haven't had much rain for a long time, the river seemed a lot higher to me. The last time I went down that path there was a good 10 yards of beach, but today there was only about 5 or 6 feet at the widest point. Enough for Apollo to get a drink and Lola to take a swim. On the way back, Apollo, who hasn't been on any of these sections of trail in several years, found and took every shortcut he could find, even ones I wasn't sure about, and except for one trail I insisted upon, he found the shortest way home. What a navigator! Got back to camp by 4:00, rinsed him off and settled down for the evening to dinner and a movie, and my usual routine, all feeling much better about the progress I've made with my shoulder. Can't wait to see how it plays out in the next few days! Love you, sweetheart! Good night!
Saturday, October 21, 2023 – Wood Pens Finished
Hey Sweetie,
Had a good night sleep, thank goodness, and still set my alarm as I'm trying to retrain myself to get up earlier. Spent most of the early part of the day doing loads and loads of laundry, then Dave arrived in the afternoon to finish the wood pens. It didn't take too long with the two of us, they're just about good as new! Settled in for the evening in the usual way, dinner and a movie (the remake of Dune), already did my Spanish lesson, just have my shower and bed left! Good night, baby! Love you!
Friday, October 20, 2023 – A Little of This and That
Hi Babe,
Finally got a good night sleep at a decent hour, and even slept through to the alarm I set, yay! Felt much better today. Dave came around and started working on the two wood pens, some trees that fell on them had knocked the posts out of alignment and broke a faceplate or two, but we moved the remains of the trees out of the way (most of them I had cut up already) and managed to straighten out a few of the posts. He had other things he had to do so we didn't finish the job, but we made good progress. Later in the day I gave Lola a bath, she's been scratching for a few weeks now, not sure what's causing it, but I washed her with some medicated shampoo and it seemed to help. Drained and refilled her little pool, and then decided to wash the truck while I was at it. Washed and then did some spray wax, so it does look better. Finally settled in for the evening, now it's time for shower and bed! Love you, darlin'! Good night!
Thursday, October 19, 2023 – Nothing Day
Hi Darlin',
Don't know what happened last night, but I couldn't get to sleep last night for hours! Of course, that means when I finally did get to sleep, it was late when I finally crawled out of bed. For some reason, I just couldn't gather enough energy to do anything today. I mean, absolutely nothing! I figured, why fight the feeling? So I literally spent the day playing games on my computer, reading, and watching TV. To try to get back on schedule, I've showered early, I'm having a double dose of Sleepytime tea, and am going to bed the minute I've finished drinking it. I'm hoping that it will help me get back on a normal schedule. So, good night, sweetie! Love you!
Wednesday, October 18, 2023 – Meeting With Ride Manager
Hey Sweetie!
Had another lovely night sleep, once again leaving the fireplace on because it was a very chilly night! Did a bit more work on the ride planning for the upcoming endurance ride at McCulley Farms, then met with Kaleigh, the ride manager, and the Fusion Buffet restaurant in Live Oak, where I showed as much restraint as I could in a buffet! It was a good meeting, we chatted for over 2 1/2 hours. She approved of my trail plan and otherwise had a grand time. She gave me all the markers she had, plus some extra ribbon, but I tend to use more markers than some, so I ran down to the dollar store and picked up some more clothespins so I can make some more. A quick stop at Walmart for just a few items I needed, then back to camp. An otherwise uneventful day. Settled down for the evening, watched a Pierce Brosnan movie, off to shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!
Tuesday, October 17, 2023 – Ride Day on Flash
Hi Babe!
Can't believe how much sleep I'm getting. I must have read later than I thought last night before falling asleep because it was nearly 9:00 when I woke up this morning. Crazy! Well, I did do a lot of physical work yesterday, and I do feel fully recovered, so I guess that's a good thing. When I went to feed the horses, I found the top wire in Apollo's fence was hanging down. I had noticed yesterday he was leaning up against the fence, rubbing on the wire, now I know he was testing it. He pulled all the caps which held the hotwire off the tops of the fenceposts, just like he used to pull the portable fence posts right out of the ground. So I had to put the hotwire on, glad that I got it fixed last week. Spent the morning working of the planning for the McCulley Farms endurance ride in a couple of weeks. There's a large section of forest that is still closed after the hurricane, so we're trying to come up with some interesting alternative routes. Meeting with the organizer tomorrow to get trail markers and discuss options. Finally got far enough along to stop and take Flash for a ride. After yesterday's exhibition of running around the pen like a mad horse, I figured he needed the exercise, and so did Lola, so by 1:00 we were saddled up. I headed over to the river trail, thinking it had been mostly cleared by the Spirit of Suwannee folks, but I was certainly wrong about that! I was barely a mile out when I came across a couple of big trees blocking the trail. I had my mini-chainsaw with me, so I cut enough limbs to clear the way to step over the biggest log, and a few other small ones further down, but it soon became clear that no clearing had, in fact, been done on that section of trail. Since the point of the day was to get Flash some exercise and not do trail clearing, I managed to bypass a couple of bad spots and finally get to the old bridge stanchions, and the trail was completely blocked right there. I turned back to the wide trail and we ended up going on the hard-packed sand road all the way down to the Allard tract, about two miles down and two miles back. Then we cut back toward the river for a ways before heading home. A rather boring ride, but the point was exercise, and it's clear that I won't be able to reach any of the eastern trails any time soon. We gaited most of the way, so it was a pretty good workout, we did about nine miles. When it came time to feed them dinner, it was obvious Apollo had tested the fence and learned his lesson, because I couldn't even get him to the gate to put his feed bag on! I had to go in the paddock to do it. Surprised it took him three weeks to push his luck, he's always been a pretty good Houdini. Anyway, had a pleasant evening, ready for a quick shower and bed. Good night, my darlin'! Love you!