Hiya Babe,
Woke up early again, laid in until the alarm went off, did chores and breakfast, then saddled up Flash for the ride I promised Bettina. It was still in the low 40's when I headed out (not my typical fair weather riding!), but I was bundled and Flash was frisky. Art came by and took Lola for a walk just before I left, very glad of it, Lola's been missing her walks. Met up with Bettina and her friend Jen and we had a lovely 7.25 mile leisurely ride mostly around the area north of Camp Road. Once I dropped them off at the gate by the Black Prong Equestrian Center south gate, Flash and I took off at a gallop to get rid of the pent up energy he'd been storing up, and we moved out quickly for another two miles, never slowing down until we got back to camp. Rinsed him off and put him away, and had just sat down to check my email when Art came by to pick up his stuff and take the signs for TOG down, a more difficult task than you might think because of the super adhesive he had used. Then we ran down to Apex to finish taking the Bike trail signs down, and take another look for the two missing animals, one of which we learned later was already in Chelle's trailer. Would have been nice if someone had mentioned it, would have saved us half an hour! Back to camp, where I got busy sorting things out, packing, draining my tanks, etc., in preparation of my move tomorrow, which promises to be the shortest haul I've ever taken, over to Chelle's house. Forgot to mention yesterday, I finally heard, again, from my African outfitter, and it looks like we're still on track, just everything moving along like molasses in January. Fingers crossed I'll actually get an invoice tomorrow! Finally settled down for the evening, relaxed before doing a little more packing, no hurry in the morning, I plan on waiting until it warms up a bit, since it's supposed to be cold again overnight. That's all the news! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Another good night sleep, not quite so cold this morning, at least not enough to make the furnace come on this morning. Did a little computer work in the morning, but with the cold front coming in tomorrow afternoon, my main goal today was to take a nice ride on Flash, so it wasn't long before I was saddling up. I didn't have a particular plan in mind, which was a refreshing change, so we kind of meandered a bit, going out on the green trail to start (albeit "backwards" for awhile) but got back on track heading northward. About halfway around, Flash decided he wanted to get off the main trail and take an overgrown trail straight north, obviously bored with the regular trail, so I let him go that way. That eventually led us back to Hospital Rd., then Griffis, where we veered off onto another lovely trail I seldom use, heading all the way north to some sections I use for the Benefit Ride, though in reverse. Once we turned off Griffis Rd., Flash decided it was time to get some speed on, and we were galloping and cantering for the next several miles! Came back around, crossed 337 and followed the usual trail until we crossed again early, rejoined the blue trail and cantered back to camp. A fabulous ride on my little speed demon! I'm certainly getting a lot of cantering practice on him lately. Such fun! Rinsed him off, though he promptly rolled after going back into the paddock, then headed over to Helen's to visit with her for a minute, pick up the recycling that the neighborhood saves for the forest, dropped that off at HQ, took a quick drive down Gasline Rd, which they have apparently just graded, just to make sure the place I've selected for one of the food stations has enough room (it does!), then off to Jo's so Lola can have a quick play date with her four dogs and we could get caught up on stuff, since it's been a while since we've had time to chat. Got back to camp, fed the horses, settled down for the evening, finally finishing the rather slow mini-series and starting a new series, and heading to bed soon! Had to get as much done outside as I could, as the forecast is for bitterly cold weather the next few days, so I expect I'll have time to get my long overdue housework done. Well, maybe :-). Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Had a good night sleep, not surprisingly, and was up early again to do the final marker retrieval ride today, the white trail, with sections of orange along the way. Woke up to some fog and a flock of wild turkeys wandering around in the campground. Hit the trail, but something was really off with Flash today, he was moving like a slug, so unlike him, but I figured he was tired, until about the last five miles, when I rearranged all the stuff I had hanging off the saddle horn. I realized that my aluminum grabber was at the bottom of the pile against his leg, and I think it was bumping his elbow or causing some other distress, because a few minutes after I moved it, he perked right up! I thought maybe it was because we were so close to camp, but usually he gets excited as soon as we turn for home, so I really think it was the grabber. He still slowed down occasionally, but nothing like the majority of the ride, when he was doing barely 3 mph! All of those delays meant that even though I left camp by 9:30 and we only had to do 15 miles, we didn't get back until about 2:30, much later than I had anticipated. Anyway, I got him rinsed off, packed up my trailer, hooked up my truck at a 90 degree angle to avoid the soft sand and holes I dug when I arrived, and managed to pull it straight out, thank goodness! I finished loading up the horses and all the last minute stuff, said my good-byes, and headed out just after 4:00, arriving at Black Prong just after 5:00. Then the real fun began. I don't know, sometimes I can back right up into this space with only a couple of course corrections, but today I because the entertainment for the campground. It took me better than half an hour to get it right! I just kept overcompensating, and it's tough because there are so many trees and so little space. I really screwed up when I ran into the water spigot and broke it, so I had to turn the water off (thank goodness there's a bypass for the back spigot and camp host site!) after I filled up the horses' water buckets and my fresh water tank. That will hold me over until I can fix the pipe. Grrr! This is what happens when I get this tired, I guess. Anyway, I finally settled down for the evening, heated up the leftovers from the Indian Restaurant the other night just because it was the easiest thing to do, and chilled out for awhile. I actually had to put the AC on to cool it off before bed, which is going to be ridiculous after tomorrow, when the temps drop down to below freezing tomorrow night! Crazy weather! That's it, I'm done, tea, shower and bed forthwith! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hi Darlin'!
Had a great night sleep, once again getting my chores and breakfast done in a leisurely manner before saddling up Flash and heading out, this time to do the 20 mile Green trail that was used yesterday as the first loop of the 35. Got off to a bit of a rocky start when I thought the trail started up the driveway, but it turned out they were coming in that way, not going out that way, so when I finally figured out I was leaving from the same gate as yesterday, I had already clocked a mile going back and forth up the driveway! No worries, we finally got started on the right trail and this time, we headed more northeast, into sections of the Greenway I've never done. What beautiful trails! Some of the live oaks were absolutely huge, and stunning! Absolutely breathtaking. I only had one bit of confusion that was quickly cleared up by trailmeister Madelyn, but the rest was fine. This is truly my favorite endurance ride volunteer activity, taking down trail markers. I get to ride the trails without any stress of designing them or putting up markers. Even though I enjoy doing that, it can be taxing, but taking them down is utterly brainless and delightful! I even saw a pair of coyotes out and about, which surprised me in the middle of the day, but apparently they are so abundant here now, daytime sightings are becoming quite common. Flash wasn't quite as rambunctious today, but we still maintained a steady pace and got back into camp before 3:00, despite not getting off the property until 10:00. Lola got to spend the day with Art again, same as yesterday, so she's a happy camper, being able to get walks in throughout the day. After putting Flash away, I went over to our Cracker hostesses and chatted with them awhile, letting them know that there was a possibility I may need help getting out tomorrow. They went about making sure they had a key to the big tractor that sitting in the pavilion, just in case. It was a lovely chat. By then, dinner had arrived, so I went back to pavilion, and stayed through dinner and the ride meeting. Settled down for the evening, and once again, am up to teatime! Heading to bed shortly, of course. Tomorrow we will be doing the 15 mile white trail, so hopefully Flash will be good with that. Must be reminding him of the Shore to Shore Ride, when we were doing 20-25 miles a day, so tomorrow should be a breeze! Anyway, good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie!
So glad I had earplugs last night, as this place is practically right on I-75, so loud traffic was the rule! That's okay, though, because I always sleep sounder when I use them, so it's all good. Woke up to my alarm, fed the horses and did morning chores and breakfast, and was saddling up Flash by 8:45, and heading up to the pavilion just after 9:00, just a tad behind schedule. We headed out going west, following and removing all the markers for the yellow/lime trail all the way down to Ross Prairie, about 13 miles. We took a very short break there (I tried to rinse Flash off at the wash station, but he wasn't very interested in that!), then headed back out on the blue trail, removing markers for about 1/3 of the way back, stopping at the 484 underpass. Once Flash figured out we weren't stopping to pick up markers any more, he took off, quite happy to canter and gait at high speed, winging his way through the woods like a bat out of hell! We did that off and on for the remaining ten miles, arriving in camp almost an hour before I had calculated, which was fine by me! What a blast! I love this little horse, he is just SO MUCH FUN! I rode over to where Art was acting as timer at the gate, and he took a minute to check Flash's heart rate (I was curious), and couldn't believe it was already down to 40 bpm! Amazing! Once I got him rinsed and settled, I sorted out the various ribbons and signs, then drove them up to the pavilion and hung around up there until dinnertime. My friend Jo arrived in the afternoon, and we chatted for a bit, then we all had dinner and the ride meeting. I left before the awards, though, because I had received a form from the horse safari outfitter and had to fill that out and get it back to them asap. Settled down for the evening, tired by happy after our 24 mile speed ride, won't be long out of bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Darlin'!
Had a lovely day today! The weather finally warmed up enough for it to be comfortable riding, so after spending some time in the morning trying to figure out how to transfer money for my vacation (STILL not worked out yet!), I saddled up Apollo, put on Lola's orange vest, and away we went! By noon, the campground was empty, so I wasn't worried about Lola on the trail. We went exactly two miles, at an average of 2.1 mph. Lola got way ahead as usual, but did keep coming back to keep us company. We did some lovely trails, though the last bit was along the road. Once we got back, I did a little more work on the computer, then started saddling up Flash for a ride as well. Another camper came in by the time we left, so I left Lola tied up at the trailer. She'd never be able to keep up anyway. Even though we only did about 7.25 miles, we only took an hour and a few minutes, so you can tell, he was really booking! We got lots of cantering practice in today! The only practicing I got on Apollo was my patience! But Flash and I made up for it, speed demon that he is! All cantering and gaiting after the first mile. Gorgeous! Gave him a nice bath afterward, since he had worked up quite a sweat. The trails were all nice today, none were tilled up, and only a few area showed pig sign, so it was a gorgeous ride. Put most everything away before days end, settled down for the night. Quite a few more campers came in during my second ride, evidently ready for the hunt starting tomorrow, but no rangers came around to kick me out, so i guess all is good. Going to try to get to bed early, though I'm under orders to not arrive at the Florida 100 before noon, and it's more than 90 minutes away, so I guess I won't worry about rushing out of here in the morning! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Had a good night sleep, woke up refreshed and ready to go! Got Flash saddled up and headed out for our first ride here at the Hampton Tract. It started on the road, which was typical Florida limerock, but it had a good swale beside it, so it was no problem. After less than a mile it turned onto a much nicer grass trail, as we followed the perimeter trails in a counterclockwise direction. We soon came across some sections that had been seriously dug up by pigs, so I'm guessing they have a big pig problem here! That slowed us down some. Once we got past though, it was fabulous for quite a few miles, and Flash was raring to go! We eventually went past a couple of lakes on either side of the road, and went through some really enjoyable sections, and then we reached another road, where Flash really wanted to move. Not surprising since it was headed in the general direction of camp! When we turned off that, though, we ran into a couple of long stretches of trail that had obviously been recently tilled, presumable as a firebreak, with no remedial action taken to smooth it out, so it was truly horrible for awhile. Eventually we got past that, and headed back to camp at a lovely pace. Since I've booked my Serengeti trip, and since apparently they do a lot of cantering (the antithesis of my Yellowstone trip!), I decided I better get as much practice in as I could, so we did a LOT of cantering today. Flash was certainly up for it! We did 15 miles in about 2.5 hours, so we were keeping a pretty good pace! Very happy with the ride today. Gave him a nice shower when we got back, and he even resisted the urge to roll, so all is right with the world! Except I had a problem with my little video camera, I could get the lens cover to close. The last time this happened on my old camera, it was because a few hairs had gotten inside the cap, so in the evening, I set about trying to clean it out. OMG, I had no idea! I started tapping it lightly and blowing on it, and the amount of hair and other particles that came out was incredible! I tapped for nearly an hour, and got hundreds of bits of hairs and stuff out of it! I have no idea how it got that bad in such a short time. I've only had that camera since August! Anyway, I did as much as I could, then found a nice little cloth envelope to put it in, hopefully that will keep the dirt out better. What a chore! Anyway, finally got that done, then I had to reheat my tea because it had gone cold while that job dragged on, but I won't be long out of bed now! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Did my usual morning of chores before saddling up Flash and heading out for a ride. It's too bad there's only about eight miles of trails here, today was the third time we've done pretty much the same circuit, and I can tell Flash is getting pretty bored here. But we still managed to get in a bunch of nice canters and speedy gaiting, which is always fun! Later in the day, I got a notice that my package had arrived. It was supposed to be here Friday, then Tuesday, then Monday, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised it showed up today! Which was fine, I managed to get the PSA done. I was working with a program that I had downloaded earlier, but couldn't work with until I got the headset with the microphone, which was in my package today. I build the whole two-track PSA, then when I tried to export it into a usable format, it informed me that my 7-day trial was up and I couldn't do anything else with it unless I paid a bunch of money! Grrr! So I downloaded Audacity again, and managed to make that work, but it meant doing the vocal part over again, which was challenging because Lola was being very fidgety and making a lot of noise, but I finally managed to get it done, thank goodness. Managed to get in a couple of episodes of Bones, now I'm off to my shower and bed! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hey Darlin',
Woke up to a beautiful morning, got some early chores done, then saddled up Flash for a lovely ride around the park perimeter. Managed to clock eight miles, but we made a pretty good pace, including some speedy canters and gaiting. Saw some wildlife, too, like an armadillo, water birds, and Gator Lake lived up to it's name, with numerous gators floating like logs out there. Being Friday, a bunch more campers came in, and I stopped at a couple of sites on the way back through camp to let some folks admire Flash. Sorry to say that all of the new campers in the equestrian area are non-equestrians. Really a shame they don't keep them separate, especially since several of the new campers are families with young kids, and I'm not sure they know how to behave around horses. Riding bikes through camp willy-nilly would be dangerous for less seasoned horses than mine, if you know what I mean. Not my place to complain, though, but I'm sure the only reason I couldn't stay a full two weeks was because this site was booked by a non-horse person next week. Oh, well, I've made lots of plans already, so it will all work out in the end! Settled down for a quiet evening, pigged out on a big smoked turkey drumstick (I got hooked at Thanksgiving, so will probably become part of my dinner routine in the future) and binged on a bunch more Bones. Won't be long before I'm finished with it, twelve seasons in all! Lola is getting used to her splatter-proof bowl, and it seems to mostly be working, though there is still a couple of drips escaping as she retracts her mouth, but it's definitely a lot better! Didn't get my second delivery of stuff which was due today, so I'm hoping they'll come tomorrow. Hope they didn't get lost in the system! Washed my flannel sheets and put them away, as it's been getting into the mid-80's here and don't need them. I've even been running the AC in the evening to cool things off at night, but that will change next week when a cold front comes through. Pleasant sleeping, though! Off to bed soon, so good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Feeling a bit nostalgic today, thinking a lot about you on this 6th anniversary of your departure for the undiscovered country... But lived life to the fullest, doing some computer work in the morning while I waited for the mist to burn off, made my annual "In Memorium" donation to the Musk Ox Farm in Palmer, Alaska (our latest Adoptee is an ox named Lola!), then taking a ride on Apollo in the afternoon. We only went two miles, around the nearest lake, but it was lovely. Sorry to say he's stumbling quite a bit these days, and seemed to be limping a little by the time we got back. I did some work trimming his feet today, I think that's where his problem lies. His soles are very hard, brittle and overgrown, though I tried to trim them back a bit. They seem overly concave as well. Once I get back up to Morriston, I'm going to try to find a good hoof person and see if something remedial can be done. After all, he does turn 30 years old this year! I should probably just retire him, but he does seem to move a little better once he gets warmed up, just like the rest of us aging folks! Settled down for the evening, missing you, as always! Love you, darlin'! Good night!