Hey Darlin',
Well, you can tell it's a holiday weekend, there were a few campsites that partied well into the night! Thank goodness I've gotten into the habit of wearing earplugs to bed, which I usually do to drown out the sound of the rain and early morning birds, but last night it was the partiers, I guess. I didn't hear them much, but when I went around to visit the woman who stopped by yesterday, she said they were still going strong and loud at 3:30 in the morning when she got up to look after her horses. One of the highline poles apparently broke during the night, so she was out taking care of that. Anyway, I never heard a thing so I had a great night sleep! I'm really getting peeved at the weather forecasters, though. I had one forecast say there's a 20% chance of rain today, and another say there's an 80% chance of rain! Well, both said it would be after noon, so I decided to get out on the trail early, mostly just to avoid the inevitable crowd that was going to be out there. I managed to get out with Apollo just after 9:00, heading out on a route I had planned, but which, of course, I didn't follow. My GPS had trouble acquiring satellites for a while, and by the time it finally found me, I was already off course. Trouble is, some of the renegade trails don't look much different than the trails on the map, none of them are maintained properly. There are so many trees down, and obviously many have been down for months if not years, and no one clears it out, so the main trails look just as difficult to pass as the renegade trails. Anyway, I've got a better handle on how the park is laid out now, so I wasn't worried, I knew about where I'd end up no matter what happened. I brought Lola along, though I put her on a leash until we got out of the campground, it's so crowded with people and kids and dogs, but we managed okay. The trails were slippery after all the rain yesterday and overnight, but Apollo was his usual sure-footed self, and did just fine. We only ran into two riders on the way back, and I think I've seen one of them before at the Skymont Endurance race, but frankly, I only say that because it's rare to see a black guy riding a gaited horse out on the trails, and I know I've seen that once or twice before, but I can't guarantee it's the same guy, I seldom look at faces anyway, I'm usually looking at the horses. It was a nice ride, and it went from cloudy to full sunshine by the time I got back to camp. It never did rain! Grrrr! That's okay, if it's nice tomorrow, I'll take a long ride with Carol on Flash. Meanwhile, when I got back to the trailer and went into the kitchen to make breakfast, I discovered water on the floor. Yet another flood, dang it! I'm getting tired of finding floods on the floor! Fortunately, it was only small one, and I found about where it's coming from, but not exactly. I'll have to take a couple of panels and some components off to find it, from the looks of it. But it was related to the ice-maker again, so I just turned off the valve for that, and it stopped pretty quick. Sigh... Another job! I was hoping after I got my taxes done I'd have a few days without anything pressing to do, but no, there always has to be something to add to the list as soon as one thing is checked off! Not complaining, though, I'm still living my dream life, and these little challenges are just there to keep my on my toes! Otherwise I might get bored, now that I don't have you around keeping me occupied! I was back so early, though, I had the whole day to myself, waiting for the non-existent rain to come in, so I sat in the screen room and finished the book I was reading, played a few games on my computer, nodded off in my chair despite all the noise around me, and generally just relaxed, just like you're supposed to on a holiday weekend. Lola sat in the other chair watching all the activity, people and cars and horses and dogs going by. She was fine except she felt compelled to bark everytime a dog went by, nothing else bothered her after a few hours, which is a good thing! Anyway, that's been my day. Heading off to shower and bed! Good night, baby. Love you!

Hi Babe!
Took another ride with Carol today, this time following a route I had programmed into my GPS. I only missed a few points here and there, but ended up going everywhere I wanted to go. Flash was in a mood to go fast today, so I ended up trying to stay in front as much as I could to keep him settled. Lola came with us, she really enjoyed being out in the woods again. It was a beautiful day, at least until the evening when more rain came in (even though there wasn't supposed to be any rain today, ha ha,) I ended up doing exactly 10 miles. It was a bit slippery on some of the climbs, Flash lost his footing a time or two, but I managed to say on without any trouble. He has such a beautiful canter, and we had a chance to run a couple of times on the main trail, it was very enjoyable all around. When we got back, I gave both horses a bath with the new citronella shampoo I ordered from Tractor Supply, it does have a nice smell, but not sure how well it will work keeping flies away, we'll just have to wait and see. Since the Tractor Supply in Lexington didn't have anything else I needed, I made a few calls and managed to find two bags of Balancer and a gallon of Bronco fly spray at another Tractor Supply that was only about 30 minutes away, so I took a trip up there to get that and a bag of senior feed, so I should be set for a few weeks for feed and hay. It started to rain just before I was going to feed the horses, so I waited until it stopped, then fed them, then a WHOLE lot more rain came in, just in this area. Beginning to think I should be heading for the desert, all this rain is depressing! Anyway, Lola and I finally settled down for the evening, listening to the rain before heading for shower and bed, which will be shortly. Good night, my love!

Hey Baby,
After another night of waking up early and reading for an hour plus before getting out of bed, I grabbed some quick breakfast and saddled up the horses for my scheduled 9:30 ride with Lynn from Shelbyville, who arrived right on time (well, 10 minutes ahead, which is what I consider on time!). We headed out on a 3-mile ride I had figured out using the map she had kindly brought me yesterday, which stayed on trails that were actually on the map, rather than the cross-country ones I was taken to on Saturday. Even so, they weren't as widely used as I would have expected, and there was one section that was almost as narrow, but was still passable and didn't last long, fortunately. Both horses behaved very well, though when I was saddling them, I got the impression Flash wasn't thrilled about going out again until he realized Apollo was coming with us, that made him much happier. Apollo seems positively elated to be off the highline and back on the trail again! Anyway, it was a good ride, lasting exactly an hour, which is all we had time for since Lynn and her husband had to "check out" by noon, and since an hour is about all an unaccustomed physique can usually take riding a horse, no matter what kind of athletic condition you might be in! So many muscles that don't get used doing anything else. Anyway, it was a very nice ride and we enjoyed it, and she was very grateful for the chance. Once they left, I gave the horses a quick rinse and put them back on their highline with their remaining breakfast hay, returned a call from my friend Donna and chatted with her for awhile, then decided to pretty much just spend the day reading and relaxing and just recharging my personal batteries, as it were. They were calling for rain later in the day (it ended coming in MUCH later than predicted), lost electricity for a short time (thank goodness my batteries were charged up), but it was back on before too long. It rained off and on throughout the evening, and looks like it might continue to do so throughout the night, but that's fine, it's cooled it down a bit. I've actually had to run the AC a few times since I've been here, so I'm hoping for a little cooler temps in coming days. Oh, and I also trimmed Lola's toenails and my bangs, so I got a little accomplished today. But now it's time for shower and bed, so good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hello my love!
Woke up a bit early and finished reading a kindle book, had a quick breakfast before saddling up Flash, rode a little around the campground, spoke a few minutes to the couple I met from Shelbyville yesterday, then got a text from Carol that she had arrived, so I met her by my campsite and we headed out on a side trail that took us past the barn. I soon discovered that many of the trails are once again unmarked and unmapped, lots of renegade trails, which are all very nice if you have a clue as to the general layout of the place, but was pretty confusing to a newby like me, so I just literally went along for the ride. I had put boots on Flash but probably didn't really need them, since most of the trails were cross country and we hardly went on the roads at all. I ended up going just under 12 miles, which was a good ride for Flash considering there were quite a few hills. On the final stretch home on Bucksnort trail, one of the actual mapped trails here, we opened up for a bit and got a nice canter and largos for quite a ways. It was definitely a good workout. I gave him a nice bath when we got back, long overdue considering how much mud he's been rolling in over at Chickasaw earlier this week, but now he's all nice and clean and white again, for the moment. Carol came back to camp later for happy hour and we chatted some more, nice to have some weather good enough to sit comfortably in the screen room. After she left and I fed the horses, I walked back over to the other couple's campsite and invited the wife to ride tomorrow, just a short ride to give Apollo a little stretch. There's rain in the forecast (what else is new? It didn't rain one drop today!), but we'll see what it looks like in the morning. I've mapped out just a 3 mile ride, as they're leaving tomorrow, and besides, an hour is enough for someone who hasn't ridden in a long time! Was after 8:00 by the time I got settled in with dinner and TV, shower's done, and now I'm off to bed early to make up for my short night last night. Good night, baby! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
Riding with a group is always a double-edged sword, as you know, but today the little voice in my head said I should try it. There are several trailers in a group on the other side of the road from me that arrived on Friday. I assumed they were only here for the weekend, but it turns out they're staying through this coming Saturday. Another couple showed up, apparently friends of theirs, and one woman introduced herself, Mary, and asked if I wanted to join their ride. They looked like they were leaving pretty quick, so I told them not to wait for me, but as it turned out, they waited quite awhile for the other ladies, and were just leaving the campground when I finished everything I had to do, so I saddled up Flash as fast as I could, and followed them up the trail I saw them leave on. I had a hard time persuading Lola to come along, evidently three days on the trail is too much for her, but she finally followed. I was only a few minutes before I caught up with them, you know how quick Flash can be when I ask him. We startled the drag horse who had a little fit for a few minutes but eventually settled down. I would have preferred to stay in the back with Lola following, but instead got put in the middle. We kind of stayed in two groups, and for awhile I was at the back of the first group with Lola right behind me, but she got skittish with so many horses, and tired I think, and disappeared, though I knew she'd go back to camp. Anyway, the trails were poorly marked (or not marked at all except a few survey tapes hanging from the occasional limb,) and once again, much of it was straight up and down hills, but at least we never had to go along any roads, which was good because I was in such a hurry I didn't put Flash's boots on. We rode for less than two miles before the group stopped at a downed tree for lunch (yeah, I know, I know), and we were there for half an hour before heading off again, circling back on a mostly different series of trails as we headed back to camp. Some of them looked familiar, and sure enough, when I lined them up with previous rides, there was a lot of duplication. Meanwhile, we got back to camp, and Lola was not in the screen room sleeping, where I had expected to find her. Of course, I soon found her up near the playground, playing fetch with part of the landscape crew that was out mowing lawns today. I had to go and bring her back, and that didn't last long, she ran off to play with some kids on the playground shortly afterward. She's been wandering off farther and farther, which is not good. She finally completely lost her privileges when I let her out about 9:30 for the final time, and ended up getting a phone call from a ranger, she had wandered all the way up the road to the restaurant. He was nice enough to bring her back (he was worried about her being on the road), but that's it. She stays on a cable or a leash from now on. Anyway, at least Flash got some exercise, and this is the last sunny day forecast until Thursday, which I'll probably spend most of packing up anyway, so I'm glad we got one more ride in. Less than five miles, but it's better than nothing. Settled in for the evening, did a couple of loads of laundry, had my shower, so now I'm off to bed. Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Sweetie!
Had a wonderful night sleep last night, so quiet even though I had a couple of neighbors move in last night, not a peep! Probably too cold, it was forecast to go down to the 30's but I'm not sure it got that low. Lots of sunshine this morning, and even though I thought it might be too cold to ride today, by noon it was into the 60's so I thought I'd better make hay while the sun shines, as they say! After a late breakfast and some more computer work in the morning, I saddled up Flash. I had come up with a route that would follow most of the perimeter of the park, and off we went! Other than the climb out of camp, of which there are half a dozen ways to go, they all end up on a road at the top of the hill and everything goes off from there. Since the only map I have is of the roads here (no horse trail map at all!), I did follow mostly roads, which were predominantly gravel and dirt. Sometimes there was enough of an easement along the side to get off the road, but most of the time there wasn't. Flash wasn't happy about the footing, and kept trying to get off the gravel, even though he had boots on. Every road looks pretty much the same here, and there are no special destinations like waterfalls or caves or overlooks, pretty boring actually. I finally did find a trail that was nice for a while, a double track along the edge of a newly growing forest, but eventually that turned into practically a swamp, and all torn up by the ATV's, a real mess. That came to a stop when I reached a creek in a deep ravine where the bridge had completely collapsed. I can't believe this park is so poorly maintained! No crossing the bridge, not even as a pedestrian. I tried to find a way around it, but had to turn back, then I went to the left of the bridge and about 30 yards down I found what looked like it might work as a horse crossing, but it was a pretty steep drop into a narrow ravine, a quick turn, then up the other side. It reminded me of how we used to get into Hungryland before they built the landbridge there, only much narrower. Anyway, it took some persuading to get Flash to go down there, he was not very willing, but finally he went down, turned, and climbed the other side. See, the original four-wheel drive! It was pretty swampy on the other side, too, but we eventually got back on the trail and it ended up on the road, as I knew it eventually would. We came across a big tree across the road after that, and I thought Flash would just step over it, but at the last second he decided to leap it from a standstill! Fortunately, even though I wasn't really ready, I managed to stay on. It wasn't long after that we got back to camp. My original plan was for about 7.5 miles, but it ended up being closer to 13.5 because I made a mistake on my plan, but no big deal, longer is better for Flash anyway. We still managed to do it in about 3 hours, so a good ride. Of course, Lola came along, and she got good and muddy, as did Flash, and, too, frankly. I let the horses graze on the clover outside their electric fence for awhile while I downloaded my GPS info, did a Facebook video (something I've started just for fun, don't know if anybody's interested, but I thought I'd give it a try), then read my Kindle book while the I kept an eye on the horses. After almost two hours, it started getting chilly, so I put the horses back on the highline and fed them, did the rest of the chores, showered early, watched a couple of DS9s, and now I'm heading to bed. It's supposed to be warmer tomorrow so I'll probably take Apollo out for a bit, then we have rain coming in on Monday, naturally! That's okay, time to do some indoor chores, like maybe doing my taxes! Btw, my eye was much better this morning, and by the end of the day it felt almost back to normal. I hate those eye cuts, they hurt like a bandit, but they do tend to heal fast! Well, that's all the news, so good night, my love!

Hi Sweetie,
I spent the morning doing computer work and making phone calls, plus I made a quick trip to Publix to file a complaint about the cake, which ended up in a refund and a promise for another cake whenever I wanted it, even next year. We'll see! Finally, in the afternoon, Jeff, Audrey and I decided to take a ride, since she's leaving on Wednesday and tomorrow they're going fishing, so this will be the only chance she has. We saddled up all three horses and headed out the back gate, with Lola dressed up in her orange vest just in case, and went around that 5 mile loop along the canal, through the WMA and stopping at the pavilion for a little bit. After a very wet winter, we've had lots of dry weather the last few weeks, so most of the water was either gone or quite shallow, so we had only a little bit of wading to do. It was nice, though, and a good little stretching exercise for our guys. Jeff's horse Frost even behaved himself for the most part, and we were careful to keep them all apart to avoid any incidents. It was a slow pace, though, even Flash was walking slower than I've ever seen him, probably because it was almost to the mid-80's today. I'm going to have to think about clipping them if we stay down here much longer, probably should have done it weeks ago, but wasn't sure how soon I'd be heading north, and what the nighttime temps might be. When we got back from the ride, I walked down the driveway to pick up Lola's new GoDogGo machine which UPS had delivered earlier. Yes, they sent me another one! I think I'm becoming their official Beta Tester or something. I got it out and set it up, with Lola jumping up and down the whole time, then of course she went nuts when it started working. She played for quite a while, which will help her sleep tonight, because you know a little 5 mile hike was hardly going to warm her up! Anyway, it was a nice day, a nice ride, and a lovely evening, with the family gathered at the pool, which has become our habit in the late afternoon, before finally settling down for the evening. Off to bed now, so good night, my love!