Hey Darlin',
Got up with the alarm to get an early start, was done with chores and breakfast and out the door by just after 9:00, heading down to Camden to visit with my high school buddy Steve and his friends at his little cabin. Spent the day chatting away, with time just flying by! Of course, I came back smelling of cigar smoke (though I didn't imbibe myself!) and Buffalo wings. Left around 6:30, stopped at Karen's to pick up a package that came with my video camera (still in the original box, amazingly, even though it's refurbished) before getting back to camp. I was happy to see the horses still had a little bit of hay left, so these new giant hay bags are doing the trick! I had new neighbors move in right across from me, and I ended up going over and chatting for a bit before coming home, having a little ice cream treat with my tea, soon off to my shower and bed! A lovely day! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Had a good night sleep, woke up a bit later than I expected, about 8:30, leapt out of bed to start my first load of laundry. Strange hours here for generator use, supposedly limited from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 to 8:00 p.m., but I had laundry to do, so I overextended that by about an hour. But I got my laundry done and hanging by 10:00! Did a little housework, then in the afternoon, I headed over to Karen's to pick up three bales of hay she left out for me, and to pick up my packages. They hadn't been delivered, but I was expecting them shortly, so I hung around until they came, not really that long. Once I got back to camp it was like Christmas in July, opening all those packages! Of course, most of it was for various repairs and improvements, so I started fixing things with each box I opened. I got a new connector for the hose filter, something more direct than what we had previously had which had started to leak. I got new extra large, slow feed hay bags, a new Cavallo boot for Flash to replace the stretched one that keeps falling off, and two new batteries with a charger for the old camcorder. I wasn't sure, but I was hoping a new battery would do the trick, and when I put the new battery in, sure enough, it powered up! So I put them both on charger and did a little duct tape repair on the camera, but I haven't seen anything on the monitor screen yet, so I'll have to do a little more digging tomorrow. Kept busy for awhile, watched a sweet little movie with Pierce Brosnan as an old man returning to Normandy for the D-Day memorial, then went over to the ladies camp to visit for awhile. The day flew by! Quite ready for shower and bed, so good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Spent most of the day going through my mail and packages, then a couple of hours replacing the battery in my phone. The old one was still working, though it didn't seem to be holding a charge as well, but it was only 1420 amp hours, so I found a better one, they claim 9000 amp hours, which I'm hoping will mean I won't have to charge it as often on my Yellowstone trip. At least, that's the plan! This wasn't one of those easy ones where you just take the back off and replace the battery, I had to go through a whole process of heating it up to soften the adhesive, carefully taking it apart, unscrewing about a dozen tiny screws, heating it up again to get the battery out, and finally, the most tedious part, getting the adhesive off before putting a new back on (my old one was already cracked somewhere along the line.) Difficult, but I got the job done! Looks like new! Thank good ness for Youtube, where I looked at half a dozen different videos just to get it right. I also unboxed a couple of battery charger/storage units, also many amp hours, with a solar capacity, so I'm hoping I'll have enough power to last 12 days in the wild. Put a lot of stuff away, then settled down for a quiet rest of the day. Warmed up nicely, started out around 50, up to mid-70's, but only getting down into the mid-60's tonight. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, so I guess I'll put off laundry until Monday. Karen came by with another delivery, my micro towel, also for the trip. I think I've got myself pretty covered for the trip, not sure what else I'm going to need, hopefully not much! It will all come in handy for other things, too, so it won't be just a one time thing. Anyway, it was a nice, productive day, and I'll be headed to bed soon! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Had trouble getting to sleep early, so ended up getting up late. The day was cloudy for the most part, with a few showers in the afternoon. I had already decided not to go riding today, so I just spent most of the day puttering. I'm returning the camcorder I bought, the quality is just too poor, but it finally occurred to me that maybe the reason my old Sony camera wasn't working was because the battery finally gave out. Considering how long I've had the camera, I'm amazed I think of it sooner! So I've ordered two new generic batteries with a charger, figured I'd give that a chance before I spend hundreds on a new camcorder, or just decided to use my phone anyway. I like the separate camcorder, though, always have. Anyway, it was a day spent mostly on my computer, with just one quick venture over to Karen's to pick up my mail and a couple more pacakges, so got some more stuff to check out over the weekend. Not much else going on! Settled down to dinner and a movie, which I realized after about three quarters of the way through I had seen already. Guess it didn't make much of an impression the first time! Anyway, won't be long out of bed. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
Woke up even before my 6:30 alarm and got busy, so much to do. Took longer than usual, since I had two different horse containment setups to remove, and for my fence, I had used nearly every post I had, so there was a lot to undo. Fortunately, I had no problems moving off the grass onto the gravel, maybe because I put the tarp down to keep it dry, but whatever the reason, it worked. I finally managed to get on the road about 9:20, a bit later than I wanted, but it couldn't be helped. I took a different route, going straight up along Seneca Lake rather than across the southern tier much easier, at least until I got to Syracuse, where there was so much construction everywhere, it slowed things down. Then my stupid map program started taking me on all the back roads when I wanted to go on I-81, so I ended about nearly half an hour out of my way before getting back on track. Managed to arrive at Otter Creek a little after 2:00, and found the entire campground empty. I got into the same spot as last year with no trouble at all, got myself nice and level and started getting set up. Much cooler in the shade, which is nice. Took my time setting up, finally finished and settled down for a bit. Called Tractor Supply, talked to the guy who said he'd be fetching two bags of Balance from Watertown for me, only to learn he hadn't, so I'm glad I didn't stop when I passed them (their parking lot is a bit small for me anyway), but I did learn that the TSC near the next place I'm going has a whole palette, so I can wait until I get there. My friend Karen came by with the first of many packages that I'm having shipped to her house, I'm trying to get everything I'm going to need for the Yellowstone trip in time to make sure they work, in case I have to return anything. Settled down for the evening, looking forward to getting to bed early tonight! Had some trouble getting a good enough signal for live streaming, had me looking at Starlink again, but apparently my Prime program was updating, which was slowing everything, and seemed to eventually kick in, so we'll see how the rest of our time goes here. It has been better since I upgraded my plan, until today, at least. Anyway, shower and bed forthwith! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Just another Sunday before a move! Did a couple of loads of laundry and hung them out to dry before it rained, got some stuff packed up, laid down the tarp to try to keep the ground dry in front of the trailer, read, watched TV, and generally had an overall quiet day. I was glad to see Flash starting to run around the paddock a bit today, the rest this week had likely done him some good, and I'm hoping his energy level will improve next week when we have some nice trails to ride. The thunderstorms came in late in the afternoon, freaking Lola out as usual, then cleared up for a bit, then came back again. I'm hoping once this current one passes it will dry out a bit and I won't have any trouble getting out tomorrow, considering I do have a bit of a pull uphill on grass on the way out. Fingers crossed! Fortunately, they do have a big tractor here in case I need help, but don't think it will be necessary. Looking forward to getting back in the saddle again next week! I forgot to mention yesterday I ate my first home grown tomato! It had been pulled off a few days ago so I waited for it to finish ripening, and it was delicious! I already have several more that are looking nearly ready, and one came off during the storm today, so I'll probably had that one tomorrow. Nice to have my own "garden" on the road! Anyway, not long out of bed. Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
It's really amazing how much time I have on my hands when I decide not to ride and I don't have any pressing repairs to do on the trailer or the truck! I can't remember ever having so much free time! Again, I spent the day reading, playing a few games of computer Scrabble, watching a couple hours of TV, ordering a bunch of stuff from Amazon that I need since I have a friend at the next place willing to accept my packages, and just settling down for the evening. It was another warm one, though nice enough to go riding, I just don't like these trails very much, so I decided to let the horses rest for the week. Apollo keeps nickering at me every time I come out of the trailer, I think he's bored. Even Flash looks like he might welcome a ride, but I'm not worried, because next week I'll have him on the trails as often as possible! It was pretty busy in camp today, lots of new neighbors, though I kept to myself. I'm surrounded camp campfires, but thankfully, the breeze is sending their smoke away from me, so no problem. Won't be long out of bed again, enjoying the book series I'm reading, so despite not having a lot of demands on my time, I'm enjoying the quiet and solitude. Heading to bed shortly! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Had another good night sleep, didn’t get up until nearly 8:30, then before I was able to finish my chores, young Brandon came by to chat once more. It was after 11:30 by the time we completed out exhaustive discussion on our differing philosophies of the universe, and he went to pack up and leave while I continued my chores, including filling up the truck tank so I would have enough water for laundry (though the weather on Sunday isn’t looking too promising at the moment, though that’s likely to change as always!) and finally got around to breakfast (well, now lunch!), then spent the afternoon mostly reading and doing research on Amazon. It’s the last “Prime Day” and I wanted to get a few things while the sale was going on, though I have a bunch more to order tomorrow. Finally settled down to a new series and a quiet evening. Quite warm today, but it still seems to be cooler here than where I’m going next, which is surprising as it’s further north. Oh, well, we can only find 70 when we can! Good night, Babe! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Despite my napping yesterday for several hours, I ended up having an excellent night sleep, and woke up really refreshed. It was a beautiful day, except for one thunderstorm that passed through rather quickly, as they all seem to be doing lately. I did a few chores, including mending the border around the exterior rug, but it was mostly a very quiet day of mostly reading. My neighbor for the past ten day, Brandon, was going to stay until Monday but had overstayed his two weeks and was asked to leave, even though he had received permission from the assistant ranger, but someone else complained, so he's leaving tomorrow. He came by and we chatted for a couple of hours, and we finally had clear enough skies to watch the ISS flyover. I've been looking for it for the last few nights, but it's been too cloudy, but after today's storms, we had a perfectly clear sky tonight, and it came through so early, it was even before the stars came out, so easy to spot. Sorry to see him go, but I imagine I'll run into him at some point. Which reminds me, I forgot to mention that yesterday at Tractor Supply, I actually ran into someone who had stayed at the Goethe Trailhead and immediately recognized me when I went in! Small world! It took me a bit to remember where I knew him from, but he mentioned they had a bus that didn't make it back to NY, and I remembered him and his girl stayed a few extra days, too, because they were waiting for paperwork and parts for their bus or something, that was delaying them. Amazingly small world! Anyway, it was a beautiful day, albeit quiet, but I'm sure I'll make up for it at Otter Creek next week, where the riding is much better. I can't remember sitting around doing nothing for so long, except during the time leading up to my knee surgery, and I'll be glad to get busy again. Anyway, good night, my darlin'! Love you!