Hey Sweetie,
Cooler than it was supposed to be, but what else is new? Took my time getting out of bed and doing chores, then got online to wire the funds for my vacation. Took a quick trip into Lakeland to pick up a few items at Walmart, fill up two propane tanks at Tractor Supply (I've been going through a lot with all this cold weather!), and a final stop for fuel just to top off my tank. Then got a notice that my wire couldn't be sent from one account (after I had transferred it from another!), managed to transfer it back, tried to wire it again, only this time the problem was on the receiving end! Didn't think it would be this complicated, but I'll be trying again tomorrow. Settled in for the evening, finished the first season of All Creatures and started another series called Departure, about a plane getting lost over the Atlantic. Probably not the best show to watch prior to flying to Africa! Anyway, it was a quiet evening, only two other campers here now, so I've been letting Lola wander a bit, which is making her a much happier camper. Ready for tea, shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Woke up to another chilly morning with no real plans today, being a holiday. About the only thing I did today was chat with my neighbors Jim and Sherry from Michigan before that packed up and left, read, and watched a few more episodes of my TV binge. Too cold to do much else today! It's getting nicer later this week, though, so I'm looking forward to that. Rest of the evening, the usual repeat! Good night, darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Had a hard time getting to sleep last night, so when I finally did, I ended up sleeping late, which was no problem, the horses didn't even whinny for their breakfast this morning! Finally did get up and do my chores, but I skipped breakfast because I was meeting our old friends from Richer Farms over in Dade City. I met them at a little restaurant, had a lovely breakfast and then spent the afternoon over at their farm, with nonstop conversation, as always, and the time just flew by! Great to see them again! On my way out, I almost got plowed into by a car with Virginia plates that pulled right out in front of me. I was barely able to swerve out of the way, and my back four tires undoubtedly left some rubber on the road, I slammed on my brakes so hard. I pressed my horn the entire time, and carried on, but I noticed he pulled over half a block away. I just went past him, but I hope I scared the hell out of him, as he certainly do the same to me! That's the second time a car from Virginia has almost got me in an accident. Coming through Lakeland on Thursday, another one pulled out right in front of me when I had the trailer behind me, and if she had accelerated, it would probably have been alright, but instead she crawled out of the driveway and slowed down! Again, I had to hit my brakes hard, and I knew the horses were getting tossed around in back, but there was nothing I could do. If I had had the trailer today, there's no way I could have stopped in time, it would have been a real mess! Anyway, after that, I stopped at the small Walmart for a couple of things I needed, and managed to get back to camp by about 5:30. It was over 70 this morning, then a cold front blew through and the temps dropped about 20 degrees, with lows close to freezing predicted by morning, so I put blankets on the horses and called it a night. Finally finished off all twelve seasons of Bones tonight, and started on another, All Creatures Great and Small, though only the first season is free. A busy day with a quiet evening, just the way I like it! Tea, shower and bed forthwith! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Managed to stay pretty warm last night, despite temps that went several degrees below freezing! I think I've finally mastered the mindset of actually using my utilities to be comfortable, rather than suffer because I'm too cheap to pay for a little bit more propane! Still spent most of the day inside, since it barely got into the 50's today, though I'm happy to say it will be warmer tomorrow. Finalized most of my plans for my Serengeti trip, just need to make the money transfer and pay for my flights. I have a hotel picked out, but I'm waiting a bit to make my reservation with them. Ended the day with a two hour Zoom meetings with the TOG committee, seems like everything is on track. Ending the day with my usual mug of Sleepytime tea and a shower, then off to my nice warm flannel sheets! Love you, darlin'! Good night!

Hi Darlin'!
Woke up to a chillier morning, but nothing like it's going to be over the next few days. Got everything packed up and ready to go, made a trip to the dump, and was leaving out of camp by about 10:30. The route took me through a lot of city driving, which is no my favorite, as well as some back roads with a lot of railroad tracks. Nearly scraped bottom on one of them! Arrived at the Hampton Tract just about noon, had to figure out which gate to go in and to find the campground. For some reason, I thought it was right by the road, but instead it was about a half mile farther, which suited me just fine! I thought it would be very quiet and was hoping to have the place to myself so Lola could run around, and was surprised to discover half a dozen other campers back here, though none with horses. With a little help from my new neighbor Jim, I was backed up and set up in short order. I was pleasantly surprised to discover there were water spigots throughout the camp, and ended up fairly close to one, so watering the horses or refilling my tanks will be easy. I had actually filled up both my truck tank and my RV tank with potable water before I left the other camp, thinking the water here would be less convenient, so now I have more water than I need! At least the chlorinated water in my truck tank might clean up some of the algae that's in there, if I'm lucky. Spent most of the afternoon working on transferring funds and finalizing my now confirmed trip to Tanzania, can't believe they were able to find me a spot! In fact, the company that had told me they were full is the same outfitter that I'm ending up going with, apparently the broker, a British company called In The Saddle, managed to get me in. So the process is started! Lots to do to get ready, vaccinations, visas and so forth, but I'm on it! Settled down for the evening after feeding and putting the winter blankets on the horses (it's supposed to get down to about freezing tonight!), and have confirmed the proper setting for my furnace thermostat, which has been working flawlessly since it's been fixed. Tea, then shower, then bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie!
Since I have water and electric here, and won't have for the next 10 days at least, I spent the day doing lots of laundry and working on the planning of my potential trip to Africa. Still not confirmed, and several of the companies I contacted are already fully booked, but I may have found one that still has a possible opening. Meanwhile, I did coordinate which flights I will need to take. Some of them are terrible connections, one with a nine hour layover after a twelve hour flight, so I will clearly be exhausted by the time I get there. I'm planning an extra day to recover, though, so hopefully that will be enough. Fingers crossed it all works out, though it's too early to tell. Of course, I did some packing, as we're heading out tomorrow. There's some seriously cold weather coming in, and I keep checking to see if there are any cancellations here so I can stay here, but nothing has opened up yet. No worries, it's still cheaper to camp free and use propane to heat the trailer than it is to pay the very reasonable $25 per night charge here, so either way. Anyway, time for tea and bed! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Babe!
A good night sleep, and was reading and doing my PT exercises when my old friend from WNGS 92.1 radio (long since defunct) called to say he was on his way. I thought he was coming at noon, but this was before 9:00, so I had to quickly get up and get my chores done and sweep out the trailer, and was just getting started on my breakfast when he arrived. We ended up chatting literally all day, not surprising when we had 40 years to get caught up on! We finally went out for a meal around 3:00, and I finally got back to camp just after 5:30, and it was already getting dark because of some cloud cover, so I quickly fed the horses, covered up my hay with a tarp because there's rain coming in, and finally settled down for the evening. Spent some time on the computer because I've suddenly become interested in possibly doing an African safari on horseback in the Serengeti. Crazy, I know, but I have to get some more stuff on and then crossed off of my bucket list while I still can, and I've been on five of the seven continents (and I have NO interest in going to Antarctica!), so that leaves Africa. This time of year lots of animals are migrating, so it's apparently quite the experience. Don't know if I can pull it all together in time, but we'll see! Only had time for one Bones, and I'm already running late for the evening, but it was a delightful day getting caught up, and a rare opportunity to reminisce, something I rarely do. Tea, shower and bed are next! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Had a good start to the day, got out pretty early to do a bunch of errands. First to Florida Ranch and Feed in Bartow, which turned out to have some very nice green coastal hay. I was afraid I would be down to just the brown stuff this late in the season, but they had some good stuff, albeit a bit more pricey, but I don't mind when it's this good. They actually had some Balance, but it was dated from June so I passed. Headed to Tractor Supply for an order I made last night and which was confirmed this morning (which is why I came to Bartow!) and picked that up, as well as filling up a propane tank. Seems we're going to have some cold weather while I'm at my next stop, which is primitive, no electric, so I want to be ready to run my furnace. Next a stop at Walmart for a few items, then Publix for a few items Walmart didn't have, then finally a gas station just to top off my fuel tank, even though I didn't really need it. Better safe than sorry! Made it back to camp by 1:00, took me about an hour to get everything put away, then I got busy on my computer sending out Press Releases, flyers and PSA files, until I finally had to call it quits and settle down for the evening. Felt like a busy day! Ready for tea and bed. Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
I had a brief moment this morning when I thought I might blow up the kayak and go out on the lake, but then I started working on the press information for the Taste of Goethe and that turned into a major project. I delayed it because I ordered a new microphone so I could do a vocal PSA, and it was supposed to arrive yesterday, but was delayed for some reason, and looks like I'm not going to get it before Monday. I'm glad I got a good start on it though, as I didn't realize how thin my database was, and spent the afternoon adding many layers of radio stations and newspapers. I still have a lot of work to do, but it's a start. Quit around dinnertime, did my evening chores, walked Lola down to the dumpster to get rid of some trash, including my old outside trash can which was cracked and just about to disintegrate. I had bought another one the other day, so no worries! Settled down for the evening, won't be long out of bed, having to run the AC again today to cool it down. Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Had a good night sleep, stayed in bed late, then had my plans for the day, which was to have an old friend visit, completely changed, when he woke up with a fever. I decided that I was getting a bit low on horse feed, so I decided to take a trip into town to pick some up. I ordered it online from Tractor Supply and drove all the way down there, only to discover that all three bags of horse feed I had ordered were "unavailable." Turns out two were too moldy, and the third was a choice between a half bag that had been retaped and a full bag that had bugs crawling out of it! All I managed to pick up was a container of Glucosamine. Grrrr! Made a quick stop at Walmart for fuel and a few other items, none of which was critical except for eggs, but it was a long way to go for so little in the end. Oh, well! At least I got my first delivery today, a new special dog water bowl that is supposed to prevent Lola from dripping water all across the floor like she always does, but I haven't seen her drink from it yet, so I still don't know if it actually works. Settled down for the afternoon and evening, not feeling like a very productive, but since I needed a day off anyway, I'll chalk it up to one of those. Heading to bed soon. Good night, baby! Love you!