Hey Babe,
Had a pretty good night sleep until Lola tried to move around just after 4:30 and woke me with her screaming. I had given her a couple of pills at 11:00, hoping that would help her through the night, but we didn't quite make it. I got up anyway, helped her as best I could, then as it got light, I moved the horses out of their now well-worn paddock and put them on their anchors on the front side of the camper. I fed them, and later in the day, moved their water bucket down close to the metal hitching rail that they provide. Not something I would ever tie my horses to for two weeks, but with their anchors, it will keep them from overgrazing the waterlogged grass. They were fine all day, so I decided to just put up a hay bag on one of the trees here, and let them stay like that all night. I'm hoping they'll be okay. Meanwhile, I gave Lola her pills, put the ice pack, then heat on her back, and she eventually was ready to go out a do her morning piddle. I'm still using a towel to help her stay upright, but she does seem to be getting around a bit better. It's just when she loses her balance and drops the wrong way that causes her pain. I gave her a couple of massages during the day as well, and once again, in the evening, she managed to do both her duties. When she looked stable enough, I took off the towel and she started really motoring. She was headed straight for the campers uphill from us (lots of kids and animals up there!), and I had a heckuva time turning her back to the trailer. She was really moving, I had a hard time keeping up with her, but I finally managed to get her pointed back to the camper, using the towel to get her back up inside. I spent the rest of the day reading and nodding off in my recliner, though I don't know why I need to get so much sleep since I haven't been doing hardly anything physical. Switched over to TV once my eyes got too tired of reading, and won't be long out of bed again. Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
We both had a good night sleep last night, I'm happy to say! She seemed to be somewhat better today, so I kept the same pill regime and once again spent the day with her. She managed to climb up on her raised bed, but when she tried to get back down, she started screaming again. I put on the ice pack, then heat, then a massage, and she seemed to do better after that. Once again, at exactly 7:00, just like last night, she wanted to go out, and I walked around with her. At first, I had the towel around her, but she was moving okay so I took it off but stayed with her. She managed to do her duties again, and settled down once we got back in the camper. Not much else going on today, just reading, finished the Rob Lowe series, started watching Citadel but quickly abandoned it, since it was obviously nothing but violence and gore, and started something sillier for a change, Drop Dead Diva, which looks like fun. Rained most of the day, quit for a few hours, now it's back to raining again. There's actually rain in the forecast for the entire next week, which is quite the opposite from the last few months, where everywhere I went was in a drought! I don't actually mind, it's always pleasant to listen to rain on the roof, and it's a good excuse to stay with Lola. Horses are getting wet, and unfortunately, they're kind of tearing up the grass around me, but I plan on moving them again tomorrow if I can. Headed to bed after tea. Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
A bit of a rough night, I had to get up once around 1:30 when Lola tried to move and landed wrong, screaming, but I managed to get her settled, massaged her for awhile until she dozed off again. Managed to sleep late, though, as she stayed quiet the rest of the night. Started her pills at 9:00, and she stayed in her bed, which I had moved to the kitchen so we could see each other all day, which seems to calm her some. She managed to eat most of her breakfast, and started drinking water around noon, but didn't have any interest in going out. I spent the day just reading and staying with her, in between horse chores. I didn't want to leave her alone, or disturb her, so I stayed quiet all day. I had put the horse ice leg wrap in the freezer last night, so I put that around her hips this morning, then later switched over to the heating pad, which I kept off and on most of the day. I managed to make an acupuncture appointment for her, but not until next Wednesday, we'll have to see if she still needs it by then. I gave her another round of pills, and a couple of hours on schedule, and she finally telegraphed that she wanted to go out, so I wrapped my micro towel around her to keep from falling down, which seems to be when it hurts her the most, and she seemed to have a bit more strength in her left leg this time. She was figuring out what I was doing to help her, and we made it down the stairs and out to the grass, piddled and back in the camper without incident. So happy! She settled back into her bed, where hopefully she'll be comfortable until morning. I'm going to give her one more painkiller in the hopes that it will keep her quiet during the night. I could use a full night sleep! Glad to see she's feeling a bit better, though she's a long way from independent. Meanwhile, the horses are doing fine, adjusting to their new hay, though I had to keep them in their paddock all day, as we've had quite a few campers arrive, despite the forecast for rain all weekend. As we've learned, we can't always trust the forecast! It was cloudy and cold this morning (I actually had to put the furnace on for a bit!), but the sun finally came out around 4:00, too late to ride, and I wouldn't anyway with Lola the way she is. Settled down to a new series (finished off Ransom earlier), just a six-part Brit series with Rob Lowe. Heading to bed shortly! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Not a good day for Lola. We had thunderstorms come through most of the night, and she was so anxious, even after giving her a Benadryl, she kept climbing up the stairs, then losing her balance and falling off. She must have fallen off half a dozen or more times during the night. I tried to keep her on the bed, but she kept insisting on going down, then back up again. Around 4:30, she fell down so hard she started screaming, obviously having injured herself in some way. I got up, settled her down the best I could in her bed, and gave her two of her Carprofen pills (which I later learned was too much for her, her max. should be 125 mg). I stayed in the recliner next to her, which seemed to help calm her, and I slept fitfully there for the remainder of the night. Got up at 9:00, but she stayed in her bed while I went out to do my chores. She managed to get down to eat breakfast, and seemed to be moving a little better, so we just rested the rest of the morning. I massaged her back and legs a bit, and managed to stretch them out okay, and seemed to feel better, crawling back into her bed. Then, around 3:00, she managed to get out of bed and down the stairs to get out of the trailer, but on the bottom step her back legs collapsed and when she landed, she started screaming again. I was afraid she might have dislocated her leg, or broken something. I managed to pick her up and get her into the truck, and immediately started hunting for a vet. The nearest ones wouldn't take her, but I finally found one called Hillside that was open late and seemed to have emergency services, so I just drove 30 minutes there without calling, figuring they couldn't turn me down if I just showed up. Not fair, I know, but I was desperate by then. As it turned out, they had no problem taking her, rolling out a gurney to the truck so we could get her inside. They examined her, took x-rays, did some lab tests, and eventually concluded that nothing was broken or dislocated, but she had some soft tissue damage, though it was hard to say exactly what. They suspect perhaps a pinched nerve or ligament injury possibly caused or exacerbated by her arthritis, so they gave me another painkiller that would also hopefully help with that, though we will have to adjust the dosage until we figure out what will work. She seemed better when we got her into the truck, having given her one of the heavier painkillers, so on the way home, I detoured to Deam Lake to check out the site I had reserved to make sure the trailer would fit into it. The site is fine, but I'll have to pass it and turn around by the lower barn and come back backward in order to be able to get into it properly. Right next to a water spigot, and it has several good trees for a highline. Got back to camp around 7:30, left Lola in the truck while I got the horses in their paddock (I left in such a hurry, they were still on their anchors, and thankfully, didn't get into any trouble as a result), then helped Lola out of the truck. She seemed to be doing better, took a long pee as well as completed her doody duty, both of which were long overdue. I got her up into the trailer with a little help, and she settled down on the bathroom rug for awhile. I had dinner and tried to relax, but then when she tried to get up once, she started screaming again. I gave her another pill (the dosage is 1-3 pills every 8-12 hours), but she was so twisted up with pain, I didn't know how to help her. Eventually, I helped her get in a more comfortable position, so I'm hoping she'll be okay through the night. Very worried about her, especially when the vet brought up "quality of life" issues to be revisited in a few weeks. I sure hope it doesn't come to that, not for awhile yet. I'll give her another massage tonight, hopefully that will help, and fingers crossed, tomorrow will be better for her. My heart is aching for my sweet girl! Glad there aren't any more storms forecast for tonight, lately they've really been terrifying her. Hope we both get a better night sleep tonight. Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Went to sleep with my earplugs, still raining pretty heavy when I went to sleep, woke up to the sound of a chainsaw barely after 6:30 a.m. Evidently some trees came down during the night, two in the horse camp, but both over the road and not too close to me, thank goodness! There were others down on the road to the exit as well, so all that rain certainly took its toll! Lots of leaves and limbs all along the road. I had planned to get up early anyway, because I wanted to pick up more hay today, and there was rain forecast to arrive around 1:00, so I had a quick breakfast, got my chores done, and was heading out of camp before 8:00. First stop was Tractor Supply to refill three tanks of propane and pick up some new fenceposts. So many of my old ones have had so many breaks in them, combined with the two that were snapped off the first night we were here, so I bought ten more. I bought purple ones, just because now if I lend them to someone, I'll be able to tell which ones are mine! Also got fly spray and a new brush, I apparently left my orange one at Biltmore, thinking I left it on a tire and probably crushed it on the way out. Next stop was Walmart, had a big shopping to do since it's been awhile, over $300, but it should last a good long time. Picked up gas at the WaWa across the street, down to $5.79/gal for diesel. Dang, fuel is expensive right now! That's one reason I'm trying to make small, short hops between camps at the moment, though at some point they'll have to get longer again. Hopefully, the prices will come down over the summer. I ended up timing it perfectly, arriving at the haymaker's just five minutes before our agreed upon time of 12:15. He was able to get in over 200 bales between last Friday and yesterday, which, considering all the rain we had, was pretty remarkable. Not too seasoned, but I don't think the horses will mind green hay! I bought 13 bales, enough so I could fill up the front stall and to have enough for this week and a bit. I also made a short stop at the local post office to let them know I had a General Delivery package coming in, the postal worker seemed a little confused as to why I bothered to come in to tell them, but I've had some post offices so unaccustomed to it, they don't know what to do with it. But this guy was older, so it was obviously a concept he understood. I had to call the vet again this morning to get the tracking number, it was never sent even though I had asked for it. Got back to camp and still had plenty to do! Unpacked all the groceries, moved the horses out of the paddock and then moved the entire paddock again. All the rain made it pretty messy, but I think it will recover okay. I needed to move it anyway so I could get my truck in there to offload the hay. I must be getting stronger, because all of that activity didn't tire me out! Good deal! I put the rest of the hay under the gooseneck (I had already put up the skirting to keep the other hay dry), then filled up the horses' water buckets from the truck, since the hose won't reach it anymore. I was finally finished with everything just after 3:00, so a busy, chore-filled day! The forecast rain never came in, other than a few drops I heard, late in the afternoon, and a little thunder, but nothing to get excited about. Even Lola took it in stride. She was probably tired from all the loving she gave and received today! Finally settled down to rehydrate and rest, and spent the rest of the day following up on the reunion in August. I managed to get permission to have a meet and greet and tour at the high school on the Saturday, my old friend Anne E. had put out some feelers and got an excellent response, so now I'm obliged to go, since I offered to host the even and act as tour guide. At least it will be a bit more interesting schedule than before. Now I just have to figure out how to work it out with the horses and the trailer, whether I leave them somewhere or try to find someplace nearby. I checked into a few options, but need to do a lot more research. Binged on some episodes of Ransom, and heading to bed soon! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Rain finally quit during the evening last night, still a bit cloudy today, but woke up to much warmer temps. Suddenly it seemed like every fly within ten miles descended on us. I kept hearing Apollo getting down to roll, and a whole lot of stomping going on, and sure enough, they were covered in flies. After breakfast and chores, I decided to give them both a nice bath with Fly repellent shampoo followed by fly repellent spray, let them dry a bit, groomed them up nicely, then put them on their anchors so they could much on some more of the longer grass here, and they were a lot more comfortable after that. Did a few odds and ends, like doing another adjustment to my new saddle, finding a place to store my old saddle, fixing a broken rung on my new ladder (Grrr!), just general stuff, then settled down for the afternoon to some reading. It was close to 90 today, but I'm mostly in the shade and there was a pretty nice breeze, so it didn't get too bad, especially with the paddle fans and my little table fan on. By afternoon there wasn't a cloud in the sky! I took Apollo for a hand walk around camp with Flash following behind at liberty just for the exercise. There were two other campers here for the last two nights (and at least one of them ran their generator all night!), and they were both gone by mid-day, so it was mostly quiet today, though three older women had a picnic in the site across for me for a few hours. Called some friends just to chat, and otherwise had a pretty relaxing day. I've been here for a week now, and it seems much longer, and I still have a week to go! Guess I haven't stayed in one place for while, so it feels kind of nice. Will need to shop and find some hay this week, with the rain over the weekend and more in the forecast, local haymakers are getting behind the curve now, unfortunately. I may have to resort to some of last year's hay again, but we'll see. Anyway, a lovely day, it was good to spend some quality time with the horses, it's been such a long time since I've done that! Good night, darlin'! Love you!

Hey Darlin',
Rained off and on, along with thunderstorms, most of the day. Lola was a bit frantic for awhile, sorry to say, but there wasn't anything I could do about it. Perfect day to struggle with finishing my taxes. I had filed an extension, and promised myself the first rainy day I would get it done, and so I did! So extremely frustrating, though, because I had to use the online TurboTax instead of my usual Deluxe download, because they decided not to do a program for Windows 10, and I haven't upgraded yet, because it means buying a new computer. My old one doesn't have the capacity or something. So the online version was awful, hard to use, insisted I buy a higher version that I've ever had to get before, and I wasted so much time trying to avoid their constant sales pitches to upgrade even further, I was a basket case by the time I got done. Then I had issues getting it into the IRS, and because the cell phone signal is weak at best, everything took forever to get through. Grrrr! So glad when I finally got it done! Decided to take the rest of the day off and just veg out in front of the TV, because my brain was too fried for anything else! Only took Lola for one walk during a break in the rain, and did my chores, of course, but otherwise spent the day inside. Supposed to have more rain overnight, and get up to nearly 90 degrees tomorrow, so I have no plans for tomorrow, though housekeeping would probably be a good idea. We'll see how I feel in the morning. Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Had a good night sleep, slept straight through until daylight today for a change, even though the furnace came on a couple of times, I must have slept through it. It was a chilly morning, so I laid in for awhile so the sun could warm things up a bit, though I still cranked up the thermostat once I got out of bed. I had intended to do some stuff today, but just couldn't seem to get the energy. I put the horses out on their anchors for a change, there is a lot of good grass and clover out here, and absolutely noone in camp except me, though the camp host did come around and spend the day mowing. I moved the horses out of his way when he came around, and I took Lola for about a mile walk, doing some PT exercises along the way, and that was about the extent of my physical activity today. I mostly spent time sorting out my investment portfolio, a long overdue task, and finally settling down for the evening. Not much else to report, a very quiet day! Love you, darlin'! Good night!

Hey Sweetie,
Not a bad night sleep, though I did wake up way too early, read awhile, then finally got back to sleep. Woke up to a beautiful morning, cool, not a cloud in the sky, absolutely gorgeous! Then I stepped outside to feed the horses, only to discover several broken fenceposts and a downed fence, so, of course, an empty paddock. A brief look around and I saw them both across the campground about 80 yards away, so I casually replaced the posts, got out their feedbags with breakfast, and hollered for them. Flash almost immediately headed for me, Apollo a bit slower, but they came directly. As soon as they were inside the paddock, I put the fence back up. I thought maybe I had forgotten to put the fence power back on, but the violent way in which the fenceposts were broken tells me they were reacting to something, probably some critter they're not used to. Anyway, they were quiet the rest of the day, and the way they turned up their noses at their hay told me they had spent the night grazing on the spring grass and clover that's everywhere in the campground! Once that excitement was over, I started some laundry, did a few repairs and some computer work, then settled down for a mostly quiet afternoon. Hopefully, we won't have another unidentified critter come back again tonight! Finally finished my binge of Damages and started another series called Ransom. Won't be long out of bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Darlin'!
Had a good night sleep, but still got up pretty early, got busy with chores and getting everything packed up, then got slowed down with a conversation with one of the remaining campers, so much so we ended up being the last two campers to get out of camp! A nice chat, though, Mandy was interested in my freewheeling lifestyle, which I always love to share. Finally got out just before 10:30, made it over the bridge with no problem (much easier going out than coming it!), stopped for fuel nearby ($5.09/gal for diesel, which turned out the be the cheapest price I saw all day!), then stopped at TSC to look at and ultimately buy the cordura Aussie saddle I've been eyeing on FB marketplace. It's a bit heavier than I expected, but still more than 10 pounds lighter, so it's an improvement, and the girth and saddle blanket accompanying it were more than worth the price I paid. It's not exactly the same size, but hopefully it will still work on Flash. If not, I can always sell it again! Only had another 75 miles to go after that, so I was pulling into Clark State Forest before 1:00, and was fully set up in about 90 minutes. I found a lovely site where I decided to set up a paddock rather than highline, with enough sunlight to get some solar power, and give the horses some grass. I'm close enough to the spigot to reach it with hoses, so I filled up my tank and the horses' buckets, and there are two manure bunkers within easy reach, so this is going to be a comfortable site for the next two weeks. Settled down for the afternoon and evening, satisfied that I can relax for a bit, and get some work done as well as getting some riding in. Can't wait to try out my new to me saddle! Good night, my sweet! Love you!