Hiya Darlin',
Well, not surprisingly, I paid the price for last night's martinis, and woke up with a hangover and a cottonmouth. Laid in bed until I felt better, finally got up and did my chores, then spent the rest of the day in my recliner working on the computer, planning my travels for the next month. I have most of May to knock around the Carolinas, so I decided after Biltmore, I'd go back to Canebrake, where they have water, electric and a dump station. We went there a couple of times, didn't ride the first time, only got one ride in the second (and that was the week they were installing electric!), so I figure it will be a good place to spend two weeks, considering it's only $17 a night with my senior discount. From there I decided to go back to Woods Ferry, mostly because it's about the only place that has availability over Memorial Day weekend, and I figure it's been long enough since our last debacle there. Plus it's only $3.50 a night with the discount, so I can keep my costs down. Then I'll be heading over to Nathalie's house where I'll be leaving the horses and Lola while I fly off to my Red Rock Ride. I made reservations for all of that, then worked on the trail system at Biltmore, getting everything on Google Earth so I can put it on my GPS when the time comes. Watched a couple of movies, including a great one about a healing horse called Adeline, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Glad I had a nice day off, I sure needed it! Heading to shower and bed! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Woke up at 8:00, laid in until after 9:00, then got busy! Did three loads of laundry, a whole bunch of deep housekeeping, then once all the laundry was on the line (it was a beautiful morning and a beautiful day!), finally headed out at 2:00 to pick up some hay. Went into Society Hill and cleaned out the hay guy's trailer of his last eight bales, which I stored in the back of the trailer. I was hoping he had ten to get me through, but eight is all he had! Once I got that put away, I took down the laundry, finished up just before 5:00, which was time enough to celebrate a final day of work, so I mixed myself a martini or two (having indulged myself into buying some gin at the ABC store) and finally getting relaxed for the evening. I'll probably regret it in the morning, but I'm definitely enjoying it tonight! Watched a rather strange Matthew MacConaughy movie, and now I'm ready for shower and bed on fresh, air dried sheets! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie!
Had a great night sleep, now that the camp is all but empty, but of course, I still felt tired since I'm crashing from all the recent activity. I got up long enough to do my chores and have breakfast, then crawled back into bed where I spent the day reading, napping, and generally trying to stay warm. All that rain brought in a cold front, so it's a bit chilly this morning, down into the forties, but tonight is going to be even colder, down into the thirties, so when I finally got up in the afternoon, I put a blanket on Apollo (Flash already had his on), when I fed them. I took a walk over to visit with Chelle and to return a nozzle she left on the hose she borrowed from me, and we chatted awhile, but then I got back to camp and settled down for the evening with dinner, a Northern Exposure and a little Hallmark rom/com. Won't be long out of bed though, I've steeped my Sleepytime tea and am looking forward to crawling back into my warm bed! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Today would have been the perfect day to have a rainy Sunday, but alas, it was not to be. I was up early with the alarm, over to the clubhouse by 8:30, breakfast, awards ceremony, then on the road with Patsy all day picking up most of the signs. There were still a few left we couldn't get to, and at one point we got stuck and had to be rescued by one of the other volunteers, Calvin. We were climbing a hill on clay that turned out to be as slick as ice, and Patsy fishtailed until she got stuck along the side where all the rain had been guttering down. Took almost an hour to be rescued, but fortunately, it only took a little tug from Calvin's truck to get us out. We carried on our merry way, picked up a bunch more signs, finally got back to camp at nearly 4:00. Helped myself to leftovers in the kitchen (I have enough hot dogs to last a month!), got the horses fed, including some good handfuls of wet alfalfa that was leftover at one of the hospitality spots that we picked up, and finally settled down for dinner and a movie, with George Clooney and J-Lo. I can feel my body doing it's usual crash after the exertion of many days of exertion in a row, and now I'm crashing. Not sure what's going to happen this week, but I'm definitely not doing anything tomorrow but the bare minimum. Can't wait to get into bed, the temps, which yesterday morning were pushing the upper 80's, have plummeted, with temps forecast in the mid-40's overnight, so I'm looking forward to a hot shower and a good, long night sleep, especially now that the camp is practically empty, and no generators around. Whew! What a day! A quick Spanish lesson and I'm off to my shower and bed! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Was happy to wake up without any pain this morning, so whatever happened yesterday was just a passing thing, thank goodness! Hooked up with the team around 10:00 after chores and breakfast, solved some computer mapping issues, then headed back out onto the trail with the two FEI officials to finish putting the mileage signs out, which took a couple of hours. Got back to camp, and it wasn't long before I was asked to take some of the crew drivers out the show them the crew stops, so I took them out in a convoy, putting up the crew site signs as we went. We didn't have them this morning, so it was a good job done. Did some more mapping work, finally got everything set, just in time for the riders meeting. We finally managed to merge the two trail meetings (after some contention), then FEI split off for a second meeting specific to them. It was after 8:30 when we got done, I got back to my camp, finally fed the horses and settled down for a short evening before it will be time for shower and bed. No doubt another long day tomorrow! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Darlin',
Rain came in on schedule overnight, but still managed a good night sleep. Waited until about 9:00 before it stopped long enough to feed the horses, got my chores done, made Lola some satin balls, then got busy with my taxes. Fortunately, they're a lot simpler these days, so it only took me a few hours to compile it all, considering I already did the preliminary work. Had to submit it twice because of a missing health form, but got it accepted in the end. Finished the work day with catching up on the more recent bookkeeping. Flash turned 20 today!! I can't believe I've had him six years already! He and Apollo got a good shower out of all the rain we had today, and for dinner, I gave them both a bunch of carrots as an extra treat. Did a little work on the map for the endurance ride, then settled down to a nice dinner and a movie. Looking forward to getting some miles of riding in over the next few days! Going for another early bedtime! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Darlin',
Went to bed nice and early, but then I woke up around 2:00 and it took awhile to get back to sleep, and that repeated a couple of times before I finally got up around 8:00. Spent most of the morning trying to locate a battery for the tractor at a reasonable price, Tractor Supply wanted nearly $200 for one, though I found a one year one at Walmart for $67, but I thought that was a lot for a one year. I finally found one at Home Depot, 3-year for $109, which I thought was reasonable, but unfortunately, it was all the way in Ocala. I jumped in the car with Lola and we headed out, then straight over to where the tractor is staying and sent to work. Turns out the new battery is exactly the same brand as the old battery, so I'm guessing I did the same search last time! It didn't take me very long to get it replaced, but I was missing one 10 mm wrench to finish it, so Jo brought me one since she was coming over anyway to leave some boxes here. Then I ran over to the Post Office to change my address, and I'm hoping they'll do the same deal with me here that I did in TN as far as forwarding it to me goes. The clerk seemed open to the idea, but she has to get it cleared with the postmaster. Anyway, it was 3:00 by the time I got back to camp, so I was busy getting everything packed. I usually spread out that job throughout the day, but I had no time left, so I worked non-stop for a few hours. Managed to do a bunch of laundry, too, since I'll be out of electricity and a water spigot for most of the summer. Finally settled down to dinner, having done everything I could to get ready, watched a movie and will soon be ready for shower and bed. I should also mention that there was a partial solar eclipse today, but we had a slight cloud cover, so it was hardly noticeable. Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
Finally had a great night sleep last night, no ibuprofen, but I did put in my earplugs, slept almost a full eight hours again, then still laid in for a bit reading. Once I got the day started, I just started checking off my list again, and got everything done that I could. Got the little horse trailer moved over to Helen's across the street, so now that's safe and sound and under cover. Collected some chaney root to last me through the summer, did some mail stuff and other paperwork, washed the recliner cover and let it hang out to dry on this absolutely gorgeous day! Just chugging along, getting more excited about moving on down the road to new trails! Apollo is so bored he's been tipping over water buckets faster than I can fill them up. I don't blame him, I just don't have time to take him riding, though I did brush him yesterday, his winter coat is coming out by the handful. Flash hardly looks any different with a winter coat, not shaggy like Apollo, but his hair's coming out pretty well, too. Was pretty chilly this morning, got down to the mid-40's, but I think that's probably the last of it. Looks pretty nice in South Carolina, too! Settled down for a nice evening with a couple of Northern Exposures and a garlic shrimp burrito, heading for an early shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Took three ibuprofens and put in my earplugs last night, I was determined to get a good night sleep, and thankfully, I did! Slept nearly a full eight hours, then worked on my shoulder for a bit. My muscles were really crying last night, and it felt like my shoulder had had a serious setback, but once I got a good night sleep, and worked on it for a bit this morning, it felt much better! After my usual chores, I set out working on my first problem, getting my brake controller working. It was working last week, but then it started to not work right, maybe because I had to use a four pin adapter for Yvette's trailer, I don't know. Once again, the solution seemed to be to take off the connector on the blue wire and just crunch them together and tape them. Something about the connector just not doing it, but this just seemed to work. I wasn't sure it was fixed, but it seemed to be, so after that, I headed down to Yvette's to drop off the tractor. I had to take off the auger and put the bushhog on for her, and it was in pieces, so it took me awhile to get it all back together. Once I got it put in the shed, I took her trailer back to her old house and dropped it off (so grateful for her help!), then a quick stop at Forest HQ to drop off a winch that I thought I might need but didn't, thankfully. Back to camp, and checked the brake controller on the big trailer again, just to make sure, and everything seemed to be working okay. Changed out the bumper pull hitch, since I have to move the little horse trailer tomorrow. Finally settled down to get started on my long list, which kept getting longer every hour I couldn't sleep earlier this week, mostly doing computer and paperwork. I still have an awful lot to do before I leave, but at least I made a lot of headway today. Finally settled down to dinner and a movie. Lola is doing much better, she's been putting a lot more weight on her back foot, and the vet told me I didn't need to soak it anymore, but we'll keep up the antibiotics for at least another month, she said. Hoping for another good night sleep tonight, I still was flagging by the end of the day, not quite fully recovered. Of course, I've been fighting this cold, or whatever it is, for the last few days, so that hasn't helped. Ready for shower and bed soon! Good night, darlin'! Love you!