Hi Babe,
I was very happy that volunteer Art agreed to do the early morning registrations, meaning he would be there at 6:00 in the morning, so I didn't have to work around feeding the horses. I still got up fairly early, got the chores and breakfast done, then had to meet Eric, who was refilling all of the water troughs along the ride route, at the Black Prong well so that he could refill his tanks. I did a quick clean of the restrooms while I was there, then managed to get down to Tidewater shortly after that. Spent the day helping out wherever I could, mostly with registrations, cleaning and restocking the bathrooms and whatever else came up. Jo got pulled after two loops on her 50 mile ride, suspecting it was the glue on boots she used, which apparently, her horse Luna detests. Left around 4:40, with a stop at Apex to drop off garbage and Black Prong to pick up more garbage bags, then back to the house for feeding and the rest of my evening. Not a busy day, but a full one. I seem to be going to be earlier and earlier these days, which is probably a good thing, except I'm waking up two hours before the crack of dawn, which may not be a good thing. Still deciding... I'm sure once I get back to my dark, cave-like bedroom in my trailer, things will get back to normal! Meanwhile, good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
Woke up around 4:30, read for awhile, worked on my shoulder, and finally got up at the break of dawn, did my chores, and was heading down to Tidewater before 9:00. Spent the day opening gates, parking trailer traffic, helping with registration and generally doing gofer stuff until I finally headed back to the house, did more chores, and settled down for the evening. Just another non-riding day! Love you darlin'! Good night!

Hey Darlin',
A good night sleep, chores, then I met DeDe and Jo down at Tidewater to do some prep work for the upcoming Goethe Gallivant. I stopped at HQ on the way to see if they had any duplicate signs for the trail intersections I needed, but none were to be found. No worries, DeDe and I managed to move the sign that was out there, put up the rest of the trail markers on the new section of trail taking folks off the road, and do some general trail clearing. It's still rough, and we'll no doubt get some complaints about it, but that's the way it goes! Stopped at Black Prong on the way back and did some tractor work, filling in potholes and washouts with gravel, and added some sand to my "patio" area where it was a bit thin. Got back to the farm mid-afternoon and relaxed the rest of the afternoon, more holiday movies mostly, and tried to relax as much as I could since the next few days are going to be extremely hectic. My now usual routine, I had an early dinner, hot open-faced turkey sandwich and salad, and finished off my little apple turnover with eggnog ice cream. Ready for another good night sleep! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Sweetheart!
While I've missed you every Christmas since you've been gone, I have to say that holidays alone are underrated. No stress about gifts (giving and getting!), family and friends that don't get along, everybody walking on eggshells to avoid conflict, and all the other negative issues that seem to occur around this time of year. Well, in my experience anyway. I was quite happy spending my day alone watching Christmas movies with Lola. It was especially nice being in a house with a big full kitchen, and I took advantage of it and cooked a full size 15.5 lb. turkey, stuffed! I had cranberry sauce and a nice salad to go with it, and an apple turnover I've had since November, but that I kept frozen until a few days ago. That heated up with a little eggnog ice cream, and I'm all set! I'm thinking I'll retrieve my super big soup pot from storage and making a big turkey soup, and since all I had was one thigh, I have plenty of leftovers I can freeze and use later. Very efficient! I was all finished up, dishes included, by the time I had to feed horses. I gave them all half an apple with their dinner, just for fun. A hot tub, shower, and finishing off with our annual viewing of "It's A Wonderful Life", and I am one happy camper! It doesn't matter how many times I see that movie, it always gets me! Of course, I miss you, but you're still here with me in spirit, for sure. Good night, my dearest darlin'! Love you forever!

Hey Darlin',
Had a great night sleep, it was a pleasure not to have someplace I had to run off to first thing in the morning! Had a relaxed morning with just the usual chores, then around midday I went over to camp to clean up the restrooms and check on my mail. Back to the house, where I made a batch of sugar cookies, which I pigged out on most of the day, and did nothing but watch Christmas movies. What a luxury! I feel like I've been so busy that it's lovely to just have a day when I do nothing. The horses were having fun out in the field, I saw Flash trying to snuggle with Apollo, until Apollo finally had to run him off, so funny to watch! Looking forward to another slow day tomorrow, with nothing but cooking, eating and watching more Christmas movies. Love you, babe! Miss you! Good night!

Hey Sweetie,
After going to bed before 10:00, I woke up at 5:00, and spent the next two hours working on my shoulder, which feels incredibly improved today. Got up and did my morning routine, which is getting faster and I get more used to what I need to be doing. There was a tremendous frost all across the fields this morning, looked quite lovely! I didn't take the horses' blankets off right away, I waiting until it was about 45, instead of 34 like when I got up. Looks like the last night they'll need blankets for a while, thank goodness. I spent most of the day working on the trailer, packing up everything, moving stuff around so it's easier for them to work on, then finally, after about four hours, hooking up and driving it up to the trailer repair place. All very tiring, but necessary. I had a couple more bags of things I had to transfer, but hopefully I have everything I need now for the duration until I get my trailer back. Fingers crossed it gets back before the homeowners I'm farm-sitting do! Had an early dinner, got my evening chores done, took my hot tub and shower, and settled down to a Christmas movie. Ready to go to bed! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Slept pretty well, considering I wasn't in my own bed. Woke up to a chilly morning, in the 30's, had to bundle up before going outside. It took me over an hour to take care of the critters, what with having to take their blankets off and everything else. I'm still getting used to the routine. After breakfast, I went back over to camp to pick up the list of things I needed and had forgotten yesterday, plus put some things away in advance of moving the trailer over to the trailer repair place. Got back in time to see the Steeplechase neighborhood Christmas parade, where residents get together and follow a route around a few blocks. Unfortunately, some of them made a different turn, so even though I was on the parade route, I think I only saw a small portion of the parade. It was pretty short, in any event. I sat in the truck at the end of the driveway, feeling pretty Christmas-y considering it was only 50 degrees! Decided to watch a movie, decided on Diehard, having heard someone mention somewhere (in another movie, I think), that Diehard was the best Christmas movie ever. It's been decades since I've seen it, and couldn't remember it at all, so it was a good choice. Getting back into my routine of feeding the animals, taking a hot tub, showering, then dinner, except I only had time to watch a one hour TV show rather than a movie. Won't be long out of bed, I have a busy day planned for tomorrow, even though I'd much rather have a whole day off. One of these days! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Spent the day moving most of my stuff over to where I'm farm sitting, took multiple trips. Started with the horses, fed them as they were tied to the trailer while I fed all the rest of them, then got my guys settled in and fed as well. Additional trips added more stuff, and of course, draining, moving and setting up the hot tub at it's new location. I was glad to see the heater worked so well it was almost to full temperature by the time I finished with dinner, so I was able to enjoy it, though a little cooler by a couple of degrees. Temps are forecast in the 30's overnight, so I'm leaving the hot tub heater on, and I blanketed the horses at dinner. Pretty well settled in now, it should be a nice stay. I heard my axles are due on Monday, so I'll be moving the trailer over there, then keeping my fingers crossed they get it finished in time. My list of things that need to be done has been getting longer and longer, but this is the best chance I have to get them all done. Settled down to a new Christmas movie with Dwayne Johnson (I remember you really enjoyed working with him at a convention one year!) and JK Simmons as Santa. It was pretty fun. Heading off the bed shortly, hoping the mattress is comfy. Brought my own pillow, just in case. Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
GStarted the morning off with small overdue jobs. Closed up the ice maker hatch, which I have to do with zipties, and changed the fuel filter on the Airdog on the truck. The neighbor John arrived, and we putterer around on the fence for more than an hour. He is just as mystified as I am as to why it's not workng properly. Finally rushed off for Lola's vet appointment. Disappointed to learn that the $70 monthly treatment I was paying in TN was nearly $120 here. I may have to think the monthly injections if that's the case. No word on what else can be done about her swollen hock, they're supposed to send me estimates of diagnosis tests, which still doesn't include any additional treatments. Sigh... Came back home, hooked up the little horse trailer, and proceeded to follow errant directions to the county landfill in an attempt to get it weighed. I went around in circles on suspect sandy roads for way too long, and when I called DMV, they were very little help. Finally found it, got the trailer weighed, surprisingly it was 3300 lbs.! I did have a few extra items in the tack room, but still, it was a lot more than I expected. Then I went to the DMV only to have them tell me they couldn't do anything for me because the VIN is too faded to read, which I already knew. They said law enforcement would have to check it, but been there, done that, doesn't work. Then they gave me a phone number for their regional office to call, and it went on a circular message I could never escape, and never led me to the place where I was supposed to go to making an appointment. Grrr! Another dead end. I left there and went to the place where Chelle had gotten her outstanding coastal, and I bought a 21 bale bundle which was loaded into the horse trailer. Then drove to Winn Dixie for a few things I needed, including distilled water to check my trailer batteries, then to Chelle's to drop off the hay, then finally back to camp. After feeding the horses, I managed to get in dinner, a hot tube and a shower. I tried to watch a movie but it was getting too stop/start-y to work, so I gave up on it in favor of another episode of my latest binge, Dr. Blake Mysteries. Finally started falling asleep watching, and gave it up. Heading to bed right now! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hey Darlin',
Got a decent night sleep, then went right back at it today. Didn't get everything done, but made a good dent. A trip to the DMV to change over my residency, the insurance company to transfer same, a short stop at Winn-Dixie, then a stop at the trailer repair place to check on my axles and to add a couple more things to the list of repairs. Got back to camp and tracked down where I can get more linoleum for the slide-out floor when that gets finished, then finally ran over to Chelle's for horse-feeding instructions. Finally settled into a salad with tuna and a Christmas movie, first one of the season. I'm skipping my hot tub, because frankly, it's been a hot day and I don't need to get overheated before I go to bed, so nothing left now but a shower and bed. Good night, baby! Love you!