Hi Babe,
Another busy day cleaning, mostly around the pool again. I finished off pressure washing the couple of sections that I didn’t get to yesterday, and did a few more plastic chairs that I found laying around the yard. Lola didn’t help much, she kept insisting I toss her floppy frisbee, and sometimes she would walk right through the mud and sand and onto the deck, so there were brown footprints everywhere that I had to keep rinsing down. That’s obviously going to be an ongoing thing! I rinsed the filters at least four times today, trying to get the little vacuum walker to work better, and it finally did start working like it was supposed to, so the pool is looking pretty good right now. I even bought a thermometer for it the other day, and it’s up to 79 degrees! I’m sure that will sound great to my northern guests, but I also know that for my Florida and Texas folks, they won’t go near it unless it’s another 5 or 6 degrees higher. I also helped Jeff a little on his motor rebuild, that’s coming along, slow but sure, fingers crossed it gets done in time. Brother Glenn, his wife Dena, and Audrey are coming too, though Audrey is flying in on Friday while Glenn and Dena are coming in a new motor home that just picked up. I’m hoping he’ll put it back where we were last year, out of the way, but he’s more likely to park it right in front of the house like he usually does. Anyway, progress was made today, at least the outside is looking a bit better, I haven’t tackled inside the house yet. I have to mention that ever since I took Lola’s bed out of the back seat of the truck so I could haul passengers, and put it back in the utility room, Lola’s been sleeping in here with me, and she’s been very, very good. She seldom gets restless these days. I don’t know if it’s because I’m doing my best to see that she gets at least some exercise, or if she just loves that bed! Sometimes in the morning I find her in your recliner, though, so I’m not sure. All I know is, she hasn’t interfered with my sleep, and she seems quite content to sleep through the night. I’m glad, she’s good company, and obviously, I’ve been spending a lot of time with her, she goes with me practically everywhere these days. Anyway, after the usual chores, dinner and TV, I’m off to bed, having showered earlier to get off the grease from working on Jeff’s van. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hello Darlin’,
Got a lot done today. Started out with some long phone calls, including one that will hopefully lead to a plenary session at a big conference in Atlanta in October, courtesy of someone from the financial world that has helped us out a couple of times before, and another about next year’s OTL with the head of that. There is some conflict within the group as to whether they should skip a year and focus on other things, but it seems such a waste to stop the momentum we built up this year. Attendance numbers were better than they had been in a long time, and the enthusiasm and compliments that have been coming in are great. Anyway, that led to a pretty long discussion, too. Finally, I put on my bathing suit and headed out to the pool, not to relax but to start pressure washing the concrete. Lots of mold and dirt had built up, and even though Jeff sprayed it all with chlorine a few days ago (isn’t that bad for the environment?), it didn’t really get it clean, so I spent four solid hours doing the deck and the furniture, and still didn’t get one side of it done. I plan on finishing it off tomorrow, and then hopefully getting out the weed whacker and cleaning up some of the long weeds and grass around the various objects that are laying around. Even Karen was railing at Jeff last night about moving that big ugly Skeetermobile that’s such an eyesore, I’m still hoping we can get that moved before the weekend, even if we have to get some bodies, put it in neutral and push the dang thing out of there! Unfortunately there won’t be time for the grass to grow in it’s place, but at least that hulking rust bucket won’t be there, fingers crossed! The pool area is looking a lot better, but there are a still some junk items I have to persuade Jeff to hide or throw away. Not sure what to do about the old hot tub, though Karen suggested covering it up with a tarp, which I may end up doing. Anyway, I did take one break late in the day and jumped in, then floated around for 10-15 minutes just to rest my back. The water is almost up to 80 degrees, it’s been quite warm again for the last few days. I took one of the big pork chops Jeff grilled last night, and some of his mashed potatoes and reheated them for dinner, and added a nice salad to it. Of course, a little dish of ice cream later, too! Settled in for a few more SHIELDS, but I’m going to bed earlier tonight, as I’m tired, and I have another physically challenging day tomorrow! So good night, my love!

Hi Sweetie,
What a day! It started out early with me doing the not so pleasant job of draining and rinsing out the black water tank, not my most fun job, particularly since I had a few leaks in my hoses, what with so many joints on the long stretch, but it needed a good rinseout. After showering and having breakfast, I headed out to my euchre game, where I had some ups and downs, ending up about even with wins and losses (my luck improved after I started eating cheese puffs, would you believe!), then ran down to the feed store for a few bales of hay and some feed for the horses, then a quick run down to another wealth management appointment, as I ‘m still trying to figure out how to best manage our nest egg so it lasts, and to figure out the best way to create growth for later income, blah, blah, blah. While the last one was intent on selling me an insurance backed annuity product, this one was more of a brokerage agent, but they definitely asked me a lot more questions about my situation that the last guy, who was really only interested in selling me his product. The next step is for them to analyze my current portfolio and put together a retirement plan for me, we’ll see where that leads. I went from there to Walmart to pick up a few things, though I forgot my shopping list so I had to call brother Jeff to read it to me to remember what I needed. He was good enough to feed the horses for me, because I was short on time. I had just enough to grab a slice of pizza and an iced tea before heading over to the pavilion at Jupiter Farms Park for an OTL meeting, which dragged on until 9:30. They’re trying to recruit me to take over a big chunk of the work, but I’m not sure I want to get that involved. I offered a number of suggestions to reduce the workload by a lot, and there were some who resisted and others who embraced the ideas, I guess we’ll just have to see how it goes from there. More discussions to come, that’s for sure! I stopped at Publix for some ice cream. I haven’t had any in a long time, hoping to lose some weight, but I find I keep eating more munchies at night than I ever did when we were having ice cream in the evening, so I decided to see if it helps. I have lost a few pounds, but not as much as I thought I would considering all the exercise I’ve been getting lately. Anyway, I love their house brand Dulce de Leche, so I picked up some of that. I got back and found Jeff on the patio talking with Karen on the phone and grilling giant pork chops, so after I brought the groceries in, I poured myself a glass of wine and joined him. Had a nice chat, until I finally had to come inside because of them mosquitos and the hour. Jeff tried to get me to join him for dinner, and it sounded lovely, with mashed potatoes and green beans, but it was 10:30 by then, and I just can’t eat that much food that late! I did have another glass of wine and a little ice cream before going to bed, but that was about all I could handle. I’ll gladly take him up on his offer tomorrow, at a more reasonable hour, like 6 or 7:00, so I may be having leftovers, which will be great! Who doesn’t love to eat when someone else does the cooking? Just enough time for one SHEILD episode, now I’m off to bed. Good night, baby! Love you!

Hiya Darlin’,
Well, I thought I would be doing more cleaning today, but I discovered that a number of my bank accounts in my bookkeeping system were WAY off, probably because my computer crashed twice last year, so I decided to tackle getting those straightened out. Of course, I thought it would only take a couple of hours, but in the end it was practically all day again. The only time I got outside was late in the afternoon, to put in a couple of new sewer couplers that I bought, in an effort to make that system a bit easier to use, and to solve a couple of leak problems I was having. So mundane, but at least I’m catching up on my rest. Got really warm again today, had to run the AC to get it cooled down in here, supposed to be like that for another day or two, but mostly the weather has been really spectacular lately. No complaints, it’s the right place to be at this time of year! Well, time for shower and bed. Good night, my love!

Hey Babe,
Now that I’ve finally recovered from all the OTL stuff, I’ve set my focus on getting this place ready for all the guests that will be coming in for your Celebration of Life in two weeks. I got out the pressure washer and started cleaning the cement table by the pool that was black with mold, and cleaned the pool filters again, but the little navigator walker just isn’t getting enough pressure to do it’s thing, so it was mostly hand-scooping again. I wiped down the big sliding glass door and panels that lead into the house, several times, and it’s better but will need to be done again a few times. Jeff helped me get all the camping gear and other paraphernalia up in the attic, which gave me a lot more space in the screen room, which has been looking kind of cluttered lately. Actually, I managed to put away a lot of clutter today, so the place actually looks better than it has in a long time, which I intend to do my best to keep it that way. Lots of little stuff got done, things that have been waiting a long time but I never had any time to do, so I guess you could say I’m finally getting caught up. I even downloaded Turbotax, though I don’t expect to have time to actually do my taxes for a couple of weeks. And one day, maybe this weekend, I think I still have to go out and retrieve any leftover trail markers, if Anita hasn’t done it yet. Anyway, I finally quit for the day, took an early shower since I was so grubby from all the work, and finally got some dinner and TV for the evening. So once again, I’m heading to bed. Good night, my darling! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Well, I thought I would be able to finish up my paperwork in an hour or two today, but that didn’t work out. I had some emails and other stuff to do, and finishing off the receipts took a lot longer than I thought, so the whole boring day was spent on mundane stuff. But it had to be done, and for the first time in ages I managed to get the entire dining room table cleared off of junk, which was a nice feeling! Did some laundry as well before settling in for the night, so off I go! Love you!

Hiya Darlin’,
Spent pretty much the entire day getting caught up on updating my bookkeeping with all the receipts that have been piling up. You remember my computer crashed last fall, and my backup wasn’t as up to date as it was supposed to be (NOT happy with Carbonite over that!), so I finally pulled it all out and got it done through the end of the year, at least. It won’t take long to do the rest of it, hopefully tomorrow. It took all day, but I finally settled down to a glass of wine, a mini pizza and a few more Agents of SHIELD before calling it a night, which I’m doing right now! Good night, my love!

Hi Honey,
Well, today was quite the adventure! After breakfast, I drove out to Jonathan Dickinson Park to collect the markers out there, an hour round trip as you know. When I got there, I decided to just follow the markers to the Hobe Ditch where I left off yesterday, then turn around and pick up the markers on the way back. Lo and behold, after going less than a mile, there suddenly weren’t any markers any more! I hadn’t brought my GPS, so I started guessing which way to go, though I was pretty sure I had it right, there were no markers anywhere! I kept going, figuring as long as I could find my way to the Hobe Ditch, I could find my way back from there, even if I came in on a different trail. What a nightmare! On a few short sections, all my markers would be there (though almost never on the intersections where I really needed them), then there would be long stretches of nothing. So frustrating! I managed to finally reach the Ditch, then turned around a started collecting what few markers were out there, adding yet another 15 miles to Flash’s long week (this trip made it just about 100 miles in a week!), he was even more sluggish today, understandably. After nearly 4 hours on the trail, we ended up back at the trailer having collected a whopping 33 markers. 33!! What a waste of time, energy and fuel, just for that! Anita couldn’t explain what happened, she suspects one or more of the hiker volunteers picked them up, but for heaven’s sake, if you’re going to do the trail, TELL SOMEBODY, especially the person responsible for the job! And more to the point, FINISH, the dang job, don’t leave a handful of markers, get them ALL! Grrrrrr! Not a happy camper by the time I got home after 4:00! Poured myself a glass of wine and put some big chicken quarters in the oven and tried to settle down. Jeff was late again (as usual on a Friday, I’m learning), so I went ahead and fed everybody and got everyone settled, though it was after dark, then settled down for the evening. I vented on Anita for a bit, so I guess I feel a little better, though I think it has more to do with the wine… Anyway, as soon as the laundry is done, I’m off to the shower and bed. Sorry for the rant! Love you! Good night!

Hello Darlin’,
Just another ordinary Wednesday, with a trip up to Stuart for my weekly euchre game, a bit of shopping at Walmart and a stop at the feed store to pick up hay and feed for the horses. It’s been really hot the last few days, but there’s a cold front coming in that’s going to bring some rain, naturally, so I was luck to reach home and get the hay put away just before the first drops started to fall. Of course, even when I get the hay covered, it gets a bit wet in that open horse trailer, so I’ll probably lose some, like every other week it seems. Anyway, settled in for the evening, started watching Agents of SHIELD. I know we saw the first season together, but strangely, very little of it looks familiar, so I’m enjoying it again for the first time. A lot of the Dish PVR is full of SHIELD episodes, so if I knock off all six seasons and delete them from the Dish, I may just have to put up the dish and reinstate the tuner so I can store a bunch of movies or something for those times when I may not be in a good enough cell phone area to get Netflix or Prime. I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it! Meanwhile, off the bed. Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Didn’t sleep as late as I’d like this morning, but I had an appointment with a financial advisor, so it didn’t matter much. That took up most of the late morning, then Lola and I made a quick stop at the Publix for a couple of things, but I was still feeling pretty tired, so I decided to veg out for the afternoon, finally finishing off the rest of the Poldark series. I signed up for a free 7 day trial on PBS so I could finish it off, but I canceled it as soon as I finished it. There might be a few things I’ll look at later, but I have too much other stuff to look at for now. Anyway, I finally took some time to play a bit with Lola, I’m hoping she’ll sleep through the night. I had to take her big bed out of the truck for the weekend, and tested her out to see if she’d sleep in the trailer without disturbing me to much, and she was great the first couple of nights, a little restless last night, but I figured that was because she had been cooped up all weekend. Hoping the exercise today will quiet her down tonight, fingers crossed. Anyway, off to shower and bed now, so good night, my love!