Hey Babe,
Another day keeping busy, doing some OTL paperwork this morning, writing a press release and a script for a 30 second PSA I’m going to try to distribute, and creating a certificate for a bunch of awards I thought up. Put the rest of the camping gear away, too, though I haven’t put it in the attic/hay loft yet. Went to euchre, of course, being that it’s Wednesday, then played with Lola for a bit and had dinner before going to the OTL meeting at 7:00, which was a long one because it’s probably the last one before the actual event, and there was a lot of things to iron out. It seems to be coming together. Most of the trails that are left to be marked can’t be marked until the week of the event so as not to interfere with other weekend events beforehand, primarily Riverbend and Jonathan Dickinson, but neither of those will take very long. Didn’t get back till 9:30, so I just watched a little TV to wind down before my shower and bed. So I’m off to do that now. Good night, babe, love you!

Hiya Darlin’,
Slept like a log most of the night, not surprisingly! Spent the day cleaning out and putting away camp gear, doing laundry, catching up on email, designing awards for the OTL, finishing off the maps for Day One and Two and other business matters, and generally getting things back where they belonged. I took a quick trip over to Anita’s to pick up some more trail markers, as there are still some sections that need doing, and I thought I would take the day tomorrow and do as much of it as I can. It poured with rain here over the weekend, so I imagine Corbett is swamped again, I hope it’s not too bad on the other sections. I’m going to check Cypress Creek and the section that leads out to the old cow pastures and the critter crossing under the freeways, there’s been a report of some new gates with barbed wire, that needs to be checked out in case something has to be done about it. So it should be busy again tomorrow. There’s still some question about what route we’ll be taking once we get across the Ditch into Jonathan Dickinson State Park, hopefully that will be resolved by the time we have our next meeting on Wednesday evening. Finally relaxed with a glass of wine or two, some TV, and now off to bed. Good night, babe, I love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
First order of the day was to deliver the lift chair to it’s new owner down in Boca, right on the intracoastal, not far from where we got married, kind of full circle again. Glad it went to someone who needed it, and it works fine now with the new controller. It’s strange, though, even though we only lived here in Florida together for a couple of years, and stayed away for so many years afterward, you were right when you said it felt like we were coming home this time. Despite all the places we’ve been, all the traveling we did, there seem to be more memories here than just about any place else, except possibly the house in Tennessee. It makes me miss you even more, if that’s possible. Anyway, the rest of the day was spent packing stuff for the camping trip this weekend. It should be interesting, camping with my brother, something we’ve never done together in our lives, so we’ll see how it goes. The weather isn’t going to be the best, but it’s hard to predict at this time of year. I trust I’ve remembered everything we need, but if not, no problem, we’ll make do or go out and get it. Heading off for my last shower, then heading off to bed. Love you, darling, good night!

Hi Babe,
Spent some time on the phone with Social Security trying to figure out what happens with your pension, among other things, pulled out the camping gear to make sure it was all there, sprayed some camp dry spray on the tent to make sure it stays dry (hopefully better than it did on the cattle drive when it poured for three days!), drove up to the senior center and played euchre, though we didn’t do very well today, and finally met a young couple up in Port St. Lucie to buy a new personal GPS tracker. It’s pretty much the same as the last one I liked so much, and I really miss not being able to download a trail that I can actually follow (which I could probably do on my phone app, but have never been able to figure out) but I got a good deal on it through Facebook Marketplace. I managed to just get to Ranch Feed before they closed to pick up the three bales of hay I need for the weekend, and got home just as the sun was setting, so it was mosquito hour by the time Jeff was ready to swap out the horses, but we got it done. Later it started raining really hard, with lightning and thunder, and Lola kept trying to crawl into my lap. I was up in the bed on a phone call (about the only place inside the trailer where the signal is good enough) and she climbed up and started sprawling all over the bed, so I had to get her down, then she went outside and disappeared. I eventually found her in the house, I guess Jeff let her in when she came scratching at the door. I put her in the truck, in her nice comfy bed, where she feels the safest. Finally finished off the binge of Cheers, was pretty disappointed because I thought I remembered the Diane and Sam got together and stayed together, but that’s not what happened. Sam went back to an empty bar, which was really depressing in the end. Oh, well, no accounting for Hollywood writers, they haven’t been able to write a happy ending in decades, have they? Anyway, it rained most of the evening, though it sounds like it’s just about done, and now it’s time for a shower and bed again. Good night, darlin’. Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Did a little work on the computer this morning, then finally went out to work on the tractor. I drained some oil out of it because I overfilled it yesterday, but still couldn’t find the reason why it didn’t start, but Jeff did some testing and figures it’s the starter, so I’m having to look to see if I can get a new one, or have that one rebuilt (he knows a guy, no surprise!). Met Jayne and Irene for dinner at Duffy’s down in West Palm, sat on the patio so Lola could be there, too. Got back late, but Jeff had already fed the horses for me, so I just settled down for the night. Was surprised that Tom Berenger played a bit part on one of the Cheers episodes I watched, didn’t realize he’d done that. Anyway, settled down for the evening, though I’m getting to bed a bit late. Good night, my love!

Hi Sweetie,
Lots of physical labor today, I finished moving the pile of concrete blocks, got rid of the junk that was left, ripped out the bad trees by the roots and put them on the burn pile. Just on my last load, though, for some reason the tractor decided not to start (it has been fine for the last two days), so I have no idea what’s going on with it, but that’s a problem for another day. I got everything done except a final leveling and bush hog of the area, but hopefully I can do that later this week. Then I washed the truck, it was filthy from the several trips out to Corbett last week. By that time it was just getting dark, so we did feeding, and settled down for the night. Off to the shower, and then to bed. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Baby,
Had another good night sleep last night, feel like I’m finally getting caught up on my zzzzz’s! I had set the day aside to do a brake job on the truck. I told Jeff I wanted to start early, and I managed to get him on the job by a little after 10:00, which was early by his standards, as you know! Believe it or not, everything went smoothly, except for one minor hitch with the rotors, when they didn’t get to the parts store last night, but the manager went above and beyond and sent his driver out to go get the missing rotor, so it was waiting for us when we got to the Autozone around 12:30. The rotors and brake pads were under warranty, so I didn’t have to pay for anything except stuff like brake cleaner and Permatex, and we decided to replace the seals even though the ones on there looked pretty good, we figured better safe than sorry. We stopped at that little Mexican place Jeff was raving about, the one we didn’t get a chance to go to like we had wanted, and I bought him lunch, which really was nice. They obviously make their own tortillas, and they were wonderful! Fast, too, we were in and out in about half an hour, and back on the job in no time. We managed to get the whole job done by about 5:00, including putting all the tools away. I test drove it down to the end of the road so that I could put out the sign I made this morning while I was waiting for Jeff, about the Open Range trailer being for sale. The brakes actually felt better now than when our mechanic in TN did them! It’s a good job done, now I don’t have to worry about those for awhile. I hooked up the little horse trailer just as it was getting dark, because I’m off with Anita out to Dupuis tomorrow to do another reconnaissance of the OTL trail. I’m really looking forward to this one, and I’m doing all I can to help. I discovered that the president of the group has a little in-home studio, so I think I’m going to write a PSA and do the voiceover and send it out to the local radio stations to get more publicity. I’m hoping I’ll have time to contact the TV stations as well, Tim’s been trying to get me to do that, but I just haven’t had time yet, but I’m going to try next week. Did my usual chores and settled down for the evening, still trying to finish off Suits and Cheers, but now it’s bedtime. Good night, my love!

Hello Darlin’,
Finally had a great night sleep last night, first in a long time. Spent part of the day doing some work on the OTL project, starting with an appointment to meet the woman who is generously offering her fields on Jupiter Farms Road as the Saturday night stopover, rather than Jupiter Farms park, which evidently is insisting on charging an outrageous amount of money to rent overnight, plus security, plus money for the pavilion, all adding up to a crazy figure, so naturally the team looked for an alternative and found it. It’s a great location, and Tim wanted me to go along to take advantage of my camping expertise to give it my seal of approval, which I wholeheartedly did. The end of her road does, in fact, lead directly to the Riverbend Trail, so we don’t even have to worry about crossing Jupiter Farms Rd., which is a great advantage. After that meeting I ran down to Autozone to start the process of getting the parts I need to repair the back brakes on the truck. They’re starting to squeal, but the parts are still under warranty, and Jeff has agreed to help me change them out tomorrow. Shopped for a couple of essentials at Walmart before heading home, than ran into Jeff and his friend just as I stopped for the mail, and since they were heading out to Angelo’s for lunch and decided to join them. Finally got back home, did my usual chores and settled down for the evening. Good night, Sweetie!

Hiya, Sweetie,
Well, I didn’t sleep very well last night, unfortunately. I decided to leave Lola inside because it was going to be so cold tonight, and she had been so quiet sleeping in your chair all evening that I thought she would be okay, but as usual, as soon as I went to bed, she started to get restless. Scratching at the screen door to go out, scratching at the bedroom door to get in, walking back and forth with her toenails clicking back and forth. I wasn’t about to get up again, so I let her go, and she settled down a couple of times where I got some sleep, but a few hours later she’s be wandering again. Last time I’m going to let that happen! In the truck, every night, she just obviously likes that big bed of hers on the back seat! Anyway, I set my alarm because I made an appointment up at the local brake place that would honor the Munro warranty we had, because the brakes are starting to squeal, and the one thing I DON’T want to do is have a brake problem. Turned out the front brakes are fine, but the back brakes that were done by our TN mechanic are starting to go. The rotors and pads are starting to wear. Fortunately, the parts have a 3 year warranty, and they’ve only been in for about 14 months, so according to my mechanic, all we have to do is go to an Autozone and pick up new parts. Unfortunately the labor part is only 12 months, so I missed that (not that I’d get anyone locally to do that for me anyway), but brother Jeff is an old hand at truck brakes, and he said he’d help me. No hurry, as long as they’re done before I leave, but I will pick up the parts so there at hand when we’re ready. Anyway, that didn’t take as long as I thought, so my next chores was to find a replacement connector for the shore power cable. I went to four places and the only one that had one wanted $85 for it! I figured I could probably get a whole new cord for that! He offered to lower it to $75, but even that was too dear, so I got on my phone and found the exact same part on Amazon for $43! I found a different manufacturer but the same part for $37, so I ordered that one. There was actually another one for just $16, but I figured that had to be a really inferior product, so I went for the middle of the road. Amazon Prime again, and they say it will be here by tomorrow! I don’t know how they’re doing it, but I’m getting really impressed with the Prime delivery system! With that settled, I ran down to Walmart and did a little quick shopping, but now I was running late so I grabbed a sandwich instead of having soup at the Kane center like I usually do on Euchre day, and arrived right at 1:00 to discover two full tables. I thought maybe some other folks would show up, but no one did, so it was round robin for me for awhile. Didn’t do quite as well as last time (guess you had somewhere else to be today :-), but then I had a different partner every game, and never the same partner I had last time, so maybe that was the key. Anyway, I enjoyed that for two hours, then dodged the raindrops down to Ranch feed where I picked up some horse feed and 10 bales of hay, which should last me until I can get some cheaper stuff up near St. Augustine next weekend when Jeff and I go to the Great Florida Cattle Drive Reunion. Though the forecast was that the rain would be over by 3:00 (yeah, right), it was sprinkling just before I loaded up the hay, but stopped just long enough for me to get home. I had just loaded into Jeff’s boarder’s trailer and covered it up, and got the four bags of feed into the back of my trailer when the sky burst open. Perfect timing, but exactly the opposite of what was forecast. Finished off the chores and settled down for the evening. Something I wanted to tell you, though. You remember the character of Rachel on the series Suits that we were watching? The girlfriend of the main character Mike Ross? Well, I finally realized that she’s the same girl that married Prince Harry! Don’t know why I hadn’t figured that out before, guess it’s because I’m not really into the celeb scene, but there you go! Strange world, isn’t it? Anyway, that’s enough about my day, glad we’re still having this conversation we started back in 1986, even if I’m the one doing all the talking. You always were a good listener! Love you, darling! Good night!