Hey Darlin',
Had another runaround day today, first to Dunnellon to get my requisite labs done, then I had a lovely breakfast at the Breakfast Station, then on to the dentist to solve a couple of problems that occurred from their work last week, which, thankfully, they were able to sort out. Then I drove to the Walmart near the radiology center where I was supposed to get a mammogram, and managed to kill an hour or so there, but I was still two hours ahead of schedule. I went to the center anyway, on the off-chance that they could do me early, only to quickly discover that my insurance wasn't accepted there! I then spent the next couple of hours trying to find another provider that did take my insurance, and as soon as I found one, I drove over there. My doctor was too busy to send over a prescription, but as it turned out, regular maintenance mammograms are the only thing that a person can "self-request", so I didn't need it. Amazingly, they not only said they could do it, I wasn't waiting for five minutes before they came and got me! Remarkable! So I managed to get everything done. I went from there to Jo's to drop off a bucket that I had picked up in Tidewater on my way in, then finally back to camp for some more homemade turkey soup. Had a relaxing evening with some wine and a movie, be in bed very soon! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Let myself sleep in this morning, but finally got up and got busy. Did three loads of laundry and some housekeeping, read a bit, did a little work on the computer, but generally had a relatively mundane day. The weather was gorgeous, at last, so not surprisingly, there were a lot of folks coming into the trailhead, both by trailer and from the neighborhood, so a busy day! Chatted with a number of folks, and generally just had a quiet day. A lovely night for a hot tub, and heading to be shortly as I have a busy day tomorrow! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Woke up around 6:30, discovered it was a mera 23 degrees outside!! A good five degrees below the forecast! Brrrrr! Got up around 7:00, same temps, but had stuff to do, so I dressed appropriately and got on with it. Started the morning going out to Black Prong Road to spray paint the road to hopefully avoid confusion for the riders, only to learn later that someone had deliberately sabotaged the trail markers, by not just taking them down, but moving a turn arrow and confidence markers to intentionally make the riders make a wrong turn. How mature. Every rider was lost for a few minutes, but they finally got it straightened out and on their way. We truly have some idiots around here, I'm guessing some hunters that object to the one day the riders use the trail that somehow they feel interferes with their month of hunting. Whatever. Anyway, after marking the trail I came back to camp, fed the horses, Lola and me, then I set about marking the vet and crew areas. It was nearly 9:00 before it was warm enough to turn the water back on, with one host spitting out icicles in the shape of the hose. The rest of the crews and vets showed up shortly after, and most of the morning and early afternoon was spent performing the duties of an endurance vetting and hold. Jo arrived, and I crewed a bit for her, then after she left, and most everybody else was gone, I helped clear up, then headed down to Tidewater with the water troughs and other essentials. Spent most of the afternoon down there, not much to do, then finally headed back to camp around 5:00. Tried to relax during the evening with a couple of episodes of my latest bing, Everwood, before taking my hot tub and shower and heading to a nice warm bed. Thank goodness, we've seen the worst of the weather, though it's still down to 38 degrees tonight, so the winter blankets went on the horses, but it's a far cry from 23 degrees!! Heading to be shortly, so good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Got at text early from Rick telling me that everything was frozen, so sleep in. We're filling water troughs today, so water was the key! But after telling me that (and me doing it!), he showed up about 15 past the original time we were going to meet! I was barely up at that point! Anyway, I rushed around, fed the horses and Lola, buttered a couple of pieces of bread and off we went. Seems they decided to do a burn right in the middle of one of the vetting areas, so we panicked and started trying to figure out how to mitigate the problem. Turns out they were only doing 85 acres, and because it's been so wet this week, they never could really get it started (duh...). Panic over, we filled all the tanks, which took until nearly 3:00. Then I went about cordoning off the area that we need to use in Black Prong for vetting until it was time for me to drive down to Tidewater for dinner and the ride meeting, and to pick up some stuff for Jo, so she will have it when she gets here on her way to doing the 50 mile ride. Got back at the tail end of dusk, just managed to get the horses fed and the water turned off before dark. Managed to watch a little TV, take my hot tub, shower and now heading into bed. Another early start and busy day tomorrow! Love you, Darlin'! Good night!

Hiya Darlin!
Had another good night sleep, got all my chores and breakfast done in time to go off with Tom, who is one of the managers of the upcoming Hokey Pokey ride this weekend (go ahead, sing along!), putting out all the troughs that will be needed along the trail. Did a quick restock and a sweep of the Tidewater restrooms before he brought me back to camp. I decided to finish what I could on the manure bin, and managed to get everything done except the one missing board and cutting the post tops at a diagonal. I'm just not sure how to do that, and I don't think I can manage the rotary saw at that height. Anyway, finished that off, then decided to try something. Yesterday, I had an epiphany about the horses' paddock. Knowing that the real problem is Apollo picking up posts with his teeth in order to escape, I suddenly remembered that I had some screw-in insulators that I had used back at the house. So I rerouted the wire fence through insulators that I connected to trees. He can't move a tree, right? I still had to use a couple of posts on the long stretches, but I figure, even if he pulls the post, the next connection is a tree, so it won't fall down, and he can't step over it. Works good in theory, anyway. I'll still keep him on the highline at night, and when I'm not in camp, but at least now he will be able to stretch his legs a bit more. It was after 5:00 by the time I finished all that, so I finally settled into a couple of cups of turkey soup with rice and a shortbread cookie, then realized that I was almost out of cookies, so I decided to whip up a batch. A bit late in the evening, but what the heck! I had bought a new mixing bowl at Walmart the other day, and it worked great! Braved the cold to take a hot tub, a nice hot shower, now ready for bed! I shut off the well pump after feeding the horses earlier because they're calling for temps below freezing tonight (and tomorrow night, too), was glad I discovered I had 2/3 of a tank of water in my tank, so I didn't have to do anything with that. Nice to have a busy, productive day! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Well, at least it didn't rain! But it was quite cold, and getting out of bed this morning was a challenge, but it's supposed to be even colder the next couple of morning! Brrrr! I even saw a spit of snow for a second, but that was it. They had six inches in the panhandle! All the news outlets were comparing it to the time it snowed as far south as North Miami 48 years ago. The amazing thing is, I was there when that happened! Well, not North Miami, but in Boynton Beach in Palm Beach County. I remember driving to my college classes in the snow, cursing that we moved from NYS to get away from this stuff, and here it was, following us! Needless to say, I'll be glad when this cold spell is over, though I must stay, I feel better when I look at the weather in upstate NY and back at the house in TN, where they're stuck in near zero at night. At least the lows here will only be in the high 20's. Bad enough! So I spent the day inside, other than doing my necessary horse feeding chores, did a little bookkeeping work and other stuff on the computer, read a little, watched some TV, the usual. Added some egg noodles to my delicious turkey soup for dinner, braved the cold long enough to take a hot tub, have already showered, now it's just Sleepytime tea and bed, early! So glad my electric fireplace is just about keeping the place warm! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Had a much better night sleep, didn't crawl out of bed until after 9:00 because of the cold temps again, then spent most of the day making turkey soup and working on the computer. There's actually a lot of snow occuring in north Florida, that's how bad this weather is right now. Tough to even want to go outside! So thankful I have electric and have had my fireplace running all day and night. Never got out of the 40's and supposed to be down to 30 overnight, and the rain is supposed to turn to sleet, but at least it's not snowing! It's not getting above freezing for a week back in New York, and not much better up on the mountain in TN we used to call home, which is just enough to make me feel grateful for being in the 40's. Anyway, a pretty lazy day, read, watched TV, decided to not even take a hot tub since I'm warm and cozy inside, don't need to fight the cold rain just to get in a hot tub! Heading to bed soon, after a couple of cups of my homemade turkey soup and some homemade shortbread cookies. Packing the pounds on, I'm sure! I'll just have to make up for it when it finally gets warmer next week. Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Had a lousy night sleep, finally had to take some aspirin to fade off, and was up with the alarm at 6:25 so I would be ready to leave by 7:30. Cold morning again! Dressed in multiple layers, including long underwear and a turtle neck before heading out. First stop this morning was the dentist for a checkup, which revealed a couple of cavities. I also need a crown, but that will have to wait until next year. Fortunately, she had time this morning to do it, so I didn't have to come back, but my 8:00 appointment wasn't over until nearly 11:40, which gave me just enough time to drive to the doctor's for my noon appointment. All good there, just need to get my labs done and a couple of maintenance tests, and got a referral for a dermatologist for a little skin tag that's been bothering me. Was done before 12:30, which, surprisingly, gave me time to get my shopping done, including horse feed at Tractor Supply and my regular shopping at Walmart. Next up was an eye appointment in Ocala, which is the closest eye place on my plan, all good there for now, just a little normal aging stuff. Found a Shell station where I was able to get diesel for just $3.38, whereas just about everyone else was back up into the$3.60's and more. One last stop at Yvette's to pick up my tall kettle with the sieve so that I can make some turkey stock for soup. This will be a great week for soup, since most days the temps will barely get out of the 40's, plus rain, so I don't expect to get much done outside this week! Put all my groceries and horse feed away, stacked up the leftover board scraps from Saturday's project, though I purloined one long board and a couple of smaller ones for resting my jack stands on, and finally settled down for the evening. I had forgotten to put on the hot tub this morning, so not even close to temperature, so I'm skipping that tonight. Heading to bed early, though, I'm tired from this long day! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Woke up way too early as a really bad storm rolled through. Lots of thunder and lightning. It was so bad I even let Lola come up on the bed when she asked, she was literally trembling. Didn't take her long before she was head level with me, but since today was laundry day anyway, I didn't mind. Hope she doesn't get the idea that's going to happen often, though! The storm lasted for a good hour, so I mostly read. Spent a good part of the day working on the trail maps for the Taste of Goethe before settling down for the afternoon. Did a couple of loads of laundry, emptied my blackwater tank, cleaned the bathrooms, watched a couple of episodes of my latest TV binge, made some more shortbread cookies, and am heading to hot tub, shower and bed early, as I have to get up an hour before dawn tomorrow. I made all of my annual doctor appointments tomorrow, plus I need to do some shopping, so a busy day that I need to get plenty of sleep for! Though it was nearly 70 today, it's going down to freezing overnight (naturally, since I have to get up before the sun!) so I put the heavy blankets on the horses. Just another day in the life! Good night, babe! Love you!