Such a busy day yesterday, Hubby and I relaxed most of the day, though we chatted with a number of neighbors that stopped by during the day. I learned from one of them that Malabar Farms was having their “Heritage Day Festival” this weekend, and that there was going to be a Barn Dance with Square dancing tonight! I used to be a big square dancer in my youth, and I always enjoyed it, but I haven’t been in decades! Hubby decided he would come with me and people watch while I went dancing. So after a light dinner we got dressed up in our country best and headed over the Malabar. Though they didn’t have a shuttle service from the parking lot to the barn, we managed to get a volunteer from the foundation folks who were serving refreshments to get out his van and drive Hubby down to the barn where the dance was being held. We stood in a long line (well, I stood while Hubby sat on a bench until I got close to the door, as it was very busy, more so than usual because of the festival. I found out later they had over 350 people there! We found a good spot for Hubby, and then proceeded to start trying to find my way into a square, harder to do when you’re on your own, but eventually I got a spot, but it was playing the man’s role. After the first dance, I decided that changing genders was just too much to expect since I was already rusty, and I found a young man to take my place. I sat out the rest of that square, but when they started to form another one, I managed to get hooked up to an older fellow that apparently works on the farm, about the size of a jockey, but he was a very good dancer and was able to keep the square straight even when we had a lot of newbies. Some of the moves I had never seen before, so it’s obviously not the classical square dancing I’m used to, and someone said that it was a hybrid with Western style, whatever that means. I had trouble hearing the female caller over the music, and she did a lot more singing than calling, which I’m not used to, but I still have a great time. Whenever the band took a break, they had a recorder playing other music that got a bunch of line dancers on the floor, though I didn’t participate in that. Not a big fan of line dancing. Last time I line-danced was at Gilleys in Texas, and it all pales after that! Anyway, we had a good time, stayed until the dance ended at 10:00, then had our volunteer shuttle us back to the truck. A great time was had by all!

Up at the crack of dawn so that we could get to Hubby’s monthly clinic in Canton at 10:00, grabbing some breakfast on the way. That all went well, as usual, then on the way back we picked up propane at the Tractor Supply in Massillon, shopped at the Walmart, and headed straight back to camp from there. Even so, it was almost 4:00 by the time we got Hubby started on his dialysis session, so it was a late night. I just managed to get the horses fed before it got dark, so it was a short evening. Busy day!

After a couple of lazy days where we didn’t do much other than read, rest and dialyze, today we received our delivery of supplies. We had hoped to ride in the morning, but with the delivery time being a four hour window, by the time he got here it was too late to go, so hopefully tomorrow. Apollo seemed a little limpy this morning, not sure if he caught his leg on something or if he’s just tired of standing around. I wish I could put him on an anchor and let him graze in the campground, but there isn’t much grass here, and there’s so many obstacles in the way he’s likely to get caught on something every five minutes. I definitely have to take him for a ride, even if Hubby’s not up to it, let him stretch his legs for a bit. Other than the usual mundane chores, it was a really quiet and beautiful day here on the lake!

It seems the kids that came in yesterday are part of a 4H group, so there was a lot of running around, fishing from the shore (despite the signs that say “No Fishing From Shore”), lots of laughter and screeching so normal with young kids. Lola had to stay tied up all day, naturally, and Mike, the guy who is credited for developing the horse camp here, finally came in for the weekend. Had a few chats with him and Barb and a few other regulars, but otherwise had a pretty uneventful day. I ran down to the post office to pick up another package (Hubby got a new type of hearing aid last week and liked it enough to want to order a second one), so now he can hear me from both sides of his head (at least if he’s listening 🙂 ). We decided it was too busy in camp to try to ride today, so we just hung out in the screen room enjoying the perfect weather until dialysis time. Active day in camp, but a pretty lazy day for us!

Time to go shopping! Was hoping we could do it early enough so that I could get a nice ride on Flash today, but unfortunately, we kept getting delayed by one thing or another. Went to Tractor Supply to fill up two of three empty propane tanks, but had to trade in one of our propane tanks because I keep having problems with one of the valves, did that at Meijers. Tried to get our shopping done there as well, but gave up when the scooter Hubby was using died and they didn’t have another one, had a bad experience with one of the employees there. Ended up going to Walmart and finishing our shopping off that. Picked up some KFC on the way back to camp, and it was nearly three by that time, too late to take a long ride, so I decided to paddle around in my kayak instead. Took quite a long trip around about half the lake, very nice ride! A beautiful day, got some sun, then came to what was now a very busy campground, evidently a Four H weekend because there were lots of kids around. It’s going to be noisier than we had anticipated! Hubby played fetch with Lola most of the time I was gone, so they’re both a bit tuckered out now, too. Got settled in for the evening, watched an interesting movie called “Time Trap” and a few other things before going to bed.

Another quiet morning of chores, fishing and fetching with Lola before Hubby and I decided to have our lunch at the Mohican Lodge today. Got out there early, because we had to dialyze, then I had to go pick up some hay. I used the last of it this morning, and I found someone only 15 minutes with second cutting that was just coming in from the field today, though not early enough for me to pick up this morning. It was quite misty and overcast this morning, despite a partly cloudy forecast, so I guess we had to wait until it was a bit drier. The lunch was very nice, and we could actually see our campsite from the restaurant picture window, just a half mile by lake, but over 20 minutes by twisty road. Got back and got Hubby dialyzing, though we had some trouble with one of his access points, so it took a lot longer than usual. Figures, since we had to pick up hay afterward, thought we’d be early, turned out to be late. Got a good load of some nice hay, though, enough to last us for the duration of our stay here. Hope the horses like it!

Slept late, then after chores I got out my fishing pole and sat on the bank and fished for awhile, and tossed various things for Lola to fetch. It was Roy’s sister’s birthday in England, so I spent some time getting Skype running (though we were late because my microphone was giving me trouble), but then got that done. We had planned on going over to the Mohican lodge for lunch for a change, but they had already closed their lunch hours by the time we got off the phone, so that will have to happen another day. Neither one of us was in the mood to ride, so we just had a lovely lazy day. A couple of local women came with their horses and I struck up a nice conversation with them, and we chatted for quite awhile before Hubby and I settled down for the night. Sweet, sitting by the lake and watching the sun go down!

For some strange reason, despite the fact that we were both incredibly tired, neither one of us got a good night sleep last night. I literally got less than 4 hours sleep, so I got up feeling more tired than I went to bed. I had planned on taking a long ride today, but I just wasn’t up to it, so we decided to just relax today, sitting outside in our screen room (best investment I’ve made this year!!), reading and napping pretty much all day. Nice lazy day!

Had to run a bunch of errands today, to Tractor Supply for horse feed while my 10% off couplon was still good, Home Depot to return yet another one of the inadequate inflators I bought in recent weeks, and, of course, Walmart for everything else. The front brakes on my truck have been chirping for a while, so I pulled into Monro to see if they could do it, but they couldn’t get to it for awhile, so I made an appointment for Friday, then just happen to pass another Monro, pulled into that, and they happen to be having a lull and took us in right away. Conveniently located across the parking lot from a nice Mexican restaurant, Hubby and I walked down and treated ourselves to a nice meal. Unfortunately the brakes took longer than anyone anticipated, and we didn’t get out of there until well after 3:00, so by the time we did Walmart and got back to camp, we had a very late start on Hubby’s dialysis, not finishing up until nearly 9:00, way later than we like. We had to wind down a bit after that, but not heading off to bed until much later than usual. Tiring day, but productive!