Hey Darlin',
Had trouble getting to sleep, read until after 2:00 before I was finally able to drift off. Got up and did all my usual chores, then decided to take a drive down to Painted Post to get some supplies. I had two tanks of propane to fill at the Tractor Supply (still the best place to get tanks filled!), plus some horse feed, then Walmart to get a few groceries, managed to escape with paying just under the usual $100 cover charge :-)! After I finished putting everything away and settled in my chair, I dozed off for a couple of hours, much to my surprise! Hope that doesn't mean I won't sleep tonight! After dinner, feeding and walking Lola, I stopped over at a campsite near Brandon's to meet some folks he met, and we had a nice chat. They were Russian, and had a lot of questions about traveling with horses, which, of course, I was more than happy to answer. The least I can do with living this dream is to share it as much as possible! The matriarch's name was Vera, and I gave her the grand tour and she asked to buy a book, which is always nice! Anyway, won't be long out of bed, though I hope I didn't spoil a good night sleep with too much napping today! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
Nothing much happened today, again. Took a few walks and did my PT exercises, which I've been doing intermittently, and spent the rest of the day mostly reading. It was very foggy this morning, and it didn't even clear out until nearly 2:00, with a couple of short drizzles (right when I was feeding the horses, naturally!), but otherwise a mundane day. I had to run the generator for a bit since I didn't have any solar power, but I've really used my generator so sparingly since I've been here, I have no complaints! Just killing time until I get to Otter Creek, where at least there are good trails to ride on. Not sure I want to go out again here. Forecast is more rain this week, so that will solve the issue anyway. Not much else to say, relatively boring day! (Which I know you hate to hear, but I don't mind the occasional boring day) Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Had a good night sleep, then eventually got around to doing a couple of loads of laundry, hanging them on the line for the first time since I left Florida for a change! Did some housekeeping, mostly read, then finished the day with a fun little movie called Heads of State, and again had a perfect picture, HD and no buffering! What a pleasure! I did put Apollo out on a line for awhile just to get him out of the paddock, and otherwise just enjoyed a quiet day. Not much else to report! Love you, sweetie! Good night!

Hiya Darlin',
Spent most of this lazy day reading and doing some overdue bookkeeping, as well as some research and online shopping for my upcoming Yellowstone trip. It was a gorgeous day, perfect weather, right up until the storm hit. I received a warning about thunderstorms, which didn't bother me, but when it hit, it came in fast with straightline winds that gusted well into 40+ mph, and brought huge hailstones, which I was NOT expecting. The horses ran down to the end of the paddock and put their tails to the wind, but thank goodness they didn't crash through the fence, though it looked for a minute like they might! It only lasted a couple of minutes, but several tents were swept away and ruined, and there were hailstones on the ground. I was very happy that I didn't have any dings in my truck, I was afraid it would get damaged! The radar showed a couple more bands coming, so I ended up putting the horses in the trailer just to be safe, but they both petered out to almost nothing, so I brought them out again. The temps got cooler, but it soon cleared up and turned into a beautiful afternoon and evening. Should be good sleeping weather tonight! Of course, lots more people came in, and they all have a campfire going, so it's pretty smoky out there tonight. Glad it will be cool enough to close my windows and keep the smoke out! Other than that, a pretty mundane day! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

My first ripe tomato

Lola's new hiding place

Hiya Darlin',
Had an incredibly lazy day in camp today, for no particular reason. There was rain in the forecast, and I didn't want to ride today, so I mostly just read and researched local hay. I'm down to two bales, but it's been so wet up here this Spring, hardly anyone has been able to get any hay in, so it's either getting last year's hay or taking a chance on some hay that was sprinkled on. I also looked at my schedule and decided the timing isn't right to visit Patsy this year, and that I'll stay here an extra week, then two weeks at Otter Creek, then one week at Brookfield before hopping down to Meg's. I tried to find someplace new closer to the Catskills and couldn't come up with anything other than that Bear Creek, but it's so primitive, and they charge for it, and it was so noisy last time we were there, not to mention there were no other horse people there at all, just partiers, and the riding wasn't that great, so it's not worth it. The rest of the day was just lazy! Guess I have to have one of those occasionally! Just as a side note, my first tomato is ALMOST ripe enough to eat! Can't wait! So in view of that, I'll be taking my shower and going to bed soon! Good night, my love!

Hey Sweetie,
Woke up way early this morning, so I was up and moving pretty quick. Got all the chores done, then headed down to the town of Cranberry, filled up one propane tank at Tractor Supply, fuel at Sheetz ($4.19/gal! I’ve been averaging about $3.35 until now!), and finally Walmart for some basics. Got so much done so early, I was back at camp before 11:00! After putting all the groceries away, I then did a bunch of small chores, like cleaning the AC filter, putting windshield washer fluid in the truck, and making my first dose of the latest diet craze, pink salt mixed with warm water a few other things. It’s supposed to make me drop weight fast, but I’ll believe it when I see it! I have been eating a lot less, getting a lot more exercise, and I’m back down to my pre-holiday, pre-surgery weight, but I sure would like to drop a few more while I’m at it. Spent the afternoon reading, still don’t have much of a data stream, so I struggled with that for awhile. No progress on the Verizon end. Had a storm come through around 5:00, but other than that, whatever rain they were predicting never happened! There is now one other horse camper and the weekend campground host, who came and introduced herself just as I was making dinner. I’m sure we’ll have more time to chat tomorrow. The storm brought cooler temps, so I was finally able open some windows, yay! Though I’ll have to close them again before bed, since they’re calling for rain again overnight. Anyway, just an ordinary, rather mundane day, though I did get a few things done! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Darlin',
Had an excellent night sleep, and even though I woke up once at 6:00, I dozed off again until 8:00, so the best night I've had in awhile. Got up and did my chores, as usual, then after breakfast went over to visit with my neighbors Bill and Amy, and to let Lola and their dog get to know each other, since we both have been letting them off-leash. After a visit with them, I headed over to the pavilion where camp host Nancy was working, and we chatted for awhile. The other campers saddled up and headed out, with Bill on a very large Peruvian Paso, who was very high energy and promptly dumped him before they even got out of camp. That was the end of that! They packed up and left shortly after, just as a big storm front came through. I got back to my trailer just as it was starting to rain. It was a good storm that lasted awhile, but nothing horrible. Spent the afternoon reading until Nancy and a friend of hers that came to visit came over, and I got out the chairs and the wine and we sat and chatted for a long time. She bought a book, and I ended up giving her that bareback saddle I've been carrying around for so long and haven't used (and probably never would!), it was just taking up space, and it seemed like she could use it for a problem she was having. Hope it works out for her! Had my usual "rest of the evening," which turned out to be gorgeous, though more rain is forecast for later. But tomorrow is supposed to be spectacular, so in addition to laundry tomorrow, I'm definitely going to take another ride! I did a little housework today, so I don't have anything else to do tomorrow except a little packing. A very pleasant, sociable day! Love you, sweetie! Good night!

Hi Sweetie,
Being that it's still a bit too hot to ride, I decided to spend the day getting caught up on some much needed organizing, beginning with the storage compartments under the mangers. I still hadn't found my grounding posts for my electric fence, so I figured I could kill two birds with one stone. I pulled everything, wiped everything down, threw away a lot of junk and did get everything organized so I can easily reach everything now. I did NOT find the grounding posts, however, that's still a mystery. I managed to just barely keep ahead of the sun as it moved down the trailer, but I mostly stayed in the shade. My plan was to spend the afternoon in the AC watching the next season of Earth Final Conflict, but it turned out that Amazon wasn't streaming the last two seasons, and I'm not about to sit through commercials to watch a show I wasn't that enamored with anyway. I started looking at other options, and for some strange reason, I just couldn't seem to get any video streams! I have probably the best signal I've ever had in a horse camp, a whopping 4-5 bars, and yet I can't seem to stream anything! I tried for way too long before I finally gave up and returned to reading. I had a visitor, a volunteer who lives nearby to check up on me, and she expressed her worry that if it rained as much as the forecast was predicting, I'd have a hard time getting out of the spot I was in and suggested I try to move to a different spot. I called the office and there really wasn't anything better, and frankly, I didn't really want to move anyway, and Luke in the office assured me that if I had a problem getting out, they would have someone come out and give me a hand. And of course, one never knows how much the weather forecast might be off anyway! I spent some time trying to clear out the blockage in my water tank overflow, and finally managed to clear it using my vacuum and a tube, so now that's fixed. Did some more odds and ends, attempted to once again watch TV and still had no success. Last night I tried out my new "AC" fan, and I must say, it did a great job! After turning off the AC, it kept it nice and cool for the night. I don't think it would do that if the bedroom area weren't already cool, though, I don't think it could handle cooling it down, but it served the purpose. Only thing I didn't like, though, is that when you put on the misting selection, which is the one that really cools, it lights up! Not fully, which is another option, but enough to act as a night light, which I really didn't want or need, so I'm going to have to figure out a way to lessen the effects of that. Anyway, I'll use it again tonight, though it's cooling down tomorrow so I may not need it for the rest of the week. Ready for shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Did not have a very good night sleep, too hot, so I when I got up a half hour before my alarm, I started out tired. Got everything packed up and was out of camp before 8:30, and I was already sweating from the heat! Stopped once at a Walmart in Alliance to pick up a couple of things, like another pair of sunglasses to replace the ones I lost, some juice, and a portable "air conditioner" which is a fan with a little spray mister. I've read about these, and I thought it might come in handy. Even with AC, I typically turn it off at night because it's so noisy, but if I open the windows it gets warm again very fast, and if I leave them closed, by about 3:00 it's so stuffy it wakes me up and I have to open the windows anyway. I thought this little AC unit might help with that 4-5 hour period between when I turn the trailer AC off and when it actually cools down enough outside. Figure it can't hurt! After that quick stop, I had to play around a bit with Google maps to make sure I was going to the right place. You can't just put in Two Mile Run County Park, you have to add "Horse Camp" because they're in two completely different places. I managed to get it right, fortunately. The last stretch into camp was a very rough road, though, lots of potholes. Just needs some grading and it would be fine! We arrived in camp after 12:30, but it took me a long time to get set up. I was glad to see the ground was dry enough for me to get situated, but if we have a lot of rain before I leave, it's going to be a challenge, because it's on grass and there a slight uphill grade. Fingers crossed! First thing I did was get out my electric plug and get the AC in the trailer going! I was surprised to see another trailer, and a day rider already here, thought I'd have the place to myself. No worries. I put up my electric fence for a change, since there's enough room and a lot of nice grass, and even though they have highlines, their cables hang a bit low and I'm afraid if I put up my highline above it, they'll be tangles. We'll see if anyone says anything about it. The horses appreciated having some grass to roll around in! I couldn't find my grounding posts for my fence, so I had to use something else. I can't believe that I left them behind, but I've asked Rick to check on that for me. Meanwhile, I pulled out practically everything in my storage compartments, so I figured tomorrow I would do some cleaning and sorting in there, a long overdue job. I was sorry to see that there was no water spigots nearby, so I had to go fill up the truck tank twice, and I did two loads of laundry. I also discovered I have a blockage in my overflow again, so it takes forever to fill up because it keeps backing up because air isn't getting through very well. I spent some time trying to snake it, blow air in it, force water into it, and even tried to suck out the blockage, but it still hasn't cleared. I put some bleach down there, figuring it might just be algae and I can kill it off. Last resort, I can pull the clamp off where it's clogged, clean it out and re-clamp it. Always a way! Very glad I have AC tonight, though, it would be tough to sleep in this heat again! I'm exhausted, so I'm heading to bed. Good night, my darlin'! Love you!