Hi Darlin',
Had a leisurely morning, where the only real chore was to put together the leg on my solar panel, which only took me a few minutes. Again, not sure how long it will hold, but at least it fixed for the time being. Drove over to Patsy's trailer, leaving Lola behind, though loose, thinking she would stay at the trailer once I got out of sight, but she decided to follow me and turned up at Patsy's a few minutes later. I ended up tying her up, just because there were so many people coming into camp and I didn't want to have to keep an eye on her. Spent the day doing the odd jobs that needed doing, helped setup dinner, and generally tried to make myself useful. Had dinner, stayed through the ride meeting (even though it dropped ten degrees and I was freezing!), then got back to camp about 7:30. Fed them hay and put their blankets on, but didn't bother to clean up their paddock, too dark and too cold! I had to put the furnace on for a few minutes just to take the chill off in the trailer, though it was probably just that I was so cold when I arrived. Anyway, settled down with what little time I had for the evening, be off to bed soon! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
I am delighted to report that my furnace came on right around 7:00 this morning, and STAYED ON! It didn't quite warm it up as much as I would like, so I'm raising it a couple of degrees to see if that works better, but I'm just happy that the problem seems to be fixed. Today was a day of keeping busy with a lot of little things. I mixed up some borax and powdered sugar and put some in the back of the trailer (as a roach killer), epoxied the second leg on the solar panel, which gave out yesterday, finally found the missing strap for Apollo's blanket, washed it, let it dry, then sewed it back on (a job that's literally been waiting years to be done!), and helped Patsy take down a tree branch that had fallen across a trail. I threw Apollo's bridle on and rode him bareback up to Patsy's trailer at one point, with Flash and Lola tagging along (on the loose, but ever present!), and finally ended the day with Patsy coming down and having dinner with me. Well, she had her dinner and I had mine, but we ate together. Once the sun went down it got chilly fast, so she headed back to her trailer and I settled down for the evening. Another beautiful, cloudless day, glad to get so much accomplished! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
Another good night sleep, then after chores and breakfast I headed out to Hartsville, about 25 minutes away, first to Tractor Supply for propane and to order some Empower Balance for Apollo when I discovered they could have it shipped to the store by next week (though it was a computer nightmare to get it done!), then to Walmart for a few items I needed, plus fueling up at the fabulous price of $2.99/gal for diesel! Gotta love that! On my way back to camp, I stopped at forest HQ to fill up my water tank. By then, my friend Patsy had arrived at camp, so I stopped by there to pick up a package that I had sent to her (my new car seat cover), and she and Julia were still getting unhooked and set up, so my timing worked out even though I was running late on everything I did today. Went back to the trailer, put away my groceries, then Patsy came and picked me up, and the three of us went over to the shed where they store all their trail marking stuff, got what we needed, and proceeded to put signs up at all the important intersections. Julia had to leave at 4:00, so Patsy and I finished up, and were done by 5:00. I then had a few minor chores to do, like hooking up the three full propane tanks, putting away the horse feed, installing my new plush car seat cover, changing out the drawstring on my big hay bags (the ones that came with them were so big I had a hard time getting my carabiner-type hook around them, and they work so much better now!), let the horses out for a few hours of grass, and finally, checking on the furnace. It hasn't been lighting well, I've only had it going once, and with most of the upcoming mornings in the forties, I wanted to see if it needed cleaning or some other kind of servicing. The only thing I found was part of a wasp's nest covering a small round plate, but I don't know what it was for or if it made any difference, but I cleared it off. I didn't see anything else, no soot buildup or anything, so I just generally dusted it out a little bit, then turned it on with the thermostat at 80 degrees, and it came right on and stayed on, which is all I want it to do! I had thought up to now that maybe it just had a little air in the lines since I haven't used it in a very long time, and that may well have been the problem. In any event, it seems to be working, but the real test will be tomorrow morning. I'm leaving the thermostat set for about 58 degrees, hopefully it will come on in the morning like it's supposed to, fingers crossed! Had a nice salmon dinner while settling in for the evening, won't be long out of bed. Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Woke up to a very chilly morning, in the low 40's, but since I only have about 100 miles to drive today, I let myself luxuriate and didn't get out of bed until about 9:00 when it finally warmed up into the 50's. Didn't take too long to get breakfast and finish packing, then I had a short chat with my new neighbors who also travel with a base north of Tampa. She needed directions for the various shortcuts to the trailhead here, which I was happy to give her. Finally got on the road about 11:30, had an uneventful drive, thank goodness, and arrived about 1:45, not even having any problems with the deep sand I was worried about. I got the trailer situated, the horses on their anchors, then decided to take a quick trip down to the ranger station. When I had checked my email earlier, I discovered a package that I wasn't expecting until Thursday was actually out for delivery today, and since I hadn't warned them it was coming, I figured I better get down there before they closed, which I just barely did. I topped off my water while I was there, and indeed my package had come (a ranger was just bringing in the mail!), so it all worked out. I was having a problem with not having cell service, which I thought I had last time I was here, and confirmed it by looking back at the last time I was here (thank goodness I keep this diary!), and discovered it was just a matter of putting my phone outside, though for some reason, that hadn't worked earlier. Of course, I rebooted it, I've learned that often makes a difference when I move to a new area. Anyway, after watching a movie on my PVR, I then managed to get a signal, so I watched an episode of MOTG, though the signal seemed to disappear after that for some reason. Heading to shower and bed soon! Good night, my sweet! Love you!

Hi Sweetheart!
With rain in the forecast, I decided not to do laundry, but in the end, we only had a couple of sprinkles of rain until about 9:00 p.m. when it finally rained for all of five minutes. Regardless, I had a nice, quiet day of slow packing and reading, until I finally settled into my evening routine. It's supposed to get down into the mid-40's tonight, so I blanketed both horses, albeit after they got a bit wet. Otherwise, a pretty boring day! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
Woke up a bit earlier, got a good start to the day. I decided on the hay side to get five bales of the coastal from the feed store, and another five bales from the nearby haymaker, figuring if I mix the two, there won't be enough endophytes to bother my horses, even if these bales have any. Plus, it seems the fungus thrives in damp, and these bales are really dry and well-kept, so I'm not worried. I was going to go to the haymaker first, but I made the mistake of putting in the address the wife gave me instead of the pindrop he sent me, and for some unknown reason, Google maps sent me to a completely place! It wasn't even on the same road! I got so turned around, I ended up just heading to town, texting him that I would come on the way back instead. It was a pretty roundabout way of getting into Union, but I eventually made it. I picked up the five bales of coastal at Bubba's Feed Store, then Tractor Supply to fill up one propane tank, then Walmart for a few essentials, then finally back to the haymaker. His bales are very light, so he gave me several extras, which was very kind of him. I got back to camp before 3:00, got everything put away and the hay sorted before settling down for my usual evening routine. Two large horse trailers came in and parked at the group site just up the road, so they'll be more horses on the trail than usual this weekend. Binged on some more Monarch of the Glens, be headed for bed soon! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Had a rough night and a late start in the morning, not for any particular reason. Did another load of laundry and hung that up, read most of the day until I went out to check out some hay nearby, some lovely small bales for $5, though I only bought two to see if the horses would eat it. It looked very nice, but apparently it's mixed grass with a lot of tall fescue and some weeds from a recently purchased property, so the new owner wasn't sure about whether it might have any endophytes in it. I did some research, and I don't think it will harm my geldings, considering it would only be about a two week supply at most, and it is mixed with other grasses. I may just pick up four bales of coastal and four bales of this and mix it together to further weaken any toxins. They're only about ten miles away, so it won't be any bother. Meanwhile, I relaxed the rest of the day, brought the laundry in, and settled down for the usual evening routine. Good night, my sweet! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Had a good night sleep, and normally would do my laundry today, but the forecast looked so dire and it was quite cloudy and threatening, I decided to wait for a nicer day, though in the end, about six raindrops fell in the afternoon! Whatever, I had a nice relaxing day, a tiny bit of housework, mostly reading, took Apollo for a walk around the camp loop, etc., before settling down to binge-watching TV. Plans to get to bed early as Patsy is coming again tomorrow to ride, and I want to get up early enough to start my laundry beforehand. Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Despite my best efforts, I didn't get to bed until late because it takes so long to load pictures up on my diary with the weak signal here, and then couldn't sleep for quite awhile, so I ended up making up for the deficit by not waking up until 9:00! Took care of chores, then cranked up the generator and washed my bath towels and a few other things and hung those out. Spent most of the day reading, took Apollo and Lola for a walk around the camp, which is practically full on this Friday, so I'm expecting a busy weekend, probably mostly of hunters, as it's muzzle loader season and I've been hearing some gunshots go off in the morning. Other than that, a nice quiet day. I have no excuses for not getting to bed early tonight! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Darlin',
Didn't have the best night sleep for some reason, so I was a bit tired this morning. It was supposed to rain today, but all we had were a few sprinkles. I did a few extra chores in the morning, then went into town to pick up the one piece of mail that Amazon actually sent USPS, then Tractor Supply for propane and joint stuff for Apollo, finally Walmart for fuel and a few things I didn't get the other day. Got back by 2:30 and just chilled for the rest of the day. It's been warm, but a cool front is supposed to be behind this so-called rain, and the forecast for the rest of the week is cooler and lovely. Looking forward to that! Not much else to report! Good night, sweetie! Love you!