Woke up a few times during the night to the sound of rain, but managed again to get right back to sleep. When we went out to feed the horses, we discovered our neighbors we gone already, so evidently it was just an overnight stop for them. Took a walk with Billy to check out one of the trails, which seem to be mostly sand, so it’s possible we won’t need boots when we go riding in the next few days. Forecast is for rain today and tomorrow, so we’re thinking Friday for our first ride, though the temps are only in the high 50’s. That could change, though, and because it will be sunny, we know it will feel warmer.

Had the best night sleep in a long time last night! Lately, I’ve been waking up at 4:30 am and not being able to get back to sleep, but this morning, I quickly went back to sleep every time I woke up. Really quiet here, yeah! After doing some research, we decided to run down to the other campground we’re considering to check it out today, as there is a hay farm very nearby, and we could kill two birds with one stone. After breakfast we headed out in the truck, first to the Gilbert Ray County Park, where we met Billy, who showed us the area that they had decided they could allow horse camping (they don’t usually, but are making an exception for us), which turned out be much nicer than we thought, and since it is so close to the trails at the west unit of the Saguaro National Park, we may decide to move over next week. Afterward, we headed down to the hay farm just down the road, and looked at their alfalfa. It seemed a bit greener than what we had had before, but it still seemed a little more stalky than what we like. Only way to find out if Clio will eat it is to try it! We bought 6 bales for $13 each, less than what I had planned, but they wouldn’t accept personal checks or credit cards, so I had to use cash. In any event, at least it solved our problem temporarily. I spoke to several growers in Las Cruces, with plans to get a full load on our way to Austin next month, since New Mexico is famous for their alfalfa. Arrived back at camp to discovery someone had come in during the day and parked on the other side of the yard, with two palominos in two of the uncovered corrals. Back to routine chores, and settled down for the evening.

Yesterday, because there was heavy rain in the forecast, we moved the horses to a couple of corrals with full covers rather than partial ones. The result was we learned that Clio hadn’t been eating hardly any alfalfa. Apparently, she’s been just picking off a few leaves and leaving the rest of it for Apollo to eat. This is just what happened last spring when we got a few bad batches of hay, and she lost so much weight we have only just recently gotten her back to normal. Since we didn’t want to have to go through that again, I was compelled to ask Kelly to let me return most of the hay that I had bought from her, so I would have room in the truck to get something she WILL eat. Hated to do it, but didn’t really have a choice. Dallas and another helper came by with a flatbed and loaded out the hay, leaving me with two partial bales just to get through until I can pick up some more later in the week. Afterwards, we did some packing up in preparation for our departure tomorrow. Hubby had done a good job spacing out his repair and maintenance jobs during the week, so there wasn’t too much to do. Finished up some laundry and put some stuff away, otherwise an uneventful evening.

Woke up abruptly to the blasting of multiple gunshots from semi-automatic weapons on the range that’s about 100 yards behind us. We figured it was the guests that were up at the Big House that arrived last night, didn’t realize they were the hunting types. After an hour or two, though, they finally quit, and by then we were finished with breakfast and settled down for the rest of the day.

Once again it rained heavily in the morning, finally quitting around noon, though the clouds remained for the rest of the day. More writing! Good week for it!

Had some rain come in yesterday, and today it really poured! Stayed inside for most of the day, writing, writing, writing!

Headed down to Anthem, though we had to go even further to pick up some senior feed for the horses. Got out early, got back early enough to do some more writing today.

Before leaving the dinner last night, I was asked if I wanted the carcass of the turkey for soup, and I said sure, if we could keep it down there overnight (no room in my fridge!). We decided I would make a big pot of soup in the commercial kitchen the next day, so after breakfast and a dump run, I headed over to the Bumble Bee’s well appointed commercial kitchen and started chopping and simmering and otherwise getting the soup going. Several trips back and forth during the day to continue the process, until at 5:00 I had a delicious soup simmering, with a score of little mashed potato dumplings floating on the top. I filled a pan up to bring home, and left it for whoever else wanted to come in and get some. In the evening, I finally came back and turned it off, and later Marilyn put it in the fridge. Everyone seemed to like it (we certainly did), and it was nice to work in a big kitchen again, even if I had to do my own cleaning up afterwards! Finally settled down for a movie and shows before heading off to bed. Gave Hubby some Alka-Seltzer Plus, though, he had acquired a scratchy throat and the symptoms of a beginning of a cold.

Spent an hour or so in the arena watching some calf-roping practice, and I took Apollo in with me to get him used to the activity. He got pretty excited at first, but eventually he settled down, thankfully. Afterward, I made a nice sweet potato casserole for the pot luck dinner we’re having tonight, and at 4:00, we headed over to our hostess’ house to join in the activities. We chatted for a while with the dozen plus folks, family members and neighbors, then dinner was served, and there was more food than we could possibly eat! Delicious, and we enjoyed ourselves immensely. Just before 7:00 we headed back to the RV and settled down for the rest of the night.