Hiya Sweetie,
Had to get up in the dark again today for my first PT session at 8:00, ugh! The session went about as well as could be expected, nothing very strenuous, but I was still limping a lot worse when I got home. Picked up some horse feed at Tractor Supply before coming home, struggled to lug that into the back of the trailer. Even Rick commented on how much worse I looked that the other day. Yeah, that's what happens when you try to do PT in the dark. I'm going to have to call my insurance tomorrow and fuss at them about an MRI. Got another stupid email from the pension folks in England, still telling me they haven't received my information, despite the fact I emailed it two weeks ago, after being told an email would work. Grrr! Spent the entire day icing and elevating my knee, no change for the better, that's for sure. So I read and watched TV all day, pretty sure all this laziness is going to catch up to me in the form of atrophy and an even longer list of jobs that need doing before I leave, which is beginning to look like it's going to be much later than I had planned. I've already cancelled two events I was supposed to participate in, and it's looking like it may even be a third at the rate we're going here. Not to mention I'm not supposed to ride during any of this! You can imagine my growing frustration! Hard to rest when my stress level keeps rising. Anyway, nothing I can do at the moment except bitch about it, and that isn't going to get me anywhere. Sigh... finishing my tea and soon off to bed. Silver lining is that I can sleep in tomorrow, no place in particular I need to be! Good night, darlin'! Love you!

Hey Darlin',
A rather choppy night with weird dreams until the alarm woke me up dark and early. I HATE DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME!!! Had breakfast first, and only had time to give horses hay, then couldn't find my darn keys, so I had to use my spare. I took Lola with me because it was a cool morning and she would be fine in the truck. My appointment in Dunnellon was at 8:00 and I got there a couple minutes ahead of schedule, then Wendy gave me a thorough examination and evaluation, concluding I need and MRI in order to plan a specific treatment (no surprise there!), so at least now we can pressure the insurance company into letting us schedule one, hopefully. We set up appointments for the next few weeks, just to see if it does any good (and no harm, which is my biggest concern), starting tomorrow at 8:00 again, but after that, they're all in the afternoon, thank goodness. At least we're progressing the plot! Wendy insists I put ice on it five or six times a day, along with a little rotating massage, so I spent the rest of the day doing that, with elevation. I finished reading the Healing Shine series that Nancy had recommended (an interesting take on horse training, albeit in a strange, choppy style), then watched a couple of movies and my latest series binge. Even with all the icing, I could see it was still pretty swollen, and it hurts in a different way now, but still hurts. Had a conversation with my outfitter in Yellowstone about saddles, and checked out some options for flights that seem to work better. So a relaxing day, one of many I see in my future, since I am determined to get this injury behind me as soon as possible! I hate being this achey! Anyway, only have tea, Spanish and bed left in my evening. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
I thought of you all day today, my love, on what would have been your 91st Birthday. I can't tell you how much I miss you! But I'm sure you know. So grateful for our almost 34 incredible years together! Yet life goes on, and I spent the day doing forest work. I got up early because Rick needed a ride from the shop where he was supposed to drop off his truck this morning, and I was almost there when he called to say the shop had postponed it but didn't bother to call him, so that was an hour wasted first thing! Then I got busy painting the rest of the trash receptables, then together we put the lids and hinges on. I finished up later in the afternoon painting the covers for the lids that are supposed to keep the rain out of them. I feel so tired lately! I never realized that limping would take so much out of me! I'm glad I'm not still on crutches, but I still can't put my full weight on my left leg, and compensating for that imbalance is exhausting. Anyway, I finally settled down for the evening in my usual way, and am heading to bed as soon as I finish my tea, since I have to get up even earlier tomorrow, leaving here before the sun even rised! Ugh! Anyway, Happy Birthday, my love! Good night!

Hey Sweetie,
Had a good night sleep and got more chores done, did some housekeeping before the rains came in, did laundry all day and into the night. The rain was quite impressive, with numerous lightning strikes so close there was literally no lag between the thunder and the lightning. The picnic area was under water for awhile, but there didn't seem to be any other damage. Lots of heavy rain, though! A perfect rainy Sunday, my favorite! Spent the day reading, watching movies, and otherwise just enjoying a quiet day in between loads of laundry. I think the week ahead will be busier. My knee is tolerable, but my range is still limited, it will be interesting to see what happens to it this week. Heading for bed soon! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Darlin',
Was up bright and early again, and headed out the door before 9:00 after chores and breakfast, to do some unnecessary things for the sake of my health insurance. They apparently won't consider an MRI until I've first had x-rays and physical therapy, so I figured rather than wait for them to deny approval, I'd just get it done asap. I finally found an imaging center that takes my insurance, CareFirst, so I headed over there, leaving a message at my doctor's to have them get them an order, which they did, but I still had to wait some time before getting it done. I didn't care, I just want to get this healing moving! Was nearly noon when I left there, but managed to get a PT appointment for next Wednesday, which wasn't easy. Got back to camp, chatted with Rick for a bit, he's brought over some trash receptacles that need painting, which I should be able to do next week, hopefully, then started trying to figure out what to do about my IRA. I finally figured out the reason why I was getting hit with penalty, apparently I'm not allowed to contribute to it with anything but "earned income," i.e. wages and salary, and since all my income now is from pensions and social security, which is considered "unearned income," I can't use that to fund an IRA. I don't know who makes up these crazy rules, it does nothing but discourage people from saving! Anyway, I chatted with my brokerage house and finally managed to make a plan to solve the problem, so hopefully I can get back to finishing my taxes one day next week. I'd do it tomorrow, but I'm going to take a chance and go riding tomorrow, I think. Anyway, finally settled down for the evening, lots of campers on the grounds today, walked around and said hi, then settled down for the evening, turning on the air conditioning, because, yeah, it's starting to get that warm down here. Heading to bed shortly! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Got up early to get a good start on the day, dropping off Lola at Jo's for a long needed playdate. She's been keeping me company all week while I was essentially doing nothing physical in an effort to heal my knee, so it was time for her to get some exercise, and Jo's three dogs always do that for her! First stop was to get a mailbox, but they were closed until 10:00, so I walked into the hair salon at Walmart and was happy to see there was no waiting, and Jan took really good care of me, did a terrific job, best I've had in a long time! I didn't shop yet because I had to get perishables, but by then it was almost time for the mailbox place to open, so I did that, also dropping off an Amazon package with two things in it that didn't fit. Then I headed down to the public library to get a library card so I can access the Libbie system that my friend Nancy told me about, where I can borrow books online no matter where I am. Now I'll have an even better variety of books to choose from than just Kindle Unlimited! I killed some time there working on the computer as well, trying to get some information about my health insurance and a few other things. I left in time to go to my dentist to have a permanent crown on one of my back molars put in. They did a really nice job, fits like a charm! Got done with that in time for my 1:00 appointment at the auto repair shop, where they changed out the four rear tires on the truck, but ran out of time to do the other mounting of the small trailer tires that I needed, and couldn't get the part for my air conditioning on time either, so I have to come back on Monday. Got back to pick up Lola around 4:30, back to came just after 5:00, happy to see that two more Amazon packages had arrived, though they were left next to the kiosk! Glad no one picked them up before I got to them. Finally settled down for the evening, nodded off watching television, and I forgot to put the hot tub on this morning, so it was just a shower and tea before bed! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Babe,
I hate tax time! I am so frustrated with the complexities of it all, it's ridiculous. I spent most of the day still trying to get caught up on the book work necessary to get the answers to do my taxes, which should be less complicated, but turns out it's not. Anyway, I spent practically the whole day farting around with that, and didn't have good news at the end of my first draft of my taxes. Sigh. I finished the day off by moving the little horse trailer, taking off the spare tire, and loading it and the old tire in the back of the truck so that I can get those remounted tomorrow. I should say that in the morning before I tackled taxes, Rick helped me by putting the new tires that he picked up for me last week into the back of my truck, and also to take the auger off the tractor and put the bush hog back on. No more post holes to dig for awhile, and the horse pen definitely needs a clean up! I also want to flatten this pile of sand and move the gravel over, though at one point Rick said he'd bring me a load, but I don't want to rely on that happening. Anyway, a long day, a hot tub, shower tea and bed for me! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
Still not liking Daylight Savings Time, but I'm forcing myself to get used to it. After chores and breakfast, since I want to continue resting my knee, I decided there was no time like the present to start getting things together for doing my taxes. I was astonished to find I haven't done any bookkeeping since September! Where did this season fly off to? I thought I was keeping up on it, but receipts don't lie, and I had piles of them. So I spent most of the day, even after 5:00, getting caught up on receipts and reconciling accounts. I also spent several hours (due to my slow internet connection from my phone) downloading the latest Turbotax program. I'm still not completely ready to tackle my taxes, as I'm sure there are some expenses I'll need to shuffle around now that I've decided to officially drop the speech coach business as of Jan. 1, 2024. I haven't been pursuing it, and am not really interested in doing it much any more. It's just no fun without you, my darlin'! Am I'm so busy with other things, and I don't really need the money, so this is best. It should make doing my taxes much easier, hopefully! So that was pretty much my day, pouring over a hot computer with stacks of receipts, and it won't be much different tomorrow. Had my usual evening, and will soon be off to bed! Good night, my love!

Hey Darlin',
Woke up to thunderstorms around 4:30, and Lola insisted on crawling up into bed with me. Lately they have really been scaring her, so I let her up, and she was panting so hard I had a hard time getting back to sleep until the storm finally passed and she settled down. It was a doozy, too, with lots of thunder and lightning and heavy rain. It finally ended and we slept some more until it was time to get up. I hate Daylight Savings Time!! With the storm this morning, it was still pitch black at 7:30, yuck! I'd much rather have it light at 7:00 and dark at 8:00 than the way it is now. I spent most of the day trying to figure out what to do about my health insurance, and trying to improve my chances of getting an MRI sometime soon. Unfortunately, they're saying I need an x-ray and six weeks of PT before they'll let me have an MRI. Considering I won't be here in six weeks, it looks like this is just going to have to heal naturally, or I'm going to have to come back here after I do three other rides I've committed to. The last place I want to be is in Florida when the heat hits!! Anyway, it's been a rather frustrating day. I did get some packages, including new vents for my roof, a new knee brace so that I can return Art's before he leaves tomorrow, plus two items I have to return because they don't fit, including the rudder for my kayak and a clear slider for my RV door. Otherwise, I rested for most of the day in an effort to progress my healing, only to do a tiny something when I got out of the hot tub that's now bothering me again. I put my new brace on it the hope that it will nip it in the bud. Teatime, and bed soon! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Had a good night sleep, but completely forgot the change to Daylight Savings Time was last night. When I saw my phone and it was after 9:00, then got up and did my chores only to see the wall clock showed BEFORE 9:00 after all my chores were done, I started to get suspicious. I'm really hating DST these days! Last night when I went to take a hot tub, it had only warmed up to 80 degrees, despite it being on all day, so this morning, I did a thorough cleaning of the filters and even put the hose against the intake to clear out anything. I also cleaned out Lola's pool and refilled it, it had gotten really bad lately, but I hadn't had time or energy to do it. Still trying to rest my leg, so all I did was a load of laundry and watched a movie and read until it was time to go to dinner with Art. Don't get any ideas, he's married, but he's a good dinner companion for when I don't want to eat alone. We found a nice little place called The Flame, which was oddly paired with a gas station, but they had done a nice job giving the interior a very Indian feel to it, which is why I chose it. Most of the pix I saw of other Indian restaurants seemed more like a cafeteria, and occasionally, a trendy sushi bar, but this one had a better atmosphere. Anyway, it was lovely meal, with leftovers for tomorrow, of course, and we even shared a dessert. Got back still in broad daylight, and I waited until after 7:00 before feeding the horses, which, of course, would have been in the dark yesterday, but today, it's right when I would normally feed them in the Standard Time of doing things. Settled down for the evening with another movie and an Everwood, took my hot tub (very grateful it got up to 103 tonight!), now it's teatime and bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!