Hey Darlin',
Had a long, tiring and productive day today. Jo and I put out all the water buckets, a job that was made much easier when one of the other volunteers dropped off all the tubs right to me, so we didn't have to go fetch them like we usually do. Had those all dropped off by lunchtime, so we went to Willards for lunch and met up with the same two forestry guys who are filling the tubs for us! Had a lovely lunch, then we went to Helen's where the race HQ is, put up signs and ribbons to cordon off all the different areas, then had to run back over and pick up some of the ribbons I gave the gals to mark the trails with because I needed some to finish off, then back to one of the water stops because one of our signs fell down. Long day! Full from lunch so I don't have to cook and clean up dinner, at least! Will absolutely be going to bed early, I have an other long day tomorrow! I've arranged with forestry to get one of their UTV's in the morning so I can check on the markers, because there has been a very strong wind all day and I'm worried about some of them falling down, especially since it will be windy again tomorrow. Loving this volunteer gig! Never could get a UTV out at Dupuis, no matter how much I needed one. Anyway, won't be long out of bed! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Since my part of the trails are done, I spent the morning doing laundry, then headed into town to drop off a book order at the post office, then picked up some horse feed at Tractor Supply and some groceries at Walmart and Publix. That kept me busy most of the day. Dinner and a movie, which was very intriguing and with an all star cast with Julia Roberts about a possible apocalyptic end of the world which was fascinating right up until it's very unsatisfactory ending. Heading to shower and bed shortly, I have an early morning tomorrow! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Had a good night sleep, did my morning chores and breakfast, and was soon nodding off in my chair, a long way from recovered from my busy past could of weeks. I really crashed today! Finally got just enough energy to crawl back up to bed, read for a while, and spent some time working on my shoulder with my massager. I've gone from about 40% range of use to about 95%, and am thrilled to bits! There's just one tiny spot that still feels restricted, and only when I put my arm in an extreme crooked position, and that even felt like it might have shifted a bit today. Then Jo texted and invited me to enchilada night at her house, and I almost begged off because I was so tired, and there was a very big storm front coming through, but in the end, most of it had passed through by a little after 5:00, so I headed over there. Dinner was delicious, plus I picked up all the trail markers I'll need for this week, and a diagram her husband Jeff made for me on the electrical circuits in the trailer, for future reference. Got home about 7:15, fed the horses, put a blanket on Flash because it's supposed to get cooler overnight (Apollo doesn't seem to like it unless it's extremely cold), and prepared myself for a short evening, as I'm still feeling tired and I have a busy week starting tomorrow. Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie!
Up before the crack of dawn this morning, headed down to Tidewater Trailhead where we had scheduled a trail cleanup day. We had more than a dozen volunteers show up, and the Forest Service lent us two UTV's for the day. We had a great time! Everyone worked hard, and we got a lot done. My group did the entire Blue trail, another groups did a good portion of the purple and yellow trails, and we were all back in time for the lunch the Forest Service provided. It wasn't in too bad shape, but it definitely looks a lot better! Stayed around and chatted for a bit, then headed back to camp, with a quick stop at Apex to say hello to my cohort DeDe, who was hosting an ETS event there. Got home a bit after 2:00, and faded fast after that. It's been a very hectic and physically demanding week, and I think I'm finally crashing. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, so I'm planning on taking a nice quiet day off to recover, and next week is going to also be very demanding, so I need to recharge my batteries! With that said, I'm going to bed! Good night, darlin'! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Woke up before the alarm went off, got up after a bit, did my chores, unhooked the trailer and put it in a nice tidy little parking spot near me, then headed off to town to get my doctor-requested lab work done, then stopped at Tractor Supply for some hay, which was pretty good, though small bales for the price, but I'm in Florida, I can't expect anything else when the price of diesel is still so high. I also noticed a big stack of Nutrena Balance, so I picked up a bag for Apollo, even though his feed bin is currently full, just because it isn't easy to find. After getting back to camp, I worked on trails on the computer for a bit, then remembered I needed to wash the small horse trailer, so I went out and did that. It was actually too cool to ride today, and almost too cool to be washing a trailer, but it really needed it, it was covered in algae, typical when it sits outside like it has been. Finally settled down for the evening, to a very weird movie that seems like the writers and director must have thought up when they were totally stoned, not my cup of tea, though I had to admire the acting skill of the principals. I was shocked to see Jamie Lee Curtis, I barely recognized her, sorry to say, she hasn't aged too well. Funny, when I went in to do my labs today, the woman asked for both my birth date and confirmation that Cigna was my secondary insurance and not my first, and I joked with her and said, "This is where you're supposed to say I don't look old enough for Medicare," and she quickly responded, "Well, that's why I asked, you DON'T look that old." Maybe she was blowing smoke, but she did ask twice, so maybe I am still looking pretty good for my age. Anyway, took my shower early so my hair will dry before bed, it's going to be a cold one tonight, getting down into the 30's. I even put the heavy blankets on the horses, and I'm going to leave the fireplace on all night so I don't wake up to a cold home in the morning. Hoping to ride tomorrow, supposed to warm up after a chilly morning, but we'll see. Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hey Darlin',
After the long reconnaissance ride yesterday, I felt I'd seen all I needed to see in this trail system to finally make some headway on the trail plan. The difficulty here is that you have to choose between crossing a paved road multiple times, riding through swamp, riding about a mile on a limestone rock road, riding in deep sand or repeating trails. None are great options, but the choice must be made. I spent several hours trying to accommodate all of that, but in the end, I called Jo, the ride manager, to try to pin down which complaints she was willing to deal with, since there really isn't any route that will make everyone happy all of the time. In the end we adjusted the route a few different ways, finally opting for using the limestone road but cutting it down to the bare minimum of about a mile. It starts at a water stop, so we figured if someone wants to put boots on, it's a good place to do it anyway. Only one mile out of 50, it's the best we could do. Glad to have that finalized, though, it's been bugging me! Still have a bit of recon to do in the south loop, so I have another day of riding this week, though not likely tomorrow. I have errands in the morning and it's going to be a chilly day, so Thursday, most likely. Finally settled down for the evening, enjoyed a funny movie with Woody Harrelson coaching a team of "intellectually challenged" teens to the Special Olympics championship, and now it's time for shower and bed! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
What a day! Set my alarm for 6:15, had breakfast and got the horses and Lola fed, and managed to leave around 7:20. Without stops the trip was just over 3 1/2 hours, so I arrived at exactly 11:00. First thing I did was try to start the Buick, but the battery was dead flat, so I put the truck jumpers on and let it charge for awhile. One of the tires (brand new) was flat for some reason, so I got the compressor going and got that one up, plus topped off the other three. Let my sister-in-law know I was there, and she was thoughtful enough to have saved a couple of T-bone steak bones for Lola! They were in a bag not quite big enough for them, so they were sticking out a bit, and would you believe, I put them right on the console in the truck and she never touched them, even though she was alone with them for a long time! What a good girl! Then I went and checked on the little horse trailer, I took out a tractor tire that was in the back, not sure exactly why that was in there, but if it's useable it should stay with the tractor there anyway, and if it's not useable, I sure don't need to be carrying it around! Of course, the trailer is all moldy again, not surprisingly, so washing that will be on the agenda sometime this week. I checked the tires on that and found one that was about 40 lbs. too low, but the others were acceptable without a load. By then, I figured the Buick was charged enough, and sure enough, I was able to start it, albeit reluctantly. It ran, but it stalls out when you take your foot off the gas, just like before, so it will have to warm up for 10-15 minutes before it will run in gear. I did roll it a bit to get it off the same flat spot in the tires, it moved in neutral easily enough. Finally, I hooked up the trailer and headed down the road, but something didn't feel right. I pulled over, and realized I had forgotten the block for putting the jack on, so I ran back (I was only a mile away), and when I got there I jacked up the trailer off the hitch and realized it was only a 2" hitch, too small. So then I went through a whole series of exercises trying to swap out the 2" hitch with my other 2 3/8" hitch, just about killing myself in the process. I got literally no help from my brother, other than him lending me a pipe wrench and suggesting I go to Tractor Supply and buy a new receiver. Well I didn't have time for that, so I finally pulled out another receiver that I had, and that ball came off immediately. Then the light bulb went off in my head. The original configuration of the truck to trailer was a 4" drop with a 2 3/8" ball, but I had changed it to a 2" ball when I used his trailer to move my tractor to his place. That didn't work, though, because his trailer was too low to reach the hitch, so I went to Tractor Supply and bought a 6" drop, which evidently only came with the ball already on it, which explains why I couldn't get the damn thing off, because it had been put together in the factory. So finally I remembered the series of events, got out my 4" drop, and that 2" ball came right off with the first twist, and I was finally able to get a working hitch, which was exactly what the original configuration had been. Whew! I worked up such a sweat, and wasted so much time, it was 1:20 by the time I finally pulled out of there. That would make it a VERY close call to arriving back at camp before dark, which was my goal, though originally I thought I'd be there long before 4:00 if I had been able to stay on schedule. I took one quick stop to top off my fuel tank, just because I didn't want any more stress about it getting low, and another quick stop at a Publix to get a couple of cartons of grapefruit juice, the one commodity I was low on, but that only took about seven minutes. As it turned out, I arrived back just before sunset, so I had plenty of dusk light to get the horses fed. I was exhausted by then! Had just enough energy to finish off my homemade chicken soup (which was lovely but I'm glad it's done, I'm ready for a change), and settled down for the evening. I finally gave Lola the first of her bones, which she thoroughly enjoyed! Unfortunately I chose an excruciatingly boring movie that I fell asleep to, but now I'm more that ready for my shower and bed. Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Another good night sleep, lazy morning, then met Jo for lunch at Willards just to go over what we've doing in preparation for the ride. Got back in time for my chair delivery. I had pulled the old chair out to the porch so it had a nice open space, and the two guys had no trouble getting it in. I put the cover in the wash and subsequently hung it out to dry, covered the old chair with a sheet to protect it. It was weird, though, when I sat in the chair it didn't feel anything like when I sat in it at the store, not nearly as comfortable as I remember it. In fact, it didn't seem even as comfortable as the chair I'm replacing! Maybe it just needs to be broken in or something, I don't know. I'm going to call tomorrow and see if this is normal for a new chair, but after so much research and checking every chair in the store last week, I was sure I'd found the right one, but this just doesn't feel the same. Anyway, I relaxed in my usual evening way, ready for shower and bed. Good night, darlin', love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Had a good night sleep, though even with the fireplace on all night, it was still pretty chilly inside the trailer. Not as bad as outside, though, it did get down into the low 30's last night. Even though it was a beautiful, sunny day, it was so cold I decided not to try to ride today, so I mostly did housework and a load of laundry, did some work on the trail planning for both Black Prong and Tidewater, which we've now decided will be our trail cleanup focus on Dec. 9. I found some dead bugs this morning, leftover from the bug bombs I used yesterday, mostly stink bugs. I'm hoping I made a dent in that infestation, but I'm not holding my breath. Don't know if they die off in cold weather, that might help if they do. Supposed to be in the mid-30's again overnight tonight, so I probably won't be riding in the morning, as I'm meeting Jo for lunch and expecting my chair delivery after 2:00. Can't wait for that!! Anyway, glad to get the abode cleaned up, looking forward to a snuggly night in bed shortly! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Had a good long night sleep after going to bed early, woke up to the alarm, got the morning chores done, started a load of laundry, then met with Scotty, who handed over trail markers to me. Then I headed out to Dunnellon, stopping first at the Women's Club, where I'm told they might have a euchre game, or at least the interest to possibly start one, then on to my doctor's appointment, which went well, lovely folks there. Next stop was Walmart for some general shopping, then Publix where I picked up Egg Nog Ice Cream and bourbon, which is my favorite combination. Liquor store not only had my favorite bourbon, they had it on sale, so I bought two! Headed back home just in time to run into Scotty again, he had made a key for the utility room so that if I break the circuit, I can reset it, as well as restock the bathroom as necessary. Was delighted to learn that the circuit is 30 amp rather than 20, that gives me much more piece of mind! I bug-bombed the trailer before I left, so I had to open that up for a bit to air it out, found a few bugs, not as many as I feared, mostly stink bugs that I picked up in Tennessee when I stopped there, and just a few others. It's supposed to get close to freezing overnight, so hopefully I won't gather any more bugs for awhile. Another ranger, Rick, stopped by, he was supposed to turn the water off because of the freeze warning, but decided, with my encouragement, that it really wasn't necessary (seriously, the forecast was for 31 degrees for a very short time), and it was nice to meet him, since he'll be taking over for Scotty, who's leaving next week, sorry to say. Settled down for the evening to homemade soup and bourbon (with Publix Egg Nog ice cream, my favorite treat!), watched a great movie, now I'm ready for shower and bed. Last night was the first night I had the campground to myself, lovely being so quiet! Looking forward to more nights like this! Good night, sweetie! Love you!