Hey Darlin',
Had a pretty quiet day in camp, just doing my best to rest my knee and the rest of me. My knee is definitely feeling better, though I'm still being super careful with it to avoid further injury. The horses are not too fond of this new coastal hay, it's pretty bland compared to the last batch, and they've been leaving a lot on the ground, so after their feedbags, I didn't give them any more hay, hoping they would clean some of it up. They did, some of it, but there was still a lot. I gave them a little less at dinner, too, hoping that by morning they might finish it off. Spent the day mostly on the computer downloading videos. There are a lot of changes in several programs all of a sudden, so I'm up against a learning curve. Finally managed to get Skype working (though it's been bought out by Microsoft and will only be around another couple of months!), and called the pension folks in England, hoping I finally got that sorted out. I tried to find out about an appointment for my MRI, only to learn that once again, they don't take my insurance, so I went scrambling for another facility. I finally made an appointment way down in the Villages, but it's not until March 18, your 91st birthday! I'll do some more research on Monday to see how else I might be able to solve the problem, including finding an address I can use to transfer my insurance up here. Long story! Finally settled down for the evening with a funny movie with Colm Meaney (who looks the same as always, only heavier) and Paul Reiser (who I barely recognized with his gray hair), a hot tub and shower, and once my tea is done, to bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
My usual morning, then a trip to the doctor's office to have them confirm and order an MRI, which I was momentarily scheduled to do tomorrow until they called and said they weren't in my network. They take Medicare and they take my insurance supplement, but for some reason, the way it's set up, my insurance supplement is considered my primary insurer, albeit under Medicare, which all sounds strange to me. I thought they were two different programs, but apparently they've merged somewhere along the line. So I had to wait for my doctor's office to fax the order to the only nearby imaging place that's in my network (which is the same place I took my mammogram), and they're behind for a week or more, and refused to schedule an appointment until they got the order, so I still hadn't heard anything by the end of today. Seems like by the time they schedule me, it will be healed! Anyway, after that I went to Tractor Supply for a muck/water bucket, because someone put a giant, hoof-sized hole in my last one (thank goodness I had two), then Walmart for fuel and a few essentials before coming back to camp and settling down for the rest of the day. Did some work on the computer, but otherwise kept quiet, I'm still very tired from all the activity, so I'm planning on taking as much time off this weekend as I can. So that's all the news that's fit to print! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie!
Slept well and little late, but so did Nancy, so it all worked out. Fed the horses, had a quiet breakfast while the rain went through, and put in the DVD from your Huntsville World Premiere of The Legacy of Galileo, since she'd never seen it before. I'm sorry the audio isn't better on that copy, I'm going to research it to see if I can add subtitles. We had lunch at Willard's with Michelle, a little thank you for letting Nancy use her trailer, then it wasn't long before we were headed to the airport, with a stop at the feed store for another 21-bale block of coastal, though this wasn't the nice green stuff anymore, just typical coastal, which the horses aren't as thrilled about, naturally. Once I got back, Michelle and her husband came by, helped unload all that hay under my gooseneck, and hauled off their trailer. Very grateful to them! Then I went to feed the horses and found Flash lying down. In itself, that was nothing to worry about, he does that all the time, just not at suppertime. He got up and drank some water, but then rather than come to get his feedbag, he went back and laid down. Now I was worried. I put a halter on him and took him out of the corral and walked him around a bit, then walked him over to the little trailer and tied him to it, where, as usual, he took a dump, which made me feel a little better. I gave him some Banamine and we walked some more, and I lunged him on a short line for awhile, took him back to the corral, where he drank again, but then once again, went to lay down. I got him up again and walked him over to some grass, where, thank goodness, he started munching. I let him graze a bit, then brought him back to the corral (limping all this time, by the way), and he finally went to the hay bag and started eating. Crisis averted! I watched one Everwood, took my shower, checked on Flash (he was fine!) and now I'm just about ready for bed. I'd crash tomorrow, except I have a doctor's appointment, and probably a little shopping, but after that, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be taking the weekend off to recover! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hey Darlin'!
Another fabulous day! Weather was perfect, nice and warm for our kayak adventure! It was a nice start to the day, Nancy has been a big help with feeding the horses, then Rick came by and we had a nice chat with him, then breakfast, then finally loading my inflatable kayak into the truck and heading to Crystal Springs, home of the best manatee viewing anywhere! We parked at Hunter Springs Park and blew up the kayak, then headed out to Three Sisters Springs where the water is clear enough to see the manatees easily. Unfortunately we lost the rudder somewhere along the line, though we didn't realize it until much later, and there was a pretty good wind, so we were sliding sideways a lot. We were going against the wind on the way there, and enjoyed a much less strenuous trip on the way back. Once we got to the Springs, we swam into it and discovered a manatee with a buoy tied to it's tail, and it came right past us! We saw another on the way out of the springs as well, and some more both coming and going in the kayak, including another one with a buoy marker. We had a lovely afternoon, albeit tiring from the workout, but a good tired! We deflated the kayak and let it dry, had some sandwiches for lunch, even though by then it was 4:00 (we kind of got a late start this morning), and headed home after storing the kayak away. Got back to camp and relaxed the rest of the evening, finishing off a bottle of wine. I was disappointed that I forgot to put on the hot tub this morning, but we sat in it for awhile anyway once it hit 99 degrees. I'm leaving it on overnight just in case we decide to take one during the day tomorrow. Got some much appreciated sun, exercise and new experiences, so it was a fantastic day! Great times! It's late now, heading to bed, looking forward to a quiet day tomorrow. Love you, babe! Good night!

Hi Babe!
Had a great day today! Nancy helped me with feeding the horses, we had breakfast, then after awhile, we headed up to Cedar Lake Gardens, which is an old, refurbished quarry up in Williston, which was like a botanical gardens. Between my crutches and Nancy's foot boot, along with Lola, we took our sweet time going around the trails, but it was beautiful and we had a fabulous day. Lola, who has been patiently waiting for me for over a week, poor girl, was thrilled to be part of the adventure! It took several hours, but we weren't in any hurry, and we really enjoyed ourselves and continued to get caught up along the way. Afterward, we went to Sister restaurant in Williston, who was one of the sponsors and food providers in the Taste of Goethe event, and had an absolutely fantastic meal, topped off by an entirely decadent dessert with fresh blueberries and a cobbler-like crust, absolutely heavenly! We went from there to the Winn-Dixie to pick up a few things, than back to camp where we chatted, fed the horses, had martinis, chatted some more, ended up in the hot tub, chatted some more, and finally finished the evening at nearly 11:00. A quick shower and I'll soon be off to bed, skipping my usual evening just because this has been a great day! Love you, sweetie! Good night!

Hey Darlin',
Slept mostly well but woke up just after 4:00, so I took some ibuprofen, which I hadn't before going to bed, and soon fell asleep only to wake up with the alarm. Feeding took longer than ever, and I didn't get to FITS until after 8:00, but since every camper had already checked in, except the odd day rider, there wasn't much for me to do anyway. I did a little troubleshooting in the morning, then in the afternoon started taking my pink flags up and pulling the signs and putting them back in the storage shed. I ate too much at the bbq dinner, sat through the awards ceremony and a special Thank You to Val and Larry for hosting the event for the past 20 years, before finally getting home. I struggled with feeding the horses, one of the campers complained about Lola coming to visit in the dark, though he was a bit more sympathetic when he learned I was on crutches. It wasn't long before I was in the hot tub, shower and having tea. Bed's not far off! One more day of cleanup, which frankly, won't take long, but then I have to set up Chelle's trailer for Nancy, my high school buddy from NYS, who's flying into Gainesville tomorrow for a three-day vacation. I need to do some laundry and housework, too, so I'm hoping to finish early over there so I can be ready by the time I leave for the airport. Busy day tomorrow, again! And even though I had one and half of these LifeWave treatments, they haven't done anything noticeable that I can feel. I took more ibuprofen this afternoon, and I'm icing my leg before bed, looking forward to when I can rest it and make it feel better! Someday soon, I hope! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Since ice didn't seem to be helping much, I decided to try heat on my knee in bed last night. Not sure if it helped, but it didn't hurt. Walked a little better while I was feeding the horses, but was still struggling when I left to go to FITS. My friend DeDe, a former nurse, showed up with a pair of crutches just after I arrived, and I was so grateful! They helped so much today! It was quite a lot slower today, an intermittent stream of folks, so I spent most of the day settling in the occasional trailer and just generally running around, or at times, just sittng in one place reading. I made it a habit to put my leg up whenever I could. I returned the copper compression wrap because honestly, it seemed to make things worse. Walking was so much easier on crutches! By the end of day, I wasn't in anywhere near the agony I've been in on previous days. I did some research of my symptoms, and it appears to be a tear in my meniscus, but whether it's a big or small tear is unknown, it will take an MRI do determine that. There's a good chance I won't need surgery if that's the case, which is great, but it does indicate 4-6 weeks of rest to make a recovery, which is going to be problematic. Anyway, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it! Since I had parked everyone by dinnertime, I was able to get home at dusk, happy I wouldn't be struggling in the dark feeding horses. I was getting low on hay so I arranged to buy four bales from Chelle, and Eric brought them over just after I got home, and he helped me feed the horses, which was greatly appreciated. I stayed outside as it grew dark in order to view a rare seven planet alignment, and I could actually spot four of them with my naked eyes. I went to take a hot tub and discovered it was off. I thought I put it on this morning, but sometimes when the electric flicks off, it stops and won't start automatically again, so it was too cold, sad to say. That's been the best part of my day lately! Probably just as well, though, as one of the vendors at FITS fixed me up with a patch for pain based on stem cells (I have no idea how it works), and it probably would have affected it in the hot tub. Not sure if I should take it off for my shower, either. I've been resting and icing my leg since I've been home, so I'm hoping it will feel better. Anyway, time for shower, tea and bed! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Had another early morning, woke up early and spent some time using the massager on my leg. It did seem to feel better for a bit. Of course, it was a little better after the ibuprofen kicked in, too, though by the end of the day, I was in agony again. There wasn't a lot of odds and ends to finish off today, mostly just parking folks and trying to keep them from encroaching on each other. Mostly civilized, though. Of course, the rides started today, so there were pretty horses everywhere, so that's always a plus. Thank goodness I have the quad Mule! I couldn't have survived without it. I could barely walk, even with your stick, and I'm getting sore muscles from being in such an uncomfortable posture. DeDe has offered me her crutches, she's going to bring them by tomorrow, I think they'll be better than the stick. Interestingly, after I finally got back to camp, and taking forever to feed the horses, I finally took off the copper brace thing and took my hot tub, and once again, by the end of the soak, it felt somewhat better. I don't know if it's from the hot tub or from taking off the brace! It does seem to feel a bit too tight, so I'm going to not put it on in the morning to see how that goes. I'm icing it again now as I drink my Sleepytime tea, and I'm going to leave it off tonight as well, just to see what happens. Last night and this morning, I used Salonpas, which I still don't think works very well for me, and used Aspercreme with lidocaine instead, just to see if that makes a difference. Of course, it will be ibuprofen again tonight and tomorrow, we'll see how that goes. Won't be long out of bed tonight, though tomorrow should be easier, since most folks are here, and some have already left, so there are more parking options. Enough for today! Love you, darlin'! Good night!