Hiya Babe,
Had a decent night sleep, got up to do chores and breakfast, then went back up to bed to read and doze for awhile. Finally came downstairs again, and spent the entire day in forced rest mode, reading and watching a movie. I woke up with so many aches and pains, all due to being over-tired, that I knew I just had to have a day when I did nothing, and so I did! By the time I got done with my hot tub and shower, pretty much all of the aches were gone, so mission accomplished! I have a couple of busy days ahead, so I'm glad I took the day off, but it was hard, because I really need to do some housekeeping, but it's just going to have to wait until Sunday, when it's supposed to rain and I can stay inside guilt-free. Heading to bed shortly, after tea and shortbread! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Finally got a decent night sleep and woke up a bit more refreshed, but after another long day, I'm back to feeling exhausted again. The day started early, with a 9:00 dentist appointment to get fitted for a crown on a broken molar, followed by a trip to Tractor Supply for propane and horse feed, only to be disappointed that the Dunnellon store didn't have the Balancer I needed, despite the fact that a couple of weeks ago I was assured they would be getting another shipment in, which meant I had to drive to Williston to get some. I got fuel and went shopping at Walmart for my usual bi-monthly shopping trip, the headed north the Williston to get the rest of the horse feed I needed. From there, I drove up to Watermelon Pond to flag the spot where I want the safety sign post to go in, which will save me a trip with Rick, as I'm hoping he'll finish putting the last few posts in. Next was Bailey Mine Trailhead, where I did the same thing. Finally got back to camp late in the afternoon, feeling like I needed a nap, but then got involved with a camper to help them understand the value of Avenza trail app. Not long afterward I headed down to Willards for a Taste of Goethe debrief, learned that we set an attendance record of 240 people, with 50 of them registering the same day. All things considered, I think it went pretty well, with just a few glitches to be expected with unprecedented numbers like that, and the notes from each of the board members mostly focused on the same issues, so we're all on the same page. Didn't get back until about 9:00, took my hot tub and shower, now I'm having tea and am ready for bed soon! Another early start tomorrow! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Despite being dog-tired last night, I woke up just after 2:00 and couldn't get back to sleep until after 4:00, three aspirins and two melatonins later. Woke up tired at 8:45, got up and did chores, and after breakfast, decided there were a couple of jobs I could do without too much exertion. I put together the safety sign posts that we needed, then decided to drive the tractor and put the two closest ones out, since the awl is still on the tractor and it requires no real energy on my part to install them. They were both on the north side of the Black Prong area, Then I drove the tractor down to where a tree had been reported down, which was down on the southern side of the Black Prong area, so it was a pretty good hau.. Fortunately it was a fairly small pine, so, having taken my little chainsaw with me, I didn't have any trouble getting it and a couple of other limbs out of the way. I got back to camp after 4:00 feeling exhausted again. I really need a day off, but don't see one in sight! Settled down for the evening, was very grateful for my hot tub when the time came, now it's just finishing up my tea and heading to bed, early, because I have another alarm-early morning tomorrow. Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Woke up in the middle of the night and had a hard time getting back to sleep, which, considering how tired I was going to bed, rather surprised me. I got up about dawn and took care of my chores, started a load of laundry, helped a horse camper look at possible next campgrounds, then headed out and picked up Art, another volunteer, and we went down to Apex to grab the UTV and clear out the signs. It took us just under three hours to do, but at least now it's done! Got back to camp and crashed a bit in the afternoon, watched a movie, backed some shortbread cookies, and am heading to hot tub and shower shortly. I've been adjusting my recipe a bit and today's were a bit better, so I'm headed in the right direction. Anyway, I'm still feeling very tired and my bones are a bit achy, but hopefully with a good night sleep tonight, I'll be ready to tackle the week, which is starting to look pretty busy. Love you, darlin'! Good night!

Hey Darlin'!
What a day! Up before dawn, out the door before the sun came up, and never stopped running the whole day! Hard to describe all the activity today, it was pretty much non-stop all day. After doing the preliminary setup at the trailhead, I rush out to start checking the signs, and was astonished that the place where the signs had been sabotaged was even WORSE this morning. Someone had completely removed the HORSE sign, took out the Bikers signs, folded it so my arrow couldn't be seen, drew in an arrow pointing in the opposite direction, and placed it once again in a spot that would have directed the bikers up the horse trail. Unbelievable! I had to make a new Horse sign, and fortunately had a broken stake I was able to make work, and fixed the biker sign so it was back to normal, and fortunately, that stayed through the day and no riders got lost at all. We had some trouble with hikers because I didn't put one sign out on the hiking trail that sent them in the right direction, mainly because I thought my supervisor was going to lead the hikers, but he never went out for some reason. We had a little chaos in the pavilion because we didn't have anyone to introduce the presentations, and thus organize the hiking group (though I thought that would be taken care of by the forest people), and we were a bit shorthanded with me out running around in the woods fixing signs and delivering food, then later helping hikers get back on track. But we had well over 200 people attend, though it will be awhile before we have the final numbers, and the raffle evidently did well, too. All of the horse folks seemed happy except one woman who claimed the entire orange short trail was knee-deep mud (it wasn't), but I was told this woman always complains about everything, so I pretty much ignored it after that. I don't mind constructive advise, but I know there were only a few wet spots on that trail, and if her horse doesn't like mud, tough. It's a forest with wetlands, what do you expect? Anyway, we had dozens of horse trailers, and had to use a neighbors field for overflow, the turnout was great, most folks enjoyed it, so I would say it was a resounding success. We cleaned up the trailhead afterwards, and you would never know we were even there! We were finished by just after 5:00, I dropped off Art who helped me with the final cleanup, then got back to camp. We had a full campground, so I walked by and met everyone, then came back and all but crashed. I'm the only one who has anything left to do, I need to go out tomorrow and get all the signs and markers down in the UTV. Art offered to come with me, so I'm hoping we can get it done fairly quickly, though it will still take a couple of hours at least. I'm ready for bed here shortly! Exhausted, but satisfied, and glad that the asshole trying to screw us up didn't succeed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
A very long and tiring day, which would normally leave me feeling very satisfied, but for the actions of some yahoo asshole running around in the forest. It started out just fine, arriving at the Apex trailhead before 9:00. I got the WAG Dog Walk marked off, helped Chelle get her trailer in place, put some signs up around the trailhead, then picked up the John Deere UTV that I've been lucky enough to be assigned for the weekend, and, with the help of Russlyn, headed out on the trails to put signs and markers up. It took a bit longer than I had expected, and we ended up running out of signs and stakes before it was fully marked, so around 2:00, when we finished our first round, Russlyn went home and I ran back to the trailer, thinking I left my staple hammer there (I hadn't, it was hidden in a box in my truck!), but I grabbed a sandwich and headed right back to Apex to finish putting up a few more signs, and at one intersection that we had already just marked, one of the signs had been deliberately moved from one side to another, to make it look like it's telling the bikers to go left instead of right, putting them on a horse trail. So now, in addition to the 101 things I already have to do in the morning, I have to add taking another run around the trails at critical intersections to make sure no more sabotage has occurred! Grrrrr!! What is WRONG with people?? Why do some people thinks it's fun to destroy the hard and exhausting work of others? I just don't get it. Anyway, the good news is we have 190 folks signed up, and we will no doubt get some walkups, so we should easily break 200 tomorrow. I don't know if that's a record, but it will sure be a nice turnout, and the weather forecast is perfect! Silver lining! I got back at late dusk, fed the horses, finished off the last of my turkey soup with dumplings, had my hot tub and shower, and only have tea and my Spanish lesson left before I'll be in bed, likely before 9:30. Now I have to be there around 7:00 instead of 8:00, so it's going to be another really long day tomorrow! I'm done! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
Got up with the alarm, and right after chores and breakfast, headed out to Apex to meet the porta-potty guy to get those in, then spent a little time in the volunteer closet making sure everything we needed was there. We were missing some tables, which was the one thing we seem to be short of, but then discovered our tables along with a bunch of others, so that problem is now solved. Went to Jo's to pick up the signs she had made, which gave Lola a chance to have a play date with her three dogs. Her husband Jeff got out his table saw so that I could cut a point on the paint sticks that Jo got at Ace Hardware, which made that job go SO much easier, I would have been at it half the day trying to do that by hand! Collected everything from her, got back to camp and proceeded to put the signs together, putting them in page protector sleeves and stapling them to the sticks while getting them in some kind of order. I also gathered most of the stuff I'm going to need to take with me tomorrow. I finally sat down for a few minutes to a cup of tea and a read, and promptly nodded off! Guess I've been working hard lately! We're as ready as we can be at this point, I think, and pretty far ahead of last year, so hopefully it will be a resounding success. Went on with my usual evening, and now just about ready for bed. Love you, darlin'! Good night!

Hiya Babe,
Woke up a bit early but did a lot of work on my shoulder, and I swear I felt something shift in the center of my back this morning. Hopefully that will continue to progress toward a full recovery (after 15 years). Read a bit, did my usual chores, finished up the final maps for the event this weekend, did a ridealong with Ranger Rick down to Apex to set up our fix for the projection screen, then a quick ride down to Tidewater to show me the new campsites they're building down there. Seems they're simply moving the old ones to the new sites, rather than expanding, don't know what that's about. Got back to camp and had a couple of conversations with some of the carriage folks before getting back to my computer to do some more work. Got all the Press Releases out to the TV stations, gathered some volunteers for Friday's session to set up as much as we can, and finally settled down for the evening. I think we're in pretty good shape, the latest attendance numbers are about the same as our final numbers last year, and we still have four days to go! Hope it's a record! Had my hot tub (which I am SO GLAD I bought!) and my shower, now tea, cookies and bed! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Not surprisingly, it took a long time to get to sleep last night, which always happens when I have a lazy day, especially with no hot tub, but I was in no hurry to get up this morning. Was feeding the horses when Rick came by, we chatted, then I spent the morning doing some computer work before heading out to the new hay store, Farmers Direct in Williston, to pick up another 21 bale bundle. The last one lasted nearly a month, and the horses are liking it, so I got some more. Then I went into the Tractor Supply to fill up my three empty propane tanks, but they had run out earlier in the day, so I'll have to wait on that. No worries, I only just started the last tank, and it took me nearly three months to go through the last one, and that was less than a full tank when I got here. I use a lot less propane when I'm on electric! One last stop at Winn-Dixie for a few groceries and we were headed home! Weather was getting downright warm today, I even had to put on my AC for a bit this evening to blow out the day's hot air. Two days ago I was using my fireplace! Had another salad for dinner (I'm determined to lose the weight I gained over the holidays, again!), and then spent the evening working on my application for social security. I'm finally about to reach the Full Retirement Age where the financial advisors say it's more of a diminishing return if I wait any longer. Not sure it will make a lot of difference to my monthly income, considering once I get my own SS, they'll drop the widow's benefit I've been getting, so I'm figuring it won't be that big of a bump. I did get a nice raise when my new Medicare Advantage program kicked in. That's some relatively new and lesser known program where they insurance company reimburses the government for a good portion of the payment they usually deduct from my SS, so that helped. I did manage to sort out my Yellowstone outfitter today, too, which was a relief. The new one is a bit more expensive, but their reviews are all stellar, especially compared to the last one. That is going to be such a blast! Anyway, I've had my hot tub, my shower, my tea and my home-made oatmeal cookies, so it's time for bed! Good night, darlin'! Love you!