Hey Sweetie,
Finally, a cooler night, great for sleeping, but I woke up early, probably due to the wine I drank last night! I haven’t had any alcohol all week and have slept like a baby, so I’m guess that’s the reason. But I was up around 7:30 and immediately starting packing. I didn’t put as much away as I usually do, but then my drive is only about 40 minutes, and I wasn’t sure how early they’d let me in. I had everything packed and ready to go except the horses by a bit before 10:00, and of course, Flash decided to be stubborn and not get in the trailer. Naturally, because I had an audience! After half a dozen tries, I finally tied him to the trailer and got Apollo, who didn’t even hesitate at the ramp, he walked right in, thank goodness. Felt like a bit of redemption there! Another couple of tries with Flash, and just as one of the neighbors asked if I needed help (he had already helped me with the slide and hooking up), Flash finally put a foot on the ramp, held it there for a good 20 seconds, then finally ran up the ramp as he is wont to do! At least I got it done without help. Finally headed to the dump, then out of the campground by around 10:30. Forty minutes later I was pulling into Loretta Lynn’s ranch at Hurricane Mills (as you know, she owns the whole little town!), got checked in and after some recon, finally selected a site along of row of sites. I had to find one with the longest pad of gravel, because everything is so saturated here. I was even sinking into the gravel a bit, it’s that bad! I got set up straightaway, then finally pulled the horses out of the trailer, putting Apollo on an anchor and tying Flash to the trailer. The trail boss, Bubba, wasn’t here when I first went looking for him, I was told he would have to assign me a place for the electric fence or a highline, but by the time I got set up he was back, and we had a nice chat. We finally decided on putting my horses right beside the back of the barn next to his three mules, so I got them squared away in short order. Several long chats later, I finally headed up to the nearest big town of Waverly and went to the Walmart to do my shopping. I even bought a tube so I can go tubing town the river next week when the temps reach 90! Once I got back to camp I contact Callie, the girl we met here back in 2017, and she and her parents had gone shopping and were on their way back, so they showed up awhile later and we sat in the screen room and chatted for quite a while. I finally took them over to see the horses, as it was time for feeding anyway, and they left shortly after. Tomorrow is her birthday (they almost always come here for her birthday!), and I think she’s going to come riding with me in the morning, though they’re all going out to dinner tomorrow night, apparently. Anyway, a busy and tiring day (2 hours of breakdown and 3 hours of setup seems a lot for a 40 minute drive!), but there’s an organized ride here next week, which is one of the reasons why I came. Hoping to see some new trails, make a few friends, and maybe even sell a few books, who knows! Anyway, it’s later than usual, so I’m off to shower and bed! Good night sweetie! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Well, with my departure imminent tomorrow, I spent the day packing, cleaning and generally getting ready to go. It was pretty nice all day, but rain did move in around 4:00, just when Carol came over. She stayed until 8:00, so I didn’t get much else done after that. By the time I got up this morning, the only other camper that’s been here all week had gone, but there was one couple that came in very late last night, I spoke with them for a few minutes on my way to put the recycling where it belonged. It was quiet for a few hours, then some more campers came in, and by the time Carol left, half a dozen more campers had come it, which surprised me for a Thursday, but I think everyone has cabin fever and are looking for excuses to get out as the state opens up some more. Anyway, I got most of what I needed to do done, worked a little on the website, and got most of what I wanted to pack packed, though I still have a few more things in the morning. My next stop is at Loretta Lynn’s, which is only about 40 minutes away, so it’s not like I’m in a big hurry to leave in the morning, though I do want to get there early enough to get a decent spot, considering it will be a Friday and they only have open camping. Looking forward to moving on, now. Two weeks is long enough for just about anywhere, especially with all the rain and mud I’m having to deal with. Supposed to be mostly dry and sunny next week, thank goodness, though getting close to 90 degrees by the end of the week. Sounds like a good time to be heading north! Well, I still have to make the bed after doing laundry today, so I’ll say good night, darling! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Lots of rain overnight, woke up to rain this morning, didn’t get out to feed the horses until after 9:00 it was so bad! A great day to do housekeeping though, so that’s what I spend the rest of the morning doing, then the afternoon I started working on developing a new website for the main business. What a nightmare! A whole new learning curve for this new program, and I’m having a LOT of problems trying to figure it out. I watched a number of tutorial videos, and they make it look so easy, then when I try to do it, it never works right. Grrrrr! Well, I’ll keep trying, I have to get something up there since I can’t make any changes to the old one anymore, that program is completely unsupported and I can’t get anyone to give me my original access code either. Other than that, a quiet day, though it was almost 8:00 by the time I settled down to dinner, you know how time flies when I’m on the computer. Won’t be long before I head off to bed, though, it’s been a long day. Love you, darlin’! Good night!

Hi Honey!
After a great night sleep and yesterday’s day of rest, I was pretty raring to go this morning. Even before my breakfast, I started working on the water leak in the ice-maker, finding it right away, since it was dry when I started. Turned out to be the same fitting at the end, I had so much trouble getting it on the last time, I’m not surprised it sprung a leak. That required a trip to the nearest Ace Hardware in town, where I got both the parts I needed for the leak and an exchange on a carriage bolt that I had bought at Greeters in Altamont for the ramp ends I made to use as levelers when the trailer leans to one side, so now I can finish putting that together as soon as I roll off those planks. I actually learned a good lesson when I used them here, because I wanted to see how much opening the slide offset the balance, turns out not to be as much as I thought. I have a good handle now on how many notches on the bubble level require how many inches of board, which should be a useful measure in future. Anyway, I replaced the fittings on the ice-maker, and now it’s working and not leaking again! Hopefully this will be the last flood for a while. I tried to look at the parking brake on the truck, but nothing I tried seemed to work, so I either have to jack it up and take it all apart to tighten them, or pay someone else to do it, which I’m thinking is a better option, if it’s not too much. Started looking for a mechanic late in the day, but haven’t heard back yet. I also received my replacement hay bags, had to wait by the mailbox after the office had closed, the mailperson didn’t arrive until almost 5:30! I had purchased a couple that were on sale, but they were too small, and one of them was literally coming apart at the seams by the morning after I put it up, and was almost in shreds by this morning. This time I bought the nylon strap weave kind (not the nylon rope, I have some of those, too), I’ve never tried those before but I always liked the way they seemed to work, thought I’d give them a try. They seemed to be much larger than the other ones, and they did seem to hold more hay, but not a huge amount, which is fine, they’re designed to slow the horses’ eating down, to keep them busy longer. I hope that works. Anyway, I got what I wanted to get done before it started raining, which it did most of the afternoon, so I just mostly read the latter part of the day. Settled down as usual, took my shower early, so now I’m just waiting for Lola and I’m off to bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Babe,
After another good night sleep, it was a beautiful morning, so I sat out in the screen room for a while, but I eventually had to come inside because across the road from me was a family in a camper that never stopped yelling at their kids or each other, or whoever else they brought with them. The only time I’ve had any peace was when they either all went to the bathhouse or they all went to the lake with their boat. Whenever they came back there was constant screaming, mostly about nothing. I can’t tell you how happy I was when they finally packed up and pulled out! No horses, just a boat. I decided not to get involved in any projects today, or even to go riding, as it got really hot. It never rained (despite the forecast, again!), but it was close to 90 degrees. By afternoon I was in the trailer with the AC on anyway. So I spent the day mostly reading, a little television, a couple of computer games, watched a movie for a change, a really lazy day. I figure if I recharge today, I’ll be ready to tackle a couple of jobs tomorrow, starting with the leak in the refrigerator, which I have to locate and hopefully, fix. I took Lola for one quick walk around the campground, on a leash, just to see who was left, and there are two campsites still occupied, one with horses and one without, both in tents. Not sure how long they’ll be here, but it certainly is much quieter in camp now! Still going to use my earplugs though, so whinnying and birds won’t wake me in the morning. Time for shower and bed now. Good night, my love!

Hi Babe,
Rain came pouring in this morning, so I stayed in bed reading until it finally cleared through, after 9:00. Once I got the animals fed I went back to working on my taxes, double-checking everything, rearranging some stuff on my computer bookkeeping program, and generally getting the job done. Was happy to see that the British Pension folks finally got everything cleared up, there was a couple of nice deposits in my account. They have a lump sum they call a bereavement benefit, but it’s over 10 times what the US government pays as a burial benefit! It seems I’ will be getting a monthly payment, too, but I’m not sure how long it lasts. I thought I read somewhere it’s for 18 months, but it could be until I reach retirement age, not sure, so I wrote and asked the question, haven’t heard back yet. That’s a relief, though, it takes some of the pressure off from the coronavirus-inspired postponements I’ve had to endure. FINALLY managed to send my taxes off around 4:00 this afternoon, yay! It wasn’t too long after that when another rainstorm came in, lots of wind and thunder, but I managed to the get the horses fed just before it came through. Settled down for a nice quiet evening, though it’s not really very quiet, tons of people came in (it’s Memorial Day weekend, early this year,) so there’s lots of screaming kids, unfortunately. But the park staff closed off a bunch of sites, again because of the coronavirus, so at least there’s a lot of space between me and my nearest neighbor, thank goodness. A woman I met a few weeks ago down at Chickasaw is here, they were going to go to the Land Between the Lakes, but evidently they’re still closed! She recognized the trailer and stopped to chat for a few minutes. Anyway, the evening is coming to an end, but I’m going to take Lola for a quick walk to the dumpster with the garbage, she hasn’t been out hardly all day, then jump in the shower, etc., etc.! Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Forecast called for rain so I decided to do my taxes. It didn’t rain, so I missed a day of riding and didn’t get my taxes finished. You know how grumpy both of those things make me. ‘Nuff said. Good night, my love!