Hey Darlin’,
Had a decent night sleep, didn’t get up until almost 8:00, but still managed to do chores, have breakfast, and get Flash saddled up and ready to go by 9:45. I think there might have been a fire somewhere, because there was a bit of a haze in the sky, which actually worked out great because it kept it from getting too hot. We did a lovely ten miles, checking out whether I can get my tractor down to install the last two numbered posts on the south end of the yellow and white trail, and it’s looking good, as long as we don’t have a lot more rain in the next few days. I went east on the yellow trail, though, and ran into a lot of water, so I won’t be mowing down there any time soon! There’s also a water crossing that I can’t get around, even on a dry day, so that’s one I’ll have to come at from both sides when the time comes. Ended up coming around on the green spur and loop, it was a bit wet over there still, too, though I could probably make it if I wanted to. Not worried, it will get done when it gets done! I’ve been getting worried about my AC on the trailer, whenever it kicks in, it causes a brown-out condition, shutting off the TV, making all the lights dim, and setting off my carbon monoxide detector, making it chirp. I asked brother Jeff to come out and take a look, and after awhile he got here and changed out the start capacitor (well, he actually put in two smaller ones that equal the one bigger one I had), and we thought that fixed the problem, at least it seemed to. But later on in the evening, I had the same problem again, so it’s obviously something else and he’ll have to look at it again. probably the compressor. Disappointing, I was really hoping it would be something easy and cheap, but that’s just not the way things are going for me right now! Dropped my new phone, and I didn’t have the cover all the way on it, and it landed badly and broke the screen, so I had to order another one. Found an “open box” one on Ebay cheap, so hope that will solve the problem. No one to blame but myself on that one! Finally settled down for a late dinner, started a load of laundry I forgot needed doing, now I’m ready for shower and bed! Love you, sweetie! Good night!

Hey Sweetie,
At long last, I think I have all of the final post painting done! There may an odd one or two more I might decide to add later, but for now, I’ve reached the stage where the end is nigh! All that’s left is putting them out there, which will take a few days. I’m probably going to have to stage them at intervals again, but I’m going to take a couple of days off before I contemplate exactly how to complete the job. Meanwhile, the plumber came back and finished up most of the work that needed doing, we finally have three working showers and in the new bathhouse, and the water is running, so everything is flowing. Finished up a little after noon, then went into town to run a few errands and pick up a few groceries. I picked up a pump siphon, hoping I could pump the tank on the Buick out, but I still couldn’t get it in deep enough. I finally looked underneath and discovered why, there are multiple bends and narrow metal pipes, so there’s no way I’m every going to siphon it out that way. Looks like we’re back to the fuel injection strategy, or just dropping the tank. Need to discuss that with Jeff. Anyway, finally got back to camp and settled down for a lazy evening. Ready for my shower and bed for sure! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Another good night sleep, up at the crack of dawn. James arrived before 9:00 to meet various workmen for plumbing and electrical problems. I stayed in camp today to do as much of the final painting as I could. This is presumable the last batch of posts to be painted, but it’s a lot easier to do the crosspieces here in camp, and the posts as well. I did all the crosspieces that I can think of, and the final white base on the back of the posts, so tomorrow I’ll only need to stencil and paint a few posts, and they’ll be finished! Just getting them out there is all that’s left to do! Plumber got here late and didn’t finish on time, so he’ll be back tomorrow. Settled down for the evening, now I’m ready for shower and bed! Can’t believe it’s September already, this summer flew by! Glad of it, though, it should start cooling down in a few weeks, which will be wonderful! Meanwhile, good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Glad to say I had another good night sleep last night, thank goodness! Woke up at dawn, got my day going pretty early, was out on the trail by 8:30, this time finishing off the last of the painting of posts in situ on the western side of the grade, yippee! Also had to correct a few things I had done previously, like move a post along the powerline which I had put at the wrong intersection, add a couple of crosspieces, added a couple of posts and moved a marker on the teal trail, and take down one crosspiece I had put on the wrong post, put it on the right post, and put the right marker on the first post. Had some criss-crossing across the property to do it, but still managed to get it all done and get back to camp by 3:30. Just in the nick of time, too! I had just enough time to put away the tractor and move the truck into the carport, get in the trailer, strip down and jump in the shower just as it started raining! Perfect timing! Felt a lot better today, too, no ibuprofen needed! Settled down for the rest of the day, just about ready for bed. Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Thank goodness, I FINALLY got a good night sleep. I don’t know if it was just because I was so tired, the ibuprofen I took, or the double dose of Sleepytime tea, but I was in bed before 10:00 and was out like a light. Woke up once and fell right back to sleep, finally waking up for good just before 7:00. Got up feeling rested and did my chores, spend a little time cleaning and refreshing my little paint pots, and was back out on the trail before 9:00. Today I started all the way down at the southern end of the property and started working my way back. Some of the signs took me a lot longer than I expected because I had to do some fiddly words, not just numbers, so it was nearly 5:00 by the time I got back to camp, what with the long drive as well. So glad I’m making progress, though! I only have about seven numbered intersection signs left to finish, plus the two post I haven’t been able to put in yet, so after that, it’s all gravy, first with the arrow signs and finally with just the guide posts. I’ll get James all the shape files he needs before then so he can work on the map, but all the posts should be out in the next couple of weeks. Then I can finally relax for awhile! I seem to be going in spurts these days, working like crazy part of the day, then sitting around doing nothing the rest of the day. I guess it’s like hibernation up north in the winter, except it’s too hot to be comfortable unless I’m doing something. As hot as it was today, mid-90’s with high humidity, it still didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would. Anyway, I took my shower, had my dinner, settled down, now I’m ready for bed! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Had an absolutely terrible night sleep last night! Despite doing everything I could, I didn’t finally get to sleep until almost 4:30, so when I finally woke up at 7:30, I was exhausted! My back hurts for some reason, and I ended up taking a second helping of ibuprofen, and that’s what I think finally kicked it off. I was determined to get some posts painted today, though it was a real exercise in self-determination! The day started out cloudy, so comfortable, and there was rain in the forecast for the afternoon, which unfortunately never materialize, so it was hot and humid, but once I got going, I kept pushing myself until I got twelve more posts done. Had to backtrack around a water crossing once, so the traveling-by-tractor took a little longer, and I worked from before 10 until 4:00, so a full day. Once I sat down, though, that was it! I struggled to take my shower, took some more ibuprofen, then settled down to the final of the Great British Baking Show, then a movie. Now I’m having a double strength Sleepttime tea, and will be off to bed VERY SOON, very early, because I have another full day scheduled for tomorrow. Getting closer! I figure two more days to get all the intersection posts completely painted, then I’m going to finish my arrow posts here in camp so all I have to do is plant them, which will be a lot easier, I think. I’ll put out as many as I can, though some areas will still be too wet. We did have a good rain yesterday, but nothing here today, so I should be good for the south end tomorrow. Headed to bed right after my Spanish lesson. Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Slept late this morning after taking hours to get to sleep last night for some reason, did my chores and fed Lola, then headed over to the local country club for lunch with two of my brothers and my sister-in-law, then a quick trip over to Glenn’s house for instructions on taking care of his pool and his lawn, something I agreed to do when they head back to Texas next week. Got back to camp, and continued my day off, which was my plan for today, binge-watching nearly an entire season of the Great British Baking Show (okay, I’m hooked!), except for the finale, when I just ran out of time. Did a load of laundry, but that was the extent of my energy today, as I’m planning on a busy week next week getting back out into the field and doing more post painting, in weather that looks extremely hot and humid, so I need to start as early as possible. So good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Didn’t have a very good night sleep, and still got up fairly early. After breakfast and chores, I decided I needed to stay in camp because there was a Celebration of Life for someone who apparently rode these trails when it was still a cattle ranch, and I wanted to be nearby in case anybody needed anything. So I decided to make it a painting day, when I painted a bunch of posts that won’t actually have intersection numbers on them, but that I’ve decided need to be installed to help keep people on the right track. That kept me busy for most of the morning. Then I had a fairly quiet afternoon and evening reading and binge-watching my latest obsession, The Great British Baking Show. Just finished off a season, now I’m ready for shower and bed, so good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
What a day of ups and downs! Arrived at the car rental place around 9:30, got checked out, then had a pleasant drive out to the truck repair place, where I wrote one of the biggest checks I’ve ever had to write in my life, much less for a vehicle repair. Good news, the truck is running fine, hope that lasts! I still had the old oil from my tractor hydraulic oil change in the back of the truck, and today is the only day in a month they take hazardous wastes at a drop off point in Indiantown, so I stopped and dumped that. I was hoping to bring back some of the old gasoline from the Buick later today, but they don’t take gas on the truck, that I have to haul to their main site in Port St. Lucie, unfortunately. Got back to camp, first thing I did was hook up the trailer and move it forward a foot or so, just enough to get the tires about a quarter of the way around, so they don’t develop a flat spot from sitting so long. Then I dropped the bush hog off the tractor and tried to put the auger on but couldn’t manage it. James came by later and put it on for me while I was running back into Indiantown again to pick up a package that had just arrived, with a siphon I was hoping to use to get the gas out of the Buick. What a disaster that turned out to be! The guy at the parts store had told me about this “magic” siphon, where you put your thumb on one end and shake it, and it draws the fuel up and out until the siphon effect takes over. Well, I bought one, and quickly discover that he had it backward, the copper end has to go in the tank and get pulled up and down. Well the minute I did that the dang thing got stuck, and when I tried to pull it out again, the whole copper fitting came off and fell into my tank! I have no idea how I’m going to get it out of there now! Total waste! So then I decided to try to loosen up one of the fuel lines so I could maybe put the power on and have the fuel pump push the fuel out so I could capture it, and when I tried to do that, I think I’ve completely bent one of the components that looks like a bolt, but evidently isn’t, because now it seems to be out of round and I can’t even put it back together again. Making things worse! Now I don’t know what I’m going to do. Grrr! Rough day all around. There’s a big equestrian event here tomorrow, so I’ll probably stick around camp, or maybe take a ride, or maybe I’ll try to drain the tank at the fuel filter, which needs replacing anyway, though I was hoping to run some fresh gas through the system before I changed it. All moot until I fix the fuel rail. Anyway, settled down for the evening, though I’m not feeling very relaxed after today! Heading to bed soon, so good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Not the best night sleep, and after chores and breakfast, I ran into town to pick up some things, not the least of which was the parts for the Buick. Once I got back to camp I started putting the ignition coil and the ignition module together, and just as I was putting it back on the car it started to rain, so I had to quit for awhile. I worked on a few things inside, then when the rain stopped I went back out and finished the job, including new spark plug wires. Unfortunately, even after all that, the car wouldn’t start. More convinced than ever that it is, in fact, bad gas. Jeff said it would smell like varnish if it’s gone bad, and that’s what it seems to smell like now, so I’ll have to drain the gas and put fresh gas in. Apparently this ethanol gas only lasts a few months, much less two years, something I will take into consideration when I park the car next year, assuming I can even get it running this year. Anyway, that was disappointing. Good news is, my truck is fixed, bad news is the cost. Everything I made in Vegas last month, which was supposed to supplement my income for 6-8 months, is all going into this truck repair. Good thing I have another job scheduled in October, or I’d really be in a mess! Even if I get the Buick running, I”m going to need to put some tires on it, more expense! Grrr! Well, anyway, at least I’ll have a working truck, hopefully, for a long, long time! I also did a repair on the tractor, I had noticed there were two bolts missing on the front end loader, so I picked up a couple of bolts and installed those today. Also made Lola some satin balls and me some homemade hummus, so I did a lot of puttering today. I was planning on going out and painting some more markers tomorrow, but now I have to go pick up my truck. I’ve arranged for someone from the shop to pick me up from the car rental place, so at least I won’t have to bug my brothers about it. Anyway, it’s been a long, busy day. Good night, honey! Love you!