Hey Babe,
Started working on the truck myself this morning while I waited for Jeff, cut a new hose and started to put it on, had trouble working around a big pipe so I took that off. He got there fairly early and we got busy, it went a bit easier this morning, but unfortunately, even with the new part in, the truck behaved exactly the same way as before, so this was obviously not the problem, darn it. I hate changing out parts just to try to find a solution, then discovering it didn’t help! Guess my only option now is to find a good mobile mechanic, if there is one around here. Decided to go back to Jeff’s to see if we can get the Buick going, or at worst, borrow his old Bronco, which it really the most reliable vehicle either. We had to charge the battery up for a couple of hours, be we did manage to get it started using my little jump starter, though we had to get some charge in it before that would work. Put air in the tires, and Jeff tried to put some refrigerant in the AC system, but even though the compressor was working when I first started it up, it quit for some reason, so I guess I’ll just be driving with the windows down for awhile, though I’ll take a look and see if I can find any other problems. The compressor is probably okay, it’s just not getting power to it, so maybe an electrical issue. It still has that whine that it had when I parked it two years ago, but it seemed to be running okay. Then I headed home, and just before I got to Pratt Whitney Rd., there was a pop, then a rattle that sounded like a tool dropping through the engine, and a cloud of smoke from the exhaust and it quit. I pulled over, and it jump started right up again, thankfully. It got me as far as about 100 yards from the entrance to the camp when it quit again, and I had just enough momentum to pull up to the gate, thank goodness! This time it wouldn’t jump start, so I opened the gate and pushed it through, closed the gate, and tried to jump start it again, this time it started right up again. Got it to the end of my driveway and put the charger on it. So now I have two dead vehicles in my driveway! Well, not dead, just not reliable. I’m going to take the Buick into the service center in town, because I want to have the check the tires and the front end, it has a pretty bad shimmy that I want checked. I’ll ask them about the whine, and have them give it a good going over. If I can get it serviceable, it will make a great runaround car, with great mileage and cheaper gas, not to mention, a lot more fun to drive! Did my rounds and settled down for the evening, ready for my shower to get rid of the smell of grease and diesel, and a good night sleep! Love you, sweetie! Good night!

Hi Sweetie,
Spent the morning cutting and painting a couple of new crosspieces as well as making a couple of changes on two more, which didn’t take me long. Jeff was supposed to get here around 11:00 or so, then got a late start (big surprise there!), then got waylaid by brother Glenn who needed him to come over and work on his air conditioning system, so it was after 4:00 by the time he got here. Naturally, it didn’t turn out to be as easy as he thought it would be, and it was getting dark and the mosquitoes were out and we had only managed to get the old fuel filter housing off, with little headway of getting the new one on, mostly because of a misunderstanding about which fuel lines went where. We called it a night, with plans to pick up again tomorrow. Settled down for the evening, desperate for a shower and bed! Good night, my darling! Love you!

Hey Darlin’!
Got up bright and early, reviewed the procedure for replacing the fuel filter housing on the truck, then after feeding the horses, went about the business of trying to take that part off. Sorry to say, I was unsuccessful. Didn’t have the right tools, the strength, of the patience for it, I’m afraid. The part itself is only held on by two bolts, but I just couldn’t reach it with the tools I have, and even when I did, I couldn’t break them loose. I managed to get off one of the fuel lines and moved a couple of things out of the way thinking that would help (it didn’t), and finally I decided I just needed to have it towed to the shop and let the professionals do it. Well, that didn’t work out either, turns out neither of the two shops in town will work on a diesel. Go figure. So then I asked about a mobile mechanic and got a name, but didn’t really want to go to a complete stranger, so I ended up calling brother Jeff to see if he had time to come over this weekend and help me with it, and he agreed, thank goodness. Meanwhile, I all but finished painting all the numbers on the crosspieces for the trail markers, and did an inventory to see what I had left to do. I have two boards I need to fix where I made a mistake or forgot to put on a trail stripe, and one board I need to cut that I somehow miscounted, but that won’t take me long. Then I’m going to do a touchup with white, because some of the boards stuck together when I stacked them and peeled a little when I separated them, so I just want to fix that. Then I’ll be ready to start taking them out and putting them up! The challenge is going to be putting in the intersection number and the other arrows in situ, so it will be slow going for awhile, but at least we’re making a lot of progress at last! Sister-in-law Dena was kind enough to offer to pick up some groceries for me, so she and Glenn stopped by to drop those off, along with the replacement fuel line for the repair. I had completely run out of dog food, and I needed a couple of things for me to last me through the weekend, hopefully I’ll be able to do a big shopping next week when my truck is running again, fingers crossed! Had three more groups of campers come in, so a busy weekend in store. “Old” James came by with my package with the new part, I was sure the office was closed but apparently he was there and kindly brought it over to me. Finally settled down, had a quiet evening, soon to shower and bed. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe!
Had a good night sleep and another busy day! I finished off stenciling the rest of the boards that are ready, and started painting the numbers and arrows on them. This is my least favorite part of the job, mainly because I’ve just never been good at art! I’m good at many creative things, but painting with a little art brush isn’t one of them. I managed to get about 20 boards done, so I still have a long way to go. Went practically nonstop from 8:30 to 3:30, then I just had to quit, it’s such tedious work. I collected some more palm fronds and put them on the remains of yesterday’s fire, and it smoked for a long time before finally catching, but I got rid of some more of the stuff that’s laying around. Finally settled down for the evening, just drinking my Sleepytime tea, then I’ll shower and get to bed early, I have another long day tomorrow! The part for the truck is due to be delivered, and sis-in-law Dena is bringing me some groceries, mostly for Lola, and hopefully some fuel line from NAPA for my truck as well, and they’re coming early. So I’ll say good night, my sweet! Love you!

Hi Sweetheart!
Had a full day of painting today, as I started to put the color stripes on each sign, as well as some of the numbers and fine print. I got so involved I barely had a short break midday and worked straight through until 4:00, when I thought it was about to storm, but never really did. Still have a bunch more to do tomorrow, and I also hope I’ll have time to take the fuel filter housing off the truck, though if I do that on Thursday morning before my part comes, that should be okay, too. Finally settled down for dinner and a quiet evening, though I also spent a few minutes burning some windrow that been lying around. I’m trying to do that periodically so it doesn’t pile up too much. Once of these days I’ll tackle the big pile behind the dumpsters, no sense letting it just rot there, it looks rather untidy, and isn’t likely to get used by campers any time soon. Anyway, I won’t be long out of bed tonight! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Got to bed late but had a good night sleep, lots of energy this morning. James came by and met a vendor regarding water and sewer for the new host site they’re putting in for me, then I got busy and cut all the boards I’m going to need for the cross pieces of the trail markers. After measuring and looking at how they are going to appear on the post, I figured out that I could have gotten away with a lot less lumber than I ordered (and painted, unfortunately, or else I could have taken some of it back), but that’s okay, I’ll just put out more arrows and have plenty set aside for future repairs. Once they were cut I painted the edges, first coat in the morning, second in the afternoon, which has become my habit the last few days of painting. Tomorrow it get serious, putting numbers and arrows them. Once that’s done, I can start going back out and screwing them onto the posts, plus painting the intersection number on the posts, which needs to be done in situ. We’re on the home stretch! At least, for the posts we can reach, the southern swamp area will have to wait awhile, though at least I’ll be able to finish them here, then all I have to do is make a hole and put the completed posts in, which will be easier, though more difficult to carry out there. Maybe by then I’ll have a UTV, or someone who can take me out there. Did some housekeeping, a few finicky jobs like cleaning the little fan in the bedroom and bleaching my dish rack, then settled down for the rest of a quiet afternoon, working on the videos from last week’s workshop. Soon will be time for shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
A good night sleep, woke up early, read for a bit, then got up and did my chores, and put the first coat of paint on the last edge of the boards before breakfast. Jeff was supposed to come over early, but got waylaid by brother Glenn to do something with his air conditioning on the new house, finally got here around 4:00. By that time I had already done the second coat of paint on my boards! Turned out he didn’t have the right fitting to check the fuel system, so we both took another good look at everything and couldn’t find a leak, but we agreed the best course of action was to go ahead and order the fuel filter housing, which seems to be the part most likely to be failing. It is clear that there is some air getting into the system, but I’m not sure it’s enough to account for the problem, but we have to start somewhere! If this doesn’t fix it, I’ll have to get it towed to a shop anyway, because it seems that the next most likely candidates are much too complicated for me to do. Other than painting, pretty much just hung out today, finished a book, binge-watched a PBS Mystery series, and, as always, time for shower and bed! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Slept a little better, woke up early, did my morning chores, then painted the edges of the boards I’m working on, and took out the fuel filter again on my truck trying to see if there was anything I might have done wrong last time, but everything seemed to be in place, no change though. It just cranks and won’t start. Actually did that twice, but no effect. Did some research on the internet and it could be any number of things, most of which I don’t have the tools to test, so Jeff is coming over tomorrow to help. Wasn’t much else I could do with it. If we can’t figure it out tomorrow, I’ll just have to call the local mechanic and have it towed in to be repaired. Figures, I get a job and put a little money aside, so of course I need to have a big mechanic’s bill to pay for! No worries though, it’s still a lot less than a car payment! Was filthy dirty from working with all that fuel, so I took my shower before dinner, did a load of laundry to get rid of the smell, and settled down for the evening. Sleepytime tea, then bed! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
Not a very good night sleep again despite my Sleepytime tea last night, but was up with the alarm early because James was coming over to meet some vendors. He actually got here 45 minutes before I was expecting him, hadn’t had breakfast yet, and I was hoping to be painting the other side of the boards by the time he got here, but that didn’t exactly work out. His first guy was here to give an estimate for the electrical for the new guest host spot, once he left I did my painting while James made some phone calls. The second guy was here for the old well, discovered it needed a new pump, not just a few filter things, so it will be awhile before that can get approved. Then I asked James about oil recycling, if they had a tub at the shop, and he thought they did, so we started to go over there to dump all my old hydraulic oil, but then I had trouble starting the truck. I figured it was the same old bleeder screw on the fuel filter (I was just pricing them yesterday!), and when I tried to fix it, I ended up breaking the darn thing off! Why they have a plastic screw in a metal housing is beyond me! So James drove me into town and I bought a new one, they only had plastic, yuck, and I came back and installed it, and just managed to get the truck started. I bled some fuel out and it seemed fine, but then when I pulled onto the road it almost stalled on me. I figured it was an air pocket that I missed, and it finally kicked in again. I managed to make it all the way to the shop, but then it stalled out on me and I couldn’t start it again. James brought me back to camp, and I was hoping to figure out a way to take my tractor down there and tow it back, but when I asked the other “old” James for the combination to the back gate, he offered to come to my rescue. He picked me up a few minutes later and we managed to tow it back in no time, it was a much better solution. But now I have my work cut out for me tomorrow! I finished putting on the second coat of paint on the boards, all I have now are the edges to do. I’m hoping the fuel problem is a simple one, maybe a piece of plastic got stuck inside or the filter needs fixing or something, I’ll try to diagnose it tomorrow. Finally settled down for the evening, soon for my shower and bed, did manage to get a load of laundry done today as well, so fresh sheets for me! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Had a much better night sleep last night, must be the Sleepytime tea I had! Gotta get back into that habit, it worked great for me all last week in Vegas, just have to keep it up. Hard to drink hot tea this time of year, but I just crank down the AC and enjoy! Fed the horses, then immediately started painting all the boards I picked up yesterday at the lumber store. This new paint is as thick as toothpaste, but I still needed to do two coats today, since the wood is bare. It’s going to take me a couple of days to get them all painted, though I asked James to bring his circular saw tomorrow so we can cut them. I’m hoping he’ll just leave it with me so I can do it in my own time. I spent some time reviewing all my post configurations to make sure they’re all right, so I’ll be ready to start painting numbers and arrows on them as soon as they’re cut and dried. Spent the rest of the day just hanging around waiting for the paint to dry, not too exciting. I did check on the fuel filter bleed screw on the truck, and sure enough, the threads are all completely worn off, so I’ll have to get a new one. I can order an aluminum one, but NAPA in town has the nylon ones, so I may just go for that, just for convenience. So a quiet, early evening tonight! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!