Hi Sweetie!
So glad the nights are getting a little cooler, I’m sleeping like a baby these days! Been waking up with the sun, too, so I’m getting in full days. Today, the new power point for me was done, yay! When I was heading out to feed the horses I stopped and chatted for a few minutes with the electrician, and we were able to determine that he could put the post in so that I would only need a 25 foot extension cord. Dang things are so expensive now, $125+, but at least it’s coming Prime and I’ll have it tomorrow! Of course, that’s for 50 amp, and that’s a heavy cord. Doesn’t seem to be any way around it, though this may be the only place I’ll ever use it. Glad it didn’t have to be any longer! After breakfast, I saddled up Flash and we headed out for a conditioning ride, as well as to see the state of the trails, and not surprisingly, it’s pretty darn wet out there! The last stretch on the red/pink was the worst, and Flash knew he was heading for home and wanted to go faster, so I was pretty well soaked from the knees down by the time we got back. Only did about 7.5 miles, but we were pretty speedy, lots of cantering and largo-ing, so we weren’t out that long. Missed James though, he came by to check out the electrical work, and apparently the head honcho Dan stopped by to visit as well, but I missed them both! A nice ride, though. Had so spend some time picking burrs out of my lambs wool saddle cover, I’ll need to wash it, too, before the cattle drive. I washed my saddle bags yesterday, too. I’m starting to get some things ready so it won’t all just jump out at me at once. After all that, I headed over to Glenn’s again, once again his pool is having problems, it just doesn’t want to work right! I had to clean the big filter again, which is a pain in the neck because I can barely get the lid off and on, but after I did, and I cleaned everything else up, I was thrilled that I finally got all three green lights on his chlorinator pump! Whoo hoo! First time I’ve ever seen all three on, which means I, for once, got the chemicals right. But I’ve checked with test strips and it’s STILL reading low chlorine, but everything else was good for a change. The Buick is still chugging along, but it seems to be getting better. I’m a little worried about one thing though, and I’m afraid it might be the transmission, but I’m not going to panic until after I’ve expended this whole tank of gas. If it’s not cleared up by then, I’m going to have to do something. Anyway, got back to camp, put the horses away (I had put them in a couple of paddocks with fresh grass) and settled down for the evening. Ready for shower and bed! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!
Sunday, November 13, 2022 – Most of the Day at Glenn’s
Hiya Darlin’!
So yesterday, another explicable thing happened. Remember a few days ago, when the tractor lug was in my pocket and I couldn’t find it for hours, then suddenly it just reappeared? Well, the same thing happened yesterday with my credit card. A few weeks ago, I had used it at a gas station, and thought I had put it in the pocket of my jeans, but when I went to look for it, I couldn’t find it there, or anywhere else. I searched the truck, the trailer, everywhere I could think of, and didn’t find it. I already had a spare so I activated that, figuring eventually the other one would turn up, though I don’t know how. Then yesterday, while I was grooming Apollo, it suddenly appeared on the ground right in front of me. I have no clue. I wasn’t wearing the same jeans, of anything other of the same clothing, and unless it was tangled in Apollo’s mane, which is impossible, I have no clue how it appeared on the ground beneath me. I must be going crazy! Those dang gremlins! Well, that was yesterday. Today was a busy day. After chores and breakfast I headed into town, stopped at the IGA for four gallons of bleach, then headed to brother Glenn’s. First, I had to deal with his pool, a breaker on his pump had snapped, and I had to go through the process of cleaning and starting it up again, but it’s a real mess. I’m convinced his salt water chlorinator isn’t working right, but I’m no expert. I put in two gallons of bleach and some muriatic acid and got it started, then I tried to sharpen the blades on his mower with a hand sharpener, which helped a little, but not as much as I was hoping, mowed the lawn, stopping several times to check on the pool and had to clean out the filters on a couple of occasions. It hasn’t been getting the full flow for the last week, but I managed to get it again by cleaning his big filter and all the little filters, again. Everything was in slow motion today. Sharpened the mower blades again afterward, hoping next time it will cut better. Finally set the pool to run continuously for the next few days, hoping that will finally make some headway on clarifying the pool. Good news is, I drove the Buick all the way here and back! Still bucking quite a bit, hoping it’s just the premium fuel and fuel injection cleaner working it’s way through the system, and nothing anything else more serious, like the transmission or something. Anyway, I made it, and it seems to be improving, albeit marginally, and I’m hoping it will eventually clear itself out. Didn’t get back to camp until nearly 5:00, so not much rest today! Finally settled down for the evening, managed to finish one load of laundry. Had a few rain showers, so things have cooled down nicely. Looking forward to my shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!
Saturday, November 12, 2022 – Another Busy Day
Hey Babe!
Another good night sleep, and up again at sunrise, these new standard daylight hours are working just fine for me now. Did chores, and started the Buick and let it run the whole time, just to see if it would stay running (and it did!) had breakfast, finished reading a book, then brought out Apollo. It’s been way too long since I’ve ridden him, and even though I should be conditioning Flash, I just couldn’t ignore Apollo any more! I gave him a good grooming, which took a while, his mane was a real mess with lots of tangles, and did his tail as well. He looked gorgeous by the time I got done, though he’s got sections of his face where he has no hair, and his forelock is really thin and short these days. Male pattern baldness, maybe? Trimmed his feet, and started to get worried about one rear foot that seemed to be getting misshapen, his frog drying out and his foot getting more oval than round, and that had me paying closer attention, but once I had him saddled and on the trail, he didn’t seem to be limping or have any other indication that he had a problem, other than the fact that he’s so slow these days. We jogged for quick a bit, too, and that didn’t seem to bother him, and at the end of the ride, his frog actually looked better, so maybe it’s not as bad as I thought. Since it’s general gun season for the hunters, I stayed on the green trail, doing the loop to the road, then taking the road up to the loop back again, in order to shorten the ride and avoid the really wet spots. I could tell it was going to be wet when even the drier spots were wet, not surprising after the storm that came through earlier this week. Once we got back and I rinsed him off, gave his sheath a good cleaning (and amazingly, he had no objection!), then I put him in one of the paddocks in front of the barn, since the mowers haven’t been here for over three weeks and the grass looks really succulent, and put Flash in a paddock next to him, and they munched out for the rest of the day. Then I set fire to the three piles of hurricane clean up that I had before coming back to the trailer. I did some sewing repair on my saddle bags, which I needed to get ready for the cattle drive, and left them soaking in soapy water overnight so I can get them nice and clean. So a busy day, got a lot done, and still managed to enjoy a ride! Finally went out to put the horses away, ran the Buick again for a bit, and eventually settled down for the evening. Another busy, productive day! Good night, sweetie! Love you!
Friday, November 11, 2022 – Long, Busy Veteran’s Day
Hiya Sweetie!
What a busy day! Was up at the crack of dawn raring to go, since I’ve done almost nothing for the past two days, so right after chores and breakfast I headed over to the tractor, which I’m now parking in the alcove of Barn One, took off the auger, since I’ve put all the posts out I can until it gets REALLY dry out there, then started picking up all the palm fronds that came down with this last storm, which wasn’t even a tiny fraction of what came down with the LAST storm, thank goodness! Still, it took me most of the day to do all the paddocks and the equestrian half of the camping area (my side, as it were), and other than a quick break for a yogurt, I was at it from about 8:15 to about 3:00. Thought the mowers might be coming today so I wanted to make sure it was done, but they never showed. Going on three weeks now, don’t know what’s up with that! I was going to try to take the Buick over to Glenn’s, I needed to check his pool, and even though it started fine, it was running so rough I decided not to chance it, so I ended up taking the truck over. He’s really got a problem with his pool, it’s just not working the way it’s supposed to. It’s turned out to be a lot more work than I bargained for, I’m only supposed to have to put in a bag or two of salt occasionally and it’s supposed to make it’s own chlorine, but I can’t get the chlorine level up no matter what I do, even added four gallons of chlorine in the last ten days and it’s still not showing up on the test strip. Pump isn’t working right, his navigator that cleans the bottom and sides isn’t getting enough flow to work, and the guy who installed it won’t work with Glenn anymore, so it’s a mess, pool keeps turning green, and I’m having to brush the sides every time I go over. Of course, there was a lot of leaves in it after the storm, so I had to clean those out, too. A lot more work than I was told it would be! I need a raise! Anyway, it was 5:00 when I got back, and just for fun, I tried to start the Buick again, and this time it sounded a lot better. At least I was able to put it in gear without it stalling, and managed to put it back in the barn. I think I just need to keep running it every day until the new gas flushes out the system well enough to run smoothly all the time. I sure don’t want to be on the road when it sputters and dies like it has been doing! Exhausted from all the activity, settled down for the evening, and I’m planning on getting to bed really early again. No plans for tomorrow, though I’m considering taking Apollo for a ride, he hasn’t been out in a long time, getting out of shape, though I should take Flash to keep conditioning him for the upcoming cattle drive. Decisions, decisions! Wish I had someone who could ride Apollo and come with me at the same time, that would work so much better! Maybe someone will show up and help me decide. Anyway, just need to do a Spanish lesson, take a shower, then I’m off to bed! Saw a rainbow in town today, then a beautiful sunset as the clouds in the east turned to fire as the sun went down in the west. A fulfilling day! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!
Thursday, November 10, 2022 – Out With A Whimper
Hey Darlin’,
Well, like in so many other instances, the hype didn’t live up to the reality. I was in bed around 9:00, read for awhile, put my earplugs in and slept almost straight through to the morning. Even when the wind shifted from the south, the gust were insignificant. I couldn’t tell if I was getting hit by a gust of wind or Lola was just scratching her ear, it was that much of a nothing. Wonderful to have such a good, long night sleep, though, felt very refreshed in the morning. It was still a bit blustery and rainy throughout the day until late afternoon, when rainbows came out and it was all over but a few sprinkles. Even got my solar panel out before the afternoon was done, and absorbed some rays. Spent most of the day catching up on bookkeeping, hadn’t realized just how long it had been since I had done it last. Ordered a couple of things from Amazon, too, like another new air compressor (which I’ll probably not even try on my trailer tires, just too unrealistic), and a solar charger/battery pack for my phone so I’ll be able to keep my phone charged during the cattle drive and whatever other trips I might take. Did a walk around and found no damage, just some palm fronds down, and nowhere near as much as the last storm, shouldn’t take too long to clean up. Management reopened the properties at 5:00 today, though I didn’t find out about it until later, as James was a little late sharing that information, not that it mattered. Settled down for the evening, ready for my shower and bed. Good night, babe! Love you!
Wednesday, November 9, 2022 – So Far, More Much Ado About Nothing than the Tempest
Hey Babe,
Not a bad night sleep, pretty quiet, but woke up a few times during the night, and early in the morning. Did my chores and than ran around on the tractor closing the paddock gates so they wouldn’t swing around in the wind. And actually, it wasn’t that windy, not as much as I expected. We did have some occasional bouts of rain, but not really very much, considering. The storm has just barely topped hurricane status, and is supposed to hit near Ft. Pierce, so just a tad north of us, so I don’t really expect much except more rain and maybe a little wind. I’m so protected by this big bush next to me, and the fact that I’m a little downhill from the prevailing wind, I seriously haven’t felt any wind at all! I even have my auwning out a little bit to keep my steps dry, but I may bring that it before I go to bed, just to be on the safe side. But really, my Frog Weather on my phone is indicating the worst of the wind has passed, though the brunt of the storm hasn’t really hit shore yet. In any event, I don’t feel the least bit threatened here, so I’m heading to bed nice and early to read. It was a very restful day, all I did was read, then did a marathon of the Oceans movies (Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen), watched a Hart to Hart, ate too much, just a nice lazy day, but I am feeling tired still from all the physical stuff the last two days, so I’ll probably have a lazy day tomorrow as the storm clears out. Heading off to shower and get to bed, so good night, sweetie! Love you!
Monday, November 7, 2022 – Got A Lot of Posts Out
Hey Darlin’,
Got up bright and early this morning, was heading out of camp at about 830, but had to turn back when I noticed m tractor was overheating again. Spent a few minutes flushing out the radiator until it got nice and low, then headed out again, just before 9:00. I managed to put 20+ posts out today. I’ve been waiting for months for it to be dry enough to get them out, and it’s only just happened, but there’s another storm brewing, really late in the year for this, so I just couldn’t afford to delay it any longer. Once this storm hits, it will be another couple of weeks or more before I can get back there, so I piled posts higher than ever on my tractor and got busy! Managed to almost finish the red trail, got a lot of the white trail done, and just about got lost on the red/white section of trail, the grass is so high it’s unrecognizable, but I finally managed after a bit. Took two trips, all day, got back to camp after 4:00, pretty exhausted! Grilled a steak, started to watch a movie but fell asleep so the last half hour will have to wait. Heading for shower and bed, so tired! There’s talk we may have to leave camp again because of this storm, so tomorrow will be voting, checking on Glenn’s house, and putting stuff away for when the storm hits, which is still a wide cone that may or may not come anywhere near us. Typical Florida, just not so typical this late in the year! Anyway, good night, babe! Love you!
Sunday, November 6, 2022 – Mostly A Rest Day
Hey Babe,
Woke up with the dawn again, regardless of the clocks turning back, but stayed in bed and fell back asleep again anyway. Did my chores, a couple of loads of laundry, the tiniest bit of housework, finished a book, and really had to twist my own arm to not find other things to do, like wash my vehicles. I really needed the rest, though, my body is aching all over! There’s another tropical storm possibly heading our way, so tomorrow will be my only chance to get some more posts out before we get flooded again, so I’m going to try to get a bunch in tomorrow, so I figured I needed to my rest today. Nice day of reading and binge TV. Ready for shower and bed now, though! Good night, my sweet! Love you!
Saturday, November 5, 2022 – Long Recon Ride on Flash
Hiya Sweetie,
A long, tiring, but nice day today. After breakfast and chores, I saddled up Flash, and was just about ready when I got a call from Petra that she and John were here and wanted to ride with me. I saw their permit, but thought it was tomorrow, but it didn’t matter, as I was just about to leave anyway, so I waited for them. John is in the doghouse with me, he wrote an article in the local paper and made is sound like the horse club he belonged to was responsible for putting in the whole trail marking system out here, which really hurt, since his club has done practically ZERO and had no right to even claim ANY credit, much less credit for the whole thing. It really upset me when I first heard about it, and I’m not over it yet. It’s not that I want that much credit, it just bothers me that someone ELSE tries to steal the credit. Anyway, water under the bridge for now. So the three of us headed out about 10:30, they on long-legged gaiters and me on my Paso Fino Flash. It started raining just as we left, and when I looked back, I saw a beautiful rainbow again. Seems we’re getting a lot of sun showers and rainbows lately! They all did fine together until John decided he wanted to take the road instead of the trail, then they took off at high speed, and Flash, competitor that he is, took off after them. He went into a full-on mad gallop trying to keep up, and I was hanging on for dear life, praying he didn’t stumble or shy sideways. We went quite a ways before we finally slowed down again, much to my relief! Getting too old to fall off these days, especially on a gravel road! We stayed together for the first few miles, then I veered off because I wanted to finally put the crosspiece on the farthest post on the west side, Interesection 49, glad to get that job done! I met up with them again a bit later, but they turned back toward camp when I still had a lot of trails I wanted to reconnoiter. There are still two water crossings that are high, though I could probably make one of them, and the stretch along the powerline on the green trail is still a bit iffy, but there are several areas now that I think I can reach, so maybe on Monday I’ll take some out there. General gun hunting season started today, and I heard a few shots but never saw anyone. Got back to camp, walked around paddocks with Petra looking at rosary pea, then finally finished up for the day, as it was well after 3:00 when I got back to camp, and an hour later by the time I got Flash washed up and put away. Chilled out for a bit, had Mary, Chrissie’s friend, stop by and chat for awhile, then relaxed the rest of the night. I’m going to enjoy having an extra hour of sleep tonight, as the clocks are “falling back”, but the shorter days will mean getting up earlier, which I don’t think will be a problem, since I still have work calling my name. Can’t wait to get this job done so I can start enjoying myself instead of working all the time! Can’t complain, though, I asked for it! Anyway, time for shower and bed. Good night, my darlin’! Love you!
Friday, November 4, 2022 – Fairly Quiet Day
Hey Darlin’,
A good night sleep, got my chores and breakfast done, then made arrangements to move my bush hog over to the barn and out of the carport so it’s out of the way. Did some research as to how (and whether) to sharpen my bush hog blades, as well as some maintenance that should be done regularly (which I’ve never done, so I guess that’s on my list of things to do now!). It wasn’t much, but by the time I was finished, I was feeling tired for some reason. Did some reading but kept falling asleep in my chair until I finally decided to go back up into bad, where I kept nodding off for several hours. Finally got up again, but didn’t do much else for the rest of the day. Guess I finally tuckered out after all the physical labor I did this week! Already ready to finish my Spanish lesson, take my shower and go to bed, and it’s barely 8:30! May take a ride tomorrow, though it is the first general gun hunting season out here, which always make me a bit nervous, but I really need to condition Flash for the cattle drive, so I may go anyway. Need to wash my vehicles, too, but just didn’t have the energy today. As early as it is, I’m heading to shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!















