Hi Sweetie,
Had a late morning drive down to Coral Springs for my doctor’s appointment at 11:45, only to sit around for more than an hour before they called me in. I don’t know why they were so late, all they said was “scheduling problems,” but it would have been nice if someone had come out and told me there was a delay. The receptionist said they were at lunch, but the nurse said they always work through lunch, so I don’t know. Anyway, the surgeon explained everything they wanted to do to me, and I left with a whole list of more appointments I have to do before the surgery in a few weeks. They need a pre-op exam with my GP, another pre-op exam with the surgeon a week in advance, and a Covid text. I had to change my appointment for my shoulder because it conflicted with one of those. Once I got back home (thankfully, it was an uneventful drive on the turnpike thanks to the Sunpass), I spent a bunch of time organizing all these appointments. They’re saying I’ll need two weeks essentially off my feet after the surgery, then physical therapy for 2-4 months before I MIGHT be able to resume my usual activity. Flash will be NUTS by the time I get back on him if it takes that long! I’m not thrilled at the delayed departure, starting to look like late March or April before I’ll be able to get out of Florida. Fortunately, the last couple of appointments can be done virtually, so that should help. Don’t have any idea what will happen after I see the shoulder doctor, though, but I’m determined to get this all done asap. I’ve had these aches too long, I need to clear the way for normal aging aches, which haven’t really started yet! Finally got that all done on the computer, and settled down for a quiet evening. Now I’m off, as usual! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Had another great night sleep, though having gone to bed so early, I woke up shortly after 6:00. I read a little, but then decided to get up in time to watch the sun rise at 7:12, so after reading a bit, I got dressed and went downstairs. Don was up, but Toni hadn’t come down yet, and Lola wasn’t ready to come down either, would you believe! She was still curled up in her bed, snug as a bug in a rug. I left the door open so she could come down when she wanted. I watched the sunrise, then had breakfast with Toni after a bit, then Lola finally wandered downstairs and I fed her. Eventually we went outside for a bit, I took her down to the beach, where Miles, one of the authors who had been here for cocktails yesterday, was walking his dog Rusty on the beach, so we chatted and played with the dogs for a bit. Toni and Don had an appointment around 11:30 to get their Covid vaccines, so I finished packing up, got everything out to the truck where we said our good-byes, and they headed off, just as I got a phone call from the orthopedic doctor’s office in WPB. It seems he would rather not send me to the conveniently-located guy in Hobe Sound, because his specialty is knee replacement, which is not the surgery I need, so he would prefer I go to the guy in Coral Springs. We managed to set an appointment for tomorrow, which is good that it’s sooner, I’m just not looking forward to the long drive, especially with traffic. Fortunately, it’s not far off the turnpike, so I’m going to get one of Jeff’s Sun pass boxes so I can whip through the toll booths. I had an uneventful drive home, with a stop for fuel so I’d have enough for tomorrow’s trip, and one at Publix to pick up some things I had forgotten the other day. Was back in early afternoon, and I just hung out for the afternoon. Eventually Jeff came by, I guess he was working on the trailer in back, and we chatted. He managed to get his Bronco going, it had been blocking the driveway practically since I’ve been here, so we’ve all been having to drive across the lawn to get back here, but he was finally able to move it out of the way. We soon fed the horses, he found his spare Sun pass, and then I settled down for the night, doing several loads of laundry and just getting back into the routine once again. It was nice to break out of it, to be able to have some enlightening and intellectual discussions with friends for the weekend, and I’m hoping I’ll have a chance to go once more time before we both leave out of Florida, but we’ll see. I may just come up to their place in VA, too, who knows? Anyway, it’s getting close to bedtime, so I’ll say goodnight now that I’ve caught up on my letters. Love you, darlin’!

Hi Darlin’,
Had a fabulous night sleep, especially because I had put my earplugs in so I wouldn’t hear the traffic going by on A1A, and when I woke up, Lola was still curled up in her bed, looking like she never moved all night! After getting dressed we both headed downstairs and had a nice breakfast. Miraculously, there was a launch that had been scheduled at Cape Canaveral yesterday that was postponed until today, and for once, it actually went off on time! I’ve been so close to seeing a launch only to have it canceled so many times, I was thrilled to actually see one! Right on the deck, right at 10:00, the Falcon 9 rocket took off. Fabulous! Afterward, Toni and Lola and I took another walk on the beach, this time going north instead of south, and once again, Lola played with other dogs along the way, tried to make friends with everybody, fetched impressively as always, and generally had a great time. The water was a bit rougher, I was concerned about the undertow, so kept her out of it for the most part. We got back and had a nice lunch, then everyone read for a bit before a football game came on. The two games today were to decide who would go to the Super Bowl, but it’s the first football I’ve watched in a VERY long time, so it didn’t really matter to me, I didn’t know hardly any of the players. Toni had invited some friends over for cocktails, a couple that were both authors, one of historical fiction, another a business book, so we swapped stories of various strategies for publishing. She gave me copies of her two books, and I gave her one of my horse camping books, and we chatted for a bit. After they left, we had a nice chicken dinner, then settled down to watch the second game, which was Buffalo against the KC Chiefs. I had heard from Facebook posts that Buffalo was having a good year, but they were beaten up pretty well by the Chiefs, so didn’t make it to the Super Bowl. Toni and I both went to bed at the end of the third quarter, and I went looking for Lola, then discovered she had already sneaked upstairs when no one was looking and was curled up in her bed already. Good girl! I wasn’t long after her, and fell asleep pretty quick after that. Another lovely day with our friends! Wish you had been there, we all miss you! Love you, sweetie!

Hey Sweetie,
Headed out after breakfast on the drive to Melbourne Beach, really nice to get away and visit Don and Toni again. I’ve thought back many times to you 85th birthday when they met us down at the Downton Abbey exhibit in WPB and the lovely high tea over in Palm Beach that we had together. I haven’t seen them since then, but I invited myself over and they were happy to see us. I hadn’t realized that they never met Lola, every time we’ve met them we’ve left her behind, but Toni absolutely loved her, and even Don, who’s not much of a dog person, ended up admiring her excellent behavior. We took a nice long walk on the beach after lunch, and Lola just had the best time! There were quite a few other dogs on the beach as well, and she frisked around with them as well, which was so good to see considering she’s been a little reluctant to be nice to other do lately, after her incident up at Goethe. We walked quite a ways, though it was a bit challenging because they’re in the process of rehabilitating the beach, so there were massive trenches where the big machinery was going up and down carrying loads of sand. It was really nice, though. After a fine afternoon, we went down the road a bit to a New England restaurant and met up with a couple of their friends and had a very nice meal. I had the lobster salad, which was right in line with my diet (though the wine I drank at happy hour and with dinner was a bit more than usual), but a day or two of indulgence with friends won’t hurt! I ended up doing Snowy River for our table just before we said good night, and then I asked Don and Toni if they’d ever seen the movie. I remember you had done the poem last time we were at their house, and they hadn’t seen it yet, then, either, guess they forgot about it. You know how busy they always are, and nothing’s changed! But they suggested we watch it as soon as we got back, so we did. Prime had it, for a small fee, but it was great seeing it again, since it’s been awhile, and they really enjoyed watching it as well. That took us to almost 10:30, so we were off to bed right after that. I had put Lola in the truck while we were out to dinner because I didn’t know how she’d be in the house while we were gone, but I did bring in her bed from the truck and put it by the foot of the bed, and as soon as we headed upstairs, she settled right into it. Took my shower and got into their very comfortable guest bed, tried to read for a bit but promptly feel asleep. I guess we all got the exercise we needed today! Love you, Babe!

Hi Darlin’,
Spent part of the morning researching how to finish putting in my backup camera, and I figured out I needed a certain kind of connector that I decided to pick up at Home Depot on my way down to WPB, where I had my doctor’s appointment to review yesterday’s MRI. Seems my knee will probably need some kind of surgery, there’s a piece of bone and cartilage floating around and they need to reconnect it before it does more damage. Unfortunately, that hospital group’s knee doctors are either in Coral Springs, which is WAY too far to drive, or Stuart, which is better, but the doctor I’m supposed to go to isn’t set up with my insurance company (who the heck doesn’t accept Cigna, for heaven’s sake!), so I guess I’m going to have to go to someone else. They fixed me up with one doctor who does office visits in Hobe Sound, which is nice and close, so that’s better, but it’s going to be nearly two weeks before I can see him. I also tried to set up something with a shoulder guy, would really like to get all of these problems solved before I head out of here this year. It’s going to take some doing, though, because even though all these doctor’s are with Cleveland Clinic, their systems are connected so I have to start basically from scratch paperwork-wise. Oh well, such is life. Once I got back, I used the connectors to wire in my camera, and I managed to get power to it from the light on the roof of my truck, but for some reason the radio is still not getting the connection right, so I’ll have to look at it again at a later time. Tomorrow I’m driving up to Melbourne Beach to visit some friends I haven’t seen since we all spent your 85th birthday together, should be fun. Taking Lola with me so I’m hoping she’ll get some much needed exercise on the beach. Jeff had another late work day, guess he’s trying to finish the job off, so I did all the animals again, no problem. Settled down for a nice quiet evening, as usual. Time for shower and bed, now, though, so good night, babe. Love you!

Hey Babe,
A busy day today, beginning with finishing off my new radio install. Found that by switching one of the plugs from the amplified side to the non-amplified side, the speakers worked find, well, at least the right speaker, the left one still isn’t working any better than it did before. I went hunting for a short in the system, and I found one in the brake controller, which is good because it’s been giving me an error indicating a short, so hopefully that’s fixed now, but the rest of it is still a mystery. I didn’t have time to completely track it down, I’ll need a full day for that, but since I had an MRI on my knee scheduled this afternoon, I couldn’t pursue it. I also have to finish figuring out how to wire up my new backup camera, I think I can draw power from one of the lights on the back of the roof, but I need to do some more research on that. Got down to WPB just in time for my MRI, was happy that they took me right in and got me right out again, saves me a parking fee when I can get in and out in an hour. Would you believe they don’t validate? There’s no place else to park, so if it takes longer than an hour, I have to pay for it. You know what a “thrifty” soul I am! Headed up to Walmart in PBGardens and did some shopping, then a quick stop at the auto parts store in Jupiter to pick up some 30 amp fuses. I can’t seem to find one of the ones that plug into the trailer’s circuit board, I want to do a test to see how well the original system charges up the batteries on shore power, so I can maybe turn off the inverter and let it rest for awhile. Another quick stop at the UPS store to drop off an Amazon return, turns out I didn’t need one of the parts I ordered, sort of a front piece and bracket to hold it in, but the radio fit perfectly without it. Looks rather nice, certainly quite updated, and if I can get the backup camera hooked, nice and functional, too. It has a CD player (not that I’ve ever used that too much), and a hookup for a memory card and an MP3 player, and a bluetooth connection for my phone, though most of the reviews were that it was hard to hear when using the phone, but I’ll check it out. Maybe I can figure out an external microphone. Or maybe I just won’t answer the phone while I’m driving, which is what I do now anyway, safer that way. Back to the house, unloaded the groceries, then fed all the animals since Jeff had already told me he would be late tonight, back on the job in Vero, so I was able to get all that done before dark and avoid the mosquitoes. Then I just settled down for a nice relaxing evening after a busy day! Took my shower early, be heading to bed shortly. Good night, my sweet! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
After my usual morning chores, some work on the computer trying to track down what to do about the Trailrider title, I ran up to Ranch feed in the Buick to stock up on horse feed. Shortly after I got back my delivery from Amazon came, so I decided to see how far I could get with wiring up the new radio. Turns out I pretty much got it done, put all the wires together and even managed to get it in the truck, though I was struggling with getting all the wires out of the way, and the antenna adapter kept falling out. In the end I got it in, though, sans backup camera, that’s going to take a bit more doing because I have to pull power from somewhere, and since I want it where I can see the gooseneck, the license plate light isn’t going to work. Need to be a little more creative than that. Once I got it hooked up and in, though, I could barely hear any sound coming out of the speakers, and there’s still nothing coming out of the drivers side speaker, which was pretty much the whole reason I upgraded the radio, because my brother Karl said the radio was the problem, not the speakers, but a new radio didn’t solve the problem. Sigh… According to my truck manual, the original system had amplified speakers, so I set the adapter up for an amplified system, but obviously that’s not right, since I get almost no volume out of it. But by then it was getting late, so feeding took precedence, it’s just something I’m going to have to deal with tomorrow. It’s hard to find specific information about after market radio installation, so I’m not sure how I’m going to find the answer, just might be a lot of trial and error. Another long learning curve! I was happy I managed to get it all in, just wished it worked the way it was supposed to. Hope it turns out to be worth it. Anyway, a quiet evening after that, time now for shower and bed. Love you, sweetie! Good night!

Hey Sweetie,
Slept kind of late this morning, did a few things on the computer, had a problem securing proof of insurance because the woman who normally does it in the office I chose wasn’t answering, but at the last minute I finally got through to the office manager who worked with me for half an hour to get me what I needed. Managed to make it just in time for my appointment, but then it turned out I didn’t have all the paperwork I needed so I had to come all the way back to get a few more things, then finally managed to get my driver’s license and the two motor vehicles registered. Decided to get a specialty plate with a horse on it, had two to choose from, one that says “Horse Country” and another with an image of a horse on a beach saying “Discover Florida’s Horses.” The money goes to certain charities, and I hadn’t researched which charities they benefit, but I liked the look of the horse on a beach better, just because it seems more “Florida-y.” Turns out, when I got back and researched them, the Horse Country charity one doesn’t have anything to do with horses, it has to do with programs that work with “children at risk,” whatever that means. The one I picked actually benefits the new Florida Horse Park up near Ocala, which I had heard about but haven’t seen, so at least it’s horse-related, unlike the other one. Who knew? Glad I picked the one I did. I was actually able to get an “Antique” plate for the Buick, which was a lot cheaper, and a solid light blue, not the best color to go on a black car, but it will certainly stand out. Sorry to say the Check Engine Light came on on the way home, hopefully it’s nothing serious, but I’ll have to check it out tomorrow. Meanwhile, I couldn’t register the Trailrider because the original title doesn’t mention the manufacturer, Harmar, so they can’t put it in their computer until it’s changed, can you believe! I called Montana where the original title was issued, and they couldn’t understand why Florida, like them, didn’t have a “correction” process for titles that have incorrect information on them, so I’ll need to contact FL DMV again tomorrow to see if they do. Otherwise, I’ve got to go through the whole process of having the previous owner (actually, the husband who was on the original title, you know, the one she was in the middle of a nasty divorce with?) might have to sign another one, and how likely is that? Not sure how this is all going to play out, but it’s no doubt going to take some time. Grrrr! Didn’t need a silly problem like THIS to solve! The gal at the DMV, Ellie, was great though, she worked very hard the whole time to get things going for me, which I really appreciated. Took all afternoon at the DMV, finally headed out around 4:30, got back just about in time to feed the horses before settling down for the evening. I completely forgot about registering the small horse trailer, even forgot to get it “VIN checked” when the deputy was out here the other day, so I guess I’ll need to do that eventually, too, probably at the same time, since there’s a long waiting list for appointments. Anyway, long day of standing on a hard floor under fluorescent lighting, looking forward to a relaxing shower and bed. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Today, I mostly did research to figure out exactly what I needed to finish putting in my stereo in the truck, and it does, unfortunately, consist of ordering parts that are more than the cost of the radio, but oh, well, it needs to be done, and since I don’t have any house expenses anymore, it seems sensible to get everything else in shape, and the upgrade to a system that has all the bells and whistles, including a backup camera, seems like a good idea, since my truck is my primary vehicle, as it were. With the proper equipment, though, it seems like I should be able to do the rest of the install myself, which should save me some money in the end anyway. Didn’t do a whole lot else today, just wasn’t in the mood. Some other inquiries about other stuff, like a mat for the ramp in back, which is shrinking and slipping, and a tire that may be a better spare for the trailer than the Hankook I bought, I either didn’t get answered because it’s a holiday, or got answered late, so I’ll have to take care of it in the morning. I installed the wiring for the backup camera, but not the camera itself, I figure I need to actually have it on and see if it’s pointing the right way before I fix it in. Tomorrow is my appointment to get the cars registered and my license transferred, so I finished gathering all the paperwork together. I suddenly remembered that I hadn’t done anything with the Logan trailer, so I don’t have it certified by a law enforcement officer, so I may not be able to get that one going. Considering it’s only being used to store hay, it’s probably not essential I do that anyway, but it should probably be legal in case I try to take it on the road, maybe for a trip to Dupuis one of these days. Anyway, a fairly uneventful day, not much else to tell. Love you, darlin’! Good night!

Hi Darlin’,
Though I managed to record a bunch of stuff on the Dish PVR last night, for some reason the signal dropped out this morning, so after breakfast I had to go out and straighten it out. Never did find out exactly what happened, it almost seemed like it lost power at the receiver, but I don’t know for sure. I thought maybe it had shifted on the roof, because I didn’t put any water in the base to weigh it down, so I went ahead and did that this morning, then realigned it just fine, managed to get everything working good, and it didn’t take me too long. Kristen and her friend came and got Apollo and Frost and took them over to Riverbend again today, Flash not too happy about being left on his own again. I really need to take that horse out for a ride! It just seems like I’ve always got something else to do. Just after the girls left with the horses, I had a delivery from Amazon, my new truck radio and backup camera. Of course, as I started trying to figure out how to install it, I learned there’s a few more things I need, but no way to verify exactly what, since every place I looked on the internet had a different configuration. I need a wiring harness, but they range from about $7 for a bare bones one up to over $100 for the one that seems to be able to control everything I need, like the camera and Onstar and so on. Hard to believe I have to pay more for a few bits of wire to connect it than I did for the radio itself! I’m going to try to get some professional help before I go any further, in the meantime it’s just frustrating not to be able to get the answers I need. Once the girls got back and we got everyone put away and fed, I settled down for the evening, the usual. My life has gotten pretty boring lately, I really need to get out on a horse for awhile! Oh, well, that’s the way it goes. And my finger is still having ring withdrawal. Love you, sweetie! Good night!