Hi Babe!
I still can't seem to get on a good sleeping schedule. I woke up again in the middle of the night and had a hard time falling asleep again, then it was almost 8:30 by the time I finally woke up. Fed the horses and took my walk, Lola and I had breakfast, then I did a little housekeeping. Then I sat down in my chair for a minute and ended up dozing off again! Weird! Worked on the Google Earth map of my Tanzania trip, did some other computer work, then did a bit more housework just to top off the day, including putting the screen from the drop down window back up. I never heard back from the screen-making company, and now I've run out of time anyway, so I took the screen from the third window where the toolbox is and put it up front, so at least the horses are protected now. Dinner was leftovers from our lovely lunch the other day, and an evening of Damages. Linda's arranged to go riding tomorrow, so it will be an early morning, relatively-speaking. Hoping to get to bed early! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Darlin'!
Today was a day of running around mostly dealing with issues. I loaded up the blown tire into the back of the truck and headed into town (Cleveland, TN), and dropped it off at the tire place where I had ordered a new tire, which they said should be in today. After dropping that off, I decided it was a good time to get the front end of the truck aligned, as it's been pulling to the right and the tires are wearing unevenly, though there is still pretty good tread on them. It took me a couple of tries to find someplace that could do it, since not everyone can do fit a dually on their rack, and not everyone could do it right away. I ended up at a place that Discount Tire had recommended called Top Tech, though they couldn't get me in until about 1:00, so I stopped to get fuel, then went shopping at Walmart, got everything except a few perishables, particularly things they didn't have that I usually like, like my grapefruit juice and the Silk milk, which I picked up later at Food City on the way home. After the alignment, which they appear to have done a good job with, though a bit more expensive than I figured, I headed back to the tire shop. Unsurprisingly, FedEx still hadn't delivered the tire, so I waited around for nearly an hour until it finally arrived, nearly a half hour after the published "delivery window." They mounted it so quickly after it arrived that I was out the driveway at the same time the FedEx truck was! After the grocery stop, I was finally back to the camper around 4:00, where I settled in for the rest of the day, munching on some of the leftovers from the great lunch yesterday and starting the second season of Damages, my current binge-watch. Won't be long out of bed, I was dozing during the last episode! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Sweetie!
Spent a wonderful day with our old friend Michelle, the only person I know that knew you before I did! We met in Chattanooga at a restaurant called Pucketts, where I thought we would be having brunch, but they stopped serving at 11:00, so we ended up ordering an enormous sampler platter that had every kind of smoked meat they served, then truly indulged on a dessert so decadent I'm embarrassed to admit it! Ready? Deep-fried chocolate fudge brownie with ice cream, whip cream, chocolate syrup, candied pecans and, get this, caramelized bacon! OMG! We eventually waddled out of there over to the Tennessee Aquarium, where we spent the afternoon wandering between their many exhibits, with never a pause in our conversation, which is always the way it is when the two of us get together. What a great time! We finally went our separate ways at 4:00, just in time to beat rush hour out of town (though I still had several areas of slowed traffic, which is apparently the norm these days), and managed to get home right at 5:00. Ten minutes later, Linda picked me up and we drove up to Athens to a BackCountry Horsemen's meeting of their local chapter, where I discovered I was on the agenda to talk a little about my trip to Africa. Wasn't expecting that, but was happy to oblige! I was well received despite my lack of time to prepare, but you know me! I managed to tell a pretty good short story, and had some fun in the process. All finished by a bit after 8:00, and managed to get home just as the sun was going down. Watched the Season 1 finale of Damages, and now I'm calling it a night! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Got to bed later than I had hoped, then woke up in the middle of the night, had some issues getting back to sleep. Finally got up late, had breakfast, then took a walk out to the pasture to feed the horses and found a convoy of tree trimmers driving through the pasture, apparently here to clear the brush and trees under the electrical wires. My horses paid no mind, of course. Fed them and took a walk around the pasture to get my steps in, then packed up Lola and headed to the vet, who was only 10 minutes away. Got there by 10:20, but ended up waiting until nearly 11:00 before they could see us. Busy morning! Unfortunately, Lola was not on her best behavior, she growled at almost every dog that came near her. I think she was just feeling vulnerable after having first Chelle's dog and then Linda's dog come after her. She has a little chunk of skin missing where the latter got to her. Lola got her annual vaccination, and the doc checked out all her various fat lumps, but didn't think any of them would harm her, at least until they grew so big they interfered with the actual mechanical movement of her shoulder. Still, she's in good shape for her age, which is now 13 1/2. She's been walking with me fine, though she's not putting much weight on her right hind leg anymore, I think the arthritis is really throwing her off-balance. Anyway, once we got back from the vet, I spent the rest of the day talking to Linda, then mostly reading, then decided on popcorn and a movie just for something different. Took another walk around the pasture after dinner, feeding the horses lots of peppermints. Trying to get them used to coming to me for mints so they'll be easier to catch when the time comes. Absolutely gorgeous weather today once it warmed up a bit. Crazy, AC one day, the fireplace the next! No matter, I'm ready for anything. The rest of the week looks perfect, 70's during the day, 50's or less at night, just the stuff I seek out! Considering taking a short ride just to see how I do physically, but I am definitely feeling a lot better, though I need to get in the saddle to make sure before I commit to a longer ride. Maybe Wednesday. I have plans for tomorrow down in Chattanooga, so I'm just taking things one day at a time! Heading to bed shortly! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hey Darlin',
Went to bed so late last night that I ended up sleeping pretty late in the morning. Spent most of the day uploading videos, and finally got everything up to date, at last! Finally received the end of the power cord that I ordered, so as soon as I got the delivery notice, I walked down to the mailbox and picked it up, then spent the next half hour or so replacing the end and getting myself hooked up to power, at last! Otherwise, spent most of the day reading and killing time while I waited for videos to upload, so a pretty lazy day, which I needed. Heading to bed shortly, I'm ready for a good night sleep! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie',
No big hurry getting out of bed this morning, took my walk around the pasture with Lola while I fed the horses, then spent most of the morning trying to upload videos to a new Facebook group I started, where I'm hoping to deposit all of the footage from the Africa trip, mine and Tracy's and Katya's, but I didn't get quite as far as I had hoped. Eventually, I needed to try to fix the drop down window on the trailer. When the tire blew the other day, it messed up the aluminum latch plate, so I had to do some gentle pounding to get it back in place. Not good enough to put rivets back in, but good enough to do the job, the window closes fine now, which was the point. Worked some more on uploading videos today until it was time to drive into Chattanooga. I had bought a ticket to see William Shatner Live on Stage, a tour that's combined with the showing of the Wrath of Khan Star Trek movie. Actually, I bought one originally for the Charlotte event yesterday, but then my plans changed. I wasn't able to resell the ticket (NOT a fan of Ticketmaster), so I'm out that money. But it was fun to watch that movie again on a big screen with an audience of Star Trek lovers, and after the intermission, the man himself came out. What an entertainer! I was quite happy to see that despite his advanced age of 95, he was active and sprightly, jumping in and out of his chair, walking the full length of the stage repeatedly as he told wonderful stories in response to questions from the audience after his initial presentation. I was afraid that he might be just doing these events because he has become an industry unto himself, but he truly seemed to enjoy himself, and the audience certainly loved him, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself as well. Meanwhile, we had some much needed rain move in, so I ended driving home in the dark (which I'm not a fan of), in the rain (which I definitely hate!), but managed to make it back to the trailer in one piece, albeit well after 11:00. No worries, I've got a bourbon to help me sleep, I'll be heading to the shower shortly, and off the bed for what will definitely be a sleep-in Sunday! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Slept in late, though I did wake up once during the night and had a hard time getting back to sleep. The horses came down to the trailer following Richard in his UTV, so I gave them their feedbags while they were down here. Before I could take the bags off them, they had settled in to one of the barn's big stalls. I moved them back out into the great big green pasture for the day. After breakfast, I took Lola for a walk around the pasture, measuring it so I could get in my steps, learned that a perimeter of that field was a bit over half a mile, which was about all I was good for. My hip is still quite painful, but I need to alternate between resting and moving, I think, for the best recovery. I sat and chatted with Linda for awhile, getting caught up, then we tried one of her cords to see if it would work (it didn't), so I'm roughing it without AC during the close to 90 degree temps. Got most of my fans going, though, so it's not too bad. Spent some time trying to upload videos, but it's not going too well. Not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I'll keep trying! Finally ordered a replacement tire through the local Discount Tire, should be able to get that in next week. Took another pasture walk after dinner, and was grateful my hip felt a little better. I had found and applied a Tiger Balm patch, and though I didn't actually feel any heat, it did feel better later, so maybe it helped. No painkillers today, though, I wanted to see where I was, and frankly, nothing I've been taking has seems to help, except one old oxycodone I found leftover from years ago, which I took the other night at Chelle's, which helped me sleep well. Started bingeing on a new series, Damages, with Glenn Close and Ted Danson, looks like a good one. Ready to get to bed early tonight, that's for sure! Good night, my darlin! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Woke up before my alarm, got up early because I was hoping to get an early start (wishful thinking!), but it took me longer to get ready to go, and it was 8:30 by the time I was leaving Chelle's. Turns out my power cord had fused to the extension cord, and by the time I was able to separate the two, my power cord became unusable. So, no power for me until I get a new male end for that! I ordered one once I got on the road, but it won't arrive at Linda's until Saturday, so I may just have to find one locally. No trouble getting out of the gate, though I did turn left instead of right because there was a mailbox that my have given me trouble, so I took the easy way. I was truly hoping for an uneventful trip, but alas, that was not to happen. The first part was fine, then, naturally and expectedly, I ran into a lot of traffic around Atlanta, both before and after. I probably did close to 80 miles and start and stop traffic, with only a few short sections where I was able to get up to speed. I was at least 20 or 30 miles north of Atlanta before the traffic started thinning out. I stayed on I-75 longer than usual because I had programmed in the next One9 Truck stop, normally I would have turned off before then, but it was probably for the best, as after that last stop (where I finally broke the $5 barrier and paid $4.99/gal), just south of Calhoun, I blew out the front left tire on the trailer. Hate it when it's on the driver's side, but I pulled off as far as I could and got busy changing it out. Thank goodness I bought that impact wrench! Was disappointed that once again, not one person stopped to help. I was sure in Georgia the Mama's were still raising their boys right, but I guess I'm wrong. Not surprised too munch in Maryland the last time it happened, but Georgia? Disappointing. Anyway, I managed to get it change and was back on the road in 15-20 minutes, finally arriving at Linda's around 7:15. Plenty of time to get the horses safely in the front pasture (and no worse for the wear, thank goodness!) and I just parked and managed to get water hooked up. I don't have a working power cord because an end got fried at Chelle's, and I also discovered that the blown tire had knocked out the screen and bent part of the latch on the front horse window, so that's another chore for me to do. I didn't even unhook the truck, I was so intent of getting in a shower and heading to bed. Glad I made it in a relatively safe trip, but as always, more jobs on the list of things to do! Hopefully I'll be feeling well enough to get some of it done this next week. I felt quite comfortable in my truck, but once I started moving, my hip started bothering me again, but not quite as bad, so I think I'm on the mend! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Spent the day packing up, doing lots of laundry, using Chelle's washer for some larger items like my quilt and bedspread, took down the hot tub, removed most of the fence for the horses so I won't have far to catch them in the morning, checked all the air and fluids in the truck and trailer, got the truck lined up for hook-up tomorrow, sold all the leftover hay, though I managed to put four more bales in the back of the truck since there's no rain in the forecast. I also managed to load up some more videos, including a nice montage that Kayja had done on FB, so that's getting a good response. Chelle's was kind enough to do a trim on both my horses, so their feet should be in good shape for awhile. Finally settled down to dinner and the last episode of Continuum (a nice finish, I must say!), and am heading to bed soon. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
I spent pretty much the entire day working on my taxes, which should have been a pretty simple job, but Turbotax online is nothing like the Turbotax I'm used to! They decided not to provide a Windows 10 verion for my PC, so I had to use their online version, and it is so unbelievable user unfriendly. I wasn't allowed to look at forms, and if I wanted to go back a single page to check on something, it would take me all the way back to the beginning of the section, and then still wouldn't show me what I wanted to see. Grrrr! By mid-afternoon, I was so frustrated, that when it appeared I wouldn't owe anything, I just sent in an extension, to be continued. I feel like I have to start over, so another day will be wasted at some future point. Anyway, I packed a few things away, since I'm leaving on Thursday, and I have a lot to do. I also spent some time on the computer updating my website and uploading media, then in the evening, I went over to Chelle's and we had a little slide show and video travelogue. Took a hot tub, and went to bed with the heating pad. My hip is really getting more painful, and I got behind the curve on painkillers and now I'm having a problem staying in front of it. Never would have imagined a bruise would hurt this much, but it's so deep, it still hasn't come to the surface yet. Maybe it never will! Off to bed! Good night, darlin'! Love you!