Hiya Darlin'!
Was up before the alarm again, then after a bit, found a missed call from the testing center, turns out the late afternoon appointment wasn't really available, but they could get me in this morning if I wanted. Well, that was actually better for me, so I quick fed the horses and Lola, then hopped into the truck with a bowl of dry cinnamon cereal and headed for the clinic. Took about 50 minutes, but made it by 9:15, on schedule. Amazingly, they didn't have me make out any paperwork (that's a first!) and I was in and out of the exam in no time. I was still in the truck checking on a few things when they called to say every was fine, no clots, nothing to worry about. Relieved, I headed to Home Depot to pick up a sanding block and a square for me floor job in the future, got gas in a tank for Meg, but I couldn't get ethanol free, as NJ doesn't allow that. They also don't allow you to pump for yourself, so I had to wait for a guy to pump my five gallons! What a waste. Got back to the farm right about noon, and neighbor Jack, who is involved with helping the mark the trails, stopped by to chat. While we were chatting, John and Helen arrived. They are also helping with the trails. We spent most of the afternoon swapping files and trying to figure out the best way forward, it was very productive. Nice to have folks that know what I'm talking about when I say, do you want that in .gpx or .kml format? Finally settled down to dinner when Richard, who works with the park where some of the trails are going, arrived. More discussions. Finally was able to finish my dinner, but not my movie when Meg arrived, another meeting in the barn, which didn't end until about 10:20, though it felt much earlier. Time flies! We did manage to get me hooked up to electric, although it's probably only a 20 amp circuit, but at least it's keeping my batteries charged. Heading to shower and bed, got a long day planned tomorrow! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Sweetie!
Woke up just moments before my alarm (getting good at that!), and managed to pack up and was ready to go just before 9:00. Pretty easy when I don't have a highline to take down or manure to pick up! Larry left ahead to me to check the low-hanging wires, and unfortunately, they were still hanging low. I left shortly after hoping I would be okay, and lo and behold, there was 5 or 6 work trucks right at that spot clearing up the remnants of the huge tree we noticed yesterday. The boss man got in front of me and guided me through, I figured if I got stuck too far off the road they had enough horsepower to pull me out, but it wasn't necessary, I got through just fine, thank goodness! To save time, I took the toll road, not sure how much that's going to cost me, but it would have taken me nearly a full hour if I hadn't, so I figured it was worth it. They were sneaky about fuel, though. For two service areas, the price for diesel was $4.13, higher than off the thruway, but not horrible. Thinking the last service area would be same, I pulled off just needing enough to get me another 40 miles or so to be on the safe side, but in that last station, the price jumped to $4.32! Not fair! I only got enough to just make it, considering off the thruway the price was nearly a dollar a gallon less! Anyway, got to Meg's gorgeous property before 2:30, got myself and the horses settled into a nice little paddock next to me and the hay barn. I hooked up with water, but it's a reach for electric, so I held off to make sure I found the closest outlet. Only turned on my generator for a couple of minutes to nuke some vegetables anyway. Once everyone was settled in, I drove into Flemington to an Urgent Care, Patsy insisted I get some imaging done. I mentioned a little twinge that I was having, and she was worried it could possibly be a moving blood clot, so I promised her I would look into it. Well, the PA couldn't do much for me, they don't have an ultrasound at the clinic, but they arranged an appointment for late tomorrow afternoon at a place about 50 minutes away, so my time tomorrow on the trail will be somewhat limited. It seems like Meg has a good volunteer team lined up, though, so we should be able to get it all done. After I got back from that errand (I also filled up with fuel at $3.47/gal), I heated up my pasty from the farmers market last week, along with the nuked veggies, and had a nice dinner. Started a new series, Farscape, an old sci-fi series I hadn't ever seen, and was done by the time Meg and her young rider got back from their ride. Eventually, we got on her computer and she walked me through the trails, I showed her a few tricks on Google Earth, and we figured out what to do tomorrow. She has to work, but then has the rest of the week off. We'll get it done! By the time we got done, it was almost 10:00, came back, made some tea, soon to be headed to bed! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Woke up a couple of times during then night, but ended up getting a pretty decent night sleep. Got up around 8:15, and as soon as I got dressed I went to check on the generator, and it was still running from last night's fill up. Got everyone fed and walked and the cat let out, had breakfast, and had a quiet morning, once again without electricity, until finally, just before noon, it came on and stayed on. I immediately went in and turned off the generator and got everything plugged back in accordingly, and started a load of laundry, which, as usual, is my big Sunday chore. Patsy and Larry got back a little after 1:00, I helped them unload some stuff they brought back with them from Long Island, where they had gone to do a memorial for her parents. Considered going riding but decided against it, had too much laundry to do. Not much to pack up, though, since I didn't unpack hardly anything, and I won't have to take down a highline or clean up any manure in the morning, so I should be able to get out without much fanfare. Patsy took me for a quick ride down the road because there were a couple of very low-hanging wires on the route I'm taking out of here tomorrow, and if they don't fix it beforehand, it's going to be a tricky job getting under a couple of those wires. I'm going to have to get a ways off the road, and it's on an uphill grade and the shoulder doesn't look too firm, though at least it's not a ditch. Patsy called the powers-that-be, and hopefully they'll have it fixed by the time I go through in the morning. It's about a five hour drive tomorrow, and my hostess Meg will be at work anyway, so I don't have a tight schedule. Had another excessive dinner with leftovers from the whole week, I'm sure I've gain at least five pounds while I've been here, so back to lots of exercise and much less food this week! Watched a movie about Errol Flynn, now it's shower and bed! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Woke up and there was still no electric, which was a little surprising. What's more surprising is that I'm ready for bed and there's STILL no power! Patsy and Larry were supposed to leave at 9:00 to drive to Long Island for a memorial for her parents, and Larry had decided he needed to stay here, but Patsy managed to persuade him to go with her, which was the original plan. I think we were all expecting that power would be restored quickly, but so far, it hasn't. After they left, I had a pretty quiet day, working on my computer trying to sort out my schedule. I updated my calendar on the website and spoke to several people about the next few weeks, so I managed to get some things confirmed. I'm definitely going back to the Biltmore in September, the trailmaster there was very complimentary about my "deep trail skills," and I also firmed up several other things in my schedule. Finally ended the day with a lovely dinner featuring the beef and veg pot pie I bought at the farmers market on Wednesday, which was lovely. The crust was spectacular, and the inside was typically bland British, but I managed to spice it up a bit. Still, a nice treat! I'm going to have to set my alarm to refill the propane tank after midnight tonight, if we don't get power by then, though the power outage map is indicating completion by 11:00 pm, though I'm losing hope that that will happen. Weather was beautiful, but I didn't get out in it much except to walk the dogs, let out the cat, feed the horses and put more gas in the generator. Enjoyed a bottle of wine with my delicious dinner, and hoping I have enough water for a shower tonight. Not sure what I'll do if the power isn't back on by morning! May have to take a trip over the Larry's sister's house and put some water in my freshly cleaned truck water tank! At least I'm self sufficient, one of the great advantages to living off the grid. Anyway, ready for shower and bed, fingers crossed we get electric back before I have to fill up the generator again, but we'll do whatever needs must! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Well, the remnants of hurricane Debby came in with a bang, we had rain pretty much all night. I put my earplugs in and enjoyed a lovely sleep. Took my time getting up, waiting for a break in the rain long enough to feed my horses. Didn't exactly stop, but it did slow down enough for awhile. Later in the day, it quit raining, the storm having moved to the west of us, until late afternoon when the tail curled back around. I spent the day watching a couple of movies, including the latest Mission Impossible, and didn't do much else. We left about 4:30 to go have dinner and spend the evening with Patsy and Larry's relatives, who have a couple of mobile homes on the north end of the lake, making for a nice finish to the day. Just after we got there, the electric went out, but we managed dinner anyway, and just after dinner, the electric came back on. Unfortunately, it hadn't come back on up at Patsy's yet, we passed a tree that was laying over a power line on the way back, and had no power when we arrived. No worries for me though, I have half a tank of water and a fully charged bank of batteries, so I'm good to go! The only thing lack of power affects me is that their wifi doesn't work without it, but they put a little generator on when we got home, so we even had that for the evening. No worries, I'm going to bed very shortly, will read for the evening. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Had another good night sleep, and once again woke up before the alarm. I still didn't know what time the repairman was coming, but after morning chores and breakfast, I went to work in the bathroom, clearing it out of everything, and then tried to take out the old toilet. The nuts were totally useless, one was rusted so bad it literally disintegrated, the other wasn't far behind, but I couldn't get that one off, so I left it. I cleaned up all the edges, hoping that we might be able to get the floor down, but that didn't happen. I started draining the oil out of the generator after warming it up a bit, the pressure washed the water tank in the truck to clear out all the algae. The repairman arrived around noon and got busy taking out the toilet. Once he did, and cut through some of the flooring, he called me in to show the damage. What a mess! But he said it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, and most of it was salvageable. He then went on to rebuild the worst section, did a nice job of providing extra support and getting it really level. Unfortunately, we couldn't do anything about the floor, because the surrounding wood needed to be dried out before I should attempt to put the floor down. He was done by about 2:30, and I was happy with the job and I thought he charged me a fair rate. I had finished the tank cleaning as well as the generator oil change by then, so it was a productive day. It was right around then that the remnants of hurricane Debby started to show up, so the timing was perfect. Went on to have a nice dinner with Patsy and Larry, although today we ate inside rather than on the porch because it had gotten cold as well as rainy. Settled down for my usual evening! Heading for shower and bed! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hey Darlin',
Well, the plan was to ride at 10:00 this morning, but it was very cloudy and sprinkled a couple of times, with a promise in the forecast for more rain this afternoon, plus it was a bit on the chilly side, so in the end, we decided we weren't in the mood. Even though the repair guy said he wouldn't be here until afternoon, I didn't want to take any chances, either. As it turned out, it didn't rain more in the afternoon, and the repairman didn't show up at all. When I finally texted him at 5:15, he said he wasn't coming today, but would definitely be here on Thursday. Sigh... So I didn't do much today except a load of laundry, but one remarkable thing that happened, I FINALLY found proper instructions on how to adjust the thermostat on my electric fireplace!! This has plagued me ever since I bought this trailer. I never had a remote for it (not sure it even had one, can't find that little infrared eye you usually see with a remote), and I could never find out what make it was, or find a manual for it, or any information at all. I even took pictures on my phone of the model number, and still couldn't find anything, for years! Finally today, on a whim, I asked the generic question again, and lo and behold, a Youtube video popped up showing the exact same front panel as mine, and specific instructions on how to control EVERYTHING!! FINALLY!!! I was able to adjust the temperature down a bit, which is all I wanted. It had been set at 72, which would normally be okay, but up in the bedroom above the gooseneck, it would get to about 85 degrees before it shut off, since the thermostat was so far away. Now I set it at 69 to see how that goes, and I now know how to change it if that doesn't work out. Wow! I love it when a long overdue issue is finally resolved!! Yippee! Had another Larry-prepared dinner of spaghetti and sausage with garlic bread, took another walk with the dogs, spent the evening chatting with Patsy, and planning a busy day tomorrow, as it may be the only good day for riding we're going to get. A hurricane named Debby has passed over Florida, hitting the center of the state again, and is creeping up the east coast, arriving here Thursday night, and calling for heavy rain all day Friday and Saturday, apparently. Since the repairman will be here on Thursday (fingers crossed!), that leaves only tomorrow, which is also the Farmers Market we want to go to, and running into town to pick up some flooring material, which I figure I'll need for the bathroom once the woods replaced, and horse feed. So a busy day tomorrow! Which is why I'm having my tea and heading to shower and bed soon! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Woke up to the alarm, got packed up and ready to go, stopped at the dump after dumping a couple of buckets of soapy gray water down the toilet, and hit the southern route to Patsy's place on the east side of the Adirondacks. So glad I asked her which was the best route, because several go through the middle of the mountain range, which would have been a nightmare! It was fairly easy, until I lost signal completely, made a wrong turn and had to turn around in the parking lot of some business in a little hamlet, but managed to get to the Stewart's Shops where Patsy came to get me to show me the back way to get to her place. They were paving the road and it went down to one lane traffic, which would have been fine except several cars still somehow managed to be coming at us! Lots of driveways along there. Anyway, it all worked out fine. Arrived maybe around 1:00, though there were a couple of short steep hills, but apparently much better than the usual Google-mapped way. She lives on the top of a hill with a great view, not quite what we had in Tennessee, but lovely. We got the horses out, then had to turn around, which was a bit tight but doable. Finally got all settled in with water, 30 amp electric and great wifi through Starlink! The horses have a lovely big pasture and ran around like lunatics for a bit before settling down to graze, and Lola was beside herself with all the room to roam out here! No leashes needed for her here! She made friends with Patsy's little dog Tucker, and they got along just great, even playing a bit! I started a load of laundry, then visited with her and her hubby Larry for awhile, did more laundry, then had dinner with them, chicken skewers with a special sauce from Binghamton, NY and a gorgeous squash casserole. Nice to eat someone else's cooking for a change! After dinner, we went on a short walk with the dogs, fed the horses, then I was ready to call it a night. I was relieved that my RV repair guy reached out today and said he'd be here tomorrow afternoon to look at what he needed, then would be back Thursday to do it. Whew! Getting worried there for a bit! All of this will no doubt lead to a worry-free night of sleep, so that's where I'm headed. Good night, sweetheart! Love you!