Hiya Sweetie,
Another day of piddling, really. Did some housework, read, played with Lola in the pool, then gave her a nice bath. She’s been scratching and chewing on herself like crazy the last couple of weeks, but it’s not fleas, and I can’t figure out what it is but something is definitely bothering her. After the bath, I had to put a muzzle on her just to keep her from irritating it all again. Once she was dry, I put on some Gold Bond powder, that seems to be helping. Was finally able to take her muzzle off late this evening, now she seems to be resting more comfortably. Hope she’s good through the night! Not much else going on, watched a good movie with Ben Kingsley playing Adolph Eichmann, an updated version of the well-known historical story, was quite good. But then anything he’s in is bound to be a good movie! Pretty much ready for shower and bed, so good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Just did a few odds and ends today. Washed Lola’s truck dog bed and new pink blanket so it’s nice and clean for my weekend. I’m heading up to Don and Toni’s on Melbourne Beach to visit for a couple of days. Did some housekeeping, mostly read, took Lola swimming in the pool for a bit to tire her out for the night, watched a good movie with Bill Pullman as a genius chess master during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, an interesting take on that historic episode. Not much else going on at the moment, though I am starting to plan for my trip northward this summer. It will take me five or six days worth of travel, and if I stay a week at each location, then five or six weeks to get up to northern Michigan for the Shore to Shore rides. Never too early to plan, though, as you know, plans can change pretty quickly when necessary! Otherwise, an uneventful day. Already getting hot down here, not sure I want to stay down here much longer, but it’s still pretty cool further north, so we’ll see. I’ve been having to run the AC the last few days, enough to cool it down at night before I go to bed, and I don’t have a lot of shade here, so in the afternoons, too. Hate that, but not much choice! Anyway, off to shower and bed. Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
Another fairly routine day, headed over to Glenn’s to mow his lawn and clean the pool, among a few other chores. I had to buy another citronella plant, my last one got pulled apart and eaten by I don’t know what, and I had picked one up the other day at Walmart, and I had planned on transplanting it and cutting it back so that it would be more of a bush than a tree. Somehow, it had gotten knocked over and the main stem had broken, so it was the perfect solution to the problem. I put the main stem in water, hoping it grows roots for transplanting, and transplanted the rest into a hanging pot, figure it’s safer off the ground where it can’t get knocked over by dog or horse or eaten by any other beast that might find it delectable. Watched an interesting movie about the peace accord between Israel and Egypt back in the 70’s, now it’s time for shower and bed. Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Did just a few minor jobs today. tried to clean off the old adhesive along the trailer cap in front, I’ve tried just about everything possible, but nothing works, and too much rubbing just scratches it, so I finally gave up. I bought some superduper adhesive called 3M 5200 which Jeff’s swears will stick anything, so hopefully this application will keep it from every coming out of the frame again! Did some laundry and some housework and got the microwave ready for removal, though I’ll need help with that. Hopefully, I can get Jeff to give me a hand with that tomorrow or someday soon. Not much else going on, really, just filled in the day with some reading and TV. Watched a good movie, Black Hat, about a hacker that is furloughed out of prison to help catch a terrorist. Lots of location shooting in Hong Kong and Malaysia (been there, done that!) so it was kind of fun from that perspective. Ready for shower and bed, though I’ve been having to put the AC on lately, getting too darn hot here already! Don’t really want to stay all the way through April, but that’s still up in the air. Hopefully, I’ll know by the end of the week. Meanwhile, I’m just trying to get things in order so I’ll be ready to go whenever the time comes. Love you, babe! good night!

Hey Babe,
Had a really lazy day today, only did a little computer work, didn’t even do my usual Sunday laundry. Just felt tired for some reason today. Spent most of the day reading, finally tuned into a movie that I didn’t particularly like, stuck with it, only to have it end with “to be continued…” which was definitely not mentioned anywhere, so it was pretty much a waste of time, because I have NO interest in what happens next. Watched a Remington Steele, now I’m off to shower and bed. Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
A better night sleep, and a bit busier day today. Ran out to Walmart fairly early to beat the weekend rush, did a little essential shopping. Got back and hooked up the truck to the little horse trailer and did a good wash on both of them. There’s another hole in the roof I’m going to have to repair, so that’s another job on my list. After all that physical labor, I then blew up my little river ring and laid in the pool for awhile, but it was cloudy and cooler so I didn’t stay in too long. Took my shower early, then settled down to a nice grilled steak dinner and another interesting movie based on a true story, of a woman artist who unwittingly let her husband take credit for all her work, made himself famous and them a lot of money, until she finally stood up for herself. Got a call from one of our students from way back in 2016 who’s looking to bring in a Workshop for himself and a bunch of his co-workers in city government, so I’ll be sending a proposal to him before the weekend is out. Would be great to get a couple more jobs this year, so I hope it works out. That’s all the news today. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Naturally, getting my Firestick up and running took longer than I anticipated last night, so I didn’t get to bed as early as I had hoped, but at least it got done. Went over to Glenn’s with brother Jeff because he had to put in a mini-split AC unit for him, I cleaned the pool and did some yard work while I was there, and also helped Dena a bit, she got attacked in the back yard by three dogs that came through the fence from the neighbor’s yard, horrible! Spent hours in the hospital last night, has cuts and tears everywhere! Dogs have no papers, owned by some workers that live on the nursery property next door, don’t have any vaccination information on the dogs, so now she’s going to have to go through an entire rabies series of shots. Needless to say, Glenn’s not happy! He sees a lawsuit in his future, not the best way to “meet the neighbors,” but apparently they were pit bulls, pure or mongrel I don’t know, but they circled her and ganged up on her. She doesn’t like dogs much anyway, and this incident certainly isn’t going to help! She’s feeling better, and very circumspect about it, but still. They went off to do some stuff at their condo rental, and Jeff and I didn’t get the work finished because he had to put some mud on the drywall, and didn’t want to mess it up, so it had to dry overnight, so back again tomorrow, probably. Got back, spent a few minutes getting the bushhog out of the little horse trailer so I can use it on Saturday, planning on meeting my “concert” friends over at Riverbed for a ride. Also replaced the outside electric plug cover that I tore off the other day, which included drilling holes and putting on some sealant. Finally settled down for the evening, what an interesting movie with Michael Keaton about the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, heading for shower and bed shortly. Love you, darlin’! Good night!

Hey Darlin’,
After getting to bed so late last night, I ended up sleeping pretty late this morning, on a mattress that is still holding up, thank goodness! Didn’t really do much today, finished a book, did some more research on microwaves. Seems they have some that need an inch to open the door, which, if I cut the cupboard where I think I have to, it won’t work. Some have a 90 degree door that doesn’t need the extra space, but they’re hard to find, and finally, I found one that is made for lefties, where the door swings left to right, which would solve the problem but be really weird, though I supposed I’d get use to it. So suffice to say, I still haven’t solved the problem. Spent a couple of hours taking the online ATV course that’s required for state certification as a volunteer, though I wasn’t planning on using an ATV, I figured I would more likely be using a side-by-side, which is completely different, so I’m not sure how useful it’s going to be. Not much else going on. Got a bunch of stuff I ordered from Amazon, including something called a Firestick, which is like a portable wifi for the TV, that replaces the smart TV aspects of my TV, which was an inexpensive alternative to the wifi problem I’ve been having, though it’s been working fine for the last few days. Just wanted to be prepared for when it goes again. I don’t like having to take the TV down and open the back, put it back together and hope for the best, even though so far, it’s worked. The Firestick does the same thing, plus has a voice function, and it was pretty cheap, so I figured it was worth the fix. Taking forever to update the software over my cell phone hotspot, but I guess it will work better once it’s done. We’ll see. Otherwise, a pretty boring day! I’m going to bed earlier, though, I’ve been gradually getting to bed and getting up later and later, and I really don’t like that, so tonight I’m heading to be earlier. I’m sorry to say that your sister is in the hospital, and she’s basically in hospice care, so she’ll be joining you soon, wherever you are, the last of your generation of the family. Her daughter Sue has been keeping me updated. I thought about calling her, but from the sound of it, it would have been too much of a strain on her, so I just gave Sue a message to give to her if she’s awake enough to understand it, and have her in my thoughts. Anyway, heading to my shower and bed soon, as soon as I get this Firestick up and running. Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Absolutely delighted to report that my air mattresses seemed to hold up overnight, I was most definitely NOT on the ground like I’ve been for the last several nights! Hooray! I guess that means I can hold off buying a new mattress for awhile. Not so lucky with the microwave, though, it’s still giving me fits, though I think tomorrow I’ll try it with the generator, just to make sure it’s not an AC electrical problem. Spent most of the morning trying to find a new microwave that will fit, but naturally, the specs have changed. Whereas my old microwave fit’s beautifully in a 22″ width cabinet, all the NEW microwaves are a minimum of 24″, which means I have to cut into my cupboards to make it fit. Not something I really want to do! Still working on the problem, though. Tried to do some more polishing on the front cap of the trailer, but nothing I did seemed to help so I gave up. Did a little housework, then decided to be spontaneous and go to a free concert in Carlin Park out by the ocean in Jupiter. It was a Chicago tribute band called Solid Brass, and they did a pretty decent job. A good two hour plus concert with a short intermission, did some other period artists, too. Met a very interesting couple who I ended up sitting with, Lori and Mark, and after the concert, we chatted at a picnic table for quite awhile. Fascinating how much we had in common! Hoping to hook up with them soon, I’ve invited her to go riding, they’ve invited me to go boating, could be the beginning of “a beautiful friendship!” I was just looking up the cost of getting a diving certificate, and she’s a diver, so this might be a good in for me. We’ll see how it goes. It was almost 10:30 by the time I got home, a very pleasant diversion from my mostly mundane days lately. Fingers crossed by bed holds up again tonight! Meanwhile, shower and bed for me! Good night, babe! Love you!