Hey Babe,
Decided I needed to do some housework today. I had kind of thought about cleaning out my wardrobe and trying to get ride of some stuff I don’t wear anymore, but ended up just doing a good clean in the bathroom and on the paddle fans. Took out Lola’s bed and gave it a good spray with Febreze and let it air out, put the cushion in the dryer to fluff, and generally did a nice clean up of the bathroom. Was going to do more, but then my friends Maggie and Pistol arrived, so that kind of brought that cleaning binge to a halt. I finished up a few things, put some stuff away, checked in a number of equestrian campers, and generally just got back to a regular day. Still chilly today, but definitely starting to soften up, thank goodness. Supposed to be in the 80’s by the weekend! Sat around the campfire for a bit, then came home so I can get an early night sleep. Heading to the shower here shortly! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hiya, Darlin’!,
Had a great night sleep, finally got moving after 830, gave the horses some alfalfa cubes soaked in hot water for breakfast as a special treat, then once again spent most of the day watching Christmas movies and calling family, including your sister Jean. Sorry to say she’s bedridden now, the health system there is struggling and they’ve cut back on the number of sessions they’re giving her after her surgery. Hopefully it will improve after the holidays, but who knows? Spoke to all my brothers. Jeff asked if I wanted to go down to the Turtle Tavern, but I decided to say in front of my cozy electric fireplace instead of driving 60 miles round trip for a meal. Not sure if he even went in the end. So a quiet day, did one load of laundry, but that was about it! It’s actually been perfect, it has been too cold outside to do anything. Granted, warmer than up north, but we had wind chills this morning below freezing, and didn’t get above 50 degrees here today, so staying home in front of a cozy fire was a perfect way to spend Christmas. Lola spent many hours in my lap today, too, so it’s been a good day, albeit spending it alone. Had a nice ham, mashed potato and glazed carrot dinner as well. Heading for shower and bed, now, so good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Decided to spend the day doing nothing but watch Christmas movies and drink eggnog. Couldn’t muster the will to do anything else today. Probably drank a few thousand calories. Happy Christmas Eve, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Managed to keep busy all day, and got a lot done as well. After feeding the horses, I worked on my union contract, they’re still giving me a lot of trouble about the same old things they always give me trouble about, then took Flash for a ride, only about 6.5 miles but I wanted to check out the water on a few particular trails, and was glad to see it’s mostly gone, safe for tractor travel, so whether I want to put up the few posts I have left, or to mow, I can safely get around a lot more trails. After we got back, I spent about an hour finishing my set up, putting out the skirting, putting up the screen room, and generally getting ready for what looks like the coldest night of the year. It was absolutely gorgeous out on the trail today, but there’s a cold front coming in that’s dropping temps into the mid-30’s tonight, so before dinner, I put the horses’ heavy winter blankets on. I also closed up all the doors and half doors in the barn to keep it warmer, there’s a cool north breeze I wanted to cut off. No one else here yet, but at least my guys will be warm! Expecting a big crowd next weekend, but pretty slow here right now, at least on the equestrian side. Finally settled down to dinner and a Christmas rom-com, as it my wont this time of year. Got the fireplace going, and will likely leave it all night, even got out my flannel sheets with the expectation of a very chilly night! Headed for shower and bed nice and early, which is becoming my habit these days. Looking forward to cuddling up in my little bedroom cupboard, and hopefully, Lola will sleep better tonight! She’s been a real pain the last few nights, scratching on the door and the bedroom divider, her toe nails clicking on the floor. She’s been quiet all day, then when I go to bed she suddenly gets all restless. Hoping she’ll be quieter tonight after our ride today. Anyway, good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hiya Darlin’,
A good night sleep, then after feeding Flash I fixed a fence board that had bome loose in one of the paddocks, picked a few ragweed that were about to bloom, had breakfast, then headed over to brother Glenn’s to check in on his place, with a stop at the hardware along the way. Delighted to find that the chlorine in his pool finally did the job and all of the stains were gone. Other than a plugged up filter and a dead rat that I had to scoop out of the pool, everything else looked great. Fixed the lawn mover as best I could with the parts I got at the hardware store, but didn’t have time to do the mowing yet, I’ll get it done next week. Stopped and got some fuel, then headed down to Jeff’s to pick up Apollo and bring him back to camp for a happy reunion with Flash. Did a little grocery shopping for Christmas at Public, can’t have the holidays go by without some special fixings, like eggnog. Parked the small trailer back in its place, moved some salt for the wells, then settled down for the rest of the evening. Ordered a couple of Trojan batteries for the RV, expensive but they should last, providing I take good care of them. Just starting to rain here. Supposed to be nice during the day here tomorrow, then a huge cold front is coming in, dropping temps into the 30”s, just in time for Christmas! Brrrrr! At least the horses will have the barn to hide in, and I may put some blankets on them as well. Anyway, heading to shower and bed momentarily. Love you, sweetie! Good night!

Hey Sweetie,
Slept well again, read for a while in the morning before getting up, then moved Flash over to the barn. I get the impression he expected Apollo to be there, but I haven’t gone to get him yet, maybe tomorrow. Had to just about force myself to do nothing again today, though heaven knows there’s plenty to be done. I was determined to get two full days of rest, though, before getting back to my usual busy schedule. Finished reading the rest of the book A Land Remembered, ended up being a lot more sad than I had hoped, but it’s about the end of an era, so I guess that was inevitable. Only thing I ended up having to do was fool around with my batteries again. I had just filled them up not long ago, and checked them a few days ago, but I put them on charge most of the day, hoping to finally get it to stick, but when I turned the charger off, the power just plummeted to nothing. I went out to check them and discovered they were completely dry again. Filled them with more distilled water, cleaned the terminals just in case that’s a contributing factor, then put the small battery charger on, hoping that a slower charge might be better, but I’m expecting that I’ll have to get a couple of new batteries, an expense I don’t really need, but I don’t see any way around it, I have to have batteries to run the DC side of my RV. Finally got my shower done, heading to bed now. Expecting to have a busy day tomorrow! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Had great and much needed night of sleep, woke up after seven but stayed in bed until nine, reading and dozing. Finally got up to feed Flash, had breakfast, hooked up to the new installed water hookups for the Equestrian Camp Host site and proceed to do a bunch of laundry. Finally started reading the book A Land Remembered, all about the history of the cattle industry in Florida, written as a generational novel. It’s the Bible around here for the cow hunters, and I’ve been meaning to read it for years. My friend Luan brought it to me on the first day of the cattle drive, but this is the first chance I’ve had to read it. Read about half of it today. Feeling better, but still deeply tired, so another day off tomorrow, except to go get Apollo and maybe check up on brother Glenn’s pool. A fairly relaxing day, again, much needed! Won’t be long out of bed again tonight! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hiya Darlin’,
Got to bed nice and early last night, then got up at dawn, to a frigid 35 degrees! Put on my long underwear and proceed to quickly pack up. Made some coffee but just grabbed juice and a protein bar for breakfast. Was on the road before 8:30. I had decided to take the turnpike, even though I hate paying the tolls, but I would have spent the same amount of fuel and taken an hour longer to go around it. Unfortunately, there was an accident nearly Orlando which caused a 90 minute slow down, so I got off early anyway, which probably ended up being a mistake because SR27 had too many lights on it, so I headed back to the turnpike on the other side of the crash, and ended up in a construction zone. Whatever, I ended up arriving at Dupuis just before 2:00, did only the barest of set ups, put Flash in the nearest paddock with hay and water, and promptly climbed up into bed. I could feel myself winding down during the drive, and knew that after three weeks of non-stop activity, a crash was soon to be upon me. I read and napped for several hours, finally got up and made some dinner, watched a little TV, but will soon be heading for bed again. So glad to have electric again, my storage batteries are completely not holding a charge anymore. I have so much stuff to do once I recover, but I am taking a couple of days off!! Exhausted! Won’t be long out of bed tonight! Good night, sugar! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Had a great night sleep, went out on the side-by-side with DeDe and retrieved a lot of the markers, with my helpers Kelsey and Alexis doing more than half, we picked up buckets, met Jo and Helen for lunch at Willard’s, got back to camp and finished packing and handing over all of the ribbons, markers and other ride paraphernalia back to Jo, then did most of the packing on the trailer, including hooking up the truck so that I can get out of here early tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, the forecast is calling for temps in the 30’s in the morning, brrrrr! So glad I got out my Alaska parka and washed it, I’ve been using it every day! Settled down at dusk, but my batteries are holding such a low charge, I doubt the furnace will make it through the night, so it’s going to be a tough morning! Switched Flashes light blanket out for his heavy one, too. Watched a little TV, but going to bed early tonight to read, just to stay warm. Good night, baby! Love you!