Archives for July 2020

Tuesday, July 21, 2020 – First Ride at Potato Creek and Shopping

Hi Sweetie!
Slept a bit late this morning, after being woke up in the middle of the night by Lola charging out the door after some critter. I guess I didn't close it all the way. She had a nice little walkabout while I waited for her to return and she finally did. She definitely needs some exercise, so after breakfast and some chores, I saddled up Flash and we hit the trails. I planned a route that would let us do almost a full perimeter, except one trail that went right by the road which I decided to avoid for Lola's sake. We had to do one section twice just to get over six miles! I don't know if it was because of all the riding Flash and I have been doing, or if it's because he had a day of rest, or because it was a little cooler (though the humidity is still pretty high), or if it's the fact that I've been transitioning them over to alfalfa, but he was full of P&V today! We walked a little bit at first, but then he asked for permission to go faster (granted) and proceed to start gaiting at quite a nice pace, and he kept at it almost non-stop the rest of the trip. My GPS was recording some of his splits upwards of 7+ miles an hour! Under those conditions, of course, it didn't take us long to cover practically the whole park in no time! Sweetie, this would have been the perfect place for you to ride, mostly level, lots of woods, very easy going, and just the right length of trails for you. Definitely missed you today! Anyway, we got back in short order, sprayed everyone down again (the horseflies are really bad here right now), then started my third load of laundry since I got here, changed clothes, and headed out to do some shopping. South Bend is only about 15 minutes away, so it's very convenient. I went to Kohls to get some new undershorts to replace the old girdles I've pretty much worn out (not surprising, I've had them since the 1970's!), but they're perfect for long distance riding (I discovered the padded bicycle shorts don't work, too much rubbing in all the wrong places! Yeah, I know, TMI!) Then I went to Joann's Fabrics and bought three yards of tan velcro. I've decided rather than trash this mostly good screen room, I'd go ahead and put velcro on the door for now, so I can get a few more seasons out of it. Seems like such a waste to junk it when I can fix it with $12 of velcro and an hour or less of sewing. When it does wear out, I can bring out my other, brand spanking new one in a couple of years as a replacement. That's one of tomorrow's jobs, along with repairing a hose and a few other things. Then I went to Walmart for a little regular shopping, got my hair cut (long overdue!), filled up with diesel at $2.08/gallon and was back in camp in no time. Some potato soup for dinner (in honor of Potato Creek, of course!), and now I'm settling down for the evening. Love you, darling! Good night!

Monday, July 20, 2020 – Travel Day to Potato Creek, IN

Hey Babe,
Got up bright and early this morning so that I would be able to get to Harmar in Elkhart by 10:00. Flash gave me hardly any problems this morning, was loaded in two minutes after staring at the ramp that long, yay! Apollo jumped in as usual, breakfast was waiting after all! Had a quiet drive on mostly back roads, and managed to make it right on time. They did a fabulous job. Not only did they repair the on panel that was bowing out, they screwed down every other panel to make sure it didn't happen anywhere else. They even used white screws, so it looks just fine, and they only charge me $50, for the screws, owner Randy said. Labor is usually in the $100+ per hour range and it took them an hour, but he didn't charge me labor. Fantastic customer service! You want a great custom-built horse trailer with incredible support, Harmar's the place! From there it was only about 40 minutes to Potato Creek, another easy drive, and I got here before noon. First thing I did after checking in was to go to the dump. I didn't go to Salamonie because I checked it out yesterday, and there was no room to turn a rig this big around down there. Here at Potato Creek, no problem! I got into my site, got the horses out and put them on anchors, there's a lot of nice clover around here to munch on, and I proceed to change one of the trailer tires. There was a pretty good sized slash in the sidewall, and I managed to make it here, but I was on pins and needles worrying about it all the way, and don't want to take any chances. I managed to loosen all the lug nuts but two, and fortunately there was a guy here, the camp host, who just happened to be spreading some fresh dirt around the hitching rail, and he gave me a hand loosening the last two. After that I finished the job on my own. Thank goodness for my new extra-large Jiffy Jack, it worked brilliantly, and didn't get crushed! The hardest part was actually getting the spare back in place at the front of the trailer, but with just enough boards to make good leverage, I managed to get it on okay. After that I finished my setup, the screen room and outdoor rug, etc., filled up with water, started a load of laundry, filled the truck up with water so I wouldn't have to run the hose across the road every day to fill up the horses' buckets, cooked myself a meal (I hadn't eaten anything except half a protein bar this morning, but had been too busy to realize I was hungry until I sat down for a few minutes), and basked in the air-conditioning, although it's actually a lot cooler today than it has been. Where I'm situated, the afternoon sun will go behind trees early, so it should be cool enough to sit in the screen room more often that I have been. Apollo keeps trying to push his way in here today for some reason! Anyway, I'm settling down for the evening, I was told by the campground host that there isn't much of a cell phone signal here, but I haven't had any problems, not even getting Netflix! A little slow, maybe, but at least I'm getting it. And for the first time in a long time, I'm even getting local channels, though I need a new coax connector, the last one keeps coming apart. So, another new horse camp, which is quite nice, though there's barely six miles of trails here, but I've got other things to do this week preparing for my job in Michigan next week anyway. Time to settle down for the evening! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Sunday, July 19, 2020 – Departure Prep and Housekeeping

Hey Darlin’,
First thing I heard when I took my earplugs out this morning was that dang generator behind me. Grrr… I started putting stuff away, since I’m leaving tomorrow, and at one point I was outside when that generator ran out of gas, and I did a not too quiet “Whoo hoo!” which I’m sure couldn’t help but be heard in the deafening silence of the morning. No one rushed to turn it back on again, thank goodness, I actually got to enjoy a few minutes of peace sitting in the screen room! About 45 minutes later they were all packed up and out of there before 10:30. It’s been awhile since I’ve been so happy to see the backside of a camp neighbor, but there you go. Anyway, I paced myself all day, my only goal being to have all the outdoor stuff put away before the expected rain came in. First it was forecast at 12, then 2, and it finally got here around 3, but by then I had everything packed, and the house cleaned as well. When the front came through there were some pretty significant micro-bursts of wind, which pushed the solar panel over, and blew the top of Lola’s water bottle about 10 feet away, but no damage. After that all calmed down and cooled down nicely, and it looked like the rain had quit, I hooked up the truck (so now I’m leaning forward just a bit, but not bad) and got the hay all set in the mangers for tomorrow. Then I relaxed the rest of the afternoon, fed the horses around 8:00, took my shower and am settled in for the evening. Bedtime soon! It’s about two hours drive to Harmar for the trailer repair, then another 40 minutes to Potato Creek, so I should get there by midday easy if the repair doesn’t take long, and if I don’t get a flat tire on the way. I noticed a cut in the sidewall of one of the trailer tires, fingers crossed it holds up. Anyway, we’ll worry about that tomorrow! Good night, my love!

Saturday, July 18, 2020 – Long Ride on Flash

Hi Sweetie,
Today was my last chance to finish up all the trails here, and now that Flash was fit, we headed out right after breakfast. There's essentially two main trails here, but they often merge, have connectors, and occasionally have another loop go off them, and I've already covered pretty much all of them except the ones in the very northern part of the park, so that's where we headed. If you like trails that are a combination of woods and fields, you'd like this place. It was a bit too open for my taste, with many trails essentially just skirting fields, and in the case of one loop, around an entire cornfield, and it was quite hot today, so it was a lot of sun. There are a few scenic loops, but we've done all those already, so this was more like just a ride around a farm with an occasional lake view. Flash was good, though, we had a lot of nice canters and fast gaiting, and Lola just loved running along side and behind. We only ran into one large group, and Lola still managed to go way off into the woods to pass them and catch up. She really is a brilliant dog. I also stopped at Bozarth's Camp Store, which is apparently an iconic destination here, just to see what it looked like. They had a lot of fishing and camp supplies and a grill serving classic junk food, so I passed on food. I was saving myself for some incredible cantaloupe I had bought the other day, with some cottage cheese and a few black cherries one of the Rosebud ladies brought me last week, delicious! I also had bought some lovely smoked salmon and noshed on that a bit later. Not surprisingly, the loud generator was going full blast when I got back, and I don't think there was even anyone in their camp! I gave Flash and Lola both a bath, took my shower early, and had to put the generator on for a lot longer today to run the AC, it's a very hot day, and not going to drop much tonight. OMG, they just turned their generator off, and it's only 10:18! Must have had a busy day and they're going to be early. They've had their radio blasting country music for hours, so I haven't been able to spend much time in the screen room, just too noisy. I swear, I hate weekends in parks, give me a nice quiet weekday any day! But I got all the trails GPS'd except one connector trail I just couldn't fit in easily enough at the far north end. It was a nice 4-plus hour ride though, very enjoyable. Hope I can sleep in this heat! At least the next place, Potato Creek, has electric, so I'll be able to run my AC a bit more. I'm holding out on doing any more laundry until I get there, too. Well, I'm going to bed and leaving the little fan on tonight, at least until the batteries give out or it finally cools down enough. Good night, darlin'! Love you!

Friday, July 17, 2020 – Computer Work and Noisy New Neighbors

Hi Babe,
Didn’t get a very good night sleep for some reason, though it was cooler. Thought about going riding with Jonella and her two friends, but since I sent an emailer out yesterday, I’ve been getting a lot of responses and a lot of bouncebacks, and because I want Flash to rest his ankle one more day, I decided to stay in camp. I moved my fence around so the horses could get some new grass, but then I had neighbors show up behind me, and evidently I was blocking their access to the hitching rail that one of their group was going to use, so I took my fence down and moved my highline over to give them the space. I was hoping they would have a fence and work with me a bit so I wouldn’t have to do all that, but they didn’t. Later, the trailer that was supposed to be in that spot moved all the way across the road, but left their horse behind, alone at the hitching rail. Not sure what that’s about, but my is not to reason why. They had a dog that is never on a leash, so Lola’s been going kinda nuts because I’ve been keeping her cooped up, and they weren’t here 20 minutes when they pulled out a huge generator and cranked it up, one of those really loud kind, and ran the dang thing all day long. I don’t know what they were trying to power, because I didn’t hear the A/C on (then again, it’s so noisy I probably couldn’t anyway), but it was so bad when my friends came back from the ride they spoke to the ranger about it, and he went and talked to them, and they insisted they were going to keep it on all day until quiet time at 11:00. Great. Chances are they’ll crank it right up at 7:00 in the morning tomorrow, too, so I guess I’m wearing earplugs tonight! Anyway, I made myself a lovely salmon on the grill dinner, with onions and homegrown green peppers that one of the Rosebud ladies brought me last week, and grilled some summer squash along with steamed brussel sprouts, hmm, hmm, good! Mostly I’ve been having sandwiches and other easy stuff, but I was in the mood for something nicer tonight. After the gals came back from their ride, I wandered over and chatted with them for a while. They’re going up to the Forest tomorrow, but they’re leaving really early, so I decided if Flash was up to it, we’d take a long ride all the way up to the farther north point (which is just across the street from the state forest anyway) and back again, should be a little under 20 miles. It would be a nice finish to our stay here, because, of course, Sunday will be housekeeping and packing day, preparing for our departure on Monday. So today was a mixed bag, quiet in the morning, noisy the rest of the day, but I didn’t do much exertion, just a lot of computer work. And now it’s time for shower and bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Thursday, July 16, 2020 – New Webpage Up, Propane Run

Hiya Darlin’!
Another good night sleep, though it took me a while to nod off, but I managed to do some computer work and finally get my new business website up and running, yay! I took a quick trip into town to fill up three propane tanks, don’t want to run out before my next stop and this should do it. I’m headed to Potato Creek after this, and they have electric, as does the stable where I’m staying during my workshop, so this should hold me for a few weeks at least, depending on where I go after that. I also detoured over to the Salamonie River State Forest, they also have a horse camp, it’s about 10 miles north of here, and I wanted to check it out. I’m thinking of stopping there on the way back, and indeed, it’s a lot smaller, but it’s still has enough room for me. There’s a whole ‘nother set of trails over the explore. After I got back and put the final touches on the website (thankfully they used a system I’m familiar with, so it should be fairly easy to keep it updated now), and started sending out a mailer, though I’m not sure how many people on the list are still active. Then I went to visit a woman who I met down at Loretta Lynn’s, she told me she’d be here for a couple of days, so I walked over and we chatted for awhile. I recited my Snowy River poem to them, which they seemed to enjoy, then they walked back to tour the trailer. By this time it was after 9:00 (and still daylight!), and after they left I settled down for a short evening. They’re going riding in the morning, I may join them if one of my horses isn’t limping tomorrow. Hopefully most of my emails will be delivered, then it will just be a matter of revising the list, which could take awhile. Supposed to get down into the low 60’s tonight, so it should be great sleeping weather!. So now I’m off to shower and bed. Good night, my love!

Wednesday, July 15, 2020 – Short Ride on Gimpy Apollo

Hey Sweetie,
Another good night sleep, thank goodness! I spent most of the morning working on the computer, submitted my Equity Proposal, though they emailed back that I would have to develop a Covid 19 safety plan before it would be considered. This is getting truly nuts. I'm hoping I can convince them of my plan, but we'll see. I took a short ride on Apollo just to map out a couple of short sections of trail near camp that I'd missed before, but he got gimpy in a hurry, so we came back before we even did three miles, though that did cover all the trails I wanted to cover. Great, now I have two limpy horses! I looked at his feed, but it seems his left hind ankle is a bit swollen, not sure what caused it, but I'll have to let it rest and keep an eye on it. Flash is better, his burn is healing, not sure when he'll be fit enough to ride, but it shouldn't be too long. When we got back from the ride, I fixed the screen door, Miss Lola had scratched a good hole in the last one. I got a different type this time, we'll see if that holds up any better. Grilled a nice little pork chop outside along with some more of that nice summer squash and some apple sauce, and later tried a new flavor if ice cream, pistachio almond. For some reason this Walmart doesn't have any of the nutty flavors I usually like, so the last one was banana pudding, which was okay but not my favorite, and now this new one, which was pretty good. At least it had nuts! Settled down for the evening, but it's hot and humid tonight, there's a front coming through overnight and I guess this is being pushed in front of it. Expecting a lot of rain! Also, a few of the ladies I met down at Loretta Lynn's in June are coming in for the weekend, and I'm hoping we can trailer up to the State Forest on the north side of the lake, I'm pretty bored with the trails down on the south end. Besides, I want to see if the camp is suitable for this rig, because I'm thinking I might stay there on the way back south. Since I had to pay for an annual Indiana State Horse Pass, I figured I might as well get my money's worth and stay at every Indiana camp I can! Once my job is done in Michigan in a few weeks, I still have no idea where I'm headed, I'm thinking I'll let the weather dictate that, but we'll see. Anyway, shower and bed time! Goodnight, babe! Love you!

Tuesday, July 14, 2020 – Hay and Shopping

Hi Babe,
Had another great night sleep, this time I didn’t even use my earplugs! I did hear the birds early, but that didn’t prevent me from falling back to sleep until a reasonable hour. Did some computer work, working on a new Equity contract which I hope they’ll accept, then found some hay, well, actually, the nearest stuff was 100% alfalfa, which I usually don’t want to use, but for $6.50 for heavy, wire-bound bales, I couldn’t turn it down. I’m going to mix it a bit with the stuff they’ve got now, which they don’t really like for some reason (smells fresh, just doesn’t have that nice fermented smell to it), but I’ve only got 4 bales of that left, and I bought 10 bales of the alfalfa. It looks really good, almost as good as the stuff we used to get in New Mexico, so I know it won’t go to waste, and I won’t need to feed as much. After I picked that up, I went to a feed store called Stock and Feed, right across from the Tractor Supply, because I needed horse feed and they had a better selection there. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring the propane tanks with me, so that’s another trip I’ll probably have to make before I leave the area. Then Walmart for a few things, then back to camp, where I promptly fell asleep in my chair shortly after I sat in it. It was a lot hotter today and I think that may have been the cause, plus all the activity over the weekend may finally have caught up with me. Anyway, I relaxed for the evening, now I’m ready for shower and bed, so good night, darlin’! Love you!

Monday, July 13, 2020 – Beautiful, Productive Day!

Hey Sweetie!
What a beautiful day today! Despite all the activity over the weekend, I had a great night sleep and woke up energized, mostly because it was an absolutely gorgeous morning. Temps in the 60’s overnight, low 80’s in the afternoon. I got so much done today, it feels great. After feeding the horses I put up the electric fence in a nice large area so they have lots of room, something I should have done days ago, they’re loving the space without having to drag the anchors. I did a couple of loads of laundry and hung them out to dry on a line, then I changed the oil in the truck, then I sewed a ring back on the saddlebags that had ripped off, then I fixed your old helmet by putting the brim back on so now it’s a hel-hat again. It comes in handy when I take someone riding, like Callie, it was a perfect fit for her. I read for a while, just finished a three-part series, now I’m onto a new book. I cooked a nice steak on the grill and also grilled some slices of summer squash one of the Rosebud ladies gave me, which was a lovely change. Watched a movie for a change, since yesterday I binged on DS9 right till the end of the series, same with Grimm, so now I’m back to Voyager, but I don’t know how long I’m going to able to stick with that. So I watched a nice Ashley Judd movie filmed in the mountains, set in Virginia, a nice little chick flick, it would have made you cry in the end, you old softie! Took one shower already today after the oil change, but am going to do it again before going to bed since I have fresh sun-dried sheets. And that time is drawing near right now! I love a productive day! Good night, darling. Love you!

Sunday, July 12, 2020 – Second Endurance Ride!

Hi Babe!
Well, I finally ran my second endurance ride! Twenty-five miles (though my GPS said it was really only 22.4 but who am I to argue?), and I came in 5th, though there were lot less riders today than yesterday or my previous race. Tried a couple of different strategies, got a lot of advice from the organizers and other participants, and let Flash run his little heart out! The first 15 miles we ran with several other women, and Flash not only kept the pace, he was setting the pace for some entire sections! The gravel bothered him a bit, but most of the ride he was fine, and we averaged about 6 mph the whole way. The second 10 miles we were one our own, and he didn’t see the need to keep running as fast, but he still kept going well for the most part. My pit stop was a bit better, though I came in hot and it took awhile to cool him down and get his 112 heartbeat down to 60, and on my final 10 miles I walked him about the last quarter mile, and he heartbeat was at 60 when we arrived in camp, so I guess that worked. The time was a bit longer than the Florida race, though, but it’s hilly and wooded and the footing wasn’t as nice as the flat sand in Florida, so I wasn’t too surprise. Had a good time, though! I wasn’t thrille about getting up at 5:00 in the morning, but at least it was getting light by the time I saddled him, unlike in Florida where I rode a mile in the dark to the starting point. On another topic, I had an epiphany last night, I got one of those, “Why the heck didn’t I think of that sooner?” moments. There were some fireworks nearby late into the night last night (just what everyone here in the camp needed considering the time everyone had to get up!), which of course made Lola antsy and scratching at the bedroom door to get in. That’s been such a problem, and I’ve been trying to figure out a way to solve it for awhile. I put the garbage can at the bottom of the stairs a few times, but then she knocks it over and get garbage everywhere, so that didn’t work. Then last night I suddenly realized that if I open the pantry door and pull the panty slider out, she won’t be able to climb past it! Duh!!! There’s nothing she can really hurt in there even if she tried, and as afar as I know, she didn’t try, because she didn’t bother me all night and there was no mess in the morning, so maybe I’ve actually licked the problem, fingers crossed! I’ll keep doing that to see how it works, but at the moment it seems like it is. Anyway, I was so tired when I got back from the ride, once I put Flash away I crashed in my chair and mostly just watched TV all day. I was hoping it would rain to cool things off, and cool air has come in, but we only had a few minutes of rain. So now it’s late and I’m ready for shower and bed. Love you, darlin’! Good night!