Archives for October 2021

Hi Sweetie,
Had another great night sleep, got my chores done, and headed out to pick up ten bales of hay. This has got to be the closest hay maker I’ve ever gone to, literally just five minutes up the road! A lady named Tanya, and she had some very nice coastal (yeah, we’re back in coastal country again!), but they are big bales for just $6 a bale, so I’m a happy camper. Got them stored away, and was starting to wash the trailer by 11:00. What a job! I was determined to be very thorough today, since my plan is to wax it this time, a LONG overdue exercise. I also found a few more jobs that I need to do, like at the front, there’s a gap between the front aluminum panel and the roof, so I’m going to have to seal that again. I sealed the leaking drain pipe under the refrigerator at the end of the day, too, and it seems to have stopped the drip that was down there. Still don’t know where the water leak is, though, not sure I’ll have time to find and fix it until next week, but we’ll see. Also spent an hour on the phone trying to change a delivery of a package, that, surprise, surprise, was supposed to be here Friday but got delayed, this time by UPS, and they’re saying it will arrive on Saturday before 7:00 pm, which won’t help me because I had it sent General Delivery and the Post Office closes at 11:00 a.m. Sigh. Tracking has it about 100 miles away, so I’m hoping it comes tomorrow anyway, or that I can arrange with the post office to have it sent here to Mingo Trails on Saturday rather than risk missing it at the post office, which means, once again, I may have to delay a day to wait for it. I hate waiting for deliveries, they never seem to get here on time anymore! I am really getting sick of the Covid excuse for everything, but considering that everybody seems to be shorthanded, and there’s not enough people around getting hired, or seem to want to work. Heck, they’re getting $20 an hour at McDonalds now, for heaven’s sake! Between that and fuel prices going up and up, inflation is going crazy right now. Whatever, no sense ranting about it. I guess it is taking its toll, though, Colin Powell, who gave us that incredible praise after you worked with him so many years ago, passed away a few days ago from complications of Covid. I never watch news anymore, too depressing and biased, but I saw an RIP on a church sign as I was driving the other day. Strange but effective way to learn about things, huh? Anyway, I worked my butt off today and managed to get the trailer washed, except for some black streaks, you know how hard they are to get off. All those cans of Streak Away that we bought, what, twenty years ago now, have mostly rusted and can’t seem to get much out of them, so I’m on a search for a replacement, since they don’t make that anymore. Got an idea, I’ll let you know how it works tomorrow. Meanwhile, I’ve had my shower and I’ll be off to bed soon, trying hard to get on a schedule that’s a bit earlier to bed, since the days are getting so much shorter now. So I’ll say good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
Had a good night sleep, another beautiful morning, got my chores done, and after breakfast, headed out to the nearby town of Dublin to do my shopping. Went to Home Depot to look for several things, none of which they had, then on to Tractor Supply to get a couple of propane tanks filled, happy to see their price was still only $3.15 a gallon, up a bit, but not outrageous yet. Prices for everything have been going up like crazy, thanks Uncle Joe! Finally got to Walmart and spent almost $200, though it didn’t seem like I bought all that much. Diesel was almost $3.50 a gallon now, higher in a lot of places, dang it! Got stopped a couple of times in Walmart who wanted to chat (thanks to Lola!), including one veteran named Dean who lost his wife last year and is having a hard time adjusting. Anyway, got my shopping done, but it was nearly 4:00 by the time I got back to camp. I bought a few items to help me get more organized, so I spent a bit of time doing that. Finally settled down for the evening to a nice piece of bacon-wrapped sirloin I cooked on the grill, but I’m feeling tired again, long day. I have another long day planned for tomorrow, I want to wash and hopefully wax the trailer, though it may take two days, but it’s long overdue. The trailer is looking a little dull, and we can’t have that now, can we? Getting to bed early, hopefully, so I’ll say good night now. Love you, babe!

Hi Babe,
Woke up to a beautiful morning, a bit chilly but not for long! I had so much to do today, I got busy right after chores and breakfast, and cracked at it all day long! I started by replacing the bedroom window. It took longer than I expected (what else is new?), but since I didn’t have any help, I had to get creative. Cleaning all the old adhesive was the hardest part, then once I got the new window in I had to tape it to keep it there while I went inside to screw it in properly. Wasn’t a perfect fit, but good enough! I sealed around the window (though the instructions claim I didn’t need to, but I’m not taking any chances!), and while I had the adhesive open, I also fixed the handle on the slider window over the kitchen table that had come off a long time ago. It stayed for a while, but finally came off for good a few weeks ago, so I Gorilla glued it in, so hopefully that will be permanent now. Then I had to tackle the tailgate problem, I just couldn’t get the darn thing open, finally had to go ask the camp host for help, and she came over and gave me a hand. Had to pull the shaft that locks it with a pair of pliers to get it done, but we managed it. I took off the tailgate, and was hoping if I could straighten it out enough it would solve the problem, so once again, I creatively dropped the trailer back onto the truck, raised the jacks, put a board on the ground to make it more level, put the tailgate under the jacks and proceed to drop the trailer on it, figuring the weight would do a good job of straightening it out. It actually did, too, for the most part. Not enough to get the handle to work right, but at least it’s a little better. I just can’t slam it completely closed, I just have to push one side in lightly until it locks, which will hopefully be good enough for my purposes. I’m not sure if it’s just the handle not working properly or because it’s still slightly bent, but never mind! Well, all of that took me until about 4:00, and I felt exhausted because it was all nonstop all day, but I managed to get a lot accomplished. I still have a long list of things to do, so I’m not even sure I’ll get a chance to ride here, but I plan on getting a lot of stuff done, fixed, maintained, etc. while I have water and electric and almost no one around to distract me. Finally settled down with a grilled burger, a little more Goliath, and soon I’ll be off to shower and bed. Love you, sweetie! Good night!

Hi Sweetie,
Up with the alarm at 7:30, another very foggy morning. Strange, the only day it wasn’t foggy in the morning was yesterday right after the cold front came through, back to being foggy, weird geography here! Anyway, it didn’t take long to finish packing up, and all indications, from emails, texts and the shipper, indicate that my window is out for delivery on a FedEx truck out of Macon, with the delivery at Mingo Trails, so, unless they completely screwed up again, it looked good for getting it today. The drive was uneventful, though I probably shouldn’t have taken the freeway, it took me to close to Atlanta and I got stuck in some traffic, but still managed to arrive at Mingo Trails around 12:45. Got signed in, parked in my usual parking spot, got the horses highlined and everything else unpacked. I couldn’t get my new tailgate down, though, I’m going to have to do something about that. It does me no good if I can’t get it up and down easily. So the truck is stuck under the trailer until I figure out what to do, or get some muscles to help me unstick it, then figure out a way to prevent it from happening again. I lubricated it yesterday, but that obviously didn’t help. It’s nice to have electric again! I put Lola’s ball machine out, and she fetched herself crazy for awhile, which kept her busy while I was doing other things, and tired her out for the night, I hope. Got a load of laundry done, too. I have a water leak somewhere, the pump keeps running intermittently every couple of hours, but I haven’t been able to find it yet. I did find a drip out of a drain pipe (the one I put in last year), so I’m going to have to revisit that, hoping I can just seal the seams with some silicon sealer. I bought two tubes for the window, so I should have plenty to do several odd jobs that need doing. Meanwhile, I’m not hooking up to the water directly, don’t need to invite a flood, but I may do when I have time just to see if it helps spot the leak. It was a beautiful day, but I have another 45 degree night ahead of me. FedEx FINALLY arrived with my window just before 7:00 pm, so that’s my first job tomorrow. I’m hoping I can find someone to give me a hand getting it in, but if I have to do it on my own, you know I’ll find a way! Finally settled down for the evening, got the fireplace going so I won’t freeze tonight, I might not even need all four layers of bedding tonight now! Heading off soon! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Well, it did get cold during the night, but my plastic wrap and tape over the window, plus my four layers of bedding and my wool cap did the trick keeping me warm! Actually slept kind of late, but so what? Nothing to do today but pack up a few things, let the horses run around the field, read, sew a bit of Lola’s bed (what else is new?), ordered a few things online and otherwise relax. One of the camper couples that moved in yesterday afternoon turned out to be the same couple I met here last year, and our horses romped around the field together, although it was a bit dicey for a minute, because she let them out before I took off Apollo’s anchor, and that spooked her horses, and they all went for a rousing gallop across the field going the wrong way, towards people and other horses, but it didn’t last long. Mine found their way home to me after I called them (good boys!), but she had a bit more trouble catching hers. Well, actually another ride caught them, but it all ended well. I kept mine tied up until later in the afternoon when most folks were gone and put them out again, and a bit later, she did too, and they all looked great out in the field grazing together. Got everything packed and the truck hooked up, but still not sure if I’m leaving tomorrow or waiting for stupid FedEx to bring me my package. I can’t find out until I call the shipper and THEY call FedEx to find out where it’s actually going. What a ridiculous system! Anyway, I’m hoping to leave here tomorrow, just have to wait and see! Settled in for the evening, started a new Prime series with Billy Bob Thornton called Goliath, had my shower, and just going to finish off my Sleepytime tea and head to bed nice and early. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe!
Just before going to bed last night, that little voice in my head said I should go out and put plastic over my broken bedroom window, even though there was only a 30 percent chance of rain at 6 a.m. Glad I listened! I used one of the big 55 gallon drum trash bags and managed to cover it pretty well, at sure, enough, at 6:00, I woke up to the sound of heavy rain pounding on the roof, with a breeze coming from the direction that would have brought it right into the drape. Got back to sleep for a bit, then got up and did my chores. The rain got rid of most of the mist, but it was cloudy and windy, but that didn’t seem to bother the 4000 people that evidently showed up for this track meet today. I was very glad no one asked me to move, but I didn’t put the fence up like I was going to, so I spent most of the morning minding the kids wanting to pet the horses. It was cool enough for me to put a jacket on while I was out there! The sun finally came out around noon, and by 1:00 or so, the place was emptying out fast, so we had the place mostly to ourselves for the afternoon. A couple of other campers came in, one regular and one horse camper, but I haven’t spoken to either of them. I binged on TV and read most of the rest of the day. Discovered that my package is now at a FedEx place about 40 miles from here, but naturally, it’s closed to the public so I can’t go pick it up. It still says it’s sending it to Toomsboro, which is fine since I’ll be there next week, but I can’t be sure it’s not coming here, either, so I’ll have to check on it for sure on Monday. If it’s coming here, I’ll likely have to stay another day just to wait for it. Sigh… FedEx strikes again. I’ve said it before, in 30+ years, I don’t think I’ve EVER received a package when and where it’s supposed to received. I honestly don’t know how they stay in business! At least with UPS I can change the delivery with little problem, with FedEx, I can’t even arrange to pick the dang thing up! Anyway, I’m still going to pack up tomorrow as if I’m leaving on Monday, but something tells me I’ll be staying here another night. Anyway, didn’t do much the rest of the day, except research a few items I need, and ordered a new carbon monoxide detector, since by all accounts it has outlived it’s performance date by many years! I also put the blankets on the horses since it’s supposed to be going down into the 40’s tonight, another reason I also finished taping up the window, and since I’m evidently going to have to travel with it broken as well. Heading to shower and bed before long. Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Darlin’!
Well, all the best laid plans today! I managed to solve numerous problems this morning, confirming that my new window is, indeed, supposed to arrive early and I was able to change to address in time to get it to the right place, here at McIntosh tomorrow. Well, I hope so, anyway, you never can tell with FedEx, they always seem to disappoint. Fingers crossed, though, if I can get this fixed before the rain and cold weather come in on Saturday! Also ordered all the rest of the sealant tape and clear seal I need to finish the job. Once I got that all squared away, though, I created another problem for myself. I was all set to go riding, and decided to fill up the water tank before the busy weekend, but while I was worrying about backing up onto their hose, a tree jumped out and smashed into my tailgate! Really messed it up, too. So I changed out of my riding gear into my jeans and spent the rest of the afternoon making a dozen phone calls and going to four different junkyards before I finally found an affordable tailgate in somewhat the right color. It’s not perfect (then again, neither was the old one!) but we managed to get it on okay. I just need to put some lubricant on it to make it a bit easier to open and close, it’s ever so slightly bowed in the middle, hardly noticeable but just enough to not make it close easily. Anyway, that took me hours to accomplish, got back to camp at nearly 6:00, fed the horses, grilled a chicken thigh and finally relaxed the rest of the evening. Unfortunately, I just checked my FedEx tracking and even though they’re still saying I’m going to get my window tomorrow, they’re also saying it’s going to next week’s address (instead of this week’s) and that at the moment it’s on its way to Holbrook, Arizona! What’s up with that? Can’t wait to see how this plays out! As I said, FedEx never fails to disappoint! Anyway, not going to worry about it, I’m just going to take my shower and go to bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe!
Woke up to a very thick fog today, so after chores, I did a few things around the house, waiting for the fog to lift. Once it did, I saddled up Apollo, since he hasn’t been ridden in a couple of weeks now, and headed out for about a five mile loop, along the river first, then through the woods. It’s really pretty here, and it’s small enough to not get lost once you get the lay of the land. There are NO trail markers here, and lots of shortcuts that lead to the same place, so it can be challenging for a stranger, but since I was here last year, I know them well enough to not freak out about it. No boots were necessary and the grades are fairly tame, so Lola and I had a good time. Not too many people here at the moment, but one of the staff came by to warn me that there’s a HUGE event this weekend, and that I wouldn’t be able to get out if I wanted to, which is fine since I’m not leaving on Monday. He warned me, though, that it’s POSSIBLE that the organizer will want me to move out of the park, or at least to another place in the park, because they had rented the entire area out! Not really relishing the idea that I might have to pack up and move a quarter mile just to stay out of their way, but he seemed to think the organizer would probably be too busy to notice I’m even here, way down on the other end of the field! Fingers crossed! Later in the day, he was kind enough to deliver my Amazon package to me, and I’ve managed to install a new keyboard on my laptop, yay! Wasn’t hard, but the silly thing was missing two out of six screws, so I had to cannibalize the old one to replace those. The action is a little different, but I’ll get used to that. I’m just glad to have all my keys working again! Now I’ve caught up on my blog, I’ll be settling in before long, so I’ll say good night now. Love you, sweetie!

Hi Sweetie!
Managed to have a good night sleep, having gone to bed quite early and waking up around seven, though it was still pitch dark! Sunrise wasn’t until 7:45, and it was cloudy this morning, so I wasn’t in a hurry to get out of bed. After chores and breakfast, I got on the computer to solve a couple of problems, glad there’s a good cell phone signal here. I managed to find and order a new window for the bedroom, but it can’t be delivered until next week, so I’m having it sent to Mingo Trails, where I hope I can enlist the help of someone to lift it in. I also had to order a new keyboard for my computer. I had problems with my up arrow key for quite a while, but now my Enter key and my right shift key isn’t working, which makes almost everything impossibly hard, and in some cases, like paragraphs, COMPLETELY impossible. Fortunately, Amazon Prime is able to deliver one to me tomorrow, so hopefully I can get that problem fixed quickly. Then I went on Marketplace to look for a file cabinet, and managed to find some used ones less than 30 minutes away, so I ran out and got one. I’ve been wanting to reorganize some of the office stuff that I’ve been storing under the kitchen table, as well as some stuff I’ve just piled in the back, and I thought a filing cabinet would accomplish that. Once I got back to camp with it, I manhandled it into place in the front stall and spent the rest of the afternoon sorting things out. Meanwhile, I let the horses out so they could graze in the pasture across the road, there’s acres of beautiful green grass. I put the anchors on Apollo, which didn’t stop him from having a good gallop, and let Flash run free, since he never gets too far. He even came back to visit a few times while I was working in the back, silly horse! I got the barbecue grill out, I’m having a burger and salad tonight, then I’m settling down for the evening! I need to get some rest! Good night, darlin’! Love you!