Archives for 2021

Hi Babe!
Had a good night sleep, then did chores. Maggie and Sandy both decided not to ride today, Sandy had a brief dizzy spell which we attributed to a bit of dehydration from the ride yesterday, so ended up riding Socks again today. Pat decided not to come along on her other horse, and the two new girls, Joyce and Sean came along, so it was just the four of us. They wanted to do the lake trail, so we took that one. I tried to figure out where I lost the trail last time, and still managed to miss it somehow, but it was a very nice ride, much more relaxing because my two slowpokes weren’t holding us back, which made it a much faster ride as well. We were back in camp just after noon, though Sandy and Maggie had gone off somewhere to find a wifi signal. I went looking for them, and they were just coming, back to camp, so we ended up deciding to find a place where we could have lunch, a wifi signal and air-conditioning for a few hours. We ended up with an additional bonus, waterfront, because we went to Cindy’s on the Barge, down by the Marina. A nice little, inexpensive grill with a gift shop where Sandy bought a T-shirt for her husband. After lunch they drove down to the barn so they could get another look at the horse Sandy is considering buying, I stayed behind to do a bunch of overdue work on my computer, including uploading this week’s worth of diary entries. When I finished that, I called the ladies to see if they were still at the barn, but neither answered, so I thought maybe they had already got back to camp so I drove there. They weren’t there, so I went and visited Trish and her group for a bit, and we all decided to take a run out to the Bison and Elk sanctuaries they have here. Once everyone got organized, we headed to the north on first, where there was an unexpected $5 entry fee, but we paid and drove around about a two mile (if that) loop where we saw one tiny herd of about 10 bison at the top of a hill, barely visible. Not exactly worth it, but hey, we did it! Then we headed south to the other bison viewing area, but we got about six miles or so south when we learned the ladies in the other truck were running low on fuel. Rather than head back north (which would have been shorter), we kept going south, all the way down to Dover, TN to find fuel. Trish knew of an ice cream place in town so we drove there, only to discover they were “closed for maintenance” at 5:00! Crazy! So then we went back to the McDonalds, because now I was really in the mood for something sweet, and when I asked for ice cream or a milkshake, I was told they weren’t available at the moment! REALLY?? Oh, well, I managed to get a Caramel Frappe which satisfied my sweet tooth and need for something cool on my tongue. We headed back towards camp, and saw a single rogue Bison on the south viewing range by some corrals, then another herd further up a hill, actually more than we saw in the paid viewing area, so I guess we got our money’s worth. By the time we got back to camp (and I went the back way to show them the crazy road I drove in on with the trailer and ran into a short, heavy downpour) Sandy and Maggie were back. We chatted for a bit, exchanging stories about our adventures, and all the new information Sandy learned about the horse she’s looking at, sounds very promising for her! We even are considering that I bring her up to her when she’s visiting her daughter and granddaughter in central Michigan, if we can get the timing to work out. Then just as we were settling down to watch Silver Streak, all the ladies showed up for a tour of the trailer (those who hadn’t seen it yet) and to chat about tomorrow. They’re getting bummed out by the heat and are considering leaving in the morning rather than riding, which kind of changes all our plans, but nothing too serious. They’ll make a final decision in the morning. I mean, yeah, it’s hot, and really humid with all the rain, but it’s a lot cooler in the woods so for me it’s no big deal when you’re riding, but I guess it matters to some folks. We’ll see. Anyway, after they left, we watched a little more of the movie while Sandy’s pillow was in the dryer, then they both headed out to their respective tents. Now it’s my turn for a shower and bed, at least I downloaded my next two books while I was out, I ran out of reading last night, horror of horrors! So I’ll say good-night now, my darling! Love you!

Hi Sweetie!
Hard to believe it would have been 32 years of marriage today! And 35 years together! What a ride it’s been, and still is! We all slept well, and this morning after chores, we all mounted up for our first group ride together. I had planned about an 8-mile trip, which everyone thought was a good start just to see how it all went, and it turned out quite well. Maggie rode Flash for the first time, Sandy was on Apollo, and I was on Pat’s extra horse Socks, a beautiful quarter horse mare with lots of get up and go. Only problem was, as the ride progressed, Pat was rather adamant that I keep Socks at a walk, no matter what. She really wanted to run up hills and jog to catch up with the leaders, but Pat said no, so toward the end, Socks was really being pushy about wanting to go, and I would have loved to, she had a beautiful jog and a fabulous lope, but instead I was fighting her for the last couple of miles. Not as much fun as I would have liked, but beggars can’t be choosers, it was either that or stay home. Other than that bit of trouble, the ride was quite nice, lots of dirt roads, not as much gravel as I’ve seen, though there was still quite a bit. Not too steep but still some grades, overall a good ride. Got back to camp just after 2:00, didn’t have any rain again, despite the dire forecast of storms, got all the horses put away. Sorry to say that Flash’s bulbs are being rubbed raw by these new boots, he’s going to have to get a few days off before we’re going to try that again. Apollo isn’t raw, but he’s definitely footsore, he was dragging behind all day. Well, can’t say I blame them, they’ve been working hard the last few weeks! Not used to this rough terrain! The ladies then decided they wanted to go visit a horse sale barn, where Candy had bought her Walkaloosa a few years ago, just for fun, so off we went. It was only about 20 minutes away, so it was an easy trip. We walked around the barn and looked at all the horses, but since I wasn’t in the market, I ended up going back to the truck and taking care of a little business, including find a local haymaker and arranging to pick some up over the weekend. When we got back to camp, we discovered it had rained while we were gone (and there was a beautiful rainbow right over camp!), but we had left out tack out to dry, and of course it got wet, but a couple of young ladies who had moved in across the road from us told us they had put out saddles inside the screen room for us! How incredibly kind and thoughtful! We put the rest away, then got dinner ready, which we enjoyed at the picnic table, then settled down for the evening trying to figure out what we’re going to do tomorrow. I want to let my horses rest, and there’s only one spare horse, so we’re thinking Sandy will ride Socks, and Maggie and I will stay home. I really have a lot of work to get caught up on, and I have all next week to ride, and Maggie has already said she wants to rest tomorrow, so I think that’s the best solution. Anyway, enjoying a little bowl of ice cream, then I’ll be taking a shower and be off to bed shortly! Good night, my love! Happy Anniversary! Love you forever and ever!

Hi Babe!
Another good night sleep, though I’m glad my AC was on before going to bed, it was pretty hot and humid. Got out of bed around 8:00, after doing some of my PT exercises. My knee is feeling really good these days, there’s even times when I momentarily forget about it, and those times are getting longer and longer, so I trust it won’t be long before it’s all back to normal. Got the horses saddled and booted and headed out to do Trail #1, which goes along the edge of the lake part of the way. There’s a lot of stones on some stretches, though some was just dirt and mud, which was nice, nothing too mucky. The horses are still being very “mincey” on the stones, and Flash still has some raw spots on his heel bulbs from his new boots, I was hoping that three days off would have helped, but not enough to callous yet. It was a nice ride, though, just over six miles. When we got back, we headed into Murray, KY, because the Tractor Supply said they had my Nutrena Balancer last week, but when we got there, they had NONE! Very disappointing! Apparently they have one customer who comes in irregularly and buys up the lot, so I was stuck. The next nearest TSC was 30 miles in the wrong direction, and I’m not that low, so I decided to wait until they got their shipment on Saturday to see if they got any more (they have no control over that, it’s all done at HQ), but the woman there said she’d get some in for me even if she had to send one of her employees to the nearest store and pick them up for me! Very generous! I’m hoping she won’t have to go to all that trouble, and there is another store east of Wranglers about the same distance, if I have to go there I will. Good thing I have enough for a while! I’ll need to find some hay by then, too, maybe sooner, and without a cell signal, it’s going to be a challenge! We then went to a little Mexican restaurant and had a lovely meal, then Walmart to pick up a few things and fill up the truck, then back to camp, where Sandy had already arrived and Trish was just walking over to my trailer when we pulled up, so it was all happy timing in the end! We sat around chatting for a bit, then we went over to her trailer (well, her friend’s trailer whom she’s traveling with), and we all chatted with Pat and Candy as well. More of her friends are arriving tomorrow, but we’re all going to ride tomorrow, and Pat brought an extra horse so we can do that. Evidently the new friends coming tomorrow are bringing yet ANOTHER extra horse, so my guys will be able to switch off and rest every other day, which will be nice for them. I helped them with a couple of water issues, then we separated for the night so I could plan a route for tomorrow. The gals just finished their showers, so I’m about to take mine, then off to bed! Good night, Darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’!
A good night sleep with no alarm in the morning, yay! Still got up fairly early, that’s the habit now, got the horses fed, just had cereal for breakfast, then ran out to the coop for a few bales of hay so I won’t run out next week, though it’s not great hay and the horses are leaving a lot on the ground. I only got two bales, so I didn’t bother to get out of the truck to load, which was my mistake, because when I got back to camp I discovered that one of the bales was completely rotten and moldy on one side, so I had to run back and change it out. Crappy hay at a higher than normal price, NOT GOOD! By the time I got back, though, the horses were pretty much tacked up and ready to go, so Callie and I took off for our ride. The horses were REALLY being reluctant today, can’t say I blame them with all the rocks and how much riding they’ve been doing on steep hills after nothing but sand a flat for six months. We managed okay. I took Callie to a secret place that I discovered that she had asked about, then because the horses were acting so tender-footed, but took a shortcut back to camp, a minor one-way horse trail direct from town to camp, so we were back in short order, less than two hours, for which I’m sure the horses were grateful. Then we all decided to go to the snack shack down in town (run by Loretta’s daughter) for lunch, I left the truck at the tube pickup point by town, and afterward we came back and all got ready to launch out tubes! The creek was moving MUCH faster than last year, but it still was over 90 minutes long (last year it was two hours), but it was very enjoyable. We had to portage around the same tree as last year, but with the creek higher, we didn’t have to do any dragging. It was a beautiful ride, nice and peaceful, with no one on the water once we got out of camp, so it was pretty quiet, which made it lovely. It was a really great day! We weren’t hungry enough for dinner after that late lunch, so a touch of ice cream, now I’m off to shower and bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie!
Another busy day here at the Loretta Lynch Summer Ride! Slept in till the last moment to get breakfast, then came back and fed the horses and Lola. Then we spent a few minutes pulling everything out of the screen room and washing it down, everything got so muddy with the rain, including the rug. Then we spread everything out to dry, since it was a gorgeous day today. Maggie decided not to ride today, so I decided to go with Sandy, since she was up for it, and she had wanted to ride Apollo, whom she hadn’t ridden yet, so after awhile, we saddled them up and headed off at around 11:00. It was later than we wanted but we tried to fit a breast collar that I had bought at Tractor Supply but it turned out to be too small. I’ll have to look at it again to see if I can modify it to work, or if I have to return it and find something else. We decided to follow the green trail, which had a few really serious climbs (a couple even made Flash’s legs shake and he almost slid backwards on one), and a long section of it was right down a creek bed full of sharp stones, way too long, in my opinion, but it could be easily remedied by trails that paralleled the creek. I mentioned it to Anthony about maybe rerouting it, but we’ll see. But meanwhile, it was still a lovely ride, though it got us back just after the cook shack closed at 1:30, but they were kind enough to make us a sandwich anyway. After we got the horses put away, Sandy and I decided to spend some time down in the creek, so we carried our chairs down there and sat for quite awhile in the cool water. I brought Lola out a little later and played fetch in the creek, but the current was running so fast she kept losing it in the current. We had their usual, very nice fish fry dinner, then came back and fed the horses, and then decided to take the wagon ride that took us on a long loop around the ranch and the neighborhood. Apparently we took an unusual route because the regular route was too washed out after the rain, but it was pleasant enough, a gorgeous evening, and the bugs didn’t even bother me. Lots of fireflies, just lovely. Got back around 10:00, and I showered before dinner, so I’m off to bed soon, pretty much as soon as I finish this diary entry! Love you, babe! Good night!