Archives for April 2022

Hi Darlin’,
Spent most of the day finishing off my intersection assignments for the new map, and double checked them to make sure I didn’t miss anything. I’d prefer to have a few more signs, but I’m keeping it to a minimum in the hopes that the genius of the system will grow on others. It’s enough to keep people from getting lost, especially on the horse trails, which is the point of the whole exercise anyway. Now all I have to do is find the means to start putting all these posts in, whether it’s my tractor or a UTV. I’d rather it be the latter so I can carry more stuff with me, like my laptop, to make sure I’m putting everything in the right place, but that’s evidently going to take a lot more doing. Otherwise a very quiet day, kept waiting for it to rain, but so far, it hasn’t, even though it looks like there’s a big swath moving in from the west, it still hasn’t gotten here yet. Watched a fun movie for a change, now I’m ready for shower and bed! Love you, babe! Good night!

Heya Sweetie,
Though it didn’t intentionally start out that way, today turned out to be mostly all about Lola! After a good night sleep, chores and breakfast, I noticed when she was rolling on her back to scratch that she had a bunch of fleas on her. That surprised me because I had put flea treatment on her about 10 days ago, and didn’t expect to see them, so I bathed her and sprayed her well with some flea spray. Then I decided to work on her GoDogGo machine. I had brought it out of storage last week, but it wasn’t working right, so I decided to see if I could fix it. The switch that you press to take it from stand-by to how many seconds delay between throwing the ball wasn’t working. I look it apart, tried to clean it, but it all seemed to be about the circuit board, so I tried to put a little more solder on it, and that seemed to have a minor effect. I put it together a couple of times before I got it right. It worked for about one throw, then the ball sensor wasn’t working, which I knew already was going bad, but since I bought a bunch of extras, I went ahead and replaced that, and then it started working beautifully! I was almost tempted to not turn it on because she’s still limping a little bit, but she hasn’t gotten any exercise so I decided to try it. Her leg does seem to be a bit better, and she did play for a bit, but not too long, fortunately. Then I dragged her big bed out side, gave it a thorough spray to get rid of the fleas, then once it was dry, I sewed up some long rips that she had scratched into it. I took out the interior padding last week, she kept chewing it into small pieces and scattering it all over, so I figured I was better off without it. So sans padding, I sewed up all the long scratched, sprayed it well with Febreze, and finally got it back into position in the laundry room. I had managed to do one load today, so fresh sheets tonight! I probably should have gotten out the sewing machine to do that job, but that bed is so big and cumbersome, I figured it would be easier to do by hand, though it took a long time, like everything else today. I had a couple of riders come in, ones I had met on the Cracker Ride, and they were out a bit later than planned, I was starting to worry we had another case of lost riders, but they made it back just after 5:00, fortunately. Lynda went out with her friends day riding, but came back here for the night, so she’s here. The place is mostly empty now, though one guy with a really large, triple-axle trailer came in, he’s scheduled to be here a few days. So that was about all the excitement for today, I settled down to my binge-watching for a few hours, got my evening chores done, and it’s time for shower and bed once again! Getting to be a pretty mundane life these days! Probably a good thing, for a little bit at least. Anyway, good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Had a pretty good night sleep, but didn’t sleep too late. I had decided to take the day off, so I just took one brief round around noon, and another at 6:00 or so, but otherwise spent the day reading, napping, and binge-watching another Netflix old series. Still feeling tired at the end of the day, but I think with a good night sleep tonight, I should be back to normal tomorrow. Good news is that a new well pump was installed, so the bathhouse and the water to me is back in working order, just in the nick of time! Was afraid I might have to pull out a bunch of hoses to reach the nearest spigot to fill up again, but fortunately, that turned out not to be necessary. Anyway, I’m heading to shower and bed here shortly, hoping to get a ride in tomorrow with Lynda and friends, but I’m also waiting to hear back from the mowing contractor about the trails as well, so don’t know how the day will turn out. Meanwhile, off the shower and bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Despite going to bed at 1:00 a.m., I woke up before 7:30, and got up because I had too much going on today. Did my rounds, did my chores, was worried momentarily about Flash, he was laying down when I was getting food, which is unusual at this time of day, but then after I gave him his feed bag, I looked over after a few minutes and he was laying down again. That made me REALLY nervous, so I went in and managed to get him up, got a halter on him, and walked him from the paddock to the little horse trailer, got the doors open, but before I could even get him in, he pooped like I was hoping he would, so I walked him back to the paddock and he went straight out to the hay, looking perfectly fine. I kept an eye on him for a bit, but he seemed okay after that. After breakfast, I headed out to the hospital where Jeff was, arriving around 9:30, but they said they wouldn’t be ready to discharge him until after lunch, so I decided to do some shopping at Walmart since I was so close and I needed some stuff, and shortly after I got back, he was discharged. Got him home before 2:00, with instructions not to push himself too hard for a couple of weeks. Grabbed some ribs, corn and zucchini and headed back to camp. I’m exhausted. Taking the day off tomorrow! I still did my 6:00 rounds, though it was closer to 7:00, but I’m too tired to check the gate tonight, I’m just going to get my shower and head to bed. Hopefully, I’ll be able to sleep well and even late tomorrow! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
After all the hard work yesterday, you would have thought I would have slept through the night, but no, I woke up around 2:00, had to read for a bit before getting back to sleep, then woke up again before dawn, same thing. Finally my phone rang at 8:30, brorther Jeff wondering if I could bring out some ribs that brother Glenn had made for him and his crew of friends who were coming over to help him put on his LONG overdue barn roof. I was already scheduled to do a quick one hour Zoom meeting with an old friend a colleague in Spokane who was teaching a public speaking class (using my book as her curriculum) and has asked if I could chime in for an hour, which I did. When I finished that, I called Glenn and arranged to pick up the ribs at his new house north of Indiantown, and took them down to Jeff’s. Got them in the oven to finish them off, then sent for a quick swim, and was just relaxing in a lounge chair when I got a call from one of the guys in back that Jeff had fallen off the roof. When I got backe there, Jeff was flat on his back, but insisting he was okay, just let him lay there for a minute, but then he started asking some non sequitur questions and we realized he wasn’t himself, so I called 911 and they had paramedics there so quick, they’re only down the road a mile or two, and they got him up on a gurney and rushed him off to St. Mary’s on 45th Street, which is about the worst part of the county crime-wise. When I asked why they couldn’t take him to Jupiter Medical which was nearer, they said he needed a trauma center, and St. Mary’s had the best one around. Not surprising in that neighborhood, I guess. Anyway, they did a CT scan, which they would normally get the results for in a matter of minutes, but evidently some idiot hacked into the entire Tenet hospital system and everything had to be done by hand, which delayed the results for over six hours! We finally got the result at about 10:45 p.m., even though they had been taken by 4:30.. Fortunately, the only problem was his concussion, no bleeding or other complications, but they wanted to keep him overnight for observation, which I definitely agreed with, consider the entire 6+ hours his short term memory was completely gone. He kept asking the same questions over and over, and I would answer them over and over, and then he’d start asking the same questions over and over again, every five minutes or so. Was tempted to take a video, because I know he will never believe it when I tell him, but that would be just plain cruel. Besides my phone battery was low and I had to turn it off, while keeping everyone apprised of what was happening. Anyway, once they cleared him, he was able to get the very uncomfortable neck brace off, and they gave him a couple of sandwiches and some drinks. They didn’t have enough staff to put him in a room, so he has to stay in the holding area overnight, which will probably be noisy since it’s next to the emergency room. Seriously, the guy in the bed next to us had a gunshot wound that shattered his ankle, and I heard over the radio of another 15 year old girl being brough in with a GSW as well. Yeah, it’s that kind of neighborhood. I finally left after 11:00, only to discover it was pouring rain outside, my favorite kind of driving, at night in the rain. NOT!! Fortunately, I drove out of the rain pretty quick, got back to camp, threw some hay to the horses, got my shower, had a bowl of cereal, now I’m heading to bed. Whether I’ll get to sleep is another matter. Going to have to get up and get to the hospital to pick up Jeff, too, so another busy day tomorrow. Not exactly the day off I was hoping for, but maybe there will be some ribs leftover. That’s it, I’m brushing my teeth and heading to bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Up with the alarm early, and just about had time to do all my chores and have breakfast before the work day was supposed to begin. James got here right on time, but everybody else showed up a lot later, which was find because it wasn’t supposed to get too hot today, so I guess no one was worried about that. I had a camper come in last night and stop right in the middle of the road, but realized this morning it was because he got stuck in the sugar sand and couldn’t get out. Unfortunately, when I came out to do my rounds I found him trying to work his way out, but of course, he only made it worse and was practically dug down to the axle by the time I got there. We tried to pull him out with my truck, but it was too deep. I told him I had a tractor coming and to hang tight and we’d get him out, but he and some of the fellow campers kept at it, jacking him up and putting boards underneath until he appeared to be cleared enough, then I came back and pulled him out with my truck more easily. And that was just the start to the day! As people came in, I assigned tasks, and we ended up getting a lot done. The last manure bin was built, a bunch of the chewed and broken boards in Barn Two were replaced, and lots and lots of palm fronds and palm trees were taken down, some of it moved next to the dumpsters so people can burn them, and some taken back to a big pile down by the pond. We found a lot of rosary pea plants, which are poisonous to horses, so James and I started to develop a strategy to get rid of it, but it will take some time. I went into town and picked up more screws and lunch for everyone, as well as drinks and chips, then got more work out of folks in the afternoon. Long day! Dennis kindly chainsawed some new blocks for my ramp, which was great. Then we started having problems with the water in the shower house again, and after several attempts to solve the problem, we ended up having to close the shower house again. This water system really needs to be completely reconfigured! Anyway, it was after 8:00 by the time I got back to the trailer, I was feeding horses during mosquito hour, but I’ve finally settled down. Lunch was big, so a bowl of ice cream and a couple of spoonfuls of peanut butter, plus a beer, will do me for the night! I’ve got a busy morning tomorrow, too, to get ready for a Zoom seminar I’m facilitating tomorrow. Heading for the shower and bed asap tonight! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

HI Sweetie,
All this exercise, I slept a full eight hours and could have stayed in bed longer, but I had a bunch of things to do today, so I got up and got to it! After my rounds, chores and breakfast, I started with a lot of little stuff, like putting hooks back on the closet door that had fallen off, and resealing the bedroom window, which, despite putting a new seal on it last year, leaked like a sieve when the rain came right up against it the other day. I found that some of the black seal underneath and broken through the clear seal on top, maybe from screwing it in too tight or something, though I hadn’t noticed it before. Hopefully that’s fixed now. During the afternoon I painted the three wheelbarrow with stencils for SFWMD, then I printed up some paperwork for tomorrow’s work day, so everyone can sign in and order lunch. I hope we have a good turnout again, though there’s a bit less work tomorrow, which is probably good because I think I overworked them last time :-). We’ll see! So after all my puttering and another round through the campground, I settled down for the evening. I’m definitely going to bed early tonight, since I called for this to start at 8:00 in the morning, so it will be an alarm for me for sure! So I’ll say good night now, I still have my rounds and a Spanish lesson to do (I figure I’ll have more use for Spanish anyway, plus it’s a lot easier than French!), and I need to get to it. Goodnight, my darlin’! Love you!