Archives for 2022

Hi Sweetie’,
Felt a little better this morning at first, then sat down for a few minutes after breakfast and got achey all over again for some reason. Took some ibuprofen and waited half an hour, then started moving, which helped a little, but not all that much. I am trying to get down to the last few posts, filling in some of the blanks of this still left to be done, and it’s pretty confusing. It didn’t help matters when I discovered by computer and rebooted overnight after some update and I ended up losing all of my most recent trail work on Google Earth, which means I have to do it all over again, darn it! Fortunately I had updated my Post List and was able to recover a lot of the information, but still had to redo it on GE. Once I got that sorted, I cut the remaining crosspieces and painted them, hopefully these will be the last. I corrected some things on a couple of posts, and figured out how many more posts I needed to get. Then I took the left rear wheel off the tractor, it’s been showing some serious signs of cracking on the sides, so I had ordered a new one earlier in the week, and it arrived Friday at the Goodyear dealer in town, so I want to drop the wheel off to be changed on Monday. I managed to use the front end loader on the tractor to help me get it up in the bed of the truck, so I didn’t need to get any help. Just as I finished doing that, two lady riders arrived back in camp and announced they had found my chain! I had let everyone in camp know I had lost one and asked them to keep an eye out for it, and lo and behold, it was found! Yay!!! Surprisingly, it wasn’t on the trails I did on Wednesday, but rather on Tuesday on the Red trail, not far off from where it crosses the main grade, so I ran out there in my truck and walked in to retrieve it. So happy to get it back!. I have a bunch of old posts to pull out, and I was worrying about how to do that, didn’t really want to buy a new chain, glad I don’t have to. Then I ran over to the maintenance shed to pick up some more posts so I have all that I’m going to need, I hope! I needed seven but I picked up twelve just in case, hoping that will be the last bunch. Rinsed those off, did a little picking up around the carport, then came in, showered and settled down for the night. I had to take another ibuprofen, though, I still have some lower back pain. I was going to take the day off tomorrow, but brother Glenn asked me to do some errands for him, so weather permitting, I may just mow the lawn as well, but we’ll see. Been having a lot of rain the last few days. Anyway, done for the evening, heading to bed shortly. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
I had all good intentions to do some post painting today, but got waylaid, first by my printer running out of ink and not having a spare (could’ve sworn I had one, never found it), and then, after breakfast and chores, I sat in my recliner for a few minutes and ended up falling asleep again! Woke up nearly two hours later. Granted, I did wake up and read for a few hours during the night, but I didn’t think I was that tired, though I guess with all the activity this week, I shouldn’t be too surprised. I was really achey this morning, too, had a hard time moving, my lower back hurt quite a bit, and my right shoulder and oddly, my left elbow. Anyway, I ended up have a pretty lazy recovery day, mostly reading. Settled in for the evening, and a big rainstorm is raging at the moment. Looks like the fall transition is really coming in hard! Going to make the waters really deep out there for awhile, I’m sorry to say, so it may some weeks before I find my logging chain, if I ever do. Anyway, a relaxing day, ready for bed! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
A good night sleep, woke up at the right time, was out again a bit after 9:30, and managed to get pretty much all of the green loop done with guide posts. Before I left, though, I noticed my logging chain was missing, dang it! Yesterday was one of the few days I didn’t lose something, or so I thought, but my chain was gone, so after finishing up the green trail, I retraced my trails from yesterday, but no luck. We had a lot of rain here yesterday afternoon, and where it was an inch or two deep before the rain, it was 6-8 inches after the rain, so it’s quite possible it was underwater and I wouldn’t have seen it. I’ll let the hunters know this weekend so if anyone finds it, I might get it back. It’s SLIGHTLY possible I lost it on Tuesday, but it would have had to have been late in the day before but I highly doubt it. I took out the power drill from the loader yesterday because I didn’t need to take it, and I’m sure I would have noticed it was missing yesterday if that was the case, so I’m banking on it being on either the Yellow/Red section of trail, or the Yellow trail between the picnic area and the water crossing just before the family camp. I’ll have to wait for the water levels to go down, though. Anyway, I hope I haven’t lost it for good, I use it all the time! I wore a back brace today, my lower back is hurting a bit, and it helped a lot. Not sure what I’m going to do tomorrow, we’ve had a lot of rain lately, pretty sure most of the areas I want to get to are too wet now. I do have some more painting to do, though, so maybe I’ll do that! Got back to camp around 1:30, did some more post planning (I swear, it feels like it’s endless!), answered some correspondence, settled down for the evening to a nice thick steak on the grill, my usual routine, though I took my shower early, now I’m ready to go straight to bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie!
Falling into the rhythm of this now! Waking up at 7:30, putting in a good day’s work, recovering in the evening, etc. Took two trips out today, and got eight yellow and red posts out, and another eight yellow posts out. These are just guide posts, with no arrows or crosspieces or anything, just posts to keep people on track. I’d rather have posts than tree markings, so I’m trying to place them in the most critical areas. I’ve put out over 40 posts already this week! Actually took two trips today, since I can’t carry more than eight posts at a time, and that’s pushing it. It only actually took me about half an hour to put in eight posts, but it takes an hour of travel time to pull it off. Was a little wet out there, but not too bad, and I feel like I’m making significant progress. Had to take some ibuprofen this afternoon, though, my lower back is aching from hauling all these posts around! Managed to get back by around 12:30, and I had a lot of correspondence to get caught up on, so that’s how I spent my afternoon. Had a great storm come through, cooled it down enough for me to open my door and get some fresh air in here! What a nice change that is! More rain forecast for the week, but if it starts to bring fall weather, I’m all for it! Settled down for the evening for my usual TV watching activity, soon ready for shower and bed! Love you, babe! Good night!

Hey Babe,
Another good night sleep and another productive day. Was out on the tractor by 9:30, worked on the Teal and the Red trails today, got a lot of the arrow posts and plain trail posts out. Moved some of the existing posts from the left side to the right side so that it will be correct with the new system. Made a lot of notes about what other spots need a post, and it seems there are still a lot that need to be created and placed! Every time it seems like I’m turning a corner on completion, I find another bunch of places that need posts. Oh, well, what else have I got to do? I’m going to try to put out as many of the posts that I’ve already made, keep making a comprehensive list of where else I need posts, and hopefully, I’ll just have one more batch to paint and install and I’ll finally be done, maybe! The mornings have been slightly cooler, so it starts out pretty pleasant, and by the time the heat really builds up, it starts to get cloudy, so it’s really not too bad out there. After I got back, I did some online ordering. I needed a bunch of little stuff and a couple of big items, including a big tire for the back of the tractor. It’s starting to crack in places, and I certainly don’t want to be out in the middle of nowhere when it finally goes. It actually looks like the original tire from when it was built back in the 70’s, or maybe they put new tires on when they imported it from Japan, but even that means it’s over 20 years old. I replaced the other one about five years ago, so I’m perfectly okay with replacing the other one now. I also ordered an air compressor, my last one pretty much died, even though I didn’t use it very much. They’re so sensitive, they heat up so easily, then crap out. I ordered a heavy duty one, since the tires on the trailer require a psi of 123, but I’m not holding my breath that it will work much better. Just have to be careful about letting it cool down, even though I was sure I did that with my last one. Finally settled down for the evening, watched a good movie that Karl had recommended, The Gray Man, action-packed to say the least. Ready for shower and bed now! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Had a good night sleep, then laid in for an extra hour reading. Finally got up and fed the horses, had a pancake breakfast and started a bunch of laundry. Spent most of the day reading and doing laundry, finally getting back to an intriguing British detective limited series called Paranoid, finishing that off just before bedtime. I think I discovered my brown-out problem, but I need to get something it town tomorrow to make sure. It started raining around noon and kept at it almost the entire day, so it was a nice rainy Sunday, just like the ones we always loved to spend together! Heading to shower and bed here shortly, so good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Had all good intentions to go riding today, but decided it against it because of all the hunters this weekend, didn’t want to get in their way, and I can always go during the week. So instead, I kept myself busy around camp. I started by patching Apollo’s feed bag, he’s managed to chew some holes in the bottom, but I’m not sure the patch will last very long, so I’ll probably have to get another one. I actually mopped the floor before I went to feed them so it would dry, just to complement the housekeeping I did yesterday. Of course, that only lasted about 20 minutes, when Lola decided to eat biscuits and leave crumbs all over the place. Then I went out to replace the part on the PTO that I had delivered yesterday. I had read somewhere that I had to make sure it was well-greased (there’s a grease nipple on it), so I had to get my grease gun from the attic, and remembered that my entire storage box was covered in grease that had leaked out at some point, so it was messy getting the toolbox down. Then I discovered that the grease had hardened so much that it wasn’t coming through very well, so I had to fiddle with that for quite awhile until I could get it working right. Then I had hardly started putting grease in when I noticed grease of a different color was starting to ooze out, so evidently, this part was fully greased when I got it, so end of that struggle! It took me awhile to get the part on and get everything lined up and working properly, but I finally managed it. I cleaned out the toolbox and put everything in fresh plastic bags to avoid future leaks, then hauled everything back up to the attic, cleaned the storage box really well, and finally got everything put away. I found an air compressor up there, so I brought that down to see if it worked. I seemed to remember that either the AC or the DC side worked and the other didn’t, but I couldn’t get either side to work today, so I’m trashing it. Don’t need to be carrying stuff around that doesn’t work! Cleaned up the carport a bit, then retrieved my tarp from the picnic table (I used it as a drop cloth while I was painting), tied it onto the back of the tractor, and proceed to drive around camp and pick up all the fallen palm fronds, limbs and other assorted flora that had dropped from the wind, and hauled it over to the fire pit across from me, which I’ve been using to periodically do burns. I rested for a bit, had an early dinner, then did my rounds, and finally started the fire and proceeded to systematically burn the pile. It was dark by the time I was finished, though Lola and I played frisbee during that time so she got a little exercise. I was dripping with sweat by the time I got through (for the second or third time today), so I immediately jumped in the shower. Watched a little TV, now I’m ready to do a Spanish lesson and go to bed! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
Was up and about on schedule this morning, and after chores and breakfast, I headed into town, first to stop at the post office to pick up my new phone, then off the Glenn’s, where I mowed the lawn, which only took me about 2 1/2 hours, less than I thought, and cleaned the pool. Then I spent a little time getting my phone switched over, it was very helpful that he had wifi at his house to I could download it all a lot easier. Then I got a call from Tractor Supply that my part had come in, so it all worked out perfectly! Picked up the part and got back to camp right around 5:00. Had a lot of rain around today, and it really cooled the temps down, so I guess maybe Fall is on the way! Settled down for the evening as usual, just a Spanish lesson to do, then a quick shower and off to bed! Love you, sweetie! Good night!

Hi Sweetie,
Well, I don’t know what’s going on with me, but I got a decent night sleep, fed the horses, ate breakfast, dumped my blackwater, sat in my recliner to read for a few minutes, then fell asleep for nearly two hours! Granted it took awhile to get to sleep last night, but I didn’t think I was THAT short of sleep! Crazy! Well, after my nap, I didn’t feel like doing anything outside in the heat, so I worked on the shape files for the map for at least an hour, then did some housework. I didn’t really want to do housework, but it just kept calling my name, so I finally broke down and did some. Got some hunters in camp, archery weekend for deer I guess, didn’t get the impression they were particularly interested in following some of the rules, or sharing the property with equestrians, plus they were wanting to run their generators all night. I explained they had to have a special permit and be parked next to one of the two specially-made generator sound barrier walls, which they weren’t, and they didn’t seem too thrilled with the idea of moving, so that might create some problems later. Meanwhile, I settled down for the evening, now I’m ready for shower and bed. Good night, babe! Love you!