Hey Babe,
Got up bright and early today, started a load of laundry and was out raking and burning by about 8:00. Finished some piles in the second paddock from yesterday that didn't quite get done, then got busy raking fire breaks in the next two paddocks. Moved the horses to the first paddock, since that was the only one I didn't have fires going in, there was even some grass left in there! I wanted to get done before the rain was supposed to come in (calling for 100% chance), which was around 4:00, and now it's after 8:00 p.m. and I haven't seen any rain yet! Radar is showing a lot of moisture in the air, looks like rain, but it's fake signals, all I've seen is a couple of drops. Looks heavier to the west, heading this way, but we'll see! I hope it does rain, it will be the perfect finish for my burning job, melting all the ash down and getting rid of the smell of smoke. I'm going to close up the windows, just in case, can't trust these weather forecasts at all anymore! Had to switch out my shoelaces on my boots, decided to fix an eye rivet that came off a long time ago, I remembered I had some in my sewing kit so I did that. Don't know if it will hold, but it's worth a try! Settled down to an intriguing Spanish movie about a woman who has to survive a month in a ship container floating in the ocean, giving birth, and a whole lot of other survival stuff. Tense but inspiring! Ready for a shower and bed soon. Good night, darlinl'! Love you!
Archives for October 2023
Tuesday, October 10, 2023 – Another Busy Work Day
Hi Darlin',
Got busy again today, this time tackling the first two big paddocks. As predicted, it was a bit tougher, made worse by the many vines my rake kept getting caught in, but I managed to get the first paddock done pretty well, and got a good start on the second paddock. Because the horses had been in there, there was a lot of manure, which slowed the burn down a bit, and I'll have to do it again at some point, but it does look a lot better. The weather was perfect for burning again. There's rain predicted to start mid-afternoon tomorrow, so I'm going to bed early and setting the alarm, I want to get as far along as I can on the last two paddocks before the rain comes in. It'll be another busy day! Settled down in the evening to a good movie, American Made, with Tom Cruise, all about the behind-the-scenes events of the Nicaraguan/Iran/Contra affair, very interesting, assuming it's based on somewhat of a true story. Or great fiction, if that was the case! Anyway, I enjoyed it, Tom Cruise always knows how to pick a good script. Heading for a shower and early bed! Love you, sweetie! Good night!
Monday, October 9, 2023 – Back To Work!
Hiya Sweetie,
Managed to get another eight hours sleep last night, so I guess I'm all caught up! After chores and breakfast I got busy raking, and since it was a perfect day for burning, decided to do that instead of hauling it all out to the side of the road. That's just too many steps! Rake it up, load it on the tarp or trailer, drag it out to the road, unload it again, only to someday in the future have the government come by, pick it up, haul it off somewhere, unload it, then, what? Burn it? Chip it? Haul it all to a landfill? I don't know where it goes. It's just a lot easier to rake it and burn it, in small doses, period. As long as I'm really careful, I don't see the problem. Besides, we have rain coming in Wednesday afternoon, supposedly, so I'd like to get as much done before that as I can. I did manage to get almost all of the rest of the back yard done, plus the round pen. Tomorrow I'm going to start on the big paddocks. These will be tougher, it's not just raking leaves on level ground, there's a lot of weeds and branches still out there, but it's about the only thing really major left to do. There are four paddocks, my horses are in two of them, though I'll put them back together and rotate them around to get this job done. Spent most of the day doing that, though I did get my new credit card today, so I put some time into updating a few automatic payments with that. That was pretty much my day! Looking forward to my shower to get the smell of smoke off me, then off to bed! Good night, babe! Love you!
Sunday, October 8, 2023 – Totally Lazy Much Needed Rest Day
Hey Babe,
Slept late again this morning, woke up to chilly temps at last, did my few chores, had breakfast, then just read for awhile, I just started a new fantasy series called House Witch, eventually falling asleep in my recliner. Not a reflection on the book, I'm finding it very good! I decided to crawl back into bed and it wasn't long before I fell asleep again for more than 2 1/2 hours! Guess I really needed it! Got up, read a bit more, fixed dinner, fed the horses, watched a movie, and had an otherwise totally uneventful day, exactly what I needed! I'll be raring to go tomorrow for sure! We're supposed to have another chilly night tonight, I've gone from air conditioning to fireplace in 24 hours! That time of year! Be heading for bed here shortly, so good night, my darlin'! Love you!
Saturday, October 7, 2023 – More Yard Work
Hi Darlin',
Not the best night sleep, woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't get to sleep for several hours, then slept until nearly 9:00 to make up for it. Spent half an hour trying to get the little Truckster going, never did manage it, so ended up just tying the tarp to the back of the truck and using that to haul yard waste out to the right of way. Worked for about three straight hours before calling it a day. Trying to pace myself a bit. Yard is looking a lot better, but still a ways to go. Took a nice shower and relaxed the rest of the day, finished a book, watched a couple of movies, headed for bed. Good night, sweetheart! Love you!
Friday, October 6, 2023 – More Trail Work, No Luck Finding Credit Cards
Hey Sweetie!
Woke up early, read awhile, finally sent back to sleep but got up with alarm. Wasn’t too long before I was on the trail, took both batteries for the chainsaw with me this time, though in the end, I only used one. Looked carefully for my missing credit cards, no luck, so I had to take time in the afternoon to cancel them out and order new ones. The trails had another half dozen or so places that were impassable or uncomfortably cluttered, and my little chainsaw and I managed to get all those cleared. There are maybe two places where you can get around, but need a serious saw and some burley guys to finish clearing it up. I was able to go all the way to the end of the trail, though not down the path to the river, that was too cluttered with big stuff, and by the time I got there, I had had enough. Once we turned around and reach the farthest place that I got to yesterday, I got down and started walking, figuring I had a better chance of finding my cards from the ground, especially since Flash knew we were headed back home and he would have wanted to rush, and I didn’t want to fight him. So I got my hiking in today! Still didn’t find them, though, darn it. No matter, I’ll have a new Discover card in a day or two, the other one I hardly ever use anyway. Relaxed a bit in the late afternoon, recovering from more hard labor, spent a little more time getting my new phone set up the way I want, now I’m definitely ready for shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!
Thursday, October 5, 2023 – Busy Day Clearing Trails and A Bunch of Other Stuff!
Hiya Babe!
A very busy day today! Since I didn’t ride yesterday, I saddled up Flash and grabbed my new little chainsaw and headed out on the trails today. The first blockage I came across was just a few feet in from the end of the road, but it was too big for me to do anything about, so I took another direction to get around it. Not surprisingly, a lot of the wide trails in the the direction of the Spirit of Suwanee campground had been cleared, but as soon as I crossed the road by the boat ramp, there were a lot of problems. Amazingly, my little chainsaw did an incredible job, and I was able to clear have a dozen spots that would have otherwise been impassable. The photos here show some before and after shots. Very impressive that this tiny chainsaw did so much work! There was one section near the sinkhole that I actually got lost on, couldn’t tell where the trail went at all and got a little turned around it was so bad, but I managed to backtrack and get a few more spots done. My battery finally gave out, and I didn’t bring the second one because I figured by the time the first one wore out, I’d probably be exhausted, and that turned out to be just about right! We only got out about two miles, but got a lot of work done. Got back to the trailer for a grape break, then took Deb’s 12 inch electric saw down to that first blockage and managed to get that all cleared up, except for one log I left on the ground, for reasons us horse people understand :-). When I got back to the trailer after that, I suddenly discovered that a couple of credit cards that were in my phone case were missing, and since I only took the phone out once on the trail (for a stupid spam call!), so it had to be there, but just to make certain, I drove back to the last tree and they weren’t there. I’ll have to go looking early tomorrow. As I was coming back to the trailer again, the mail arrived, and my new phone was in, yay! Figures that an hour before I was going to change phones and phone cases would be when I lost my credit cards from the old case! Spent a little time changing over the SIM and SD cards, and even though I thought that would make everything work, I was wrong. I ran out of time, though, and headed over to Shannon’s (the firewood guy) and picked up the trailer and moved it over to where Dave wanted it, but we just dropped it off and left. I decided to head to Verizon so they could finish transferring the information over, and that solved a lot of it, though I still had some work to do to get it set up the way I wanted. Spent most of the evening doing that. But it certainly is a lot faster! That was my biggest complaint about the last one, way too slow, but I think this one will last a long time. Anyway, I’m exhausted and I have another long day tomorrow, looking for my credit cards and clearing some more of the trail, though this time I will take both batteries and make it a long day, unless Dave and Deb need me for anything. I’ll be “on call” for them. Good night, darlin’! Love you!
Wednesday, October 4, 2023 – Clinic Day
Hey Darlin’,
I had hoped to get a ride in this morning, but I got a little sidetracked and ran out of time. I finally decided to get my foot looked at, it’s still hurting from the riding incident back in May, and I thought by now it would be healed, so I’ve been wondering if I didn’t actually break it after all. In any event, I wanted to know, so I drove to a local clinic in town, and after waiting about an hour, I finally got it x-rayed. Thankfully, it did not, in fact, have any breaks or fractures, but the provider assured me that a bad bone contusion could take 6 months to a year to fully heal, so I guess I just have more time to wait! It’s flared up a little with all the hard labor and walking I’ve been doing, but the pain has very gradually been diminishing, so it’s just time now. After that I ran down to Bealls to try to find some cargo shorts, only bought one pair of regular shorts that fit and were comfortable, and costs less than six bucks! I took a quick stop at Badcocks furniture and found a nice recliner I might like, so many of them were pretty uncomfortable but there was on Lazyboy that might work, if I can get a swivel kit. We’ll see, I have to do some research. Dave had asked me to help out with getting some firewood moved somewhere, so I stopped at the firewood guy Shannon’s house and met him, and we arranged to haul it together tomorrow. Being so late in the day, I decided not to do anything else, and relaxed the rest of the day. Once again, ready for shower and bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!
Tuesday, October 3, 2023 – Slow Going Work Today
Hi Sweetheart,
Woke up to a cooler morning, actually got below 60 last night! Fall must be on the way. Dave delivered the Truckster to me, but it was having some issues, and I ended up only being able to do one small load with it before it crapped out on me. It stopped partly in the road, so I pulled the truck over and towed it into the yard. Then I hooked up the trailer and backed it next to the far paddock, and spent the day moving limbs two or three times. Out of the first paddock, over the fence, then moved it again onto the trailer. Once the first paddock was clear, I moved to the second paddock, where my horses are, and threw the stuff over the first fence, then over the second fence, then finally onto the trailer. Slow going today, for sure! Took me a long time just to fill one trailer load, and by then I was pretty exhausted, so once I dumped that I quit for the day, around 2:00. All I had energy for today! I eventually went back to see if the Truckster would start again, and found the battery completely dead! So I got out my handy jump-starter and after a bunch of tries, finally got it going. I drove it around the yard a few times and it improved a little, but it’s obviously not going to be very reliable. When Dave came by later, he said the battery needed to be disconnected or it would drain, and I explained it had already done that, which surprised him that it took such a short time. He thought it might be the alternator, but then I explained that I had started it a couple of times after running around the yard a few times, so I didn’t think that was it. Anyway, hopefully it will start next time I try to run it. Had dinner, and finally received my package in the mail (I’ve been waiting all day!) and got my new little 6 inch mini chainsaw. Put the first battery on charge, though they seem to be pretty full, but apparently they only take about two hours to charge anyway, so that’s good! I was hoping we had access to a bush hog, that would be the best way to finish off these paddocks, but apparently we don’t, so I’m not sure what to do next, probably just keep going in and getting smaller and smaller pieces, especially if that Truckster starts working better. Meanwhile, though, now that I have my chainsaw, I want to take a ride tomorrow and see what kind of shape the trails are in, not sure if anyone’s had time to look at them yet, figure I can start on it if there’s a need. Finally settled down for the evening, won’t be long out of bed tonight! Good night, baby! Love you!
Monday, October 2, 2023 – Hay, Shopping and Burn Day
Hiya Babe,
Had an easier day today, first picking up a 21-bale bundle of hay from a place just a stone’s throw from McCulley Farms, didn’t see much repair work going on there, but I guess the endurance ride is still scheduled. Got my hay (the guy was an expert, dropped in perfectly in the back of the truck, though the tailgate had to be down because of the water tank), stopped at the cheapest place for diesel I could find (still $4.29/gallon), went to Tractor Supply, who managed to find me all the feed I needed, despite their website indicating they didn’t have some of it, then a final stop at Walmart for just a few things I needed. Was back around noon. Decided I wasn’t up to heavy physical labor today, and I didn’t have a chainsaw or the trailer to haul stuff, so I opted just to burn the piles of small stuff I had raked up yesterday. I also load eight bales into the trailer so I don’t have to worry about that, and covered the rest with a tarp. I may move them under the gooseneck, I haven’t decided yet. Did a couple of loads of laundry as well. Then Deb came by with a package, the new cover for my new phone which is due to arrive later in the week, and much to my surprise, it looks like my new phone is actually smaller than the one I have now! So I guess it’s about the same size as the phone before the Nokia, which will be great! Thought it would be about the same size or slightly larger, but smaller is better, as far as I’m concerned! The cover is a lovely shade of Hunter Green, which I realized later may not have been the best choice, if I lose it in the woods while riding it will be nearly impossible to find! But being smaller, it should tuck into my horn bag better anyway, so hopefully, not a problem. Settled into dinner and TV, looking forward to a shower and bed. Glad I had a restful day, though, I’ll be ready for more labor tomorrow, though only if I get the tools I need, which, at the moment, has to have wheels. Dave is supposed to be getting something called a Truckster, which he lent to someone else, but if he gets it back I’ll get busy again. If not, I may just take a ride to see what kind of shape the trails are in. I’m supposed to be getting my mini-chainsaw tomorrow, but mail gets here really late, so I might just take the folding clippers and my camp saw just in case. Decisions for a later time! Good night, darlin’! Love you!