Archives for 2023

Hi Sweetie!
At long last, I’m FINALLY back on the road again! Yay! It didn’t take me long to pack up, since I’d done so much already. Brother Karl and his friend Randy left this morning, too, just before the rain started. Unfortunately, I didn’t get out before the rain, but I did manage to outrun it. Jeff’s girlfriend Karen, who got in last last night, had just enough time to say hello and good-bye before I headed out. Only had to go about 75 miles to my first stop, St. Sebastian River Preserve, where I have a vet appointment tomorrow to get me the paperwork I need to get out of the state. Arrived about 11:30, got the horses squared away in their stalls, which fortunately are half-covered so they have someplace to stay dry. There was actually some sunshine this afternoon for a short bit, then the rains finally caught up with us, though it didn’t last for too long. Did some reorganizing, got Flash’s bridle fixed with the new headstall that I ordered the other day, it’s a much lighter leather, but it might actually suit him better, being the little horse that he is. Settled down for the evening, getting back into the swing of things. I’ve been spoiled with having electricity and water, so I’m having to get back to my more primitive ways, conserving water and power. Ran the generator for less than an hour, though, and it fully charged the batteries. Will be interesting to see how long these new batteries last on a charge now. At least with the rain it stayed cooled, but the forecast is saying mid to upper 80’s starting on Friday, hopefully it won’t get too bad. Vet will be here in the morning, so I’m going to have an early night. It’s so quiet here, and thankfully, cool, so I’m looking forward to a good night sleep. Love you, darlin’! Good night!

Hey Darlin’,
Another good night sleep, fed the horses (but forgot Lola because I skipped breakfast), headed out for labs now that I have insurance again. My appointment was for 10:10, arrived at 10:00, wasn’t taken in until 11:19! Why do they make appointments and then make you wait for an hour? Must be a better way, but they haven’t figured it out yet, apparently. Stopped at Walmart again because I forgot to get a case of drinking water yesterday, then got busy as soon as I got back to the trailer. Packed up everything I could, got the truck lined up so all I have to do is drop it on the hitch, just have water and drain hoses and the electric cord to unhook and I’ll be ready to go! SO looking forward to getting back on the road! The gypsy in me has been crying out for MONTHS!! Anyway, finally settled down for the evening, time for my shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Had a good night sleep, then spent the day getting back to normal. Did the laundry, mended the strap on my tripod that broke yesterday, replaced the buttons on my green jacket (I lost one somewhere, so I bought a set to replace them when I went to the fabric store the other day), read and watched a little TV just to get back to normal. Heading to bed early, planning on getting a lot of things packed up tomorrow and some maintenance done on the vehicles so I’ll be ready on Wednesday to pull out of here. Lori and Mark stopped by for a few minutes, she got an air plant that she’s been wanting, good to see them. Other than that, a pretty quiet day, much appreciated after the busy travel day yesterday. Looking forward to getting back on the road again! Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hiya Darlin’!
After so much sleep in the last 24 hours, I still slept pretty well again last night, though I got up before the alarm, and glad I did so I could pack and do everything in a leisurely pace rather than rushing around. My first text this morning, though, was informing me that my 2.5 hour layover was turning into a four hour layover, as my connection was delayed, darn it! That means I won’t be getting in until nearly 8:00, so I’ll be getting back after dark, which I was hoping to avoid. Oh, well, the vagaries of modern travel! I had an interesting conversation with a guy in the Midland Airport, though, amazing what a small world this is. He’s traveling to Port Orange near Daytona, and is selling his property there and moving to upstate NY near Rochester, would you believe! He also used to be a farrier, trained in Oklahoma, and he’s travelled all over the world during his life as well. Made the wait go quicker, anyway. Spent the wait at DFW editing my videos from the Workshop and uploading them on a vendor’s local wifi, and that went faster for awhile until I guess they throttled it down. Changed to my hotspot and managed to get a few more uploaded, but not all of them. That will be tomorrow’s chore, along with unpacking and laundry. Finally got home about 8:30, finished watching the movie I had started on the plane but didn’t finish, heading to be now! Love you, babe! Good night!

Hey Babe!
Yesterday’s second day of my workshop went very well, it was an excellent group and they’re already talking about brining me back in the fall, which would be fabulous! Once I got back to the hotel and finished off my lunch salad, I started reading, next thing I knew I was asleep! I ended up sleeping off and on (mostly on) for the next twelve hours! Guess I needed it. Felt wonderfully relaxed this morning. Had breakfast downstairs, then bundled up to go do some sightseeing. Naturally today was the coolest day of the week, but thankfully, it did warm up enough later in the day to put the top down on the BMW. I’d forgotten how much fun it was to just jump in a sportscar and just drive around like I used to do in my MGB so many decades ago! I started out going over to the Presidential Leadership library, which turned out to be closed on Fridays (all Fridays, not just Good Friday), but I wandered the grounds around the original little house where George H.W. Bush lived when he first started in the oil industry, and where George W. was born. After that, I drove over the Stonehenge replica on the college campus, then drove west to the Odessa Meteor Crater about 20 miles away. Spent some time in the museum, then walked around the crater. At some point the powers that be decided to let nature take its course and fill in most of the crater, rather than excavate it so it can be fully appreciated, so it didn’t really look much different than the surrounding desert anymore. Then I saw a poster for Monahan’s Sandhill State Park, which sounded familiar, and when I researched it I discovered it had a small horse camp, so I decided to take a drive out to see what it looked like. Just looking for reasons to drive around with the top down, really! Was only another 20 miles or so, and it was a nice trip. I wouldn’t exactly call it a horse camp, more like a parking area with a couple of corrals and water spigots, but it would make a great overnight stopover since it’s directly off I-20. Drove around to see the sand dunes, sand boarding seems to be the main activity here. No trails to speak of, but apparently horses are allowed wherever they want to go. Finally headed back, stopping at Joann’s Fabrics to pick up a couple of sewing necessities, then to a restaurant called the Cork and Pig, which came highly recommended, though I only had a small salad and fish dip, which was very nice but quite pricey. Finally got back to the hotel, and settled down for the evening, decided to watch TCM, because frankly the choices on HBO were crappy compared to the old movies being shown. Started packing, but not worried, my flight isn’t until after 10:00, so I don’t have to get up too early. Already had my shower, just going to watch another movie before I turn the lights off and sleep. Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie!
Had a really good day at the Workshop today, an excellent group of city leaders, very happy with the response so far. Lunch was a bit of a problem, everyone was on their own, so I walked across the parking lot to a Buffalo wings place, took nearly 40 minutes for them to take my order and get my salad, just enough time to box it up and take it back to class. Managed to get a couple of bites in while she was doing my tab, so it wasn’t until our first break that I was able to really have anything. Still saved half for dinner. Had that plus a few more bites of the bread putting I got at dinner last night, it was a huge piece, and so heavy I couldn’t eat too much. More left for tomorrow! Had a great night sleep last night, expecting the same tonight! Good day! Love you, darlin’! Good night!

Hey Darlin’!
Had an excellent night sleep, the best I’ve had in awhile, thank goodness! Had a decent free breakfast, did some work on the workshop, then headed over to City Hall for my meeting with the City Manager. Had a lovely time reminiscing from our time six years ago, then took a trip over to the venue for the workshop with his executive assistant, got a whole tour of their brand new firehouse, which does, indeed, have a great room for the workshop. Got that mostly set up with the promise the rest will be done by morning. Absolutely LOVE driving around this little Beemer, which, of course, I put the top down on. One button and the whole thing takes care of itself! It’s far cry from the old MGB I had, and it was great fun driving! Interestingly, it has a Tennessee license plate on it, so somebody had a great long ride in it! Took an extra couple of laps around downtown just for the fun of it. Went to a local steakhouse for a nice dinner, then, because I was so close, went to the Old Globe Theatre (a replica of Shakespeare’s original, plus a replica of Anne Hathaway’s cottage as well,) but it was all locked up so I wasn’t able to get inside. I did wander the grounds for a few minutes, but that was all. Maybe if I come during the day on Friday someone will be here. Anyway, I drove back to the hotel to do a bit more workshop work, then I’ll be in bed shortly! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
I was sure I would get a good night sleep, but alas, it wasn’t to be! Read until 2:00 a.m. before I finally nodded off, and woke up again around 7:30. Got up and did chores and finished packing, had an uneventful drive to the airport, nice flight to Dallas, short flight to Midland, which is a tiny airport, six gates I think, and the car rental counter was in the baggage claim area, so I got all the paperwork done before the bags even came out! I really got lucky on the car, too. I had gone through Priceline, managed to get a really good price on a “dealer’s choice” option, lower than the typical economy car if I paid in advance, which I did, and the woman at the counter ended up handing me the keys to a BMW! If that wasn’t thrilling enough, after I got my bags and walked out to pick up the car, I discovered it was a convertible! Whoo-hoo! Should be fun! Unfortunately, the weather forecast for Friday, my tourist day, isn’t looking very good at the moment, but hopefully the weatherman will be wrong on this one. Still, I may take a drive tomorrow, depending on how I feel.I got to the hotel in short order, checked into one room hoping for a bathtub, but no luck. After I moved into my second room, I looked out the window and discovered it was open, so a slid it a little further open and suddenly a pigeon or maybe a mourning dove was flying around the room! He apparently was hiding behind the drape, he didn’t just fly in. Anyway, I managed to catch him and put him back out the window, but not before he left a little dropping on my sheet, so I had them bring me a new sheet. What a crazy way to start this trip! Finally settled down, got unpacked, got caught up on some stuff, had my Sleepytime tea, now I’m ready for bed. Hoping for a really good night sleep tonight, finger crossed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
Don’t know what’s up with my sleeping habits, but I was in bed by 11:00, still woke up at 2:30, couldn’t get back to sleep so read until about dawn, then finally nodded off for a couple of hours. No alcohol last night, which is usually the culprit, so I can only blame it on not doing anything but sit around yesterday. Didn’t sit around today, so hopefully I’ll get a better night sleep tonight! After chores, walking James through the animal feeding schedule, then breakfast, I hooked up the small horse trailer and took it over to Glenn’s, got help from Bill and Sandy unloading the tractor implements. Chatted with them for a bit, then headed to Tractor Supply to pick up feed and hay. Made several stops trying to find dog food for Lola, went to three different stores in Indiantown, no luck. Ended up at the Publix in Jupiter Farms where I was able to get everything I needed. Got back to the house, dropped off the small trailer (with enough hay to last until I leave here), put the rest of the bales from the back of the truck into the big trailer, so now I’ll have a full load when I head out, so I’m all set with that, and enough horse feed now for close to a month. Did a couple of loads of laundry and got mostly packed for my flight tomorrow, watched a great Richard Attenborough directed movie called Young Winston, ready for shower and bed. Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Finished another book, didn’t do much else today. Saw Karl and his friend Randy for about five minutes. Can’t WAIT to get back on the road again! I can’t remember ever being this bored, sitting in one place day after day. So looking forward to moving on! Well, next week will be busy, so I guess a day of rest is fine, considering how much activity I had yesterday. Another month gone by! Good night, hon! Love you!