Archives for February 2024

Friday, February 9, 2024 – Some Progress on Site Development Plus Setback

Hey Darlin',
Had a good night sleep at last, woke up early and refreshed, got my morning chores and breakfast done just before Rick arrived. There's been a bad leak in the well house that he's been waiting for a plumber to come and fix, but he kept not showing up, so Rick decided to do the work himself, which seems to be par for the course for the rangers around here. I gave him a hand, he used some of my tools, and after awhile we managed to get it done. In the process, though, he did something wrong on the electrical circuit board, and we ended up with no power beyond the well house. We finally pinpointed the problem to a bad circuit breaker and once that was replaced, everything worked fine again. I also dug a trench behind the bathroom to locate the pipe leading to the septic tank, then at the end of the day, we covered it up with plywood and traffic cones to hopefully keep people off it. I had hoped to go riding today, the weather was gorgeous, almost too hot by afternoon, but it was not to be today! Finished off around 3:45, too late to start anything else, so I settled down for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Jo and I have plans for tomorrow, so it will be an early morning for me tomorrow, so my plan is early to bed! Good night, baby! Love you!

Thursday, February 8, 2024 – Shopping Day

Hi Babe,
Didn't have a very good night sleep, pretty sure it's because there must be a lot of caffeine in the iced tea at Willards, since I had trouble the night before as well. Just finished feeding the horses when Rick arrived, and he spread around the last load of gravel with the tractor before they left to go cut away some trees that were blocking roads and trails. I decided to take advantage of the lack of activity on my part to get my grocery shopping done, so I headed into town and did just that. After getting back and putting all the groceries away, I sat in my recliner and, not surprisingly, almost nodded off. Kept myself awake with a little computer work, then settled down for the evening, watching several Crown episodes, but am ready to get to bed early to make up for the last two not-so-great nights of sleep. Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Wednesday, February 7, 2024 – Site Gravel Laid

Hey Sweetie!
Spent the day in camp, perfect weather, working with the guys bringing in loads of gravel in a dump truck and leveling it off with a big tractor. What a great job! It's going very fast, more so than I had imagined, great progress! We took a break for lunch at Willards again, then did another load of gravel. We finished the day dropping one last load, but leaving the spreading until tomorrow. It's possible we might even be able to have me move over on Friday, though we might wait until next week. I'm thinking the sooner the better, but it's up to them. Logan stopped by to check on the progress as well, seemed happy with how it's going. Finally quit around 4:00, did my afternoon chores and settled down for the evening. Finished bingeing on the latest season of Heartland and got started on The Crown, which I'm two seasons behind on, but they're short seasons. Ready for shower and bed! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Tuesday, February 6, 2024 – Busy Day in the Forest

Hiya Darlin'!
Had a great busy and productive day today. Got up fairly early and had the morning chores and breakfast done just about the time Ranger Rick got here, and we headed to do a pretty good list of odds and ends. We went out to remove that second downed tree in Apex, checked up on Tidewater, picked up a sign for Beehive Rd. from the shop and a post from Tidewater and installed that, cut out a bunch of barbed wire along the perimeter firebreak at Buck Pond Trailhead, had lunch at Willard's, then came back to Black Prong to change a lock on the bathroom closet, put up some trail markers at a badly marked corner on the green trail, removed another downed log, and generally kept busy all day. Got a lot of little stuff done that's been hanging around, and it was thoroughly enjoyable to be working in the woods! We have a pretty busy schedule for the rest of the week working on the new camp host site, so it was nice to get out and about today. Settled down for the evening, happy I didn't have to cook or clean up dinner, watched a little RV, now I'm ready for an early night. Good night, baby! Love you!

Monday, February 5, 2024 – Tree Cutting Day

Hey Babe!
Had a good night sleep last night, woke up at a reasonable hour, read for a bit this morning, waiting for the rain to stop. The forecast said it would all be over by about noon, so I got Flash ready to go and loaded into the trailer by 11:00 and headed down to the HQ. Met with Logan about the map-making, then headed out into the forest to find a couple of downed trees that had been reported in advance of the next big equestrian event here, the Gator Run. Found them both, but was only able to remove one, the other one was just a tad too big for my little chainsaw, so I'll have to get one of the guys and a bigger chainsaw out here to take care of that. No hurry, we have almost two weeks before the ride. Unfortunately, the forecast was wrong again, and it drizzled on us until nearly 3:30, so it wasn't exactly ideal riding conditions, but we made it through, thanks to the nice, bright yellow poncho Jo gave me after her ride in December. I also picked up some restroom supplies that I needed, my storeroom is getting a little low on paper essentials. Got back to camp around 4:00, got Flash settled, then settled down myself for the evening. I've decided I want to cancel Netflix, I'm tired of their movie collection, it just seems to center on so much violence and language, I'm just going to stick with Prime, but before I go, I wanted to catch up on some of the TV series that have added seasons since I last watched, like Heartland and the Crown. Once they're done, I'm gone. Prime did raise their fees for their new category of "ad-free" (which used to be included, but now I have to pay extra), but it's worth it because I get so much more out of Prime than just the video stream. Anyway, it was a productive day, we rode over nine miles, so Lola got some exercise, too, though she was pretty reluctant to get out of the truck at first. Once she got going she was fine, it was just trying to get her moving that was the trouble. Sort of like me these days! So a productive day, a pleasant evening, and looking forward to shower and bed! Good night, Sweetheart! Love you!

Sunday, February 4, 2024 – Quiet, Rainy Laundry Day

Hiya Sweetie!
Today was a nice, quiet, rainy Sunday, just like we always used to love. I did a bunch of laundry, practiced my Morse code, read for a few hours, watched a little TV, played a few computer games, made Lola her special meatballs, and generally just had a nice relaxing day, while warm, light rain kept coming in small waves. Nothing too heavy, so it didn't really do too much to settle down the sand on the new site like we'd hoped, but it's better than nothing, I suppose. Hoping for an early night and a good night sleep! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Saturday, February 3, 2024 – Hay Day and Dinner with Friends

Hey Darlin'!
Didn't have the best night sleep, as Miss Lola decided at midnight she just had to go out, so I had to get out of bed and let her go. Normally she would just go and come back, but for some reason, she decided to really go exploring, and I waited, reading, for almost an hour, and she still hadn't come back, so I got up, put on my heavy robe and my parka and went out looking with my high intensity flashlight. It didn't take long for her to come moseying along without a care in the world, much to my dismay. Finally got her back in and went back to bed, but it took me awhile to get back to sleep after having been out in the cold. Still got up relatively early, did my chores, then went and picked up hay at 9:30, with a quick stop at the new DG mart to pick up a couple of things. Got the hay stored away, then killed some time until I left to go to my friends George and Margarita's house, where we had an absolutely delightful afternoon. I cooked my special recipe chicken and accompaniments, drank a lot of wine and we talked for hours, though it passed it no time, like it always does with us when we get together. It was great fun. Stayed too long, got back after sunset, had to use my neck flashlight to feed the horses, then finally settled down for the evening. A really lovely day, with perfect Florida weather! Lola once again played for a bit, then stole someone's dog bed and crashed. Seems she's become a real bedhopper these days! Anyway, a great day, always fun spending time with friends, looking forward to a rainy, quiet day tomorrow. Good night, baby! Love you!

Friday, February 2, 2024 – Sinks Sealed, Nice Ride on the Green Trail

Hi Babe!
Another fine night sleep, and it wasn't long after breakfast and chores when I got busy finishing off sealing the two sinks. A better job than last time, I think, though still not quite professional grade, but then again, you get what you pay for! Did a pretty thorough cleaning of the public restrooms, what with campers coming in. Rick stopped by to pick up garbage and we chatted for a few minutes. Once all that was done, I saddled up Flash for a ride. I have seen a couple of wooden signs sitting on the ground for a very long time, and decided it was high time to nail them back up, so we headed over to the blue trail and knocked them back where they belonged, then I decided I just wanted to do a purely recreational ride, to observe rather than repair, so we headed out on the green trail. It was very illuminating! I've always been so busy putting up temporary markers for endurance rides that I haven't really been paying much attention to the permanent markers, and I found A LOT of places, especially intersections, that need better markings. A lot of the dots need to be freshened up as well. So I guess my next work day will be the green trail here in Black Prong. I'll need to do them all before I finish here this year. Flash did a great job, I think he really enjoyed a ride where he wasn't being stopped every 100 yards! We did a lot off gaiting, and he also did some galloping and cantering as well, so despite stopping to fix the signs, we were back in camp in less than two hours after doing nearly 8.5 miles. It was a beautiful day, absolutely perfect weather! Seventy degrees, partly cloudy, light breeze, just fantastic! Exactly the kind of weather we come to Florida in the winter for! Finally settled down for the evening, watched a rodeo movie, made up a batch of my special recipe chicken for dinner at George and Margarita's tomorrow so it can marinate overnight, and now I'm ready for shower and bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Thursday, February 11, 2024 – Site Clearing Day And More!

Hiya Sweetie!
Finally had a great, busy day today! Started the morning (after chores and breakfast) reading up on my rotary cutter, then finished scraping the adhesive off the bathroom and kitchen sinks, though I did it by hand, which was relatively easy. I have to wait for the laminate in the kitchen to dry before I can put a new layer of sealant one, so I just put my small fan on it for the day. Just as I was finishing that job, Rick showed up with a couple of his guys, and proceed to start taking down the trees for the new camp host site, so I helped with that. There was one lone pine tree that had been specifically planted for some reason, and we decided to move it, so I dug it up and moved it over, glad to finally be getting some exercise. After awhile, another guy arrived with this huge piece of equipment with a grappler on the front, and he proceeded to knock over the remaining stumps and a couple of full grown trees with it. He was a master, and a pleasure to watch work! By 3:00, they just about finished it up, and the site is going to be great! We’re going to let the rain we’re expecting on Sunday to settle down the sand a bit, then Rick will come back with a small tractor and a front end loader to do some leveling off, then they’ll be bringing in some dump truck loads of limestone and a grader to finish off the foundation. Only thing after that will be the utilities, and they evidently have someone scheduled for next Thursday. We’ll have to work out the logistics on that, so that I move on the same day, since they want to see where I’ll be before deciding exactly where to put the utility post. Looking good! I moved the horses out of the way, tying them to the small horse trailer, and they hardly blinked at the heavy equipment and all the activity. Good horses!! Once all the forest guys left, I got out my new off-brand Dremel and put it together with a cutter accessory, and proceed to take off the spikes off my improvised salt block holder, f/k/a bird suet holder. Did a fabulous job! Then I sanded it down a bit more to smooth out all the rough edges and took it out to the horses, who were back on the highline, and within minutes of putting it up, I saw Flash licking on it. So I guess that problem is finally solved! Seems like a lot of problems had been solved today! Tomorrow I’m hoping to finish off sealing the sinks, then I’m not sure what I’m going to do. Maybe go for a ride, since it’s been since Sunday that I’ve been out. I noticed a sign on the ground I need to fix, but otherwise, maybe it can be just for pleasure for a change! Anyway, it was a good, productive day today, ready for shower and bed! Good night, darlin’! Love you!