Archives for October 2024

Pix to come.

Hi Darlin',
Another good night sleep, late rising, did some planning on the computer, then took Apollo and Lola out for a ride. He was particularly sluggish today, topping out at barely 2.8 mph. Not sure if he's feeling bad, or was just not in the mood. We did around 5.5 miles, so it was about two hours. What a completely different ride than the breakneck ride we took of Flash the other day! Well, at least he got some exercise, and so did Lola, who was again, way out front. She wants to go faster, but I can't take her on a long ride on Flash, that's just too much for her. Oh, well, we'll do the best with what we have! Didn't do much else today, just a quiet afternoon after we got back, a quiet evening with a good movie, and undoubtedly, a quiet shower and bed! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Another chilly morning, then saddled up Flash and headed over to day parking to meet with Patsy and some of her friends. You would think by now that I would know better than to try to ride with that many other people, though I didn't know they were all coming. Since I didn't know which trails we were taking, we couldn't be out front, so it wasn't long before Flash was all anxious about being behind other horses, and I was having to struggle to keep him reined in. We hadn't gone more than five miles before I just had to let him loose. I was told we were going to follow the red trail the rest of the way in, so I did that for awhile, until it seemed to be going in the wrong direction, so I pulled out my phone GPS and rerouted us on another route that was more direct, though not on any marked trails, at least not until we got near the end. I got back to camp about 1:40, completing about 15.4 miles, and had just made myself of cup of tea when Patsy texted to say they were almost back to the trailers. I drove over to pick up a package I had had sent to her house, a new hose for the back of the truck, which I put in as soon as I got back, and used it to fill up the trailer tank. Settled down for the rest of the day, then remembered about a comet that was coming around for the first time in 80,000 years, so I bundled up and walked down to the lake to get a look. It brought back memories of our first real date, standing in line at the planetarium in WPB, waiting to view Halley's comet through their telescope, then giving up on it when it started to cloud over. Today, the sky was perfectly clear, but a full moon was rising, so it kind of washed out the sky a bit, but I did manage to see the tail fairly clearly. Started a new series on Prime, since apparently Season Four of Farscape is by additional subscription only. I may catch up on it someday when I have a good signal and a couple of rainy days to binge-watch, but the signal is too spotty and there's nothing but clear skies on the forecast, and tonight is supposed to be the coldest night of all, so naturally, I blanketed the horses again. Lola was in the dog house for climbing into my bedroom, twice, knocking over both the trash can and the fan to get in. I really need to find a way to stop her from doing that, it's driving me nuts. Fortunately, I was planning on changing the sheets tonight anyway, putting on my flannel ones for a change, which will put off having to do laundry for awhile. I ran the fireplace to warm it up in here for awhile, but I have a feeling the furnace will be coming on tonight, even though it's only set in the low 50's! Brrr! And Lola, in an obvious effort to suck up and get me over me being mad at her, climbed into my lap and is sleeping soundly, though I'm going to have to move here soon to get my tea going. Anyway, it's been a day! Good night, darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
What a day! It started with a great night sleep, then after chores and breakfast, I did a little more research looking for hay. I thought I had some lined up, (his ad said he was baling last Friday), but he said he didn't have any ready until after this weekend, which is too late, I'm down to my last bale. Messaged someone close by, fingers crossed. I saddled up Flash and decided to take Lola. She's been doing so well, but it turned out to be a bad decision. Flash was in an exuberant mood today, back to his usual 4 mph walk and willingness to gait, and for the first couple of miles, Lola was in front. She tired after about five or six miles, and by mile seven, she was dragging so much we had to stop several times for her to rest. Finally, at about mile eight, we were about to make the 2nd road crossing, so I tied her to a tree, left her with water (there was no water on the trail, which may have contributed to the problem), and let Flash take off, which he had been wanting to do for some time. He raced off, and we averaged over nine mph the remaining 5.5 miles, getting back to camp in less than half an hour! I quickly put him away, then drove the truck out and rescued Lola, who seemed to have made a full recovery in the 40 minutes we were gone, thank goodness. I took my phone out of airplane mode and discovered I had a voicemail and message from the hay guy I reach out to this morning, so I called him and arranged to meet his family this afternoon, after I got fuel. After stopping for diesel (I managed to fill up an almost empty tank and was still under $100, yay!), I met his wife and son, who let me on a road that was little more than a utility easement to a barn where they had just put up some hay that was cut yesterday! It's back to coastal now, but this was really fresh and nice, and the bales were heavy for $8, so I stocked up with 15, which should be enough to last my stay here and still leave with a stall full of my usual eight bales. Once I got back to camp, I considered just covering it up and dealing with it in the morning, but I decided not to procrastinate (an object in motion tends to stay in motion, so I just kept moving!), and loaded to hay into the stud stall and under the gooseneck, putting up my skirting to keep it safe from wandering mouths. I finished my chores by filling the horses' water bucket with the last of the tank in the truck, and finally settled down for dinner and a couple of Farscapes. Whew! What a full day! Ready to get to bed early, for sure! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Finally had a good, solid, eight hours of sleep, waking only once for a very short time. Wonderful! Did my usual chores, then put the screen room up. There were a lot of flies and gnats yesterday, so it seemed essential to have another line of defense. Did a few other minor things, then got Apollo saddled up for a short ride. I had planned out about 4.5 miles, but ended up missing a turn and getting lost. When I discovered my error, I was already halfway across my loop, and decided to keep going and just make a figure eight instead. Of course, that put me going "backward" from the markers (I hate that they don't mark both directions!), and I ended up missing some more turns, even though I was following my GPS, and where it said to turn there was no turn, so I obviously have more work to do! Apollo did well, pretty slow, naturally, and Lola was actually impatiently way out in front of us, but I managed to get him jogging for quite awhile. Once we got back to camp, though it was a bit more than 5.5 miles, I let them go a-munching again, and I worked on the trail map a bit, trying to make sense of it. Still have more work to do! A gorgeous day, not a cloud in the sky, moderate temps, just perfect! Couldn't ask for more! Had a fattening chicken alfredo dinner and settled down for my usual evening. Good night, sweetheart! Love you!