Archives for October 2024

Hi Sweetie,
Slept intermittently during the night, and I got the impression the problem was mostly that my airbed was too soft. Not surprising with all the altitude I've lost recently, plus the fact that the nights suddenly got pretty chilly, down in the 40's, to the air molecules are contracting. I made sure to put some air in it when I turned the generator on in the afternoon. Once I got more chores done and let the horses out, I got busy with the lower bathroom cupboard, and it took me nearly four hours to get that completely done. Amazing how much work it takes to clean everything and put it back, though I did have the added situation of putting in adhesive shelf line, which is a lot trickier than the rough rubber stuff, but it does look nice. Managed to toss a few things, too, so now it seems like I have a little bit more room. At this rate, I should have all my interior deep cleaning done by the time I get to Florida! I want to do the exterior, too, but I'll probably wait until I have electric and water so I can use my pressure washer. I had promised myself a few years ago that I was going to try to keep my trailer in "sellable" condition, not that I want to sell it, just that that's when it always get cleanest. I haven't kept that promise, but I'm going to try from now on. I just need to make the time, and I've had more of that lately. Took Lola for a walk down to the lake and played some fetch with her, and when we got back she went nuts playing with your Kong Wubba toy. She's definitely feeling a lot better these days! I just have to work her up to building her muscles again, she has atrophied over the past months of not doing anything. The horses enjoyed themselves grazing around today, then ended up standing right outside my door. I had noticed at Linda's that Apollo was covered in bot eggs, so I got out my bot knife and had a go at them. Flash doesn't seem to attract them for some reason. A beautiful day once it warmed up, another cool night tonight, and hopefully I'll sleep better now that I have a firmer bed. Really enjoying the peace and quiet out here! Seems like it's been awhile since I've been at a place on my own. Loving it! Anyway, settled down for the evening, as usual, closing up the place to keep the warmth in! Good night, baby! Love you!

Pix to come!

Hiya Babe,
Woke up way too early, then managed to doze a bit before getting up before the alarm. Didn't take too long to finish packing, since I hadn't unpacked a whole lot, and was out of the horse campground by 9:30, then I had to work my way back to the regular campground to use the dump. One of the challenges here at AH Stephens is that, despite how groomed this state park is, the roads are almost all just one lane, and they weaver around trees and tight corners, so a rig my size can barely make it through. The same was true through the regular campground and the dump. I managed it, but I had to be very careful, and more than once I had tires off the pavement, though thankfully, not into any ditches or scraping any trees. By the time I dumped and was leaving the park, it was just after 10:00, which was right on schedule. It was a great, uneventful drive, for most of the way, I didn't even have to stop for fuel like I thought I would, and we arrived at the recreation area at about 1:45. The last stretch on dirt and sand roads was pretty rough, lots of little ditches where rain had formed it's own runoff, and a couple of sections with some pretty soft sand, but we made it through. Could really use some grading, though! The campsite that I reserved, which Patsy had recommended, was good, closest to the lake and on the highest point in the campground, so I have a halfway decent cell signal. There's only one corral, but just large enough for my two guys, maybe. Lots of trees if I decide to put up a highline. Surprisingly, there was another horse trailer here, though no truck and no horse. I had heard this place was almost always empty unless there's an event, though the tag said he was leaving tomorrow. I put Apollo on his anchor and let Flash free, and they spent the rest of their day grazing on the long grass here. Doesn't look like they've mowed in a LONG time, and there are lots of gnats, so I'll probably put the screen room up tomorrow, since I'll be here 2 1/2 weeks. I ran down to the HQ to buy my annual park pass (good for a year from today), and to fill up the truck tank with water. They're only about five miles away, so it will be fairly easy to refill. I had already filled up the horses buckets, so when I got back, I just topped off the trailer, then settled down for my usual evening! At least here, Lola can wander again! While the horses were having their dinner, we took a walk down to the lake, she was pretty excited about that, I suspect she'll be coming home wet in the future. Anyway, time for tea, Spanish, shower and bed! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Got up with the alarm at 8:00 after a night of intermittent sleep and heavy fog, finished packing and loading up, out at about 10:00, shortly after the fog lifted and I said my good-byes to Linda. So grateful to be able to stay with her during this unbelievable tragedy! Considering that two major interstates in the region are closed down, and a lot of traffic is necessarily being diverted to I-75, it wasn't too terrible on the highway, though there were numerous slowdowns and more traffic than usual, but still manageable. I stopped once for fuel, and that turned out to be the most time consuming effort of the day. I pulled into a Pilot, only to discover 1) there was someone parked on the diesel pump who had disappeared, and 2) there was very little room to turn around after the pump. After waiting for too long, I finally just backed out and left. I had seen another station that had diesel for $.35 less per gallon, and if I didn't have the convenience of an easy in and out, I wasn't about to pay that much extra. I pulled into the other station, and there wasn't much room in there, either, but eventually, after multiple tries and having to get people to move their cars, I finally managed to pull around, though I had to jump a curb to do it. I got to the park 35 minutes later, just around 3:00, about an hour later than I had figured when I left, but understandable with the traffic. Going through Atlanta is never fun! Got checked in, and the nice ranger gave me a refund based on a discount for seniors, plus something else, so I got a little money back. I told him I was here to help clean up the trails, but they don't have a work-camper program here, so that was the best he could do. Got the horses settled and the trailer set by about 4:00, and went into my usual evening routine. Looking forward to seeing just what kind of shape the trails are in tomorrow! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Had a busy day today, though packing was the least of it, since I hadn't really unpacked all that much. I did laundry all day, taking advantage of having water and electric, so I did a bunch of extra stuff, like my towels and Lola's bed. I also did some more deep cleaning, this time the cupboards over the living room area. So much stuff had gotten thrown in there over the years that it took some time to sort through it all and get organized, but it really is looking good now! Moved the manuals into the file cabinet in back so it added some extra space, and everything is all together now in plastic bags. I have to admit, I like it when it's clean, I just hate the necessary housework to get it that way! I'm going to try to be better, though! Had a nice chat with Linda and some of her friends before dinner, then settled down for my usual evening routine. Looking forward to heading out tomorrow, though I'm very grateful for having a safe place to stay during this storm. If I had gone to a campground somewhere after the Biltmore, I'm sure I'd be in much more dire straits! I had considered Woods Ferry, and am very glad I didn't, because that sits just up the bank for the French Broad River, which also runs by the Biltmore, and the water level was so high there, I never would have been able to escape further downstream! Many thanks to my friend Linda for putting me up (and up with me!) for these past weeks. Ready to move on, though, to see where else I can be of service. Heading to A.H. Stephens in Crawfordville, GA for a couple of days, going to work on their trails a bit, though I'm having to keep an eye on yet ANOTHER hurricane heading that way. I'll be further east by the weekend, though, so hopefully it will miss me again. Fingers crossed! Beautiful night tonight, though, so I'm going to enjoy that! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Despite napping most of the day yesterday, I still managed to get good night sleep, and woke up nice and refreshed this morning. After breakfast, I tackled the oil change that was due on my truck, which didn't take long, except I didn't have enough oil to finish the job (10 quarts!), though I had enough to run the truck, so I ran into town to get more oil, drop off garbage, grab a few groceries and was back pretty quick. Finished filling up the oil, along with some brake fluid, and mostly called it a day. Finished organizing the shoe cupboard which I left undone the other day because I had to put some foam insulation around a pipe under there. I thought I had done that with all my pipes, but evidently missed this one. Hopefully that will help stop any critters or bugs from getting in. Relaxed the rest of the day, though I did make the decision to leave on Monday and go to A.H. Stephens and do some work there. I'll be on my own (what else is new?), and I'm having to pay full freight there, and being a state park, it's more than I like to spend, but it's in a convenient location to where I need to go the following week, so it's worth it. Had my usual evening, dinner and a movie, a good one with Michael Douglas and Kiefer Sutherland. Soon to bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Well, I had a full day planned today, which was supposed to include changing the oil on the truck, running into town to drop off some garbage and pick up a few groceries and maybe even a little bit more housework, but it all got pushed aside, and I ended up doing next to nothing. That's because I decided to take a dose of allergy medication for the itching and swelling from the bee stings. I figure if I took it today, by the time it wore off, most of the problem would be gone, but I didn't take it right away because I wanted to let my own immune system handle it, to keep it strong. It was a good plan, I thought, but the medication hit me so hard, I ended up falling asleep in my chair! I'd wake up and it would be an hour later, and then moments later, it was another hour! Before I knew it, it was after 3:00, too late to start anything. I ended up crawling back up to bed and sleeping some more, in between a tiny bit of reading. I was NOT expecting that kind of reaction! So I guess everything is pushed back until tomorrow, though I hate to shop on a Saturday, but I only need one or two things, so I guess I'll live. Dang, not the day I was hoping for! One thing I did do, I found a board in the barn to put over the ever increasing hole in the floor of my slide. Lola crawled back and ended up sticking her foot right through the soft spot, and needed help to get out. Did realize there was nothing else underneath it, I can now see straight to the ground. I checked it, though, and it seems to be okay outside the immediate are, so no change of my chair falling through yet, anyway. The board will hopefully keep it from getting worse. At least maybe now I can find where the leak is coming in! Anyway, I finally started feeling better at about supper time, so I had my usual evening. I just hope I'll be able to sleep tonight, after having slept so much during the day. My body rhythym is so off these days! I supposed I could use a pill as a sleeping pill, but I really hated the lethargy that came with it. Anyway, I'm going to try to get to bed and sleep during the night, and be back to normal tomorrow. Love you, darlin'! Good night!

Hiya Darlin',
Despite all the exercise yesterday, I still had a little trouble falling asleep, so late night equals late morning. Did some inquiries on where I can go next, waiting to hear back from some folks. Shared a lot of FB posts about missing people and animals. Was very excited that the gentleman I spoke with about donating a couple of big round bales of hay made a whopping contribution of 28 bales! I forgot to mention that yesterday we rode through a next of ground bees. Now ordinarily, I'm in the lead or on my own, so they never catch up to me, but yesterday I was in the back, so I got nailed big-time, with multiple stings on my ankles, hands and even on the back of my neck. They hurt for awhile but eventually the pain went away, but this morning, everything had swollen up and started itching. I toughed it out, figuring it will give my anti-bodies a workout, and it didn't really bother me too much. I wasn't in a mood to do much today, though, so I relaxed today. I did pull down my oil change stuff, since the truck is in need of an oil change, and fixed a pair of glasses, but otherwise, that was it. Just not up to doing more cleaning today. So, had a regular evening, though I baled out of one movie after half an hour, then watched a DC film that was just okay, a little too adolescent for me, so I guess I'm finally maturing :-). Heading to bed shortly! Good night, sweetie! Love you!