Archives for November 2024

Hi Sweetie,
Woke up to an even earlier alarm after a not very good night sleep, though I had a memorable dream of having a spirited discussion with Meryl Streep about the validity and fairness of allowing both liberal and conservative viewpoints being allowed to be expressed, and the hypocrisy of the liberal media trying to shut down the conservative side. After I got up, I was at the cafe before 7:30 to help Carol with the eggs benedict breakfast, and other than a momentary shortage of butter for the second batch on hollandaise sauce, it went quite well. We served about three times the breakfasts we were expecting, but we didn't run out of anything, though we were down to our last couple of English muffins at the end. Once the breakfast rush was over, I headed out on the trail with Becky to pick up some markers. We didn't have many because we were only picking up the ones that got stranded on the trail when the dams broke, and we got to see the damage first hand. What a mess! It will take a very long time to get those dams fixed. We had to trailer an ATV out there and go in from one of the fields to get to that side. Once that was done, we had the exercise of pulling all the batteries out of the fairy lights once John got back from doing the rest of the trails. Finally said good-byes to Carol, after being loaded down with leftovers, and a bunch of other folks as well. Came back to the trailer and did as much packing as I could, hooked the truck up, then settled down for a dinner of leftover crab chowder and some pumpkin swirl bread, along with a couple of glasses of wine. I've crashed now, and I'm starting to fall asleep in my recliner. It's going to be an early night tonight, for sure! Just waiting for water to heat up for dishes and my shower, than I'm off to bed! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Another long, busy, tiring day, didn't even get back to the trailer until 9:30 pm. Worked in the kitchen most of the day, helping plan and prepare the evening meal, helping a bit with breakfast as well. We ran out of too much food too early last night, and Carol was determined not to let that happen again, so today we overplanned, and cooked way too much, but at least we didn't run out! I helped slice up squash with my kitchen machine, which was a lot easier, but we made way too much. Whatever, we've got leftovers! I had to make a quick run into town for a couple of things Carol forgot on her shopping trip this morning, but then went nonstop all day in preparation, though it was a lot more measured, planned and calm than yesterday. Jo finished her 50 mile ride in 14th place, which she was very happy about, and I picked up her prize for her since she wanted to go to bed early. I fed my hungry horses and was ready for bed almost as soon as I got back, but, of course, horses came first. Definitely ready for shower and bed forthwith! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hey Sweetheart!
Another exciting day, up with an early 7:00 alarm, discovering that it was still raining. Even through my earplugs, I heard a lot of rain last night, and sure enough, there was a lot of standing water around this morning. Had breakfast, fed the horses, and was over at the Snack Shack by 8:15, where I helped to stick batteries into little lights that we later took out on the trail. We had to wait for the water to recede a bit, the owner, Jerry, was concerned about damaging the trails and asked us to wait. We finally hit the trail around 1:00 on an ATV, so a lot of hopping on and off, as we put up the lights, white for straight, green for turns, red for caution. We were nearly done when Becky's husband John caught up with us, and she had to run off to put up some mileage signs for the FEI side of the ride, and John took me the rest of the say. It took us almost three hours to complete. I went back into the Snack Shack and worked on some computer stuff, there's a good signal there. Then I started helping Jack with his cell phone, he has ads popping up every few minutes, on top of everything else he's working on, very annoying! There didn't seem to be an easy fix, but I played around with that until dinner and the rider's meeting, then finally headed back to the trailer after 7:30. Got the horses fed, and loved on Lola for a bit, she was very glad to see me after being alone all day. At least I didn't have to cook and clean! Heading to shower and bed, I imagine I'll be busy doing all kinds of go-fer stuff tomorrow. Good night, baby! Love you!

Pix to come.

Hey Sweetie!
Woke up to the alarm, which I set just to make sure I didn't sleep too late, finished packing, stopped at their conveniently located RV dump, and was on the road before 10:00. Had an uneventful drive down to our next stop, Broxton Bridge, to help with their endurance ride this weekend. Owner Jerry met me in his truck and took me to where I'm supposed to be staying in their primitive area, and I had my choice of spots. Found the perfect one that lets me point to the SW, with the trailer in shade and the front wide open for my solar panel and two great trees for a highline. Got set up in no time, the horses well-settled before I headed out again to find some hay. The nearest place ended up being a feed store, G&G Milling, about 20 minutes away, where I got coastal for $11 bale. Can't believe how the prices are going up! They were very heavy bales for their size though, and I got enough for this week, and to have a full load when I drive to Florida. Once I off-loaded some bales and covered the rest with my tarp to keep them dry from the incoming rain in the forecast, I drove over to one of the empty sites and filled up my water tank in the truck, then transferred to the trailer all that it could hold. Most of the campers will be in electric sites, but I don't mind being in a primitive spot, especially when it gets crowded. I even got a password for the guest wifi, so now, FINALLY, I'm enjoying live streaming! I finished off Terra Nova (they only had one season, unfortunately), and a rom-com just for fun. Met with Becky, who helps with the trails here, and made a plan for tomorrow. Now I'm heading to shower and bed, got an early morning tomorrow! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe!
Woke up pretty confused this morning! My Kindle on my phone was telling my one time, my phone was telling me another time, and when I looked at my computer, it was telling me a third, different time! I had forgotten all about the changing of the clocks last night, and because of the poor cell signal here, it was taking awhile for things to get caught up, and they still haven't. I think my computer reverted to Central Time or something, though it's saying Eastern, Who knows, hopefully it will all straighten out at the next stop. Anyway, I ended up getting up much later than usual, even with the time change, and the place was almost empty by the time I fed the horses, except for a group of kids that were camping overnight, and they were gone a bit later. I only had to do one load of laundry, not surprising considering the short week, and I did a little more deep cleaning in the bedroom and some regular housekeeping, plus getting some stuff packed up for our departure tomorrow. Found a dead mouse in the back of the kitchen cupboard, proof my pesticide efforts are working, though I found it by the smell. I figured that would happen, but a dead mouse is better than a live one, so I cleaned that up and hope I won't find a lot more. Glad I could reach it easily! Was afraid they might end up between walls or something. So now it's getting dark by 5:30, so I fed the horses before then, and the long evening stretched out in front of me. Watched a long, boring movie with Liam Neeson, which killed a few hours, and I'm planning on getting to bed fairly early, now that the days start earlier, I need to revise my body clock (she says for the umpteenth time!) Whatever, I'm making my tea and getting ready for bed soon. Good night, darlin'! Love you!

Pix to come.

Hey Darlin'!
Slept late, back to my late night/late morning schedule lately. After chores and breakfast, I did some housekeeping, found out where a bunch of stinkbugs were hiding (in the front cupboard of the bedroom), and got ride of them. Read for awhile, then at 1:30, got Flash ready to ride. I'd made arrangements to ride with Melissa, whom I met at Sandhills, and she brought her friend Marsha, who was also at Sandhills, and we headed out on the trail just after 2:00. They were both riding TN Walkers, but Flash took the lead and was his best speedy self despite the long, fast ride we took yesterday. He is in super great condition right now! We did about 12 miles at a nice pace, with quite a bit of cantering. We took the yellow trail and it was just lovely. Their two horses were getting pretty tired by about halfway through, but of course, Flash started moving faster once we turned south toward camp, so we were out front quite a bit. Love that horse! Melissa brought me a couple of bales of hay, so now I'm a lot less worried about finding hay my first day out at Broxton next week, I have a little reprieve, thank goodness. Got back just after 5:00, they packed up and said their good-byes, I made a nice Alfredo dinner and settled down to a rather pointless movie. While the trails are lovely and definitely worth riding, and the price and options for camping are very nice, I've been very frustrated here by the poor cell phone signal, it really has made the stay here less than perfect.. Heading to shower and bed shortly! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!