Archives for 2026

Hey Darlin',
Woke up in the middle of night cold, so I crawled out of bed to turn on the fireplace and make a quick pitstop, then crawled back into bed, worked on my shoulder with my massager for awhile, and also a bit of my back and side, which has been giving me a little trouble the past couple of days. I think I may have pulled something at some point. Eventually, I managed to get back to sleep, though my phone rang just a minute after my DND time was up, it was Becky telling me to ignore the message she sent to me at 3:40 a.m., which was to not do the computer work on the trails we discussed yesterday because there were going to be some changes. the phone call was to let me know there WEREN'T going to be any changes, so go ahead. So I spent the morning creating a gpx file for all the combo trails they were going to use, which took me until about 1:00. I read for a bit, then remembered I needed to finish sewing the new leather bottom into Apollo's feedbag (he keeps chewing the vinyl out), which took me until Joyce picked me up and we all went to dinner at the same Mexican restaurant we went to last year, and would you believe it? They mixed up our entrees AGAIN! I had forgotten that happened until about halfway through the meal when I realized it was wrong, and I got John's dinner and he got mine. Grrr! I couldn't believe they did it again! I have to remember this for next year, if I come back, and make sure I actually get what I order. Got back to camp, Becky helped me find a couple of muck buckets in the dark since I had already run out of room in mine, then I settled down for the evening. Everything is apparently done that can be done, at least until the ride manager gets here tomorrow evening, so I may just be able to take a pleasure ride tomorrow. Wouldn't that be nice? I'm sure something will likely come up, but we'll deal with whatever it is, and of course, from Thursday on will be busy. It was nice relaxing over a hot computer today, at least that was somewhat physically restful. Not quite a day off, but a little refreshing. Hopefully I'll get some days to really relax next week. Meanwhile, to be early! Good night, babe! Love you!

Pix to come!

Hiya Babe,
Woke up after a weird dream, then fell asleep a bit more, finally getting up around 7:30. Packing up and getting out of camp took a bit longer than I expected, partly because I had too much hay leftover (six bales!) so I had to figure out how to carry them and load them onto the truck, then I had trouble getting the electric fence down, because it was so dry when I set it up, I had to really pound them in with the rubber hammer, so getting them loose again took awhile. Plus it was a much larger paddock than I normally set up, more than twice the size, so I had a lot more posts to get out. I finally managed to leave camp around 10:30, and had an uneventful drive to Broxton Bridge, though it was three hours of mostly back roads, with only about 20 miles on the freeway, where I was able to find fuel at a BP station. Unexpectedly, the pump said I would get forty cents a gallon off if I joined their loyalty club, so I signed up and filled the tank, at the "low" price of $5.19! Can't wait for these prices to come down! Anyway, I arrived at Broxton just before 2:00, and was pretty well set up by just after 3:00. First thing on the agenda was laundry, of course! Trailmeister and photographer Becky P. invited me over for a much appreciated spaghetti dinner, and we chatted about what she needed help with tomorrow, which was essentially mapping out the combo trails so they could get a better handle on their distances. I will certainly welcome a job that requires me to sit at my computer for a few hours, I'm still tired from all the cleaning activity last week! Looking forward to a day off, though I won't get one until next week. Spent the rest of the evening getting the details of my mapping project, and managed to get one episode of Perception in, and will be heading off to shower and clean sheets forthwith! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Got to bed later than I wanted, and still woke up a bit early. I overexerted the batteries yesterday, so when my furnace kicked in this morning, it was struggling a bit, so I had to get up early and get the generator going. I had breakfast before doing chores, then eventually I went out to do my horse chores. Got a few things done in the morning, then saddled up Flash for our last ride here. I love the trails here, and I'm sad that I only got three rides here in two weeks, but it was a necessary sacrifice for what I got accomplished. Our ride was lovely, the temps were perfect once it warmed up a bit, and even though this fall has been rather lackluster because of the ongoing drought, it was a beautiful day, and the views were improving because of the loss the leaves. We went nearly nine miles in absolutely beautiful conditions, and if I hadn't had so many other things to do today, I would have made it longer. But I did, so when I got back, after putting Flash away, I did a bunch of things. I started packing up some stuff, then I got to work on Apollo's feed bag. I have repaired this thing so many times, sewing in new bottoms where he chews through it until the feed falls out, but I bought some real leather in a sheet, and cleaned all the old stuff out and started sewing in a new leather bottom. Unfortunately I ran out of time to finish is, and did some more packing a feeding before it got dark. No worries, I figure I'll have time to finish it tomorrow, hopefully, and I won't need it tomorrow since the horses will get their feed in the camper in the morning. Hopefully, anyway! Got most stuff packed up, though I'll have to take the fence down tomorrow, but it's only a three hour drive, so I should be good. I put their blankets on again since it's supposed to be around 40, not too bad but enough to be concerned about. Finally settled down for the evening, a bit more tired than I had hoped for today, but I'm really heading to bed early (hopefully!), and don't have plans to get up too early in the morning, so good night, my darling! Love you!

Hey Darlin'!
After a week of hard labor, I finally managed to finish my deep clean, yay! I had done my pantry cupboard not too long ago, so that didn't take long, nor did my coat closet, but the bedroom took longer than I expected. I finally discovered where I think the bugs have been getting in, the screen on my emergency escape window wasn't situated correctly, leaving some big gaps. I had piles of stink bugs and lady bugs piled up next to it. Last night, I had sprayed the bedroom before going to bed because I had some flies in the camper, but evidently there were a lot more bugs I hadn't noticed yet, so I had a lot of work to do! But I managed to get it finished, at last, just before 2:00. I was tempted to take an afternoon ride, but instead I did some mending, where I was able to sit down and relax a bit, as well as to work on Apollo's feed bag. He keeps chewing through the bottom of it, and I've been covering the holes with a layer of vinyl, but he chews through that as well, so I finally bought a sheet of leather, which I'm hoping will hold up better. I had to rip out all the old layers, then washed it thoroughly, and hopefully tomorrow I'll have a chance to sew the new leather in. So glad to get this job finished, and I'm determined to not let it go for so long in the future! Hoping to get at least a short ride in tomorrow, Flash was running around self-exercising this morning, so he's ready! It was also a bit chillier this morning, so that may have caused it, too. Put the horses' blankets on tonight, since it's supposed to be in the upper 30's tonight, Indian summer is over, that's for sure! Was glad to have a more relaxing afternoon, finally settled down in the evening in my usual routine, and heading to bed shortly. Good night, baby! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Well, I had hoped to get farther along in my cleaning today than I did, but I ran into a little plumbing problem that distracted me, a small leak in the drain of the kitchen. I tried sealing it, and tightening the PVC pipe, but I don't think I solved it. I did as much as I could, but I still have the stair, coat closed and spice cabinet left, then finally the bedroom, which doesn't have much in the way of cupboards, so hopefully won't take me too long. Not surprisingly, I found a lot more dead bugs in the kitchen cupboards, even the ones I've cleaned more recently, so I ended up having to wash just about everything in my cupboards. A lot of work! But at least it should all get done before I leave here! Not sure I'll get another ride in here, we'll see. I'm exhausted from all this activity, so I might just need to take a day off soon, not sure when. Anyway, still got a lot done, finally relaxed for the evening, soon to bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Another day pretty much just like yesterday, though I got up a little earlier, so I started cleaning a bit earlier. Managed to finish off the office area, which took the most time because I completely revamped it, paring down on a lot of stuff and making it much tidier, as well as the cupboards above it, which I had done not too long ago, so that didn't take much time. Did the two cupboards above the dining area, and managed to get one of the under bench drawers and under the table done, just leaving the other bench drawer to do on that side. That will be tomorrow's job, as well as the kitchen cupboards, and maybe even making it to the bedroom, though I'm a bit less sure of that. It's hard to believe how long it's taking me to do this job, but I am being very thorough, and taking occasional breaks in order not to wear myself out, though I have to say, I'm getting progressively more tired, and am looking forward to a day off at some point in the future. It may end up being Sunday, which, of course, will be packing day, but at least I can spread that out over the day. Hoping to get one more ride in while I'm here, but beginning to doubt that might happen. Fingers crossed! Finally settled down for the evening, looking forward to an early bedtime. Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hi Darlin',
Been sleeping well, though I was a bit more achy this morning, not surprisingly. Once again started in on cleaning once my usual morning chores were done. It took me most of the morning to finish in the bathroom, then I worked on the TV area, particularly on the bottom behind the heater grate, lots of bugs and dirt down there, and then the shoe cupboard, which was also pretty bad. Despite the bug bombing, I keep finding stinkbugs, which I always seem to get when I'm in TN in the fall, and they're so hard to get rid of. I had several in my bedroom last night, yuck! It was a fairly strenuous day, lots of fighting gravity getting up and down, and butt walking whenever I could, so I probably got a good workout, but it was a tiring day. Finally settled down, finished off my Aussie series the Heart Guy, and started a new American series called Perception, another eccentric professor called upon by the FBI to use his special talents to help solve cases. We'll see how that goes. Glad I'm getting all this work done, even though it's taking longer than I figured (what else is new?), but it's moving along, and very necessary at this point. Rain in the forecast the next couple of days, so a good time to get it done! Hopefully, I'll get another ride in by this weekend, but cleaning is my priority right now, and I'm hoping to get some riding in at Broxton next week. We'll see! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Another good night sleep, temps are perfect sleeping weather! Got myself psyched up for housework today, after chores and breakfast I spent the entire day cleaning and reorganizing. Naturally, I didn't get as far as I had hoped, there's always something the comes up to slow me down, but I managed to get the entire laundry/utility area cleaned, including completely rearranging the wardrobe, which I have never been completely happy with, pulling out all the drawers to do so, and even stapled the floor behind the drawers which has been curling away from the edge. I also did the big cupboard over the toilet in the bathroom, which took a lot longer than I expected, but it was a big job! I was hoping to get both sections done, but didn't make it before I ran out of time. It's the most cupboard heavy area of the camper, and it's been a very long time since I've done such a deep clean, and in fact, I think some of those drawers I put away without doing a deep clean when I moved them over from the old camper! So, yeah, years. What can I say, when it comes to housework, I'd rather be riding! It would have been a beautiful day for a ride today, but I've committed myself to getting this camper clean from top to bottom, at least the living quarters, while I'm here. The horse area will have to wait for the next time I have the time to do it, hopefully in a couple of weeks. Finally settled down for the evening, hopefully early to bed, since I plan on doing as much more cleaning as I can tomorrow! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Had a good night sleep, trying to get my circadian rhythm in sync with these suddenly much shorter-feeling days. After chores and breakfast, I put together some mail, opened up all my cupboards and drawers, and set off a couple of bug bombs. I've been seeing more bugs in the house, and since I have a week free, I thought I would kill the bugs, the work on doing a deep clean this week, call it my fall cleaning. It's been awhile, and with Lola gone, things are staying cleaner longer in the more visible areas, but the more hidden spots needs a good clean. Then I headed into town to kill four hours, which included stops at the post office, Tractor Supply, Food Lion and the Rent-A-Center, which is where I've been having my Amazon packages sent. Timing worked out perfectly, I arrived back at camp just as the four hours were up, I opened up the place to let it air out, and as soon as my CO2 detector stopped beeping, I came in and started sweeping up all the many bugs that had fortunately perished. I'm sure I'll find more when I start the deep clean, but it's nice to have a fresh start. Settled down for my usual evening routine, and plan to head to bed early if possible! Good night, darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Remembered at the last minute that the clocks were changing overnight, so I got an "extra" hour of sleep. I hate when the time changes, it's just ridiculous that with the days getting shorter, within a couple of weeks time we got from light at 7:00 pm to dark by 5:30 pm. Grrr! I just wish we would drop daylight savings time altogether! Anyway, I woke up feeling like I needed to take a walk today, all this sitting around this week was making my hips feel atrophied, so I did managed to get a walk in after breakfast, down to the river and back. Probably only about a mile, but better than nothing. I got an email that the flight I've been following for my March trip had a price drop, which I had been waiting for, so I pursued that and found it was, in fact, lower than it had been for awhile, so I went ahead and spent most of the afternoon booking all of my flights and hotels. It's going to be a complicated connection system, but I've tried to make sure if one connection is late I still have options, but it will be tight. The perils of travel these days! But I think I've managed to work it all out. My friend Patsy in SC had agreed to look after the horses for me, and she's only about an hour away from the Charlotte airport, which will be my starting point. I'm just hoping there will, in fact, be northern lights while I'm in Sweden, since that's the whole point of this trip! Well, mostly. I'm looking forward to riding some Icelandic horses, though it's going to be cold, but as I was told in Fairbanks, Alaska many years ago, there's no such thing as inclement weather, only inappropriate clothing! So I'm going to be making sure I have plenty of that! That actually took up most of my day, and with it getting dark so early now, I spent most of it reading and watching TV. I'm feeling like winter is suddenly upon me, even though it was in the 60's today. Can't believe it's November already! Where did the year go? Guess time does fly when you're having fun! Anyway, time for shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!