Archives for 2026

Hiya Darlin',
Had a bunch of thunderstorms come through in the evening, and despite giving Lola two gabapentins along with her Carprofen, she paced and panted for nearly two hours! Not sure if she finally quieted down because the pills finally kicked in or if she just wore herself out. Rain continued past my getting to bed, so I put in my earplugs and enjoyed a nice sleep, and even laid in for an extra hour of reading, just to get my day off started. At first it was pretty cloudy, but as noon approached, the sun started peaking through, so I started on a couple of loads of laundry, and also hooked up the hose and filled up everything, which should now last me most if not all of the week. Spend the in-between time reading, and later in the day, watching some more episodes of House on my tablet. Made Lola some Satin Balls, walked her a couple of times, but otherwise spent the day doing as little as possible to recharge my personal battery banks. Looking forward to a good night sleep as well! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Let myself lay in late this morning, the first step of recovery from this long couple of weeks. Wished I could have stayed in bed longer, but I had some things I had to do today. By noon I headed out to Tawas, dropping off the rim of the remaining wheel that needed a tire, as I had ordered it from Simple Tire and had it sent to Janis Tire there. It was due to be delivered, though it didn't arrive until after 3:00. Meanwhile I parked for awhile in the McDonald's parking lot and did some necessary computer work, reserving a car for my upcoming reunion, selling some stocks to pay for my Peru trip, getting fuel, shopping at Walmart for some essentials, watching the swarms of Mayflies that had inundated the town, the likes of which I had never seen before! Apparently they only live a few days, but they were in full force along the coast today! Went back to the tire store and did some more computer work in their parking lot until the tire was ready (only $25 for mounting, the best price I've seen in years!), then headed back to camp. Had a nice steak dinner and watched some episodes of House on my tablet which I had downloaded in town. Glad to finally have something to watch! Can't wait to get my Starlink! Ordered a few more things to be sent to Sandy's, due on Wednesday, though Starlink is still saying Thursday for that package. I felt more rested earlier, but all the running around and walking Lola has worn me out again, so I'm heading to bed soon. Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Woke up with the alarm, did chores and breakfast, then drove over to the group camp and got started on my day of vet scribing. Was just settling in when my friend Sandy arrived, and we had a nice gap between horses when we were able to visit and get caught up before she had to go to a birthday party. It was a very casual day, and there were quite a few differences between this ride and many others I've worked, the most notable being that the horses didn't have numbers, everybody went by their names, so it was a bit more difficult to fit into the system, since they all knew each other, but we managed to make it work. This ride had both endurance and competitive trail riders, which are two quite different sets of protocols, so I asked a lot of questions and learned quite a bit more about the CTR, which is primarily a regional thing that I first came across at Kankakee. The day moved fairly quickly, then mid-afternoon I went back to camp to fill up my water tanks, using the new sillcock key that Sandy delivered to me after I had it delivered to her. It was slow going, and I nearly fell asleep waiting. I finished off my deviled eggs for the potluck tonight, then read for a tiny bit before heading over in time for supper, awards and the riders meeting for tomorrow. I was back at my site by 8:00, took Lola for a walk, fed the horses, and will soon head to bed. I felt exhausted this afternoon, not having a day off in quite awhile is taking it's toll on me. It's particularly frustrating because I can't watch an hour of TV, which always helps me unwind. Can't wait to get my Starlink! Off to bed soon, hope to put a small deposit in my sleep bank tonight, if I can manage to get to bed early enough! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Did not get enough hours of sleep, though I did sleep well in the cooler weather! Managed to get all my chores and breakfast done just in time for Brian's arrival at 9:00, though he arrived in his old Ford truck rather than the ATV that we had planned on. Apparently, he couldn't get it started this morning. So we headed out and started bouncing our way down trails, clearing as best we could. I had grabbed my folding loppers and my mini chainsaw, but was in a bit of a rush, so I forgot to put a battery in it, duh! We worked right through until after 1:00, with the last mile or so just walking, as Brian went back to get the truck and I carried on and met him close to the end of the trail. Exhausting work! But it looked a lot better afterwards, of course. He dropped me off at camp, and I decided that rather than use up the hay in my stall and then have to go searching for more, that I would find hay here and store it under the gooseneck for the duration, which would mean I could leave with a full stock of hay. I found a place on Marketplace, and went to check it out, but it turned out to be goat hay, not fit for my horses. I passed the Barclay Ranch along the way advertising hay, so I pulled in and discovered some nice hay for $6.00, and bales were very heavy! There was an honor tub for payment, so I loaded myself up with eleven bales, left a check, and headed back through Hale, stopping for a couple of groceries and at the hardware store where I bought a sillcock for the water here, but unfortunately, it was the wrong size, so I'll have to order the 4-prong one from Amazon and return this one. Was exhausted by the time I got back. I feel like I'm walking through a fog! I let the horses out on their anchors for awhile, had veggies and bacon for dinner, barely finished off last night's House episode on my tablet, which seems to do better on a weak signal than my TV, which was never able to pull it in, and finally got online long enough to order a Starlink Mini. I've been talking about this for years, and with the terrible cell service throughout Michigan, I decided I've had enough struggling with it. I spend so much time on the computer or watching TV, it's just ridiculous I have let myself struggle so long. Having it sent to my friend Sandy's, hope it gets here in a reasonable amount of time. The website says 2-3 weeks, but I suspect it will be here sooner, I hope! Anyway, I'm a dish of ice cream and a Spanish lesson (I just passed 1500 consecutive days!) away from shower and bed. Good night, baby! Love you!

Pix to come!

Hiya Babe!
It was 11:30 by the time the mechanic finished up last night, so even with a quick shower, it was after midnight before I was finally got to bed, even later when I got to sleep. Woke up even before my alarm, before 6:00, do I didn't even get much more than five hours of sleep. Packed up and was on the way out of the rest area by 7:15, and had a much welcome uneventful drive to South Branch, stopping once for fuel (diesel down to $4.83 at Marathon), and arriving around 11:00. I was very glad that I looked back at my diary from 2013, because I was able to pinpoint exactly which site we stayed in, and why. I even mentioned the site number, #7, and we stayed there because there's a pump house right across the street, even though it only has a stupid spring spigot with no threads, so essentially useless without major modifications. Thank goodness I've learned a few tricks since then! Later on I took a look behind the well and found another spigot with threads, but it needs a special key, which I actually have somewhere, but I searched high and low and never could find it. Discovered I can buy one at the local hardware store, so I'll be making a trip down there before long! Meanwhile, I put the horses on anchors and got all set up, later putting up a fenced paddock for when I can't keep an eye on them. Right next to me I ran into another MTRA gal that I met on the Shore to Shore ride a few years ago, and she was camping with another two gals (no horses this trip), and in the evening, we ended up playing some euchre together, which I thoroughly enjoyed! Haven't played cards with other humans in a long time! My partner said she hadn't played in years, but it came back to her in spades, because we ended up winning both games against the other gals. I ordered a new tire to be delivered to a shop in Tawas, put up my portable rain barrel and caught a little rain when some showers came through (very little, though) made arrangements for trail clearing with Brian tomorrow and possible trail marking on Thursday and Friday, and generally spent the afternoon keeping busy, though I probably should have taken a nap. One thing for sure, I'll sleep tonight! Temps are going down to the low 50's, just perfect for a good night sleep! Not to mention, finally cold enough to enjoy a hot cup of Sleepytime tea! Tried to watch an episode of House, but the cell signal is pretty weak, so I only got halfway through it before quit, so off to shower and bed! Another early morning (though not quite as early!) and a busy day ahead! Good night, Sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
What a day, and not in a good way. Woke up bright and early after a decent night sleep, managed to get packed up and even out of the RV dump by 8:30, ahead of schedule. Was very happy that it looked like I was going to arrive by 3:00 or so, which would give me plenty of time to scope out a good site. I deliberately avoid I-94, since that is the worst interstate I've ever been on, and was doing quite well until I was just south of Lansing, when I heard a tire explode. After all that trouble to get new tires a few months ago, I was sure I wouldn't have any tire problems for a good couple of years, so you can imagine my disappointment. I had just passed an exit, so I pulled off of the acceleration lane, which was as far off the road as I could get. When I went out to look at it, imagine my astonishment when I realized that not only did I have a flat tire in the front on the passenger side, but the back wheel was completely gone! All eight lug nuts had snapped, and the brake hub as sitting on the ground, with no wheel in sight. It was no wonder the other tire shredded, since it would have been impossible to carry that much weight on one tire. Grrrr! I tried to call my insurance company for road service and got some woman who could barely speak English and kept asking the same stupid questions, who couldn't send me a text to confirm my location, and on and on. I finally gave up and just started calling around myself. By then, the state troopers arrived and gave me the name of a towing company right at the exit I just passed, and they sound out a gal who thought she was only changing a tire with a spare (which I would have done by the time she got there, if that was the only thing), and she ended up calling her boss, who came out and saw the rest of the problem. We did change the spare out, and managed to limp to a rest area that was just over half a mile farther, thank goodness. Then I had to call around and find someone who could change the hub, or a least put in new lugs, and to get a new wheel and tire. I also go on Facebook and asked for help in case I needed to get the horses safe, but it turned out the rest area had a lot of nice grass and was edged by woods, so as the day dragged on, I decided to just stay here rather than transport the horses somewhere else. I had lots of response to my request, though, nice to know how many horse folks are out there willing to help! I managed to find all that I needed, but not everything was a perfect replacement. The tire guy said he had an aluminum wheel, but turned out he didn't, so now I have on steel wheel (I'll make it my spare once I replace the other tire), and last guy took a long time to find all the stuff he needed. He thought he had the right hub, but didn't, then thought he could change the lugs out, but ended up running around finding the right ones. He didn't get back to the trailer until about 9:30 this evening, and is still working on it as I write this. Fingers crossed he's able to complete the job and I'll be able to get out of here, though I'm already late for my shower and bed, which will make getting up at the crack of dawn (which I did this morning) all that much harder. But at least I'll be able to make it to South Branch tomorrow, hopefully, though I hate to go that far without a spare. I'll need to order one to match the original ones, and have it sent to someplace near South Branch, though I'll still have one odd brand out. Can't be helped. Anyway, it's been a long, exhausting day, can't wait to take my shower, put in my earplugs, and go to bed! Good night, darlin'! Love you!