Hi Darlin’,
A good night sleep with just a few sprinkles of rain, and it was gray and cloudy in the morning. I drove over by the office and Maggie and I both spent a little time connecting on our social networks, and a look at the radar and the forecast seemed to show a great swath of rain heading right for us, so we figured we had better skip riding today. We got back and mostly chatted and read all afternoon, but the rain never really arrived, just about five minutes of a fairly light sprinkle, that was it! So a wasted day, at least for riding, but it was very relaxing, which I think we both needed. I’m sure the horses didn’t mind another day of rest either! I had some leftover steak we cooked up, had a nice dinner, even had a bit of coffee in the afternoon for a nice change. Ended the day watching a movie. Since we have no service here, so no internet, so no streaming services, I cranked up the Dish PVR that I had loaded up with 300 hours of movies, and we watched Trading Places because we were both in the mood for something funny. It did make us laugh! It was a nice ending to a nice quiet day. Shower and bed now, of course. Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
More rain, so everything is still muddy, but then it cleared up just long enough for us to rinse everything down and even to dry a bit before more clouds moved in. Since we didn’t do any packing up yesterday, and had much more to pack up what with tents and all, it seemed to take a long time, even with extra hands. It was noon before Maggie and I had finished at the dump, and Sandy headed straight south to visit her cousin in N. Alabama for a few days. We made it to LBL around 2:00, taking some skinny back roads I would probably have been better off missing, but it was fine. Then we followed the signs for the Wrangler’s Camp off the Trace, and it took us on another long, windy, skinny road, which I’d never taken before because I’ve always come from the other direction, where it’s a very short drive from the main road to the camp, so wasn’t real happy about that! But we got here okay, got settled in to a lovely corner spot where I put up the electric fence (though I was told later by a ranger that I couldn’t actually put the electric on, but the fence was okay), mostly because the rain had made the highline area a total mess, plus there was lots of clover, which the horses just loved! We got everything set up, took our time, and even got the tent up by 5:00 before finally having dinner, which was a wonderful piece of leftover steak from dinner last week, with rice and veggies. Settled down for the evening chatting and reading, but then went off to bed by about 9:00. Pretty much no cell service here, which may be problematic, but I did manage to find a good one down by the office, so that will be our hotspot for now! Meanwhile, showers were done early (we were so sweaty after load-in!), now off the bed! Love you, babe! Good night!

Hi Babe!
Slept late today, guess all this activity is catching up with me! Felt rested this morning though. Started raining again overnight and lasted part way through the day, forecast says the same all week, so I guess we’re going to get wet for awhile! We had a lazy day today, since it was so wet we didn’t feet we needed to pack up much, particularly since our next stop is only about 80 miles away. Sandy will be leaving us temporarily to go visit a cousin in N. Alabama, while Maggie and I set up camp at Land Between the Lakes, KY tomorrow. With nothing else to do, the gals decided to drive up to Waverly and do a little shopping, while I stayed home and did some computer work, almost napping for some reason! After they got back we grilled some Angus burgers, made mac ‘n’ cheese and vegetables for dinner, then they decided they wanted to see you in action, so I picked out the video of the world premiere of Legacy of Galileo that we did in Huntsville, AL. Not the best quality, but not bad, and they both enjoyed it. Maggie had seen some of your videos before, but it was the first time for Sandy, and she seemed to like it. That pretty much took care of the day, they’ve gone to bed, I’ve taken my shower, and now I’m off to bed as well. Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’!
Well, we weren’t in bed very long before there was a pounding on the door, Bubba telling us the creek was rising and that we ought to move the horses. I went and looked and I didn’t think they were really in any danger, though one fence post was starting to get water around it. I took off the fence charger and debated a bit, but then saw on the radar that another big band of weather was coming, so rather than spend the night getting up and down to check on them, we figured it would be easier to just put them in the trailer, so that’s what we ended up doing. It was after midnight by then, and we were all pretty exhausted by then. I got up with the alarm and fed the horses, then finally woke them both up in order to get to breakfast on time. We were a little surprised that there were so many folks still going for a group ride what with all the rain, and it rained a bit after they all left, but Maggie and Sandy decided not to ride today. The creek was slowly receding by the time breakfast was done, and we all got back to the trailer, and before long, we were all napping, Sandy outside, Maggie inside, and me up in my bed. I didn’t wake up until 11:55! Needed it though. After lunch we watched the Extreme Trail Competition for a couple of hours, then had dinner (still eating way too much!), listened to a great band that Anthony had brought in, sat through the awards program, stayed a bit for the music, then finally came back to the trailer about 9:30, pooped! Can’t wait for my shower and bed, which I’m off to do now. Good night, honey! Love you!

Hi Babe!
Hard rain for much of the night, so sleep was fitful for everyone. It had already been decided that no one would be riding today, so we slept in a little bit, then decided to do spend the morning doing the tour through the Butcher Holler cabin, the mansion, and the museum, though I also did laundry off and on all day. We headed over after breakfast, managed to get the first two guided tours done, went back for lunch, then came back to the museum and main street for a couple of hours. Came back for dinner, then stuck around for the horseless rodeo for a bit before another hard storm came in, then we all (including Callie) retired back to the trailer, then eventually INTO the trailer because the rain got so heavy and the wind was pushing the screen room in. I had just pinned down the screen room the other day, and bought new and better clamps to attach the screen room to the awning, and despite the strong winds, everything seemed to hold just fine, thank goodness! Then we lost electricity for a little while, then when the lights came back on, spent the rest of the evening chatting and playing Euchre, after teaching it to Maggie and Callie, who had never played. By about 10:00, the rain seemed to have stopped, Callie and I won the game 11-2, and we all broke up for the evening. We all took out showers and headed off the bed. With all the rain, Maggie decided to sleep inside in one of the recliners, but Sandy was still dry enough to sleep in her cot-tent, which we had put under the awning before the rain. Now I’m off to bed, at last! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie!
A good night sleep, though we got to sleep an extra half hour this morning since we had less tack issues to deal with. Had another big breakfast (I’m going to have to go on a serious diet again when I’m back on my own!), then got the ladies ready for their ride. I did a bit of running around, too the spray pain that I had bought for marking the trails back to the coop since we didn’t use them, then headed to Tractor Supply for some feed, though they didn’t have Balancer, but also found a breast collar, since Flash’s saddle keeps slipping on these steep hills. Then off to Walmart for a couple of things, then back to camp just after the ladies got back. Checked out the breast collar, looks like it will fit, so we’ll try it next time. After lunch, the ladies went down to watch the horse training clinic, but I started delving into my washer problem, and realized that I had been looking at the wrong component on my machine, and that, in fact, the part was correct. Since that was the case, I decided to go ahead and fix it, and managed to get it all put back together, got a neighbor to help get it back in place, put everything back in it’s place and voila! The machine was working just fine, yay!! Started a load, then sat down to rest for a minute, and not ten minutes went by when Sandy showed up, wondering why I hadn’t joined them at the clinic. Glad the job is done, though, a great relief, and now I can relax because all my chores are done. Of course, there’s rain moving in later tonight for the next 36 hours, so who knows what we’ll be doing till it’s gone. Went off to dinner (eating WAY TOO MUCH!), Sandy did a bit of line dancing (another great turnout!), I came back and fed the horses, Maggie was chatting with some other folks, we all got back together about 8:00, chatted, I did my Snowy River for them, but now it’s getting close to bedtime, and I still need a shower. We’ve brought Sandy’s tent cot into the screen room because apparently it’s not exactly waterproof (I hope the tent Maggie is in will be!), and we’ll all soon be off to bed. Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Babe!
Got up with the alarm at 6:00, knowing there would be issues with getting the saddles right for both ladies today, fed the horses, went to breakfast, then got back and started making those tack adjustments. Just managed to make it in time for the group picture and to leave in time with the organized rides. They opted to both go on the slow ride today, and the group had 85 people! I think it might have had something to do with the fact that in the information sheets we prepared, it was strongly recommended the newbies and folks who may not have the fittest horses should take that ride, and they certainly did that! Bubba’s group actually came in early, around 12:45, partly because one girl broke her arm when her horse slipped, so he didn’t add any extra trails like he might have done. Meals were all pretty good today. I spent the morning doing a lot of extra jobs that needed doing, like putting new clamps on the screen room for better bug protection, running the extra spray paint down to the office, also mailing a book order out (though I forgot there’s no mail today), and lots of odds and ends before I finally settled down to take the big job, fixing the washing machine. I couldn’t remember how we took it out last time, and I pondered and tried several different approaches, none of the worked. Sandy and I finally brainstormed and figured the only way was to take the two screws out of what was the top of the washer, which needed to come off anyway, and set the dryer on it’s side out of the way. We didn’t have the strength ourselves, but Sandy managed to wrangle a couple of burly guys to come in and move it for us, very grateful for country boys! It was shortly after that I realized that the part that they sent me was completely the wrong part! Way different, I mean, not even close! Their part had a Whirlpool sticker, and my machine is an Ariston, which is also Hotpoint in some countries and Splendide in others, but definitely NOT Whirlpool. So of course I called them, before once again realizing it was a holiday and everything was closed, dang it! So I ended up having the leave it, though I put all the closet stuff back in, which I’ll have to take out again when the time comes, a lot of extra work just because these clowns sent me the wrong part. I truly hope they’ll send me the right one overnight (at their expense) and not be one of these places that insist I send the old part back, and them receive it, before they’ll send me the new part. That will take WAY too long! I’ll have more answers tomorrow, hopefully. Anyway, we went down to the horse clinic and watched Randy work with one three year old mare and solve a whole bunch of problems with various campers’ horses, and he did a really great job. Maggie and Sandy both learned a lot from him. Eventually we went to dinner, then Sandy went off to line dancing, a new activity that we thought was a great idea (but that many of the old-timers rolled their eyes at) and I followed once the horses were bedded down for the night. I got there a little late to learn the dance, but then I saw Anthony and he waved me over so I joined him for a while watching them all shaking their boodies. It was a good turnout, at least 25 folks dancing and another 30+ watching, so I think he was happy with his decision. He also admitted to being more relaxed because we got so many other things under control and he was actually able to enjoy the activities rather than handling crises all the time. I headed back to the trailer after the line dancing, though Anthony stayed to set up impromptu karaoke, which is apparently pretty popular as well. We all took showers and headed to bed, ready to start all over again tomorrow! So that’s where I’m headed now, my love! Good night!