Hey Sweetie,
Had another good night sleep, then did a bunch of stuff online before feeding the horses, then getting Flash in the trailer and heading down to the Cypress Creek parking lot across from the Publix. I had a bag of markers I got from Anita, and headed due north up the OTL from there. I thought Anita had told me that another group had marked that part of the trail, but all I ever saw was a couple of markers WAY down near the Hobe Ditch, and they were way apart from each other on the linear trail, nothing at the intersections. Amazing. Anyway, Flash did a great job as we headed all the way through the cow pasture (and the herd was there, with lots of young ones kicking around), under the freeways, and finally through the Ditch. I kept going, too, because there had been reports that a certain section of the trail was going to be hard for horses to get through, where they put a bunch of concrete bags across it for drainage, but frankly, I don’t see why, it looks the same as it did last year. Plenty of room to get around if someone wants. Once we hit that spot we turned around, and that’s when Flash really wanted to kick it up a notch. We cantered and largoed all the way back to the Ditch, and in quite a few other places as well, until we reached the parking lot. Of course, the thought we were done, but not yet! I headed him east toward Riverbend, and marked all of that section, right to the south side of the critter crossing under Indiantown Rd. I must say, it will be hard to get lost this year! Hopefully, no one will mess with the markers, but even if they do, I’ll be out there on the day of to add more if necessary. It took us about 3 hours or so before we drove back. Flash was really dirty so I started giving him a bath, and a few minute later, Jeff came home, with his white van up on a tow truck. He thinks he might have thrown a rod, so you know that’s a major project. I was hoping his only major project for the next few weeks was going to be to move his junky camper over to the fence and out of the front yard, not sure if that’s going to happen now. Sigh… Finished bathing Flash, and hosing down Apollo who was standing there asking for it, then went in to fix some other problems. You know I bought a replacement GPS, but I haven’t been able to get it to work yet. It wouldn’t lock on to any satellites. I was afraid it was broken, but I finally trying reloading the updated software again, and that solved the problem. I think I might have turned it off while it was uploading before and that’s why it didn’t work. So now I do have a satellite-based GPS again, so hopefully that will help decrease my chances of getting lost, and allow me to map my routes beforehand so I can just follow the GPS. Settled down to a mini pizza and some more episodes of Suits for the evening. Took my shower earlier, so now I’m heading to bed. Love you, babe, good night!
Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020 – OTL Reconnoiter and Trail Marking Day
Monday, Feb. 3, 2020 – Busy Day
Hiya Darlin’,
Slept like a log most of the night, not surprisingly! Spent the day cleaning out and putting away camp gear, doing laundry, catching up on email, designing awards for the OTL, finishing off the maps for Day One and Two and other business matters, and generally getting things back where they belonged. I took a quick trip over to Anita’s to pick up some more trail markers, as there are still some sections that need doing, and I thought I would take the day tomorrow and do as much of it as I can. It poured with rain here over the weekend, so I imagine Corbett is swamped again, I hope it’s not too bad on the other sections. I’m going to check Cypress Creek and the section that leads out to the old cow pastures and the critter crossing under the freeways, there’s been a report of some new gates with barbed wire, that needs to be checked out in case something has to be done about it. So it should be busy again tomorrow. There’s still some question about what route we’ll be taking once we get across the Ditch into Jonathan Dickinson State Park, hopefully that will be resolved by the time we have our next meeting on Wednesday evening. Finally relaxed with a glass of wine or two, some TV, and now off to bed. Good night, babe, I love you!
Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020 – Camping Prep
Hiya Sweetie,
First order of the day was to deliver the lift chair to it’s new owner down in Boca, right on the intracoastal, not far from where we got married, kind of full circle again. Glad it went to someone who needed it, and it works fine now with the new controller. It’s strange, though, even though we only lived here in Florida together for a couple of years, and stayed away for so many years afterward, you were right when you said it felt like we were coming home this time. Despite all the places we’ve been, all the traveling we did, there seem to be more memories here than just about any place else, except possibly the house in Tennessee. It makes me miss you even more, if that’s possible. Anyway, the rest of the day was spent packing stuff for the camping trip this weekend. It should be interesting, camping with my brother, something we’ve never done together in our lives, so we’ll see how it goes. The weather isn’t going to be the best, but it’s hard to predict at this time of year. I trust I’ve remembered everything we need, but if not, no problem, we’ll make do or go out and get it. Heading off for my last shower, then heading off to bed. Love you, darling, good night!
Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020 – Euchre, Packing and GPS
Hi Babe,
Spent some time on the phone with Social Security trying to figure out what happens with your pension, among other things, pulled out the camping gear to make sure it was all there, sprayed some camp dry spray on the tent to make sure it stays dry (hopefully better than it did on the cattle drive when it poured for three days!), drove up to the senior center and played euchre, though we didn’t do very well today, and finally met a young couple up in Port St. Lucie to buy a new personal GPS tracker. It’s pretty much the same as the last one I liked so much, and I really miss not being able to download a trail that I can actually follow (which I could probably do on my phone app, but have never been able to figure out) but I got a good deal on it through Facebook Marketplace. I managed to just get to Ranch Feed before they closed to pick up the three bales of hay I need for the weekend, and got home just as the sun was setting, so it was mosquito hour by the time Jeff was ready to swap out the horses, but we got it done. Later it started raining really hard, with lightning and thunder, and Lola kept trying to crawl into my lap. I was up in the bed on a phone call (about the only place inside the trailer where the signal is good enough) and she climbed up and started sprawling all over the bed, so I had to get her down, then she went outside and disappeared. I eventually found her in the house, I guess Jeff let her in when she came scratching at the door. I put her in the truck, in her nice comfy bed, where she feels the safest. Finally finished off the binge of Cheers, was pretty disappointed because I thought I remembered the Diane and Sam got together and stayed together, but that’s not what happened. Sam went back to an empty bar, which was really depressing in the end. Oh, well, no accounting for Hollywood writers, they haven’t been able to write a happy ending in decades, have they? Anyway, it rained most of the evening, though it sounds like it’s just about done, and now it’s time for a shower and bed again. Good night, darlin’. Love you!
Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020 – Worked on Tractor and Dinner with Friends
Hey Darlin’,
Did a little work on the computer this morning, then finally went out to work on the tractor. I drained some oil out of it because I overfilled it yesterday, but still couldn’t find the reason why it didn’t start, but Jeff did some testing and figures it’s the starter, so I’m having to look to see if I can get a new one, or have that one rebuilt (he knows a guy, no surprise!). Met Jayne and Irene for dinner at Duffy’s down in West Palm, sat on the patio so Lola could be there, too. Got back late, but Jeff had already fed the horses for me, so I just settled down for the night. Was surprised that Tom Berenger played a bit part on one of the Cheers episodes I watched, didn’t realize he’d done that. Anyway, settled down for the evening, though I’m getting to bed a bit late. Good night, my love!
Monday, Jan. 27, 2020 – Finish The Brick Pile
Hi Sweetie,
Lots of physical labor today, I finished moving the pile of concrete blocks, got rid of the junk that was left, ripped out the bad trees by the roots and put them on the burn pile. Just on my last load, though, for some reason the tractor decided not to start (it has been fine for the last two days), so I have no idea what’s going on with it, but that’s a problem for another day. I got everything done except a final leveling and bush hog of the area, but hopefully I can do that later this week. Then I washed the truck, it was filthy from the several trips out to Corbett last week. By that time it was just getting dark, so we did feeding, and settled down for the night. Off to the shower, and then to bed. Good night, babe! Love you!
Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020 – Reconnoiter Ride in Dupuis on Flash
Hello Darlin’,
Got up with my alarm this morning, picked up Anita from OTL and headed out to Dupuis to start marking the trail for the OTL. They’ve instigated a whole new bunch of rules out here, and the gate is now locked at all times! You have to get online and sign up for a free permit in order to get the gate code, then the latch on the gate is so cumbersome, it’s very difficult to work it. Crazy! You’d think a public facility would want to have the public be able to get in and out easily, but that’s not the case out here anymore! Anyway, I managed to set up and account and get the code, so we eventually made it in. We got the horses saddled up and headed out on the trail on a beautiful morning. You remember I got so turned around in there last year, and it became pretty clear why, when even Anita got lost in the first 10 minutes of the ride! We managed to get back on track, but I realized that a lot of these folks don’t ride out here much, which surprises me considering how great the trails are out here, and that they’re sponsoring an event that starts from here! Anyway, we managed to get on track, though, of course, Flash was outpacing her pokey Arab for a while, then suddenly Flash decided to get behind him, and kept his head literally at his hindquarters, which got a little scary because I don’t think the Arab liked it that much. We followed the trail all the way down to the first water stop, which was at the south end of Dupuis (and over 5 miles in), then headed back at a much quicker pace. The plan now is for me to leave camp each day during the event ahead of the pack, and fill in any markers that may have been lost or missing, or that I think need to be added to insure clarity. I still feel like they’re not putting enough markers out, but that’s just me, and I’ll fix it when the time comes. Anyway, it was a very nice ride, and I made it back home by about 2:00. Jeff was working on scrapping in the back, and I gave him a hand with it for a while, but then he didn’t really need me, so I decided to start moving that pile of cement blocks that have been bugging me for so long. I got the tractor going and starting moving them and stacking them underneath his big Mayflower trailer. I didn’t quite get it finished, but I certainly got most of it done, so I figure I’ll finish it off tomorrow. I’d love to get all that junk moved and then bush hog over that area, it should open that whole section up quite a bit. I’ve been bugging Jeff about moving that line of units right in front of the house, and scrapping or moving the Skeeter mobile away from the house as well. If we can get that done, it will make a huge difference to the look of the yard in front of his house. Any improvement would be nice, frankly. Anyway, that took us until horse feeding time, after which I settled down for the night. Tired from all the physical activity, so heading off to bed now. Good night, my love!