Hiya Darlin',
Got up early to get a good start on the day, dropping off Lola at Jo's for a long needed playdate. She's been keeping me company all week while I was essentially doing nothing physical in an effort to heal my knee, so it was time for her to get some exercise, and Jo's three dogs always do that for her! First stop was to get a mailbox, but they were closed until 10:00, so I walked into the hair salon at Walmart and was happy to see there was no waiting, and Jan took really good care of me, did a terrific job, best I've had in a long time! I didn't shop yet because I had to get perishables, but by then it was almost time for the mailbox place to open, so I did that, also dropping off an Amazon package with two things in it that didn't fit. Then I headed down to the public library to get a library card so I can access the Libbie system that my friend Nancy told me about, where I can borrow books online no matter where I am. Now I'll have an even better variety of books to choose from than just Kindle Unlimited! I killed some time there working on the computer as well, trying to get some information about my health insurance and a few other things. I left in time to go to my dentist to have a permanent crown on one of my back molars put in. They did a really nice job, fits like a charm! Got done with that in time for my 1:00 appointment at the auto repair shop, where they changed out the four rear tires on the truck, but ran out of time to do the other mounting of the small trailer tires that I needed, and couldn't get the part for my air conditioning on time either, so I have to come back on Monday. Got back to pick up Lola around 4:30, back to came just after 5:00, happy to see that two more Amazon packages had arrived, though they were left next to the kiosk! Glad no one picked them up before I got to them. Finally settled down for the evening, nodded off watching television, and I forgot to put the hot tub on this morning, so it was just a shower and tea before bed! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Babe,
I hate tax time! I am so frustrated with the complexities of it all, it's ridiculous. I spent most of the day still trying to get caught up on the book work necessary to get the answers to do my taxes, which should be less complicated, but turns out it's not. Anyway, I spent practically the whole day farting around with that, and didn't have good news at the end of my first draft of my taxes. Sigh. I finished the day off by moving the little horse trailer, taking off the spare tire, and loading it and the old tire in the back of the truck so that I can get those remounted tomorrow. I should say that in the morning before I tackled taxes, Rick helped me by putting the new tires that he picked up for me last week into the back of my truck, and also to take the auger off the tractor and put the bush hog back on. No more post holes to dig for awhile, and the horse pen definitely needs a clean up! I also want to flatten this pile of sand and move the gravel over, though at one point Rick said he'd bring me a load, but I don't want to rely on that happening. Anyway, a long day, a hot tub, shower tea and bed for me! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
Still not liking Daylight Savings Time, but I'm forcing myself to get used to it. After chores and breakfast, since I want to continue resting my knee, I decided there was no time like the present to start getting things together for doing my taxes. I was astonished to find I haven't done any bookkeeping since September! Where did this season fly off to? I thought I was keeping up on it, but receipts don't lie, and I had piles of them. So I spent most of the day, even after 5:00, getting caught up on receipts and reconciling accounts. I also spent several hours (due to my slow internet connection from my phone) downloading the latest Turbotax program. I'm still not completely ready to tackle my taxes, as I'm sure there are some expenses I'll need to shuffle around now that I've decided to officially drop the speech coach business as of Jan. 1, 2024. I haven't been pursuing it, and am not really interested in doing it much any more. It's just no fun without you, my darlin'! Am I'm so busy with other things, and I don't really need the money, so this is best. It should make doing my taxes much easier, hopefully! So that was pretty much my day, pouring over a hot computer with stacks of receipts, and it won't be much different tomorrow. Had my usual evening, and will soon be off to bed! Good night, my love!

Hey Darlin',
Woke up to thunderstorms around 4:30, and Lola insisted on crawling up into bed with me. Lately they have really been scaring her, so I let her up, and she was panting so hard I had a hard time getting back to sleep until the storm finally passed and she settled down. It was a doozy, too, with lots of thunder and lightning and heavy rain. It finally ended and we slept some more until it was time to get up. I hate Daylight Savings Time!! With the storm this morning, it was still pitch black at 7:30, yuck! I'd much rather have it light at 7:00 and dark at 8:00 than the way it is now. I spent most of the day trying to figure out what to do about my health insurance, and trying to improve my chances of getting an MRI sometime soon. Unfortunately, they're saying I need an x-ray and six weeks of PT before they'll let me have an MRI. Considering I won't be here in six weeks, it looks like this is just going to have to heal naturally, or I'm going to have to come back here after I do three other rides I've committed to. The last place I want to be is in Florida when the heat hits!! Anyway, it's been a rather frustrating day. I did get some packages, including new vents for my roof, a new knee brace so that I can return Art's before he leaves tomorrow, plus two items I have to return because they don't fit, including the rudder for my kayak and a clear slider for my RV door. Otherwise, I rested for most of the day in an effort to progress my healing, only to do a tiny something when I got out of the hot tub that's now bothering me again. I put my new brace on it the hope that it will nip it in the bud. Teatime, and bed soon! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Had a good night sleep, but completely forgot the change to Daylight Savings Time was last night. When I saw my phone and it was after 9:00, then got up and did my chores only to see the wall clock showed BEFORE 9:00 after all my chores were done, I started to get suspicious. I'm really hating DST these days! Last night when I went to take a hot tub, it had only warmed up to 80 degrees, despite it being on all day, so this morning, I did a thorough cleaning of the filters and even put the hose against the intake to clear out anything. I also cleaned out Lola's pool and refilled it, it had gotten really bad lately, but I hadn't had time or energy to do it. Still trying to rest my leg, so all I did was a load of laundry and watched a movie and read until it was time to go to dinner with Art. Don't get any ideas, he's married, but he's a good dinner companion for when I don't want to eat alone. We found a nice little place called The Flame, which was oddly paired with a gas station, but they had done a nice job giving the interior a very Indian feel to it, which is why I chose it. Most of the pix I saw of other Indian restaurants seemed more like a cafeteria, and occasionally, a trendy sushi bar, but this one had a better atmosphere. Anyway, it was lovely meal, with leftovers for tomorrow, of course, and we even shared a dessert. Got back still in broad daylight, and I waited until after 7:00 before feeding the horses, which, of course, would have been in the dark yesterday, but today, it's right when I would normally feed them in the Standard Time of doing things. Settled down for the evening with another movie and an Everwood, took my hot tub (very grateful it got up to 103 tonight!), now it's teatime and bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Darlin',
Had a pretty quiet day in camp, just doing my best to rest my knee and the rest of me. My knee is definitely feeling better, though I'm still being super careful with it to avoid further injury. The horses are not too fond of this new coastal hay, it's pretty bland compared to the last batch, and they've been leaving a lot on the ground, so after their feedbags, I didn't give them any more hay, hoping they would clean some of it up. They did, some of it, but there was still a lot. I gave them a little less at dinner, too, hoping that by morning they might finish it off. Spent the day mostly on the computer downloading videos. There are a lot of changes in several programs all of a sudden, so I'm up against a learning curve. Finally managed to get Skype working (though it's been bought out by Microsoft and will only be around another couple of months!), and called the pension folks in England, hoping I finally got that sorted out. I tried to find out about an appointment for my MRI, only to learn that once again, they don't take my insurance, so I went scrambling for another facility. I finally made an appointment way down in the Villages, but it's not until March 18, your 91st birthday! I'll do some more research on Monday to see how else I might be able to solve the problem, including finding an address I can use to transfer my insurance up here. Long story! Finally settled down for the evening with a funny movie with Colm Meaney (who looks the same as always, only heavier) and Paul Reiser (who I barely recognized with his gray hair), a hot tub and shower, and once my tea is done, to bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
My usual morning, then a trip to the doctor's office to have them confirm and order an MRI, which I was momentarily scheduled to do tomorrow until they called and said they weren't in my network. They take Medicare and they take my insurance supplement, but for some reason, the way it's set up, my insurance supplement is considered my primary insurer, albeit under Medicare, which all sounds strange to me. I thought they were two different programs, but apparently they've merged somewhere along the line. So I had to wait for my doctor's office to fax the order to the only nearby imaging place that's in my network (which is the same place I took my mammogram), and they're behind for a week or more, and refused to schedule an appointment until they got the order, so I still hadn't heard anything by the end of today. Seems like by the time they schedule me, it will be healed! Anyway, after that I went to Tractor Supply for a muck/water bucket, because someone put a giant, hoof-sized hole in my last one (thank goodness I had two), then Walmart for fuel and a few essentials before coming back to camp and settling down for the rest of the day. Did some work on the computer, but otherwise kept quiet, I'm still very tired from all the activity, so I'm planning on taking as much time off this weekend as I can. So that's all the news that's fit to print! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie!
Slept well and little late, but so did Nancy, so it all worked out. Fed the horses, had a quiet breakfast while the rain went through, and put in the DVD from your Huntsville World Premiere of The Legacy of Galileo, since she'd never seen it before. I'm sorry the audio isn't better on that copy, I'm going to research it to see if I can add subtitles. We had lunch at Willard's with Michelle, a little thank you for letting Nancy use her trailer, then it wasn't long before we were headed to the airport, with a stop at the feed store for another 21-bale block of coastal, though this wasn't the nice green stuff anymore, just typical coastal, which the horses aren't as thrilled about, naturally. Once I got back, Michelle and her husband came by, helped unload all that hay under my gooseneck, and hauled off their trailer. Very grateful to them! Then I went to feed the horses and found Flash lying down. In itself, that was nothing to worry about, he does that all the time, just not at suppertime. He got up and drank some water, but then rather than come to get his feedbag, he went back and laid down. Now I was worried. I put a halter on him and took him out of the corral and walked him around a bit, then walked him over to the little trailer and tied him to it, where, as usual, he took a dump, which made me feel a little better. I gave him some Banamine and we walked some more, and I lunged him on a short line for awhile, took him back to the corral, where he drank again, but then once again, went to lay down. I got him up again and walked him over to some grass, where, thank goodness, he started munching. I let him graze a bit, then brought him back to the corral (limping all this time, by the way), and he finally went to the hay bag and started eating. Crisis averted! I watched one Everwood, took my shower, checked on Flash (he was fine!) and now I'm just about ready for bed. I'd crash tomorrow, except I have a doctor's appointment, and probably a little shopping, but after that, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be taking the weekend off to recover! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hey Darlin'!
Another fabulous day! Weather was perfect, nice and warm for our kayak adventure! It was a nice start to the day, Nancy has been a big help with feeding the horses, then Rick came by and we had a nice chat with him, then breakfast, then finally loading my inflatable kayak into the truck and heading to Crystal Springs, home of the best manatee viewing anywhere! We parked at Hunter Springs Park and blew up the kayak, then headed out to Three Sisters Springs where the water is clear enough to see the manatees easily. Unfortunately we lost the rudder somewhere along the line, though we didn't realize it until much later, and there was a pretty good wind, so we were sliding sideways a lot. We were going against the wind on the way there, and enjoyed a much less strenuous trip on the way back. Once we got to the Springs, we swam into it and discovered a manatee with a buoy tied to it's tail, and it came right past us! We saw another on the way out of the springs as well, and some more both coming and going in the kayak, including another one with a buoy marker. We had a lovely afternoon, albeit tiring from the workout, but a good tired! We deflated the kayak and let it dry, had some sandwiches for lunch, even though by then it was 4:00 (we kind of got a late start this morning), and headed home after storing the kayak away. Got back to camp and relaxed the rest of the evening, finishing off a bottle of wine. I was disappointed that I forgot to put on the hot tub this morning, but we sat in it for awhile anyway once it hit 99 degrees. I'm leaving it on overnight just in case we decide to take one during the day tomorrow. Got some much appreciated sun, exercise and new experiences, so it was a fantastic day! Great times! It's late now, heading to bed, looking forward to a quiet day tomorrow. Love you, babe! Good night!