Hi Darlin’,
Woke up bright and early this morning, and I decided that I absolutely needed to take a ride today. It’s been too long!! Need to release some stress. So as soon as I took the feed bags off, I pulled out Flash and saddled him up. We were on the trail by 8:00, would you believe! Lola has been so restless the last few days, she needed the exercise, too, so we took a nice speedy six mile ride (just about an hour and a quarter, Flash’s choice!), got in some nice canters and lovely cordos, and everyone got some exercise. Had breakfast, then decided to put out a few cross pieces on the nearest posts with the tractor, and at the same time, do a little mowing along the way, just some short stretches that had really high grass. Once I get the truck back I’ll start painting the final markings on the posts where I can reach them, then resort to the tractor in the areas that are dry enough, then eventually finish it off once I can reach them all. It’s going to take a lot longer that I had hoped, but hey, what else do I have to do this summer? Read for a bit, then made some home-made hummus (my food processor gave up the ghost, so I ordered a new one), and a batch of satin balls for Lola, since I finally got ground beef with the groceries yesterday. Finally settled down for the evening, as usual, ready for shower and bed. Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Woke up feeling more refreshed after yesterday’s lazy day, with the first thing on the agenda after chores and breakfast was to take a ride on Apollo. He needed the exercise, and I wanted to check out just how dry the green trail was after it rained almost all day yesterday. Turned out to be pretty good, better than I expected. The usual ditches had slightly higher water, and there were only a few spots near the south end where there was about an inch or so of water for a couple of sections. Only one spot was a little higher, but nothing even knee high, so it will be a very good summer ride, albeit only five miles long. Apollo seemed to enjoy the exercise, and, of course, Lola loved it, too. As soon as I got back and put him away, I went out and painted identifiers on all the valve dots I had painted the other day, so now all but one of those is done. The one by the old well doesn’t have a post, and there are so many pipes coming in and out of there, I didn’t dare start digging, so I’ll just need a small piece of plywood to paint and screw onto a nearby tree and they’ll all be done. Started some laundry, ended up doing three loads, and finally defrosted the freezer, which was long overdue. I had so much ice buildup in there, I couldn’t fit all of my groceries! Put a space heater in there, so it didn’t take long, stored everything in a couple of coolers while I was doing that. Finally settled down mid-afternoon (though I was still doing laundry), and did some planning for my upcoming business trip. Pretty much done for the day, just going to relax the rest of the evening. Tomorrow will be all about prepping for my trip! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Had a decent night sleep, got my chores done, and after breakfast, took Flash out for a ride. I wanted to check on just how deep the water was in some of the more southern sections where I’ve been hoping to put in the last of the posts, and even though many of the trails are only under a few inches of water, there were enough suddenly deep sections to confirm my decision to not try to do any more posts until the rainy season is over. We had a great ride, though, even though I got wet from the knees down with all the splashing. Lola was truly in her element today, water lover that she is! It was so dry out here for so long, I didn’t take her with us for awhile, she would get too hot, but today, she was having a blast! There was a nice breeze, too, so it was a very pleasant ride. Flash had a lot of energy, so it was a quick ride, too, we did six miles in barely 90 minutes, but I figured that was enough for today. Got back just after noon, and pretty much crashed the rest of the day. Now it’s time for shower and bed already, so good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe!
What a lovely day! Didn’t sleep very well, but was still up at my now usual time, go my chores done, then after breakfast, I saddled up Apollo for a nice five mile ride. With all the rain we’ve been having I suspected there would be plenty of water on the trail, puddle-wise, so I took Lola along, she’s been in dire need of exercise. Two short periods of frisbee are just not enough for her, even at her age of 9 1/2 years! Brother Glenn called while I was on the trail, and he said they were grilling by his condo pool over on Hutchinson Island at 4:00, and that I could come over any time. I got back to camp, put Apollo away (he was brilliant on the trail today, albeit a slug at barely 3 mph average), stopped to talk to the horse ladies and got caught in a little rain just as I was walking back to the trailer. Got dried off and changed, read for a bit, then headed out to Glenn’s. What a difference between doing that during the season and during the summer! I had forgotten how quiet the roads get here in the summertime. In the winter it took over 90 minutes to get to his place, today, just 45. Had a lovely afternoon sitting by the pool, brother Jeff came too, we all ate too much, but had a nice time catching up. There’s always a nice breeze by the beach, so it stayed nice and cool. Stayed until 6:30, then headed back to camp in time to feed the horses. Stopped for fuel along the way, cheapest gas as $5.55/gal, I pulled in with more than a quarter tank and it cost me a whopping $137! Grrrrrrr! Nothing happening in camp, so now it’s time to settle down for a bit before taking my shower and going to bed. Nice day! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Had an excellent night sleep last night, deep and long, felt great this morning, so I decided to take a ride after breakfast. Was out before 10:00 on Flash, and we rode nearly 14 miles. He was a bit jumpy at first, it seemed he was trying to flick off flies, though I didn’t see many, but he eventually settled down. He kept a great pace all day, especially when we headed north at the bottom of the loop, when he picked up speed, averaging between 7 and 8 mph. Got back to camp around 12:30, got him put away. Some other equestrians have their horses in stalls and paddocks, and my guys had been locked into one stall with a small paddock, so I moved them over to the other side of the barn and kept the whole back ten available to them again, so much so they didn’t even come over for their dinner! With all the rain we’ve had the last two days, I imagine the grass is nice and sweet. We ran into some rain toward the end of the ride, but it was a positively luscious experience, no lightning or thunder, just a nice light rain for about 10-15 minutes, then it stopped after it cooled us off, and by the time we got back to camp, it was beautiful again. Hot and humid, but that’s just the way it’s going to be down here for the next few months, so I’m just going to have to get used to it! Either that or not ride, and THAT’S not an option! Spent some time on the tractor forum, and made a few discoveries that might be the problem. Would you believe it might just be missing a tiny o-ring? Wouldn’t that be a kick, after all these years of struggling with this 3-point hitch that it might just be a missing o-ring that costs less than a buck? Guess I should have tackled this problem sooner! Well, I won’t know for sure until I get one, so that’s my next project. Meanwhile, I did a little computer work, then settled down for the afternoon and evening. Heading to shower and bed shortly. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Got up even earlier today, 6:30, and it was an absolutely gorgeous morning! Got down to 67, so it even felt a bit cool! Got chores and breakfast done, and was out on the trail on Apollo by 9:00. We just did the green trail loop, with was a bit over 5 miles, but took over two hours, he’s such a slug these days! Took Lola along this time, was hoping there would be some water on the trail, but there wasn’t, but there was lots of shade so she managed okay. It was a lovely ride, though he was a bit skittish at a few things, I guess because it’s been so long since he’s been on the trail! Got back and decided I should mow the part of the campground (which was most of the actual camp sites) since for some inexplicable reason, the contract mowers mowed everything EXCEPT the actual sites, so the grass was getting too long, which make the bugs out here worst. That took me a couple of hours. Thanks goodness the District is giving me the diesel to do these jobs! After I got back I noticed a text from Fedex saying my package had actually been delivered already, but when I called the office, they hadn’t seen it. I drove over, and old James found a tag on the gate saying it was in the mailbox, so I picked it up. Got back to camp, unpacked it, plugged it in figuring to charge it up. Then I noticed that on the bill they had charged me a $35 “upgrade” fee which no one had mentioned, so I called, and after some running around, managed to get them to drop that charge. Considering I can get the exact same phone for $100 less at any other retail store, I wasn’t about to pay another $35! So I was momentarily happy with Verizon. After a couple of hours, I still couldn’t turn it on, so I downloaded a manual to figure out how to get to the inside, thinking maybe I had to pull off a plastic tab on the battery or something and when I pulled the back off, to my astonishment, there was NO BATTERY! How the hell do they send out a phone with no battery?? So I got on the phone again, got transferred at least 7-8 times, spent an hour and a half trying to sort it out, was told they didn’t have a battery so they would send me a new phone, but then the order wouldn’t got through, that was another department, and finally I was forced to leave it with a woman promising “to call me back” once the order, which now had to go outside the system to accomplish. I asked repeatedly for a way to reach back to her, which I never got, except she promised to call back. That was two hours ago, still nothing. When I started the call, there was plenty of time to get the package overnight, which they said they would do, but by the end of the call, after 7:00, not holding my breath. Grrrrrrrrrrr! I had ordered a cover, which I should get tomorrow, but now I have no idea when I’ll get the phone, because even if they send it overnight tomorrow, I probably won’t get it until Monday. I HATE this other phone I got on Sunday, too big, too clunky, won’t fit in my hand or my pocket, can’t WAIT to replace it, but there you go. Stuck again. NOT happy with Verizon again. Sigh. Anyway, watched a little TV, now I’m ready for early bed again, just my Spanish lesson and to finish by nightcap, and off I’ll be going! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie!
Well, my body clock is definitely moving earlier, was up and about just after 7:00, and what a gorgeous morning! Temps actually got into the upper 60’s overnight, just enough cloud cover to keep it from getting too hot, and by the time I got on the trail just after 9:00, there was a lovely breeze to boot. Absolutely gorgeous! Flash and I did nearly 12 miles, and I was very surprised at how wet some of the sections of the trail were already. We haven’t really had all that much rain, but it seems to be raising the water levels, so we spent quite a bit of the trail wading in ankle deep water, with the occasional deeper creek crossing. Flash seemed to like it, he was splashing away like a mad horse! Tried to get down to the office to see if my package with my new phone had arrived yet, but it’s a different combination, which I don’t have, and it’s all fenced off, so I just went back to camp, arriving at about 12:30. Spent most of the afternoon on the phone with the IRS, only to learn that the problem I was having was entirely of my own making, so I’m not getting as big a tax return as I had hoped, darn it! Good thing I have a job in Vegas next month, getting a little short on ready funds! And once again, not surprisingly, Fedex failed to deliver my package today, I got a notice at 4:45 that it was being delayed until tomorrow, probably because the office was closed by then, what did I expect? Fedex has only ever delivered one package in 35 years on the day it was supposed to arrive, so once again, I’m left empty-handed. For some reason, they won’t deliver it to me at the campground, it has to go to the office. So another day with this clunky phone! Grrr! So once I got off the phone, it was a day of reading and TV again. Won’t be long out of bed again tonight, going to try to keep this early bird schedule going. That said, good night, by darlin’! Love you!

Happy Anniversary, Darlin’! It would have been 33 years of marriage today, over 36 years together, more than half my lifetime, despite our late start. Love you, miss you, wish you were here! It was a great day, did my chores, had a fairly cloudy eastern sky which kept it a bit cooler this morning, so I saddled up Flash and we did about a 10.5 ride, first ride in nearly a month! Been so busy, but so glad we finally got out there. Shocked to discover, though, that that same section of yellow trail that’s been giving me such a hard time still isn’t right. I downloaded a GPS map from 2013 that took that trail, and it’s not what’s there now, so I’m going to have to go out and recoup it again, grrr! Hopefully, we’ll finally get this right! Plus I found a section of trail marked as teal that’s not on any map, and hasn’t been refreshed, but it’s not in too bad shape marking wise, so I have to send another GPS file to James with that addition. Got back by about noon, spent the afternoon knocking around, James came by and I showed him where all the water valves were, plus we cleared out the old well house of old paint and plumbing parts. Then I binged the rest of the day of Supernaturals and settled in for the evening with chores. FINALLY got some rain in the evening, long overdue and much needed, steady rain for a couple of hours, though still not enough. Now I’m ready for shower and bed! Good night, my love, Happy Anniversary!

Hi Babe,
Had a terrible night sleep, Lola was so restless, and I don’t know how she managed to get all the way onto the foot of my bed, considering I had the pantry door open and a fan on the top stair. She knocked the fan down at one point, and was just fussy all night, so I didn’t have a great night sleep. She needs exercise! Which she got quite a bit today, though I didn’t take her on the ride because it was so hot out here today, and I wasn’t sure how long we’d be gone. Partnered up with Susie Randolph today, the lady with the tire problem, then just as we were getting ready to leave, Petra and John from Jupiter showed up, so we rode out with them. It wasn’t long before they were way ahead of us, and then they left even before we got back from camp, which surprised me, I thought they were staying. Later Susie left for home, and finally Jamie and Dave showed up, but never ended up riding. There was a terrible weather forecast, everyone was expecting tons of rain, but it never materialized, AGAIN! We had a few drops for about five minutes, that was it. I think most people were afraid of the forecast so they didn’t come, because that was the total attendance of the picnic, which we ended up not even doing. No point. But we decided to do it again tomorrow and even Monday, because a lot of folks seemed to have last minute concerns that kept them from coming (plus the dire forecast). Bought a lot of stuff, but thankfully, most of it will keep until the next volunteer day, whenever that it. I did have a surprising number of campers show up during the day, did my rounds a couple of times, then settled down for the evening. Ready for shower and bed, nice and early, feeling pretty tired after two nights of not sleeping very well. So, good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Babe!
Managed to get to bed pretty early and had a great night sleep, which of course translates into a morning of energy which I always try to take advantage of. After breakfast and chores, I got Flash saddled up, then just before we left I set off two bug bombs in the trailer and one in the truck, because Lola has been suffering from fleas for the past couple of weeks, and for some reason, the Frontline drops I’ve been using don’t seem to be doing a thing! Flash and I had a nice eleven-mile ride, with Lola tagging along. I planned it so that we reached Jim Lake about halfway around, where Lola could get in a good swim and drink, since it was very sunny out. Fortunately, the humidity was low today, so the temps didn’t feel too bad, even though it got close to 90 by the time we got back to camp. Flash even seemed to enjoy standing in the water for a while. It made me think of maybe having a Trail Ride and Horse Swim Day here, since I think Jim Lake might be deep enough for a horse to swim, certainly it would be deep enough to get mostly covered up, but I wasn’t prepared to strip his saddle off and test that theory today. Maybe another day. It was a lovely ride, a lot of it in some of the shadier parts of the park, so very pleasant. When I downloaded my GPS map, I realized that I had taken a trail that isn’t even on the map, even though it’s marked, so I’m going to have to add an intersection sign at a new spot. I have a feeling that I’m going to be doing a lot of that once I get out there and start actually putting posts up. As soon as we got back and I rinsed off Flash and put him away, I gave Lola a bath with flea soap, vacuumed the trailer from top to bottom, sprayed everything with flea spray and neem, even used up some old yard spray I’ve been carrying around for a long time, all around my little yard and under the trailer, the kind where you hook a hose up to a bottle and sprinkle it all around. Hopefully that will help tone down the ant problem I’ve been having as well, they’ve been feasting out of my outside garbage can and also getting inside occasionally, but I’ve never been able to track down where. Sprayed Lola, too, and gratefully, she didn’t scratch for the rest of the day! I’m going to have to keep a close eye on her to make sure she doesn’t get re-infested. Had some hunters waiting for me when I got back as well, got them settled in, though they had to change their permit. Even pulled a few weeds out around the bathhouse when I did my rounds! Finally settled down for the evening, first with a few Supernaturals, then with a chick flick romance film, and now I’m ready for bed. A good day with lots of activity, so hopefully I’ll have another good night sleep! Heading to my shower shortly, so good night, sweetie! Love you!