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!

Hiya Darlin’,
As expected, a very busy day! Even more so than I had anticipated. Got up before dawn, successfully managed to leave just before 7:00, drove first to the Walmart to do most of my shopping, though I couldn’t get my perishables or frozen stuff this early. I also discovered I can’t buy wine before 9:00, though I don’t know why when all the local laws seem to say 7:00 is fine. Whatever. Got to the barn by 9:10, got saddled up and ready to go, and we were out before 10:00. Rode with Bettina and Amber, though Joanna was supposed to join us she pulled out at the last minute. It was a lovely ride! Just under 12 miles through some delightful grasslands, and even some water was still on the trails, amazing! We stopped for lunch at a pavilion right by a lake with an observation dock, and no sooner than we started eating lunch than a rain storm came in. I stripped down Flash quickly (there was a lovely little paddock we were able to put the horses in during lunch), though the other girls waited a bit, hoping it would pass quickly, but it actually started pouring down harder, so they eventually ran out and took their tack off as well. Then a park truck came by with both an outgoing and an incoming park manager, so many things were discussed about how to make the park more equestrian-friendly. A very productive meeting, actually! After lunch, we saddled back up and headed down a different trail, this one taking us to a body of water that we ended up trotting on, so my lower legs and boots ended up getting soaked, but it was fun! Nice firm ground, but with about a foot of water, and Flash wasn’t about to not keep up with the crowd, so we barreled on through! We got back to the barn about 2:30, having made really good time throughout the day, with lots of fast gaiting and cantering. While I hoped to meet up with Glenn, for a bit there it didn’t look like it was going to happen, but in the end, they cut back on their errands and ended up meeting me at Miller’s Ale House in Jensen Beach. Enjoyed some fish and chips and a couple of Guinness drafts, which are always my first choice of beverage when I can get it. After a nice visit with them, I headed out to another Walmart to get my perishables and wine, then got back to camp just before 7:00. After putting my horse away and feeding them both, as well as putting my groceries away, I did my rounds. It was really busy because there’s a hog hunt starting tomorrow, the last of the season, so we had a crowd. Took me awhile to get everybody checked in, then I chatted with the horse folks for awhile, then went back a checked a couple of more folks in that had snuck in while I was in the barn, but finally I came back to the trailer for awhile. Because of the crowd I checked the gate and 10, and stayed up until past eleven so I could make sure all the generators and noise were quiet. So a VERY long day, I hope to sleep in late tomorrow!. Good night, my sweet! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Well, a bit of a change of pace today, at last! After chores, I hooked up the little horse trailer and hauled Flash out to another SFWMD property just north of Indiantown, and coincidentally, just a mile or so up the road from the new house brother Glenn bought and is renovating. Small world! I didn’t actually go to the right gate, I just went to the first one I came to, Gate 9, though I didn’t realize it was wrong until I was on the trail and my GPS had me in a different place than where I thought I was supposed to be. Didn’t matter, though, the trail took by right by the correct parking lot, which turned out to be a very nice picnic area with a water trough (I don’t think the pump is working, though I didn’t check). This is mostly used as leased out grazing land, so we ran into a couple of herds of cows out here, with lots of babies. Most of it was fairly open, though a lot of it was along canals, which was a relief for Lola, who I decided had to come. She’s had so little exercise lately, she keeps getting into trouble, so I had to tire her out. I made a mistake along one canal, a poorly marked intersection that didn’t clearly indicate I had to got THROUGH a gate to stay on the trail, and I ended up going about half a mile on the wrong side of a canal, and when my GPS said the trail turned right, I couldn’t because the canal was in the way. So, I had to go back, go through the gate, follow that until I DID come to where I could turn right. There was one really nice section though, right through a literal jungle, and it was a good 8-10 degrees cooler in there! I really wish there was room for more trails in there, it was lovely, but was only a small section of the trail. We did eleven miles in all, so it was a good ride, and we had some wonderful long stretches of grass where we got a good canter in. We were out less than three hours, so we made good time as well, though of course the 25 minute drive added to it. Glad to have a change of venue, though, nice to be on some NEW trails! Nice day today, too, only got up to the lower 80’s with a nice breeze. Gotta take advantage of these kind of days since it’s getting hotter every day! Then, unfortunately, I spent most of the evening on the phone bouncing between Verizon, Google and Samsung, STILL haven’t resolved the issue of my missing contact information! I MIGHT be getting closer, but it’s hard to say at this point. Anyway, time for shower and bed, hopefully I’ll get some sleep, I’m so hyped up about all this phone stuff, really makes me mad! Time to do some meditation! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
After a good night sleep, chores and breakfast, I saddled up Flash to double-check on a couple of trails that I apparently haven’t done lately, just to make sure I’m putting intersection numbers in the right places. I did find one intersection I had to add, but managed to get it straightened out fairly easily. I suspect there will be other changes once I get out there putting posts in, whenever that happens. Flash was brilliant, though we got off to a later start than I wanted because his hooves have grown uncharacteristically fast these last couple of months, and he had a big chip off on one side, so I went ahead and trimmed them down nice and short, so that should keep it for awhile. Nevertheless, we still managed to get out just after 10:00 and were back before noon, before it got too warm. A decent breeze today, and then, finally, around 2:00, it thankfully started to rain, first a little passing shower, then later a fairly steady rain for a bit, so everything already looks a little greener. I still love a rainy Sunday! Watched some more Supernaturals, my latest binge-watch, then after dinner watched a movie you would have enjoyed, a pre-WWII political espionage thriller called Munich, Edge of War with Jeremy Irons. It tried to make out that Neville Chamberlain was actually a hero rather than an appeaser, which I’m sure you would have disagreed with, but it was an interesting take on it nonetheless. Anyway, time for shower and bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
Another good night sleep, woke up a few minutes before my alarm, did chores, had breakfast, and then got Flash saddled just in time to a ride with Lynda and two of her friends. We did the green trail and part of the yellow trail, and even with all the time I’ve spent out there, I still got turned around a time or two. Dang, do we need signage! All three women were convinced they would have gotten lost without a guide, and I believe it! Even with the fresh markings, unless you know where the trail started, you’d never find it. Anyway, it was a lovely ride, not too hot and with a nice breeze, and we got back to camp by about 11:30, so just the right length for them. Did pretty much nothing else for the rest of the day, binge-watching TV. We a good and much appreciated storm, dropped quite a bit of rain, which we need really badly. When I checked the forecast this morning there was a couple of days of rain in the next ten days, then when I checked it during the storm, it’s been changed to rain every day for the next week! Who knows what will actually transpire! So a lazy day after our ride, I ate too much and sat around too much. We had one little bit of excitement, the sheriff’s office came out to settle a domestic squabble in one of the campsites, a woman whose boyfriend wouldn’t take her back home to Pennsylvania, not sure what it was all about, but they ended up leaving together. Anyway, it’s a quiet day, which is fine, and a quiet evening, too, but now I’m ready for shower and bed. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Had a good night sleep, not surprising after spending five hours in the saddle yesterday! Tried to get out earlier today, but kept getting bogged down because my Garmin kept truncating my routes again, don’t know what’s up with that! Tried to erase a bunch of stuff, but it just keeps popping back in on me, don’t know why, but I had enough to get the job done eventually. So it was 10:30 by the time Flash and I hit the trail. Turns out he was very patient with me, at least until the very end when we were heading back to camp, and we managed to get nearly 14 miles done in the same time it took Apollo and I to do a little over 10 1/2 yesterday. Not surprising, but was glad we managed to get it done. So the white trail is finished and the yellow trail still has about a half mile because I ran out of paint, but it’s not too far out of camp so I can get it finished as soon as I get some more paint. I also need to do the red trail, I noticed that has a lot of fading paint as well. Part of the problem is that most of the trees being painted are pines, and the bark tends to peel off, and the paint goes with it. This spray paint doesn’t stand out very well, but it’s the best I can do until I can get a UTV so I can take canned paint with brushes and rollers. I’m definitely finding all the places that have to have posts, though, so that’s a plus. So another long day, then had dinner and settled down for the evening, already did my gate check, now it’s just time for shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Had a pretty good night sleep, though I ended up waking early, then went back to sleep and slept too late. One the campers stopped by before he left and was outside my window so we chatted for a few minutes before he left and I got up. Did my chores and a walkaround, found one pair of tenters that came in late and were only here for the night, no biggie. Finally started getting Apollo ready for our trail marking ride today, but his hooves had grown so much since they were trimmed in February that I had to take the time to trim him. He had on section that had bent back to bad I had to clip it off sideways, but he was a trooper about it. I think he was happy to be going for a ride at first, but I’m not sure he was as happy by the time we got to mile ten! It was longer than I thought, and with all the stop starting, and pushing him into bushes and brambles to get close enough to a tree to paint it, but he was incredibly patient! What a great horse! We only averaged about 1.7 miles an hour, so we were out over five hours, and considering we didn’t get on the trail until 11:30, it was about 5:00 by the time he was put back into his paddock. A beautiful day, though, cooler temps and a pretty stiff breeze kept it comfortable. I managed to get almost the entire yellow trail done, except for some reason by GPS truncated the map I put on it, and the most confusing part of the trail wasn’t on there, so I’m going to have to go back and finish the last half a mile, if I have enough paint! Just about ran out of yellow, may have to get some more to finish it. Tomorrow my plan is to do the white trail, but I’ll have to take Flash since it’s a longer ride, and he’s not likely to be as patient, but we’ll see! Several campers left today, so it’s a bit quieter here, though I think James put law enforcement on alert with the problems I’ve been having with this one camper who has no consideration for his neighbors. Hope it doesn’t come to that, but who knows? Anyway, time for my last check on the gate, then my shower, make the bed since I did a little laundry tonight, and off to sleepland! Love you, sweetie! Good night!