Sunday, Dec. 12, 2021 – Another Recon Ride, Lots of Computer Work

Hey Sweetie!
What a busy day! I spent a lot of time on the phone today, working out some stuff on the OTL for February, then finally got back to focusing on the immediate job of the Goethe Endurance Ride. I planned out a route that I hoped would be good for the first loop of the ride, then saddled up Flash and got out around noon. I was happy with most of the trails, though it’s impossible to avoid every area of deep sand or road or mud or water, I think what I came up with worked pretty well. I did have to change on section completely, it was just too wet, but when making up for it, I found a couple of other lovely trails that will work just fine. I had to finagle a little bit once I got back, but it looks like it will be a good length, too. Once I got Flash settled back in, I got busy working on OTL stuff again, updating the mailing list, getting more people to send me their email addresses, adding some stuff to the Facebook page, trying to figure out how people can pay us online, just a lot of computer work. Barely had time to watch an hour of TV and even then I wasn’t really paying attention. Time slipped away, as it always does when I’m online! Anyway, it’s just about past my bedtime, I still haven’t showered, and I have to get up early in the morning to take my truck into the shop. Busy, but productive! Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021 – Recon 15 Mile Trail

Hey Babe,
I had a touch time falling asleep last night, well into the morning before it happened. After chores I had planned to go check out the 15 mile trail, but Kelsey called and said she had some changes to make, so I had to wait for her to do that. Meanwhile, I went back to my water heater problem. I found a local mobile RV whose reviews extolled how helpful he was, so I called him about my problem and he walked me through a couple of things. I had no power to the water heater, so then I backtracked to the circuit board, and discovered that there were three circuits not getting power! The water heater, the AC and the laundry. Sure enough, none were working when I put the generator on. So I knew there was a post problem of some kind, so I went out to the generator and lo and behold, one of the two circuit breakers on the generator had been knocked off! That had never happened before, so it didn’t even occur to me, but thank goodness it was such a simple fix after all! I didn’t look forward to trying to replace the heating element of the circuit board in the water heater, and turns out I didn’t have to! Yay! Once I put everything away it was after noon, so I saddled up Flash, expecting to be going soon, and shortly afterward, Kelsey sent me her new trails. Flash and I headed out to check them out, and the first half of it was really good, a lot of it was what we did last year in reverse, but the second half, honestly, I didn’t like at all. It essentially followed the perimeter fence all along the eastern half of the park, so a lot of it ends up peering into people’s back yards and ranches. Plus I thought the sand was deeper there than in a lot of other places, for much longer, so it didn’t really address that problem at all. Another problem is that parts of it are exactly the same as the earlier loop, so it will be a nightmare trying to mark it so that it won’t be confusing (though it will be!). In the past, we’ve always avoided being on the same trail twice just to avoid the confusion. So now I’m considering revamping the whole thing to streamline it a bit. Met with two of the girls who helped map it to discuss some of the issues, so hopefully there will be no hard feelings when I have to change it. Anyway, it’s now just about past my bedtime, taking my shower (with electric-heated water!) then heading “upstairs” asap! Good night, my darling! Love you!

Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021 – Busy Prep and Ride Day

Hi Honeybunch!
What a day! I can’t believe I slept until 9:30, even though I got to bed at a decent hour last night. What’s up with that? Started out the day by doing a couple of loads of laundry, and once I got those hung out to dry, saddled up Flash to pick off the last trail that I missed on my last ride. We went pretty quickly, and finished off the nearly 7.5 miles in just over 1:40, so we made good time. I really like the section back by the cypress swamp, and most of the rest of it is a nice ride, too, even the prairie part where we got some nice cantering and fast gaiting in. They’ve put a number of water troughs out here at certain points, which is a nice touch, though Flash never wanted to drink out of them. That didn’t stop Lola from jumping into one, though, she was getting hot on the trail, her tongue was flopping around almost as much as her ears! Not sure that’s what the forest folks had in mind when they put those out here, but they certainly served the purpose to cool Lola down! Got back and started packing up for our departure tomorrow, in between posting some more horse camp reviews on the Facebook page. I let the horses out so they could graze whereever they wanted, but next thing I knew, they were back in the paddock, even with the gate wide open! Silly horses! By dinner, everything that could be put away was, and we settled down for the evening for a few more episodes of my new series, The Expanse. Now I’m just about ready for shower and bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Friday, Dec. 3, 2021 – Productive Day Plus A Ride!

Hi Darlin’!
Another good night sleep, our first night on our own as my neighbor left yesterday afternoon. After chores I spent the morning catching up on a couple of months of bookkeeping, then did some overdue housecleaning before finally saddling up Apollo for his ride this week. I wanted to pick off all the rest of the trails today, but somewhere along the line I missed a marker, and thus a large section of trail, so I guess I’ll have to take another ride here and finish them off. Today’s ride was about 6.5 miles, all on dry land, no wading through water today, and Apollo was a bit edgy, no doubt because of all the hog sign out here, lots of torn up trails, but we never saw any. We did see some deer and a lot of birds, but no hogs! I held onto the saddle horn tight, though, since I was worried he would do one of his sudden shifts if he caught anything out of the corner of his eye, and he did wheel around once, but I had no trouble staying on, with me being extra careful. Lola enjoyed the ride, too, of course! We got back before 4:00, so we got an early start to our evening. We had two new neighbors move into the other two campsites, neither of which are horse campers, only spoke long enough for him to introduce his dog on a leash to Lola. One is in an Airstream and the other is in a little trailer that reminded me of our first 19′ Sunline, remember that one? Tiny! Anyway, I finished off the last season of Burn Notice, a really good series that I very much enjoyed, will have to find something new tomorrow. Meanwhile, my busy and productive day is done! Shower and bed are next! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2021 – First Ride at Two Mile

Hey Babe!
Had a great night sleep, temps got into the 30’s again last night, but I kept warm! Got all my chores done, and while I was cleaning up the paddock and the horses were out grazing (Apollo with his anchors, Flash just roaming nearby), the two rangers came by for a chat. They didn’t seem to mind the horses and Lola being loose, at least they didn’t say anything, they were cool about it. After they left and I finished my chores, I drove over to the ranger station to get water in the truck tank. Both guys happen to be there, looked like they were just leaving but hung around to help me. Once I got back to camp I saddled up Flash and headed out. This trail turned out to be a lot more beautiful and interesting than I thought it would. At first, it was all dry, open prairie, but after a few miles, I suddenly was having to wade in several feet of water for quite a long ways! Surprised me, but it was no problem. We kept going it eventually passed through some beautiful woods, with more water on the trail. We finally reached one point where the water got so deep I thought we were about to go swimming, so I backed up and worked our way along the shoreline until we could get back on the trail. Literally, there was a trail marker post about halfway across the lake, so I knew we were in the right place, I just wasn’t in the mood to go swimming! (though Lola was doing a lot of that to keep up!) We ran into the two rangers again, they were out freshening up the trail markings (good thing, too, it was right after I got a little misplaced, because the map didn’t go the same way that the trail does, so my GPS prep was off. What else is new?) Then we came up to a beautiful cypress swamp, very spooky, and the trail looked like it had been rutted up by about a hundred hogs. We finally got out of the woods to some wide open prairie again, and Flash was in the mood to go, go, go, so we cantered and largoed for quite awhile, till he finally slowed down about a quarter mile from camp, so he could cool down. Smart horse, he did that on his own! He worked up quite a sweat though, and with no running water, the first thing he did after I let him out was a nice dirty roll! A very nice ride, temp was perfect, beautiful blue sky, couldn’t have asked for a better day! Got back and checked on a package I was expecting, discovered it had arrived at the local post office (General Delivery), so I jumped in the truck and ran the mile down the road to get there before they closed at 4:00. That little garden sprayer I used for fly spray broke a few weeks ago, and I had a heck of a time trying to find a replacement, but once again, Amazon came through! Right on schedule, too, thanks to UPS! They delivered it right to the PO for me. Got back, filled that with fly spray, looks like it will work great! Metal sprayer instead of plastic, and a really nice fine spray, though with all the cold weather, I’ve hardly seen any flies around the last few weeks anyway. Grilled up a sausage, made dinner, had a nice quiet evening, so you know what comes next, shower and bed! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Saturday, Nov. 27, 2021 – Recovery and Ride Day

Hi Darlin’,
Well, after sleeping until 9:00, I got up long enough to feed the horses, then ended up going back to bed, knowing that’s the best way to recover from a hangover. Slept and read for a couple more hours, then finally got up and made myself some breakfast around noon. Pistol and Doc had already gone out riding, which was fine, I wasn’t sure I was going to be up for it today, but after I ate I started feeling a lot better, so I saddled up Flash and headed out to do the same loop I knew they were doing. We passed each other on the main road, then Flash and I really got going, doing about 12 miles in about 2:20, as he was in a speedy mood. Got back to camp around 4:00, and then Pistol told me they were leaving tonight, which caught me by surprise, as I thought we were having dinner together. Evidently, she didn’t get much sleep last night, and she wanted to get her weekly chores done and relax tomorrow, so they were gone by 5:00. I fed the horses, grilled my burger and settled down for a more normal evening, which I need! I changed my plans, again, since I can’t get into Flying Eagle Preserve, and it seems their rules here are I have to leave for 24 hours after being here for a week before coming back, and since I didn’t want to move twice in two days, I decided to go to Two Mile Prairie, which is about halfway between here and Goethe, albeit only about 35 miles away. I considered driving there to check it out tomorrow, but it looks fairly open on Google Earth so I think it will be okay. It’s surrounded by neighborhoods so it will be pretty suburban, and there’s only about 10 miles of trails, but I have a lot of work to do next week. The OTL folks have finally put up the skeleton of their website and it will need a lot of work to get it going, I’m hoping to have a hand in that, so I’ll be busy. I can knock out 10 miles the first half day! Anyway, I’m looking forward to my long-overdue shower and a good long sober sleep! Good night, Sweetie! Love you!

Friday, Nov. 26, 2021 – Ride with Pistol and Doc

Hey Sweetie,
Had a good night sleep, got chores and breakfast done, and eventually we all got saddled up for our first ride together. My other neighbors were gone by the time I got up, but I’ll be seeing them again in a couple of weeks. Because Pistol and Doc ride stock horses, I took out Apollo today, and we had about a seven and a half mile ride, making up a loop around most of the northern and central part of the park. It was mostly walking and a little jogging, so not surprisingly, it was a long slow ride, over 2.5 hours, but it was nice. Some areas here are really nice, with huge live oak trees with hanging Spanish moss, quite lovely. After we got back, they went off to the store and out to dinner, and when they got back they got the campfire going and we sat around that for a few hours. I’m sorry to say that I drank too much of that Honey Bourbon (it’s sooo more-ish!) and only got as far as my recliner at 11:00, woke up at 1:00 and barely was able to crawl up into my bed, fully clothed and smelling like smoke, and didn’t wake up again until 9:00 in the morning! I knew when I was buying that stuff that it was like buying a bottle of poison, but hey, it’s a holiday. I just overindulged in a big way, moderation (my usual mantra!) out the window. Oh well, I won’t let that happen again any time soon! Not a bad day, since part of it was on the back of my horse! Love you, babe!

Thursday, Nov. 25, 2021 – Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi Babe!
Happy Thanksgiving! Had a good night sleep and thankfully wasn’t hung over this morning despite overindulging a bit on a bottle of Jim Beam Honey Bourbon last night, though I had to drink a lot of water during the night, so dehydrated! Got my chores and breakfast done, then saddled up both horses for the ride I promised Margarita, a nice 4.25 mile loop that we both thoroughly enjoyed. Flash was so funny, he was trying so hard to go slow enough so that Apollo could keep up, but after awhile it was just too much effort for him, and he had to resume his usual 4 mph walk. But he tried, I’ll give him credit for that! Pistol and Doc left before us, on the same long ride I did yesterday, since I figured I wouldn’t be doing that again, and if they got it out of the way we could ride together the rest of the weekend. I sat and chatted with George and Margarita for a good part of the afternoon, discovered that they actually live just a couple of miles from Black Prong Trailhead in Goethe State Forest, my next stop! How funny is that! I’m sure we’ll get together once I get over there, we’ve enjoyed each other’s company. Eventually evening came, and I heated up my smoked turkey leg and made my mashed potatoes and stuffing along with my cranberry and had my own little Thanksgiving feast. Pistol and Doc shared some of it with me, then we sat by the fire sipping more Honey Bourbon before calling it a night. They tend to get up early, so they were in bed before me. I watched a couple of hours of TV, now I’m ready for shower and bed. Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Saturday, Nov. 20, 2021 – Long Twenty Plus Mile Ride on Flash

Hi Sweetie!
Had a pretty good night sleep, woke up a bit early, got my chores and breakfast done, then got Flash saddled and headed out just after 9:30. The forecast was supposed to be for a lot of rain, but it wasn’t bad when I left. I had a long loop through the northern section of the park planned out, totaling about 20.5 miles by the time we got done. A lot of it was on shell rock roads, there were a few grassy sections, then some sections that were recently tilled up fire break. In other words, nothing that I can consider my favorite kind of trail. No single track trails anywhere, except for the Florida Trail which horses aren’t allowed on. Sigh. It hardly rained at all, I probably had my slicker on for a total of about 8-10 minutes of very light rain, followed by long periods of drying out, so I’m glad I went, everyone else in camp stayed in because of the forecast! Flash was brilliant, a bit less speedy than the ride the other day, but we still got all that done is barely four hours, so not bad. There are some sections that have beautiful live oak trees covered with hanging Spanish moss and occasionally gorgeous ferns, but it’s still is rather boring riding, sorry to say, even by Florida standards. At least it’s warm! And the nights have been great, in the mid-50’s, so no complaints there! Got back, rinsed Flash down, had an early dinner, then joined the group at the campfire again. Now I’m settled down and ready for my shower and bed. Good night, babe! Love you!

Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2021 – A Few Chores, Ride on Apollo, Campfire Group

Hi Sweetie!
Had a great night sleep, perfect temps in the mid-50’s, very comfortable! Woke up to a beautiful morning, and after chores and breakfast got busy on my list of puttering jobs. First on the list was to finish the ice-maker hose repair, and all I can say is that I’m glad I bought two new fittings because I ruined the first one trying to make it too tight a fit, but the second one worked just right! Learned the hard way, but at least I learned! Looks perfect now, no more leaks, so no more intermittent pump running. Next I tackled mending Flash’s winter blanket. It had gotten a few more tears in it, so I thought I had a couple of rips to sew, but as I started working on it, I found more like 8-10 rips, so it took a lot longer than I thought. It was noon by the time I finished. I didn’t want to wait too late to ride, so I abandoned my jobs list at that point (that’s okay, I needed something to do in the morning tomorrow anyway), and saddled up Apollo for his ride. I had planned about a five mile ride, just something to stretch his legs, and learned a few more things about the map here, inasmuch as on the map certain trails are marked like it’s a road, so I included them in my planning, only to discover that it’s really the Florida Trail for hikers only, so I had to make some changes on the fly. No worries, I’ve got the basic layout of the place now, so it still ended up being a little over five miles, and I did a lot of jogging, so we were back in a couple of hours. Got involved with some reading, so didn’t get any more jobs done, then had dinner and fed the horses, then went down to join the group at the campfire. I don’t think it’s an actual club, but they all seem to know each other, mostly locals plus one woman who used to live here but now lives up in Jamestown, TN at the Big South Fork area. They were all very nice, educated and intelligent folks, mostly transplants from up north, and we all got along just fine. I pointed out the Space Station flyover, which many of them said they’d never seen before, and even had an opportunity to do my Snowy River, to one of the most attentive and largest audiences I’ve ever had, which was nice. We all broke up around 8:30, now I’m ready for eggnog ice cream, sleepytime tea, shower and bed! Tomorrow I go see Cherryl and pick up my deliveries, and it’s supposed to rain, so no riding tomorrow (jobs in the morning, right?) Love you, babe! Good night!