My first ripe tomato

Lola's new hiding place

Hiya Darlin',
Had an incredibly lazy day in camp today, for no particular reason. There was rain in the forecast, and I didn't want to ride today, so I mostly just read and researched local hay. I'm down to two bales, but it's been so wet up here this Spring, hardly anyone has been able to get any hay in, so it's either getting last year's hay or taking a chance on some hay that was sprinkled on. I also looked at my schedule and decided the timing isn't right to visit Patsy this year, and that I'll stay here an extra week, then two weeks at Otter Creek, then one week at Brookfield before hopping down to Meg's. I tried to find someplace new closer to the Catskills and couldn't come up with anything other than that Bear Creek, but it's so primitive, and they charge for it, and it was so noisy last time we were there, not to mention there were no other horse people there at all, just partiers, and the riding wasn't that great, so it's not worth it. The rest of the day was just lazy! Guess I have to have one of those occasionally! Just as a side note, my first tomato is ALMOST ripe enough to eat! Can't wait! So in view of that, I'll be taking my shower and going to bed soon! Good night, my love!

Hey Sweetie,
Woke up way early this morning, so I was up and moving pretty quick. Got all the chores done, then headed down to the town of Cranberry, filled up one propane tank at Tractor Supply, fuel at Sheetz ($4.19/gal! I’ve been averaging about $3.35 until now!), and finally Walmart for some basics. Got so much done so early, I was back at camp before 11:00! After putting all the groceries away, I then did a bunch of small chores, like cleaning the AC filter, putting windshield washer fluid in the truck, and making my first dose of the latest diet craze, pink salt mixed with warm water a few other things. It’s supposed to make me drop weight fast, but I’ll believe it when I see it! I have been eating a lot less, getting a lot more exercise, and I’m back down to my pre-holiday, pre-surgery weight, but I sure would like to drop a few more while I’m at it. Spent the afternoon reading, still don’t have much of a data stream, so I struggled with that for awhile. No progress on the Verizon end. Had a storm come through around 5:00, but other than that, whatever rain they were predicting never happened! There is now one other horse camper and the weekend campground host, who came and introduced herself just as I was making dinner. I’m sure we’ll have more time to chat tomorrow. The storm brought cooler temps, so I was finally able open some windows, yay! Though I’ll have to close them again before bed, since they’re calling for rain again overnight. Anyway, just an ordinary, rather mundane day, though I did get a few things done! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Darlin',
Had an excellent night sleep, and even though I woke up once at 6:00, I dozed off again until 8:00, so the best night I've had in awhile. Got up and did my chores, as usual, then after breakfast went over to visit with my neighbors Bill and Amy, and to let Lola and their dog get to know each other, since we both have been letting them off-leash. After a visit with them, I headed over to the pavilion where camp host Nancy was working, and we chatted for awhile. The other campers saddled up and headed out, with Bill on a very large Peruvian Paso, who was very high energy and promptly dumped him before they even got out of camp. That was the end of that! They packed up and left shortly after, just as a big storm front came through. I got back to my trailer just as it was starting to rain. It was a good storm that lasted awhile, but nothing horrible. Spent the afternoon reading until Nancy and a friend of hers that came to visit came over, and I got out the chairs and the wine and we sat and chatted for a long time. She bought a book, and I ended up giving her that bareback saddle I've been carrying around for so long and haven't used (and probably never would!), it was just taking up space, and it seemed like she could use it for a problem she was having. Hope it works out for her! Had my usual "rest of the evening," which turned out to be gorgeous, though more rain is forecast for later. But tomorrow is supposed to be spectacular, so in addition to laundry tomorrow, I'm definitely going to take another ride! I did a little housework today, so I don't have anything else to do tomorrow except a little packing. A very pleasant, sociable day! Love you, sweetie! Good night!

Hi Sweetie,
Being that it's still a bit too hot to ride, I decided to spend the day getting caught up on some much needed organizing, beginning with the storage compartments under the mangers. I still hadn't found my grounding posts for my electric fence, so I figured I could kill two birds with one stone. I pulled everything, wiped everything down, threw away a lot of junk and did get everything organized so I can easily reach everything now. I did NOT find the grounding posts, however, that's still a mystery. I managed to just barely keep ahead of the sun as it moved down the trailer, but I mostly stayed in the shade. My plan was to spend the afternoon in the AC watching the next season of Earth Final Conflict, but it turned out that Amazon wasn't streaming the last two seasons, and I'm not about to sit through commercials to watch a show I wasn't that enamored with anyway. I started looking at other options, and for some strange reason, I just couldn't seem to get any video streams! I have probably the best signal I've ever had in a horse camp, a whopping 4-5 bars, and yet I can't seem to stream anything! I tried for way too long before I finally gave up and returned to reading. I had a visitor, a volunteer who lives nearby to check up on me, and she expressed her worry that if it rained as much as the forecast was predicting, I'd have a hard time getting out of the spot I was in and suggested I try to move to a different spot. I called the office and there really wasn't anything better, and frankly, I didn't really want to move anyway, and Luke in the office assured me that if I had a problem getting out, they would have someone come out and give me a hand. And of course, one never knows how much the weather forecast might be off anyway! I spent some time trying to clear out the blockage in my water tank overflow, and finally managed to clear it using my vacuum and a tube, so now that's fixed. Did some more odds and ends, attempted to once again watch TV and still had no success. Last night I tried out my new "AC" fan, and I must say, it did a great job! After turning off the AC, it kept it nice and cool for the night. I don't think it would do that if the bedroom area weren't already cool, though, I don't think it could handle cooling it down, but it served the purpose. Only thing I didn't like, though, is that when you put on the misting selection, which is the one that really cools, it lights up! Not fully, which is another option, but enough to act as a night light, which I really didn't want or need, so I'm going to have to figure out a way to lessen the effects of that. Anyway, I'll use it again tonight, though it's cooling down tomorrow so I may not need it for the rest of the week. Ready for shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Did not have a very good night sleep, too hot, so I when I got up a half hour before my alarm, I started out tired. Got everything packed up and was out of camp before 8:30, and I was already sweating from the heat! Stopped once at a Walmart in Alliance to pick up a couple of things, like another pair of sunglasses to replace the ones I lost, some juice, and a portable "air conditioner" which is a fan with a little spray mister. I've read about these, and I thought it might come in handy. Even with AC, I typically turn it off at night because it's so noisy, but if I open the windows it gets warm again very fast, and if I leave them closed, by about 3:00 it's so stuffy it wakes me up and I have to open the windows anyway. I thought this little AC unit might help with that 4-5 hour period between when I turn the trailer AC off and when it actually cools down enough outside. Figure it can't hurt! After that quick stop, I had to play around a bit with Google maps to make sure I was going to the right place. You can't just put in Two Mile Run County Park, you have to add "Horse Camp" because they're in two completely different places. I managed to get it right, fortunately. The last stretch into camp was a very rough road, though, lots of potholes. Just needs some grading and it would be fine! We arrived in camp after 12:30, but it took me a long time to get set up. I was glad to see the ground was dry enough for me to get situated, but if we have a lot of rain before I leave, it's going to be a challenge, because it's on grass and there a slight uphill grade. Fingers crossed! First thing I did was get out my electric plug and get the AC in the trailer going! I was surprised to see another trailer, and a day rider already here, thought I'd have the place to myself. No worries. I put up my electric fence for a change, since there's enough room and a lot of nice grass, and even though they have highlines, their cables hang a bit low and I'm afraid if I put up my highline above it, they'll be tangles. We'll see if anyone says anything about it. The horses appreciated having some grass to roll around in! I couldn't find my grounding posts for my fence, so I had to use something else. I can't believe that I left them behind, but I've asked Rick to check on that for me. Meanwhile, I pulled out practically everything in my storage compartments, so I figured tomorrow I would do some cleaning and sorting in there, a long overdue job. I was sorry to see that there was no water spigots nearby, so I had to go fill up the truck tank twice, and I did two loads of laundry. I also discovered I have a blockage in my overflow again, so it takes forever to fill up because it keeps backing up because air isn't getting through very well. I spent some time trying to snake it, blow air in it, force water into it, and even tried to suck out the blockage, but it still hasn't cleared. I put some bleach down there, figuring it might just be algae and I can kill it off. Last resort, I can pull the clamp off where it's clogged, clean it out and re-clamp it. Always a way! Very glad I have AC tonight, though, it would be tough to sleep in this heat again! I'm exhausted, so I'm heading to bed. Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
It rained off and on during the night and most of the day again today. Before getting out of bed I had a cramp in my leg, than as I was getting out of bed, I suffered a terrible back spasm. Not sure what that was about, but I drank a bunch of water figuring it was partially because I was dehydrated. Took some acetaminophen, got my chores done, then sat in my recliner to read and ended up falling asleep. I had another spasm, so I crawled back into bed and read and dozed some more. A very lazy day! A lot more trailers came in today, not surprisingly, and I had a nice chat with a couple across the road from me, Barb and Bill, before settling down for the evening. It finally cleared up this afternoon and turned into a beautiful evening, and it's supposed to get down to 58 degrees tonight, which I'll certainly appreciate, considering the forecast is for the 90's by the end of the weekend. Hoping I'll feel well enough for another good ride tomorrow, sure want to take advantage of nice trails and a nice day! Heading to bed soon! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Lots of rain off and on today, but I let the horses rest today. They're under a pretty good copse of trees, so I don't think they got that wet, and they were happy with standing around. I headed down to the nearby city of Cambridge to pick up feed at the Tractor Supply and do a little shopping at Walmart, then headed up to pick up hay from a haymaker at Kimbolton. Beautiful first cutting, actually, nice and green, the horses are going to love it after all this coastal. One thing I love about northern hay, green and cheap! Five dollars a bale! Had to put the tarp on it, though, to avoid any stray raindrops, and was happy when I got back to camp and the sun was shining just long enough for me to get it all put away, both the hay and the groceries. Then I discovered that the bank transfer I started on Sunday was on some kind of ridiculous, potentially ten day hold, and my IRS payment had been bounced, and my upcoming autopay for my airfares for my trip to Yellowstone is in jeopardy. I spent the next four hours "chatting" with the people at Discover to try to remedy the situation, but got nowhere. I've been using the same accounts to transfer money around for YEARS and I've never had more than a one or two day hold, and now, all of a sudden, they're saying they can hold it for ten days! So now I'm royally screwed if I can't money transferred sooner. So frustrating! Anyway, it's a bad end to an otherwise perfectly fine day. I ended up just having a bowl of cereal because I couldn't get away long enough to cook anything, much less watch any TV. I guess there's a diet in there somewhere, skip meals by contacting your bank with a problem and "chat" with them for a few hours. Anyway, the horses were happy to get some of that new hay, though I mixed it with the old as is my habit. to prevent such a major change from causing any digestive problems. Had a couple of glasses of wine, which I guess helped. For the first time, I didn't have any pain pills today, and I still managed to get through the day, even walking around Walmart, so I guess I'm on the mend. Heading to shower and bed, hoping to ride tomorrow, there are a lot of trails out here to explore, not sure I'm going to get them all in! May have to come back again, or stay an extra week if my next event doesn't come through. Good night, darlin'! Love you!

Hey Darlin'!
Had a rough start to the day, though the packing and getting ready to leave worked out. The way their dump was situated (on the wrong side) made it easier for me to just back up to it from where I was, a good 80 yards, and when I did the dump, it almost immediately overflowed, so it was all over the place anyway. I rinsed it down the best I could. I had to do another maneuver to be headed out of camp. Lonzo led the way, knowing I was worried about making that 350 degree corner, and I was right to worry. I almost made it, thought I had, but the rise in the corner was too great, and I got stuck on the tarmac. I went too far and couldn't back up either. Lonzo tried to pull me out, but his tires were spinning, too, but then the other guy, the deputy, came up behind and managed to pull me back off it. Of course the steps are mangled again, so I'll need a sledgehammer to straighten that out, if it's even possible. I managed to do it the second time, though I momentarily got stuck on the gravel (which is why I didn't swing wide enough the first time, I was trying to reach the tarmac and not get stuck on the gravel) so I needed another pull off the gravel. Thank goodness those guys were there or I would have been in a world of hurt! Anyway, that was the only drama of the day, the rest of the trip was uneventful, U.S. 23 was a fantastic road up to I-64, then I-77 until I finally reached Salt Fork, which is only a few miles off the highway. GPS brought me straight to the horse camp, even though the signs didn't always indicate that. This place surprises me, though, a lot of people have said wonderful things about it, and yes, it quite manicured, especially for a primitive campground (typical state park), but almost none of the area is level. I was hoping for a shaded site with enough sun for my solar panel, but all the shade was down in a hollow, so I found about the only level spot big enough for me, and even then I didn't push too far back because I didn't want to get too far off the gravel, especially since they're calling for a lot of rain this week. Other than a single day rider, there wasn't anyone in camp at first, so I put Apollo on his anchor and let him and Flash graze on the nice manicured lawn. Thank goodness there's a decent cell signal here, I won't have any trouble communicating or live streaming. I had six voice mails waiting for me, not sure why they didn't go through when I was on wi-fi before, but I got them now! I got set up, having already filled both the RV and the tank in the truck with water from the wash rack, and finally settled down for the evening. Sorry to say another camper showed up, so I had to collect the horses and Lola and put them all in restraints. Was kind of hoping for a couple of days of freedom, but not to be! Dinner and a movie are done, just shower and bed remain! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie!
It's seems like I'm finally on track to have a typical summer Sunday, when I do laundry (four loads since I have electric and water), housekeeping and general packing. It's the first time since leaving Florida that it's been a more normal Sunday. I did some reading, watched an excellent movie about the terrorist acts against the Israeli Olympic team in Munich in 1972, which I vaguely remember hearing about, but not all the details, of course, called September 5. I also took a walk to see the dump and figured out the best way to it will be to back up the driveway to it, since it's on the wrong side going out, and trying to get around these tight turns in the campground will make a mess of their lawn, particularly with all the rain we had off and on today. Otherwise a relaxing day! Looking forward to my next stop, though getting out tomorrow is my first challenge, trying not to worry about it, nothing I can do but DO IT! Having my tea and shower shortly, then off to bed, since I want to get up extra early tomorrow. Good night, babe! Love you!