Hey Darlin',
Up with the alarm, breakfast and chores, and out to pick up Art before 9:20. We arrived at Apex just as Logan was cutting a board to close off the back of the Gator UTV, and off we went! Chilly, misty morning, and despite the forecast for a sunny day, the sun didn't make an appearance until about 3:00! By then it warmed things up for about five minutes before sinking below tree level and temps started dropping again. It was a very long day, but it did move quickly. We did the entire 25 miles of both orange short and long, and was very grateful to the forest service for allowing us to do it in a borrowed UTV. I could never have managed it on horseback in Flash's condition. Art and I quickly meshed into a solid work unit, and we wasted no time at all, yet we arrived back at HQ at 4:56, in the nick of time. After we transferred everything back to the truck, I took Art to dinner at Willards, where Shepherd's pie was the special of the day, so we both splurged on that. Way too many carbs, but I did burn a lot of calories today, so hopefully it won't hurt my diet too much. Got back just before 7:00, fed the horses, but had a lot of trouble getting anything on the TV. Don't know what the problem is, the signal seems fine, but the hotspot just isn't making it happen today. Oh, well, just have to go bed early and read. Feeling pretty tired, which happens in all the fresh air and cold weather. Took me ages for my fingers to warm up! Anyway, the main part of the job is done, so I'm relieved at that. A little bit worried, though, because Tom G. said he was out riding, came across some of our markers, but then couldn't figure out where the trail went. He's worried they've been vandalized, but I'm hoping that it was just that he went on the trail before we finished our ciruit. He's going to check it tomorrow for me, after I sent him a copy of the map. Fingers crossed, don't know what I'll do if they've all been moved! Don't know when I'll have time to go back out there! Anyway, I'm feelling very tired and worn out, very glad I left the fireplace on when I left this morning, I'm finally starting to feel a bit warmer. Headed to shower and bed! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Woke up to the sound of stampeding, and was delighted that Flash was exercising himself around the paddock this morning. Guess he's feeling better! Don't want to push him yet, though. While it was a sunnier morning, it was a bit cooler, so I didn't end up riding Apollo today either. Mostly because I got busy with other things. I found some hay at a new place called Triple J on US 41, and their Coastal was almost as nice as the stuff I got at Farmers Direct for a short time last season, and it was only $10/bale (though I saw an ad on FB that said it was $8), but it's a really nice quality hay, so no complaints! I ended up buying a full 21 bales, because I've been feeding my horses more than I used to just to keep them busy. I also ran into the Ace in Williston to get some staples for my staple gun, and I made a quick stop at Winn-Dixie, only to discover it was almost empty, as they were closing that store. I found out later they just moved to a different location, not sure why. Relaxed in the afternoon, then headed over for our first Taste of Goethe meeting, an event in the forest where we put up food stations and hikers, bikers and horse people all gather to sample food from many of the local eating establishments along the trails. A productive two hours. Settling down to my evening Sleepytime time, won't be long out of bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Had a quiet day in camp today, ran out once to pick up a check for Jo, and she stopped by later to drop some stuff off, but other than that, not much going on. Had a Zoom meeting with the L20 folks in the evening, which was short and sweet. They are having to move the dates from February to April due to scheduling conflicts with the various parks, but have been promised a February date for the following year. I considered taking Apollo for a ride, but it never really warmed up, and was damp all day, so I gave up on that. Otherwise, a pretty mundane day! Love you, darlin'! Good night!

Hey Darlin',
Had a fitfull night sleep, probably because of the junk food for lunch, so ended up sleeping late in the morning. Flash's leg looked a little bit better and didn't feel as tight, but he's still not 100 percent, I think that will take a few days. Only had a slice of toast for breakfast because Jo and I planned on going to lunch at Pavarotti's to test the food she was going to order for the ride this weekend. It was fantastic! She had the eggplant parm and I had lasagna, both were excellent, but the best thing were the garlic knots. Best I've EVER eaten! Afterward we went to Walmart for a couple of things, then back to home again. She loaned me a little hand massager to try on Flash, I managed to massage his leg gently for about a minute before it started to rain. A big front came through with much needed rain, pouring down for a couple of hours. The rest of the week is supposed to be nice, at least that's what they're predicting so far, but who knows? Did a couple of loads of laundry and settled down for the rest of the day, though I spent nearly an hour sewing a new bottom onto Apollo's feedbag. That's obviously the weak spot on these things, he chewed through the last one as well. This one was a lot stronger, and the holes didn't go all the way through, but the fabric on the bottom was chewed up and all his food was falling into, so it had to be replaced. Relaxed the rest of the evening, listening to the rain beating down on the roof, which will likely be dripping off the trees for some time tonight. Soon to bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
Got to bed early, and was in good shape when my alarm went off bright and early. Got my early chores done, and folks started arriving just after 8:00 for the work day. We ended up with eleven people, including me, plus Rick and Kari from the forest service. We got everybody loaded into the UTV's and out on the trail before 9:00, where they went out to the two main problem areas. I followed in my tractor, mowing where it was needed. Because it's been so dry, we were able to get to areas we couldn't usually do, but I still got stuck in a couple of places where it's so thoroughly saturated that even with all the dry weather it was still a mudhole, but thankfully I was able to work my way out, using the crawl gear and the bucket to lift the tractor enough to put some sticks underneath for traction. For a minute there, though, I was thinking I was going to have to call for help, but I wouldn't give up, and finally made it! With so much help, the teams finished and were back in camp before 11:30, so I sent them out again to do the section on the east side of 337, which was mostly trees overhanging as opposed to serious growth encroaching from the sides like the other two section. We fired up the grills and had lunch ready when they all got back about 12:20, way too much food, so Lola will be getting lots of leftovers this week! Jo stayed after everyone left and we got caught up on everything, and she left me ribbons and arrows for marking the trails. Once she headed out, I settled down for what remained of the day. A fabulous and very productive day! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Darlin',
To give Flash a rest, and to cover more ground to the farthest trails, I enlisted my friend DeDe and her new UTV to recon those trails today. We had a great morning! Even the normally wettest parts of the trails are dry right now, quite the drought they're having here. Lola came along, so she got some exercise, and we only had to stop in a couple of places for some trimming. No need to send a team out here on Saturday during the work day! We were finished up by just after noon. Then I got a call from the trailer place about my little two-horse Logan, it seems there's a lot more wrong with it than the roof, so I drove up there to see what needed to be done. The estimate for repairs is almost as much as what I paid for it a dozen years ago, but still cheaper than getting a new trailer. I couldn't sell it in that condition, so I gave the go ahead to get it fixed. Seems that trailer place is making a fortune from me, between last year and this! Oh, well! Well, those two things pretty much killed the day. Just about dinnertime, my vet friend Art stopped by, and we chatted until it was time to feed the horses. I did a little work on the maps for the work day, but otherwise, just settled down for the evening. Another lovely day in paradise! Perfect weather, glad to be back in the 'hood! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Woke up in the dark to the sound of rain, then nodded back off, but it continued to rain off and on for most of the morning. Nothing heavy, but enough to keep the dust down, which was much needed. Headed over to Helen's to pick up the small horse trailer, chatted with her for quite a while, then dropped the trailer off at J&S in Williston to get the roof fixed and the brakes, axles and bearings checked out. Another quick stop at Walgreens to pick up some large bandaids, which I took back to Helen. She wrecked her car in an accident and had a deep abrasion on her calf, and she ran out of the bandages she liked, so I dropped those off to her. Got back to camp, and a short while later, my friend DeDe stopped by to drop off the mail she'd been collecting for me all summer, and we chatted for quite awhile too. It was too late to go riding today, and I didn't like the strong wind that was kicking up, but the rest of the week looks like perfect riding weather, so fingers crossed, I should be able to check all of the trails we plan on using for the ride before our trail cleanup day on Saturday. If not, DeDe has offered to take me out in her new UTV if necessary. We'll see! Fell into my usual routine the rest of the day, looking forward to getting back on the trail tomorrow! Good night, darlin'! Love you!

Hi Darlin',
Woke up early with the alarm, got packed up pretty quick, managed to get out of camp by a little after 9:00, arriving at the Black Prong Trailhead at the Goethe State Forest by just after 10:00. Because I knew I had a busy week coming up, and it will likely rain tomorrow, I decided to get as much done today as I could, so it turned out to be a very busy and productive day. I managed to get parked and set up in the camp host spot (thanks to Logan agreeing to giving me a special permit!), got the horses in their electric fence (thankfully, my insulators were still in the trees from before, so that was the quickest setup ever!), though I didn't put the fence charger on yet. I had picked up a whole bale of hay that someone left behind at River Rise (and camp host Ray encouraged me to take), so I put that into the paddock area so the horses would be set for all of today and part of tomorrow, so I didn't even set up their hay nets yet. Once everything was set up, I hustled over to Helen's to pick up her recycling (she collects from all the neighbors and donates them to the forest), then headed into town to do a little shopping and to get to my hair appointment with Jan at SmartStyle. She does a great job, and my hair had gotten so long it was bugging me, couldn't wait for it to be cut! She did another great job, of course. Finished shopping, headed back to camp with a brief stop at Jo's to FINALLY pick up the heartworm meds I ordered back in October for Lola. These weren't the same Heartgard, these were a bit cheaper, but they didn't charge me for the second delivery, even though they were not the least bit at fault for the loss of the first shipment. I wrote to them to say I was more than willing to pay for the second shipment, but they only responded with a confirmation that the delivery was received, and that was that! Very generous customer service! Lola wasn't quite as excited about these tabs as she is the Heartgard, but she did eat it without me having to bury it in peanut butter, which is a good thing! Got back to camp around 3:00, did a couple of loads of laundry (a real pleasure now that I have water, electric and sewer!), and settled down for the rest of the day. Need to rest up for the rest of my busy week! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
Had a fitful night, and as a result, slept late this morning. Not much to do today except a little packing. The camp, as usual, was mostly cleared out by early afternoon, nice and quiet for a change. Just did my basic packing and read most of the day before doing my evening routine. Short trip tomorrow, but a busy week ahead. I'm ready! Good night, baby! Love you!