Hey Babe,
Woke up about 7:30 without the alarm, which turned out to be just perfect. It's still dark here in the woods then, but the sun was just coming up, so by the time I had breakfast and finished packing, I managed to get out around 9:30. Grateful to have an uneventful drive with a single stop at Buc-cees in Kodak, TN, and only about a 10 minute slowdown on I-40 through the mountains even though it's down to one lane each side for quite awhile. Arrived at Biltmore just after 2:00, passed the horse gals on the way in and was greeted warmly by them, got down to the volunteer camping area and was met by the head coordinator Rachel, who got me in the right place, though it's a bit different than past years. I actually have more room, so no objections there! Got everything set up and the horses settled in before 4:00, so had a lovely, relaxing evening. They really appreciate their volunteers here, everyone made me feel so welcome! Love it! Heading to an early bedtime, have my first ride tomorrow! Good night, darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Woke up to a very chilly morning, down to 36 degrees! Stayed warm in bed for a lot longer than I probably should have, but since it was a relatively slow day, and the horses still had hay, so I just bundled up in my blankets and waited until the sun finally broke through the forest. Did two loads of laundry, did some packing, and was grateful that my neighbor headed into town to get propane and was able to take two of my tanks to refill. I was going to stop there on my way out tomorrow, but then I'd have to carry them inside the truck, so this worked out much better. We chatted for awhile, then I got busy doing a little packing. Mostly just read, brought the laundry in, put some stuff away and generally did my usual "night before" packing before settling down to my evening routine. Horses are not really liking this last batch of hay very much, surprised that none of the hay I've been able to get in TN has been very good, I typically get decent hay. Oh well! Won't be long out of bed, and happy that I know I'll have enough propane to get me through next week, hopefully. Temps are staying in the upper 30's and low 40's, so the furnace will be running more than usual, but I can always put on more layers! Decided at the last minute to put my flannel sheets on, just to be on the warm side! Glad I have plenty of hot water, though I'm having to do a lot more power managing than I had hoped, I can't run more than two or three small things at once, and using the electric fireplace, I can only use one other thing. Sigh. Not the solution I was hoping for. Oh, well! Hopefully as I go farther south, there will be less need for that anyway. Heading to bed soon! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Babe,
A bit earlier, but still later than I planned going to bed last night, lazy morning. After chores, I filled up my truck tank with water, then mostly read and worked on my travel plans before I finally got confirmation that my FedEx package from La-Z-Boy had been delivered to the Dollar General Store up the road. Only took me a few minutes to get there, a greatly improved situation than having to drive all the way the Chattanooga to get it! Picked it up, got back to camp, and proceeded to finally install this last critical piece. Only three bolts, which sounds easy, but, of course, it wasn't. I had to finagle with it a bit to get it right, but finally managed to do so. The toughest part is getting the back lined up properly, but I finally managed to get it right, and voila! It now works the way it's supposed to! Yay! I decided to reward myself and spend much of the rest of the afternoon in it, in the proper position, in the hopes that it will help the back problems I've been having lately. I haven't taken painkillers since last night, so fingers crossed, my back will be better by morning! Read, watched TV, was too lazy to walk after struggling with repairing the recliner, so the rest of the day just breezed by. The only excitement was early in the morning, a couple of teams with wagons and a woman on a beautiful but spooky blue roan went by, but within a few minutes, that blue roan was moving past my window, fully tacked but with no rider. Of course I went out immediately, and it had stopped on the road staring at my horses on the highline, and it let me walk right up to it and catch it. I walked it back out to where I saw them go and soon reunited it with the owner, who was just managing to walk after her unexpected fall. Glad no one was hurt, and I was able to help in a small way. No other excitement for the day, pretty mundane otherwise. Just happy my chair is finally fixed! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Went to bed ridiculously late last night, and ended up sleeping ridiculously late this morning. After chores, I spent a lot of the day just working on my computer and trying to sort out my travel plans for March, when I'm signed up to go to the north end of Sweden for northern lights viewing, snowmobiling, and horseback riding. It's complicated, there are a lot of connections that don't connect very well, requiring a couple of overnight stays at the beginning and end. I think I have it pretty well sorted out, it's just a matter of confirming everything. Good news, I FINALLY managed to get a tracking number for my recliner part, though I had to call again to ask for it, but tracking as of tonight says it will be delivered in Delano tomorrow, so I should be able to wrap up my chair repair by tomorrow afternoon, yay! I'm not sure the ride yesterday helped my back any, I'm still having to take pain killers to keep the spasms down, thought I did take a decent walk down to the group area and along the river at the Gee Creek campground. Found an actual trail that had signs along the way designed for kids, sponsored by the Dolly Partin foundation. That woman did so much for Tennessee, so sorry to lose her! After the walk, did my evening chores, settled down for a couple of hours of TV and plan on getting to, bed at a little better hour tonight, as soon as I finish my Sleepytime tea! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Had a lousy night sleep, didn't fall asleep until nearly 2:00 and then woke up about 5:00. I've been having some pain from what feels like a pulled muscle, so I finally broke down and took three acetaminophen, which eventually let me fall back to sleep, waking up around 9:00, laying in reading until nearly 10:00. I know, I know, I get lazy when I don't have a task in front of me. After chores, I drove over to the Delano post office to pick up the package from Cummins with my new switch, and installed that as soon as I got back. Not sure why they didn't do that in the first place, since it came with a new hour meter, which should be par for the course. They had put a sticker on both switches indicating that the generator had been changed out at 1300 hours, presumable so it could keep track of the future hours, but putting in a new switch just makes more sense. So now it's starting at zero with a new digital hour meter (the old one was analog), and took note that the new generator had put on exactly 24 hours since I started using it, so that will be easy to remember. Now I just have to remember to do the maintenance at the appropriate intervals. Finally had breakfast (brunch) after I did that. I had considered riding today, but I didn't want to exacerbate the pain, so I decided that maybe another day off would be a better idea, so that's what I did! Read, watched TV, ordered a small headstone for Lola's grave, and generally had a boring day, although I spent a couple of hours trying to figure out why I couldn't return my Libby books via Amazon, which turned into a whole thing. It ended up not getting resolved, though I did get a free month of my Kindle subscription out of it. I hate trying to understand these overseas customer service people, it takes so much energy to make out what they're saying. Sigh... Anyway, a boring day, but I'm having some Sleepytime tea in the hopes I will be able to get a better night sleep, and hopefully get back to some more reasonable sleeping hours. Of course, I'm in deeply shaded forest, so it doesn't get very light here at any time of day, so it's easy to get turned around, schedule-wise. It will be very different at Biltmore next week, out in an open field! Looking forward to that! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Finally had a day of doing things! Slept a bit late, though, but the horses have gotten so used to it, they aren't making any fuss at all, so without Lola, I haven't had any reason to get up early! After chores and breakfast, I did a load of laundry and got that hung out to dry, the headed out in the truck for a bunch of errands. I learned that President Trump had issued an executive order allowing diesel drivers to be able to use red dye, untaxed diesel fuel (when you know, you know!) without penalty, and since that's about a fifty cent savings, I drove down to the coop in Cleveland to fill up as much as I could. I was limited to 13 gallons, but that almost filled me up, so I left it at that. Then I headed to Tractor Supply to fill up three propane tanks, then Walmart for some groceries. They let me return quite a bit of dog supplies without a receipt, as I had stocked up on a lot of stuff lately, but with no Lola, I didn't need a lot of it. I can still return a couple more bags of Dentasticks if I can find the receipt for it. Final stop was at a liquor store to stock up on bourbon, then back to camp around 4:30. Unloaded, then took my truck over the a working spigot and filled up my tank (it takes about half an hour!), then refilled my camper tank, so now I'm good to go for awhile. Got my dry laundry in and settled down for the night, watching a movie, then finishing off my latest binge series "Touch." Not bad, I like Kiefer Sutherland's work, but it was only two seasons, so now I have to find something else. I also learned that my new switch for the generator is waiting for me at the post office, which was closed today, though I'm still waiting for tracking information on the pawl rack for my recliner. I'll probably have to drive all the way to Chattanooga to pick that up, unless I hear otherwise. So a busier and more productive day, which is always a good thing! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Today was one of those day when a whole lot of little stuff happened that had to be dealt with. I had trouble with this stupid generator, which I'm quickly learning is WAY underpowered for my needs. The breaker on the generator (it only has one, as compared to the old one, which had two) broke when all I had on was a couple of things. Not knowing where the breaker was (and it's not exactly obvious when you open in up), I contacted Cummins when the power stop coming into the trailer. The generator would run, but it would not connect to the camper. So then I was told that I would have to consent to paying $1300 dollars for a technician to come out and look at this 2-WEEK OLD GENERATOR!!! I couldn't believe! After spending more than $8000 for the dang thing, now I'm supposed to agree to shell out another $1300??? Ridiculous! I told her all I wanted to do was talk to a technician for two minutes, because I was sure it was a simple problem, and I still had to agree to the charges. After 20 minutes of arguing I finally said Fine, I consent, but I'm not paying it! She finally contacted a technician who was supposed to call me back "when he had a chance." I finally did what I should have done in the first place, google it to see where the fuses were. It instantly told me it was a breaker and where to look, and sure enough, it had broken, even though I only had two or three things pulling on it. So disappointing! If I have to run out and reset the breaker every time I barely overload it, this is not going to be much fun! Grrr! I decided to walk it off by taking Apollo for a short walk around the day parking and camping area, then figured it was as good a time as any to trim his front hooves, which were getting bad. That took more time, he kept fighting me on his right front. I think it's painful for him, but I got pretty frustrated, so every time he pulled away, usually after I managed to make one or two clips, I walked away, read another chapter in my book and came back after awhile. I finally managed to get them trimmed, but it was a struggle, and didn't do my back any good. I also did a little housework, and ran out for five more bales of hay, since I'm almost out, and I wanted to have at least a couple of days supply when I get to Biltmore next week. Not the best hay, but it will do for the time being. Decided to treat myself and make some cornbread, I've had a hankering lately for something sweet and crumbly, so I had picked up a box of Jiffy Mix and baked that this afternoon. Hmm, hmm, good! Finally settled down to reading and TV for my usual evening routine, except going out and putting blankets on the horses. Two days ago it was 90 degrees, tonight it's getting into the upper 30's! Horses aren't used to that! Hardly have any winter coat on them yet, but I imagine it will come in fast and furious, with most night temps in the 40's for awhile. The campground is busier than I've ever seen it, I'll be glad to get back on the road Monday! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
A decent night sleep, lots of drizzle on and off today. Finally got the energy to take a walk, didn't take my rain jacket so naturally it started to drizzle while I was walking. I went down the road a bit to the Gee Creek campground, was curious about it, but didn't see as much of it as I had hoped because of the rain. Will be more thorough on my next walk. Didn't do much else by read today, and a little TV. Hoping to get some things resolved this week, but it feels like I'm just playing a waiting game at the moment, boring. Not much else going on, so good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of rain from a tropical storm that came up from the Gulf. I put my earplugs in and managed to sleep late, happy that I had closed all the windows and partially closed up the awning before going to bed. It was supposed to be windy, but this site is so protected there wasn't anything noticeable. It rained through most of the morning, then came around again in the evening a little bit. Spent the day mostly reading, cleaned and sorted out a couple of cupboards and drawers in the bathroom, finally settling into a couple of movies, perfect for a rainy day. Took Apollo for a short walk, and found a big tree had come down in the day parking area, but the rest of the campground was unscathed. A mostly boring day, all things considered. Just playing the waiting game at the moment. Waiting for a new switch for the generator, waiting for a new part for the recliner, waiting to go to Biltmore. Not getting any real walking in, hard to get myself going without Lola, but I'm going to need to get back to it one of these days. Meanwhile, a quiet evening with some occasional showers still trailing in. Heading to shower and bed soon! Good night, my love!

Hey Sweetie,
Another late night, another beautiful day, another attempt at my chair repair. I had arranged for a video call with a La-Z-y Boy repairman, so I completely broke the chair down so we could easily see everything. It quickly because clear that the problem was with the part that they failed to send me, meaning I probably didn't have to break down the whole base of the chair, and it was a bit of a pain to get it back together again, but I finally managed. The part I needed, which are the actual teeth that have been ground down, (it's called a pawl rack), It should have been included with the package of other parts, but wasn't for some reason. Because I don't have an easy address to send to anymore, I tried to find out if any of the local dealers had a spare one, but none could be found. What I did learn is that the place where they actually manufacture these parts is in Dayton, TN, just over an hour from here! I left it with customer service to either arrange for it to be sent USPS to General Delivery at the nearest post office, or to arrange for me to run up there and pick it up. Considering the price of fuel, I'm hoping they can mail it, but I won't know until Monday what has been worked out. After I got everything put back together, I spent the rest of the day just hanging out, reading, watching TV, and didn't even take the time to walk the horses. Feeling very lazy today! I may regret that, as there's a tropical storm heading our way, so it's likely to be rainy the next couple of days. No worries, I feel like I'm still in recovery from all that has happened in the last two weeks. Anyway, mostly a mundane day. Gotta have a few of those, I suppose! Good night, baby! Love you!