Hey Babe!
Well, today's accomplishments made up for yesterdays incompletions. Though it took until 11:00 to get the first load of sand dumps, I was able to make short work of flattening it all out with my little tractor. I'm so glad I have that now! Rick brought two loads of sand and a load of gravel so that I can fix some of the potholes that periodically appear on the roads around the campground. The second load of sand I'll use to fill in some sand holes, and I put a couple of scoops down on my new patio to level it out as well. Once I got fairly straightened out, I moved the trailer over, which took awhile because it was really finicky and I wanted to get it just right, not to mention I had to move all the hay under the gooseneck and essentially put most everything away before I could pull in the slide and move it, but eventually, I got it in exactly where I wanted it. Of course, the sand will have to settle a bit, but I'm so glad that my porch isn't on gravel anymore! I know I'll have to move it again when I take it up to the trailer shop for repairs, but I finally feel like I've made a real start on moving in. Finally settled in for my usual evening, looking forward to a good night sleep! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Sweetheart,
Woke up too early this morning, but did spend some time working on my shoulder (yes, it's still not quite right), and after chores and breakfast, I hooked up the little horse trailer and moved it closer to the big trailer in order to finish filling up the tires. Before I finished, Rick came by and said he had hoped to bring me my loads of sand for my little patio today, so I abandoned my plan of riding down at Tidewater in favor of getting my site finished. I finished filling the tires, then parked it once again, drove Rick down to HQ to pick up the equipment, and shuttled him back and forth until he had both the dump truck and the loader out at the sand pit. After quite awhile, he finally arrived back at camp, but instead of a dump truck full of sand, he was driving the loader! Turns out he got the dump truck stuck at the bottom of the sand pit (it's deep with sugar sand), and he couldn't call me to come get him because he had lost his phone somewhere. We ended up spending the rest of the afternoon driving back and forth to get the guys and equipment we needed to pull the truck out, it ended up taking a bulldozer to do it. We looked for his phone, with no luck, until I remembered reading something about Google now having an automatic Find Your Phone feature, so I looked that up, and we managed to get the app to work, and voila! His phone was back at HQ! Not sure how it got left there, but at least we found it, which he was understandably glad about. Anyway, by the time we got the truck out and Rick drove it back to HQ, then brought the loader back over to Black Prong, it was nearly 5:00, so a long day with very little accomplished. Hoping to get more done tomorrow, though riding will still not be on the menu. Guess that will have to be the next day! Fortunately, the long range forecast is for nice weather, not quite so cold, so it will be good riding weather. Finally settled down to dinner and a movie, next up, a shower and bed! Good night, darlin'! Love you!

Hey Darlin'!
Another lovely flannel night and chilly morning, though it didn't feel as bad as I thought it would. A couple of guys from the trailer place came by to double check on a measurement for the axles that I thought were already ordered. Guess they're not, but they're getting close. I was going to move my truck for them in case they had to get a jack out (which they didn't), but my truck wouldn't start. Ended up putting the charger on it for the day. I'm afraid new batteries are in order, mine are over five years old now, and they've been getting sluggish for awhile now. Just as I was finishing breakfast, Ranger Rick came by, which was unexpected because they were doing some prescribed burns today and he thought he was going to have to be on those, but evidently they gave him a reprieve, so instead, I joined him and we went out to check the trails at Apex for an event going on this weekend. Turned out the trails being used were all in good shape, and the only issues were two downed trees we tried but couldn't reach by truck, so Rick brought me back to camp, then went off to get a tractor to move the trees. I discovered I could drop pins on the Avenza app, so I did that for him on his phone so he knew where to find them. Back at camp, I did some more yard work, which included a little bit of a bonfire to get rid of a pile of windrow leftover from when they cleared the site for the camp host. That didn't take long. Then I spent some time in the afternoon researching more pack trips (hopefully, my adventure for next year!), and also some world cruises for when I'm much older and less mobile. Eventually I headed over to Willards for our first Taste of Goethe meeting (not to mention, Taco Tuesday, except they had run out of tacos by the time we got there 🙁 ), before getting back to camp around 8:30. Too late to do much but finish my diary entry, my chai tea, take my shower and go to bed with a new Mercy Kilpatrick novel! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hiya Babe!
Last night I put my new flannel sheets on my bed, and wow! It was warm and wonderful! Made me think of the first time we slept on flannel sheets, when we were guests of the parents of one of your Interlochen stars up in Iowa. Lovely! Needless to say, I slept well, even when the temps dipped down to freezing! Supposed to be even colder tonight. My electric fireplace is barely keeping up, but at least I have electric! Otherwise, I'd have gone through several tanks of propane this week trying to run the furnace! Anyway, once it warmed up, I spent the morning bush hogging a little patch of long weeds behind the trailer, as well as the horses' paddock to clear out the manure, which didn't take too long. A little restroom cleaning, and then a mostly quiet day. I discovered the air in the tires of the little horse trailer was low as well, and tried to fill them up using one of the little compressors, managed to get one tire done before it quit. I decided I'd just wait until it was hooked up later this week and back it up close to the trailer so I can use the big compressor on it, that will be much easier and faster. That will probably be Wednesday, since tomorrow is likely to be too cold to ride! Spent the afternoon looking at outfitters at Yellowstone and the Tetons, planning on my next vacation. At least I won't have to wait 15 months for this one, I don't think! Watched a fun movie called The Miracle of East Texas, now I'm ready for shower and bed! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
A good night sleep, no horse or dog emergencies, and I even stayed in bed a little longer because the temps were at about 30 degrees! Finally got up, fed the horses and had my breakfast, then got busy. I'm so grateful I can choose the days when I feel like working. Yesterday I took the day off, and today, I was energetic because of it. I did some deep cleaning, including the refrigerator and the washing machine, did a couple of loads of laundry, and did a lot of housekeeping. At 2:00, I went to do Yvette's and drove my tractor back, though I had to put air in the tires before I did. I hadn't looked at that when I was bush hogging the other day, and I was sorry I hadn't checked it, especially when I discovered just how low they all were! Fortunately, I had the inflator to fix that problem, of course. I finally left there right at 3:00 and was back in camp by 3:35, better than I had expected. Jo was kind enough to come pick me up a little after 5:00 and take me back to my truck, so it was a good job done! I also sanded down a picnic table that had some graffiti on it, and swept the restroom before feeding the horses and settling down for the evening. A very busy and productive day. So glad to have my tractor to hand! Can't wait to get started with the work I need to do with it! But that will start tomorrow. Meanwhile, I'm making the bed up with my new flannel sheets, because the temps for the next few days are in the 30's and even 20's, so I figure there's no time like the present to use them! Needless to say, I've had the electric fireplace running nearly nonstop for the last few days! Heading for bed shortly, glad to be getting back on a good sleep rhythm. Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hey Darlin',
Woke up at the crack of dawn to Flash's "Apollo's escaped" whinny this morning, and sure enough, when I looked out the window I saw the fence was down. It was done in his deliberate way, picking up a couple of fence posts and dropping them on the ground so he could step over them. So I had to jump up, get dressed for the freezing weather (mid-30's this morning!) to find him. Fortunately, he was munching on the hay where he used to be highlined, so essentially, 10 feet from the trailer. I didn't even fetch him, I just got their feedbags full and he followed me right back into the corral. He tends to lose respect for the fence when he has his winter blanket on, and I still don't think the fence is working right, even though I worked on it yesterday. The charger seems to be working, but for some reason, the fence isn't. Anyway, no harm done, got back up and laid down in bed for awhile longer. I was hoping to do some housekeeping today, maybe even go get my tractor and drive it here, but for some reason, my energy disappeared and I felt really lethargic, likely from all the food and drink I've been indulging in, added to the cold temps that I didn't want to be outside in, and I ended up literally doing nothing today. I sure hope that means I'll wake up tomorrow ready to get some things done! Hey, it's a holiday weekend, I guess I'm entitled to a little time off, like the rest of the country! Anyway, my evening is almost done, heading to shower and bed shortly. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Was sleeping pretty good until Lola got restless and I had to let her out at 1:30 in the morning, then it was on again, off again until my alarm went off before 6:00. Got her and the horses fed, than drove over to Jo's, where we left to first to go McDonald's for breakfast, then off to the farm where her new horse was waiting, a ten year old OTTB name Go Danica, that they'd been breeding for the last five years, but that Jo thinks will make a great endurance horse. She's a pretty dark bay, hopefully she'll work out. We had a little trouble getting her in the trailer (it looks really claustrophobic for a big horse, so I'm not surprised), but we finally managed it. She had trouble coming out as well, not used to going around corners at down a ramp at the same time. Once she was in the pasture, though, she settled right down, no drama, not even the usual excitement of being in a new place. Jo walked her around a bit, showed her where everything was, then left her to get used to it. Once that was done, I headed into town, stopping at Walmart to pick up a few things, including an apple pie for tomorrow, the liquor store, then at EV Hay to pick up some hay. I finally got a call from the trailer place with an estimate for the two new axles, so they've been ordered, anywhere from two and a half to five weeks before delivery, which is why I stocked up on hay. Got back to camp, put everything away, then debated whether I wanted to take a ride today, and ended up falling asleep in my chair again! Obviously, I'm still not fully recovered from all my recent activity, the exhaustion is too deep. Anyway, after napping on and off for a couple of hours, I finally fed the horses and settled down for the evening. Hoping tonight I'll get back on track with my sleeping schedule, after getting up before dawn this morning! I'm also having a double shot of Sleepytime tea, which I hope will help. Heading to bed shortly, I'm determined to ride tomorrow! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Despite still feeling tired from all the physical labor over the weekend, I couldn't get to sleep to save my life last night. I tossed and turned until well after 3:00, then finally took a couple of aspirin and nodded offed until 8:30. I was out cleaning the restrooms by 10:00, chatting with several couples that wandered in and out, then finally got to painting, finishing off the water standpipes and the trash receptacle around 2:00. I had a minor hope to take a ride after I was done, but I was thoroughly exhausted, no doubt one day of rest wasn't enough to completely make up for ten hours on my tractor over the weekend. I was nodding off in my recliner before I finally made an early dinner, fed the horses, watched a cute movie called Hard Times about an Irish village that hijacks a Viagra shipment. It's the first time I ever saw recipes for Irish dishes mingled in with the final credits! Very original! Since I have to get up extra early to meet with Jo to get her new horse in the morning, I won't be long out of bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Woke up achey, which was no surprise, so I decided that today would, indeed, be a day off. Other than my usual chores, one load of laundry and chatting with a couple of riders, I spent the rest of the day reading, on the computer, or watching TV. My bones so needed this!! Sleepytime Mint Tea and a shower, and I'll be back in bed again, with hopes that tomorrow I'll be fully recovered and ready to go! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Had a decent night sleep, the usual chores and breakfast, started a load of laundry, then I headed out to finish up bush hogging Yvette's pasture. At least I didn't have any of the distractions or issues that I had yesterday, the tractor ran great, but this pasture was a lot bigger and took a lot longer than I imagined. Even though I started about 10:45, it was 4:00 by the time I finished. Then a did a couple of spots around the yard that looked bad, but it was too crowded with junk to do much about it. Then I did a paddock she said she wanted to do, and that took me up until 5:00 when I finally quit. Not much of a day off today! I'm exhausted. That pasture was full of bumps and holes, and I was bouncing around so much, every muscle and bone in my body feels like it's had a workout! I'm really looking forward to a good night sleep tonight! I took my shower as soon as I fed the horses, I was filthy from head to toe. Watched an amusing Woody Allen film about Paris with Owen Wilson, now it's just tea, Spanish and bed. Can't wait! I may just take the day off tomorrow, I'll see how I feel in the morning. Love you, babe! Good night!