Hi Darlin’!
Whew, what a day! Got up early, printed up some paperwork for the work day today, then got my morning chores and breakfast out of the way before moving over the pavilion to see who showed up for my hastily put together work day. In the end, we had a pretty good turnout, mostly from the Florida Horsemen’s Club, and everybody worked their butts off! We got so much done. Two of the guys managed to build two complete new manure bins at Barns One and Three, just gorgeous. The rest of us worked on all the paddocks, making repairs, replacing boards and posts, cutting back trees, and generally making almost every paddock more safe and sound for horses. No more nails sticking out and broken boards! There was just a few we didn’t get to, but they were the ones that were more recently built anyway, so there shouldn’t be much left to do, though I’ll check them tomorrow, if I can recover in time. Exhausting day! James came by, ostensibly just for awhile, but he ended up getting drawn in and helping us finish our last few projects. He seemed very pleased with the turnout, when he arrived the sound of hammering was everywhere, we were all busy as bees running around. Just what I think he was hoping to see, and I was glad it all worked out! A lot of labor, with a little direction, goes a long way! Anyway, once it wound down, a few of us sat around and chatted, making another date for the next work day, then finally I got back to the trailer and settled down, watched a little TV, but I’m more than ready for my shower and bed tonight! A productive day, well spent! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Babe!
Woke up with the alarm before dawn, since I was supposed to be leaving with James by 8:00, but he ended up having an electrical problem at his house that he had to deal with, so he was delayed by nearly an hour. No worries, I did some other stuff while I was waiting. We hit the road and 9:00 and headed to Hickory Hammock. We went there once over ten years ago, they were doing a trail challenge event while we were there. I couldn’t remember much about it until I reread by diary from way back then, which disagreed a little with my memory, which is why I write it down at the time, lest I forget! Anyway, James wanted me to consider some options to get that back up and running as a thriving horse camp, evidently it doesn’t get much of the equestrian crowd any more, though it did somewhat when we were here before. He also had to meet with a welder/fabricator to get a bid on some work that needs doing on gates and fenced, and also to interview a potential host couple, which took up most of the morning and mid-day. We stopped in Okeechobee on the way back, long enough to pick up some horse feed and a printer. My old $25 HP All-in-one finally gave up the ghost a few days ago, so I grabbed another basic one, a Canon for $44, which was the cheapest one there. Considering how little printing I actually do, I didn’t need to spend much else on anything fancier. I’m hoping the ink won’t be as expensive as the HP, but we’ll see. I ordered some from Amazon as back up, you never know how much ink is left in an old model of printer like this one. I managed to get it working without too much fuss, thank goodness. After that, I walked down to Barn 3 with a new gate latch to put on Stall 7, and there was a woman there who had just jury-rigged a latch, but together we took it back apart and put a real latch on there. I was glad when James told me not to nickel and dime stuff, but to get what we need and not worry about it. I also brought a couple of manure rakes from Hickory Hammock that were in storage, so we now have one for each barn, and one of those little canvas folding carts so I can move all these tools and screws and whatnot around tomorrow. So a productive day! Settled down for the evening, made a list of all the jobs that need doing tomorrow, but I didn’t sleep well last night so now I’m nodding off early. Heading to shower and bed, since I have another early morning tomorrow. Love you, Sweetie! Good night!

Hiya Sweetie,
Got up a bit early today because James was going to come by this morning, though he ended up coming later than I expected, but that’s fine. Got my chores and breakfast done, then did some computer work for a bit. After he arrived we had a long chat about the work day that’s scheduled this weekend, and what my future plans are. He wants to go ahead and get me approved through their HR department as a camp host, even though he knows I won’t be here during the summer. I told him I’d only stay longer if they could get me electricity, I’m not going through that many bottles of propane to run my AC when I could just head north and not need to use any. It may mean suffering through some heat, but it might be okay through April. He said he’d work on that. After he left, I walked through every single paddock looking for what repairs need to be made, counting what broken boards we need to replace, and other hardware items. He brought me a couple of gate latches, I’ll have at least one stall door that needs a replacement, I’ll try to do that tomorrow. It’s a lot of walking around to every single paddock! Got it done, though. I’m trying to arrange lumber pickup for those boards, though James ended up coming back with the lumber delivery for the manure bins. I have a bunch of volunteers lined up, so hopefully we can get a lot of work done on Saturday. Finally settled down for the evening, it’s back to being pretty hot at night, looking forward to a cool front that’s due to come through tomorrow, bringing rain, though I’m hoping to take Apollo for a short ride tomorrow, he keeps giving me that look with his mournful eyes, wanting to get out of his paddock. But for tonight, shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Darlin’!
Had a great night sleep, first time it was cool enough to really be comfortable in a long time! Read for a little bit before getting up as well, so a bit of a late start this morning. After chores and breakfast I started my first load of laundry and then started doing some housekeeping. Since I have to be running the generator to run the washer, I’ve decided to take that opportunity to run the vacuum as well, and do some housekeeping on a more regular basis. You know me, not much of a housekeeper, but I’m trying! Once I got started, though, I couldn’t be stopped. I did all the dusting and vacuuming, including a deep clean behind the recliners and under the kitchen table, swept and mopped the floor, even spot cleaned all the little bits of carpeting on the stairs and the slide-out. I even took a fan apart and cleaned that up as well, since I’ll doubtless be using it again in the coming weeks. So a very busy day in the end! Did three loads of laundry, too. Finally settled down late in the afternoon, then Steve came by and told me they had a bad water leak somewhere, so we split up and checked all the water spigots throughout the barns, paddocks and campground, until he finally found it was a toilet that was continuously running that accounted for the use of 8300 gallons of water over the last three days! Can you imagine? So he shut off the toilet and stopped that for the moment, until it can be repaired. Used my new grill again tonight, to cook a burger, and I’m really liking it, especially because it has an electric starter, an improvement over my last one. I’m determined to keep this one cleaner, too, and keep it in nice shape. Finally settled down for the evening, binge-watching another few episodes of my latest series, won’t be long before I’m off to my shower and climbing into my clean sheets! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Babe!
Other than being St. Patty’s Day, not much happened today. After chores I did some much needed housework, then some computer work including preparing and sending my Equity contract for the summer season, then cleaned a couple of stalls that needed a touch up from last weekend. Kind of relaxed a bit during the afternoon, then settled down in the evening to watch more of my binge TV. All in all, a rather mundane day! Don’t get too many of those, so I’ll take it! Getting hotter every day, so I’ve been getting to bed later, having to wait until it cools down to be comfortable. So I’m off to my shower and bed here shortly. Love you, sweetie! Good night!

Hi Sweetie!
Had a good night sleep, though when I was taking my shower last night, I ran out of water and power to run the water pump at just about the same time, so I barely had time to rinse off before I was done! So first thing this morning, while the beautiful mist enveloped the campground, I filled up the water tank and took another quick shower just to get off any soap residue I might have missed. Had a brief meeting with James and the new Land Manager named Blaine, hopefully this new crew will be able to work together and we’ll be able to get some things done more smoothly here. Planned a nice recon ride that turned out to be very enlightening, found some nice firebreaks, some other trails I need to learn whether or not we can use them, found one that should have been a trail but hasn’t been mowed it a very long time, and another that looked like a trail from Google Earth but was nearly impassable, including having to go around a fence. Very interesting! Flash and I did a very quick pace because it was due to rain, but it missed us almost all day until just at feeding time, naturally, so I got a little wet. I helped Laura with her RV batteries, she didn’t think they were charging properly and when I asked her when the last time she checked it, she admitted she never had, so we worked on getting access to them (they’re in a very tough position), until we could top them off. They didn’t really look bad at all, only two cells out of the six really needed anything, but we got it all back together again. Don’t know if it will help, but it was worth a try. I figured while I had all the equipment out I’d check mine, too, and I’m glad I did because I had several cells that were low, though not critically. Lola found a new cooling off spot, laying on the hay under the gooseneck! She can’t usually get in there, but I opened it to do the batteries and she climbed up as if it were made for her. I put the screen room back up because the flies were starting to be bothersome, and since I’m evidently going to be here a few more weeks at least. Stuffed myself with my Uncle Mick’s leftovers for dinner, watched a few more episodes on Prime, now I’m headed to shower and bed. Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’!
What a lovely day! It started out early, of course, if you can call 7:00 early, and I went around and checked newcomers in, and did everything I could to get organized before the ride was to begin. We were trying to get out as early as possible because the forecast has such dire predictions of high winds and a storm coming through and as it turned out, only the very last riders got a little wet on the last 100 yard stretch, but everyone else managed to make it in before the rain arrived. I volunteered Mike to help me with the water stop/dealer #3 position, so we headed out there around 9:45, arriving in plenty of time before the first riders. Used a trough that Anita had brought, and got my instructions on how to mark the cards, and headed out to our stop. Lola came with us, and of course, kept us entertained with her ball fetching until the first horses came through, then it was pretty busy most of the rest of the time until the last horses came through. Everything seemed to go smoothly, though one guy, Charlie, wasn’t feeling up to finishing the ride, so he rode back with us in the truck while his horse got ponied by another one of the gals in his group, affectionately known as Charlie’s Angels. We headed back to camp, had a great lunch, passed out awards, and miraculously, Petra won a hay tote I’ve been pining for since I saw one in the OTL raffle, and she knew I really wanted one, and she had won one at the OTL, so she promptly handed it over to me, presumably for services rendered (I marked the trails, a job she evidently hates!), and it was even in my most sought after color, forest green! So it was a great outcome for me! Good things come to those who wait, I guess! Anyway, James was there, and made a presentation, and really got the club on board to help with some of the changes out here, so I think we’re really making progress. After all the hoopla, I sat around with some of the folks behind me for a good part of the afternoon, then after feeding and blanketing the horses (it’s supposed to get down to 44 degrees tonight!) went back to their campfire. Mike joined us, and eventually I did my Snowy River to a very appreciative crowd. We kept chatting until about 9:30 when we finally ran out of wood for the fire, and it was getting quite cool (very refreshing after weeks of unseasonably hot weather!), so we all said good night and went back to our respective trailers. Made myself a cup of Sleepytime tea, and I’ll soon be taking my shower (I smell like smoke, the one downside of sitting by a campfire) and heading to bed, though at the moment I have the generator on and my electric fireplace burning just for fun. What the heck, you only live once! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Darlin’!
Busy day today, and got a lot done, too! After breakfast, I started out working on the gooseneck hitch. I had picked up my mail at the post office yesterday, one of which was a package with the new rubber ring that goes around the gooseneck for the extra cushion-y ride. After reading the instructions on replacing it, it was clear that I had over-tightened the old one which contributed to its failure, but the rubber was pretty old anyway, so it won’t hurt to replace it. It took some finagling to get it done, and it was too heavy to do on my own, so eventually I asked Ted for help, then Steve came by, so with so many hands the job got done in short order. I had originally tried to separate the pieces manually, but it was too stuck, so I moved all the hay bales out of the way and hitched the truck up, and when I raised the trailer, it soon came apart like it was supposed to. The rest was pretty easy after that. Then I got a call from Jeff saying he was on the way, so I walked down to the gate to open it for him, and passed Mike from Indiana, whom I had met on the Cracker Trail, and was parked next to the Barn 2, though I didn’t have time to talk with him just then. I let Jeff in and we got busy pretty quick, and even Laura came by to give us a hand to get the bulging panel pretty much back into place. Not perfect, but a whole lot better than it was! That took awhile, but we got it done! Then he helped me put a rubber piece on where my extension ladder goes, one of the bottom ones got ripped off when I scraped along a gate during the Cracker Ride. And somewhere else during the day I took my sledge and knocked my pull-out stairs back into place, apparently they got scraped on something somewhere and when you opened it, the place where the step rest got out of place so it was floppy, so I beat that back and now it works fine. So we all got a lot done! We sat around and had a beer, and Mike walked down, too, so it was quite the gathering. Glad we got so much done, very grateful for brother Jeff’s help, feeling like I can relax a bit now! There’s always something, but the biggest jobs aren’t hanging over me any more, so I’m glad about that. Finally it was feeding time, and everyone went their separate ways, and I settled down for the evening. Off to shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe!
No Jeff again today, but he promised tomorrow, after I decided to change my appointment to get my truck aligned from tomorrow to today. Ever since I had it aligned the last time, years ago, it’s been pulling to one side, and the result is that I’ve had uneven wear on my front tires, with one balding spot on the edge of one tire. After a quiet morning of trail planning on my computer, I headed out, first to the post office to pick up a couple of packages, and passed the Marathon gas station where diesel had reached the unheard of level of $5.04 a gallon (thanks Uncle Joe, for shutting down the XL pipeline on your first day in office!), then to Ranch feed to pick up some horse feed, finally to St. Lucie Battery and Tire in Palm City, where I arrived early, but Lola and I made ourselves comfortable on their leather couch where I read for the duration. They did a fantastic job! I’ve been fighting the pull on my steering wheel for years, and it seemed perfect when I got it back, despite the wear on the front tires, which they rotated. Got back to camp and spent a little time with Jiggs and Ted, showing her how to download her GPS tracks to my computer so she can do the same with hers. Fed the horses and settled down for the evening. We are having some heat wave here, it’s almost 10:30 and it’s still 78 degrees outside! Thinking I’m going to be leaving Florida a bit late again this year! I might have to make a beeline for New York once I leave, but it may still be too cold for that, we’ll see. Anyway, settled down for the evening, now I’m heading to shower and bed. Good night, sweetie! Love you!