Hey Darlin’!
Started the day out with having a welder I hired fix the spare tire holder. He was pretty close and completely portable, and it took him less than an hour to get the job done, plus he charged me a very reasonable fee, so kudos to him! He didn’t have the proper nuts for it, but gave me a small section of the same kind of bolt so I could match it up, which I did when I headed out in the afternoon. Glad that job is done! Made a quick stop at CVS for some face cream I use that Walmart doesn’t carry anymore, then got to the meeting in plenty of time. VERY glad to see a large horse community contingent there! James had asked us to participate, there’s been a dearth of horse folks attending these meetings, and since they deal with recreation, it’s important they get feedback from us. It started at 5:00 and was done about 7:15, then we chatted for a bit, setting up our next work day in July. Stopped at Walmart to shop on my way back, another quick stop at Tractor Supply just before they closed, then back to camp! I was disheartened to find that Lola had once again managed to bypass all my stair-blockers and had managed to get into my bedroom, I was NOT HAPPY with her for that! We had the same problem a few days ago and I thought I disciplined her well enough for her to get the point, but obviously the draw of sleeping in my bed trumps all the punishment she gets for doing it. Just going to have to find some way to lock up bedroom, much as I hate to do that. Oh, well. Checked on the horses, they were way out back but came when I called, now it’s much later than usual, but my towels are in the dryer so I’m going to have to get to bed a little later. Glad it was a busy day! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hey Babe!
Well, Phase One of trail marking is now COMPLETE! All trails, with the exception of one small connector trail that’s never been on any map and I’ll get to when I put posts out, are DONE! I’ve trimmed and lopped most everything out of the way, and recovered many sections of trails that were lost years ago. I can only hope that when Chester mows he’s able to follow everything the way I marked it! Didn’t get out until nearly 10:00, and was back by noon. Spent the rest of the day doing laundry, reading, binge-watching TV and otherwise relaxing. So glad to have that job done! Phase Two will be to paint posts, but I need to get the posts over here. The new land manager Andrew offered to help me with that, I’ll need to contact him tomorrow about when he thinks he can make that happen, or if I should just start bringing them over myself if it’s not in the foreseeable future. So a quiet afternoon off to reward myself for all the hard work I’ve done this week! Ready for my shower and bed, so good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie!
Not a great night sleep, and up a little later than usual, but after chores, breakfast and planning, I was out on the trail before 10:00. After looking closely at another section of the yellow trail yesterday, I’m convinced that there another bit that’s been mowed wrong for a long time, so I went out today with the intention of completely recovering it, in accordance with an old GPS file I have from 2013. Sure enough, despite it’s long neglect I found I could actually follow it, so I mowed it a few yards at a time to make sure I got it right. There was only one section I couldn’t recover because a very large tree had fallen over the trail and I had to go around it, but other than that, I’m pretty sure I got it all right again. That meant having to paint over a few of the markings I just made with some camouflage spray paint which I had brought along. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to finish it completely because the dang roller fell off the bucket loader and I ran over it before I realized it. That’s the second time that’s happened now! I only had about a quarter of a mile left to do, so I’m going to have to finish it tomorrow, darn it! Just as I was finishing it looked like it might rain, but it skipped around us again. The afternoon was reading and binge-watching Supernatural (I’m hooked! Season 10 and this show just keeps getting better!). Lola is in the doghouse, though, when I got back from my trail marking, she was up in my bedroom, though how she got around the spice cupboard and the fan on the stairs is beyond me. So now, after yelling at her and sending her to her room, we’re not talking. I may just keep her tied up outside in future when I go out, not sure what else to do. She really messed up my bed, throwing my pillows and sheets and blankets everywhere when she “fluffed it” to her liking. Grrrr! Anyway, time for shower and bed. Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Babe!
Still didn’t get to be until later than I wanted last night, but also got up earlier than usual this morning, which means, hopefully, my head clock is adjusting. Got the horses fed and had breakfast, and was headed out to start my paint job when I noticed that the paint the guy mixed for me was INTERIOR, not EXTERIOR! How dumb is that! I told the guy what I wanted it for, but he used the wrong base, so now I can’t do it. I spoke to a manager at Home Depot and she was willing to fix it, but there’s no way I’m driving 40+ miles round trip for one lousy quart of paint. Fortunately, James is going tomorrow, so I’ve arranged to have him pick it up for me. I hate delaying that last tiny leg of that job yet again! Well, since I was all cranked up to do work today, I went ahead and started on some little jobs that needed doing, and you know how it goes, one thing led to another, to another, to another. I had bought a hose repair kit and some hooks to hang the hoses in the big barn on, so I fixed that hose and put up the hooks, looks much tidier now. Then I flushed out the black water tank in my trailer, that was full, and I rinsed it three times for good measure. Then I noticed the water filter was in pretty bad shape, so I decided to change that out, had trouble getting one of the drawers open, had to take that out and reorganize it, which also included scraping a bunch of hard glue off the bottom. Nice to get that organized. Changed out the water filter, though it’s one of the charcoal ones, so it will likely clog up pretty quick, I need to get some of the paper ones. I put a bleach tablet inside it, figured my tank probably needs a little refreshing anyway. Then I did some housekeeping. By noon I had done all the little jobs, so I spent the afternoon reading, then binge-watching Supernatual (I admit, I’ve become an addict! It has successfully sucked me in!) Now it’s time for shower and bed. Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie!
A better night sleep, thanks to a good dose of Sleepytime tea, I think! Set my alarm early because I had a busy day planned and couldn’t afford to start late, so I got up early, did my morning chores and breakfast, then headed out to finish off a section of the red trail that I didn’t get done the other day. This was through a section that had been missed for a long time, and I was going to just accept a new trail, but decided I could recoup this section as well, which took a bit longer but got it back on the path it had been on years ago. I’ll have to mention it to Chester to make sure he follows the right path when he mows, since there is one yellow marker in kind of the wrong place, though the red marker is now very clear. There wasn’t a lot to do, so I ended up back in camp in plenty of time to take a shower and head out to Stuart. Since I had to do some shopping, including getting enough yellow paint to FINALLY finish all the marking, and since it was Wednesday, I decided to go to the Kane Center and play Euchre for a few hours. It was a good thing I showed up, too, because there were only three other players (it was a slow day!), so I made the fourth so they weren’t stuck playing cutthroat all afternoon. We both won two games each, so it was a lot of fun and eminently fair. After that I went to Home Depot and got some paint, a hose fitting to fix one of the hoses in the barn that broke off, and some little hooks to hang the hoses on as well. Then I headed to Walmart for the rest of my shopping, and nearly lost my phone! Couldn’t find it, but someone kindly turned it in, thank goodness! Didn’t need that hassle, for sure! I didn’t get back until almost 7:00, and by the time I fed the horses and did my rounds it was nearly 8:00, so I quickly heated up some dinner leftovers and settled down for the evening. Hoping to get to bed early so I can finish off the yellow trail tomorrow, then I might finally just take a day to ride, since I haven’t done that in weeks! Headed to bed shortly! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’!
Well, my intention today was to finish off the red trail, but unfortunately, I had a terrible night sleep, which meant I woke up late this morning feeling exhausted, so I opted to take the day off and recover. Guess I had a bit too much heat yesterday. Spent the day doing the bare minimum, reading and binge-watching Supernatural. I’m actually quite surprised that even though I’m into Season 8, the stories continue to be interesting and compelling, which I didn’t really expect to happen. Some of the episodes have truly great writing as well, so it’s keeping me involved. Other than basic chores and one round around the campground, it was a pretty quiet day. Andrew from Land Management came by just to see how I was doing, I guess James asked him to stop by since he’s been too busy to do so, so I caught him up on all that’s been going on, with another plug toward getting me a UTV so I can get more done, though I don’t think that made much headway, except every seed planted is a potential harvest! He offered to have some posts brought over to camp so I can paint them (which would be great!), and to stage them along the trails once they’re painted (not sure that would be practical), so at least he’s starting to see the vision that I have for the ultimate trail marking system here. We’ll see how that plays out. Meanwhile, I’m determined to get to bed early so I can get up early and finish the red trail before it gets too hot, which it was today after my slow start. So I’m heading to bed right after my Spanish lesson and a shower. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe!
Well, I’m almost there! I wasn’t sure if I would finish the Teal Trail in one day, since it’s the longest, but I managed to get her done! Amazing, too, since I got a late start. I headed out around the fence line, then remembered I was going to check one of the front tires on the tractor since I had noticed it seemed low, so I came back and checked it, and sure enough, it was down quite a bit, so I pumped it up with my slightly defunct air compressor (it only works now on low psi) and it brought it up in no time, so I was back on the trail by around 10:00. This is the trail that goes along the power line on the west border, so I kind of cheated a little bit and put a spot on the base of every tower, figured it was a public utility with a public right-of-way, so why would they mind a little paint to mark a public trail? Especially since it’s the only way to keep the marks on the correct side of the trail to work with the system. It’s a long, straight line, so it didn’t take me too long, not my favorite section of this trail. By the time I reached the southern end of it, I was really hot, no clouds today so I was broiling in the sun, so I took a side trip down to the group camp and pumped some water all over my head, which felt great! I even took off my T-shirt and soaked it, that felt nice and cool for awhile, too. I got back into camp about 4:30, did a little clean up then sat down in the AC and re-hydrated for awhile before taking a shower. Grilled a sausage, then fed the horses and did my rounds. About ten minutes after getting back from that, it finally started to rain (it had been predicted for 1:00 this afternoon!), but I’m very glad, we need the rain, though I wish it had been cloudier earlier in the day! Anyway, settled down for the evening, will undoubtedly be in bed early again tonight. Love you, sweetie! Goo night!

Hey Sweetie,
A good night sleep, a typical morning of chores, plus a load of laundry, then I headed out onto the lime Green trail to refresh all the paint and markings there. This one is the craziest trail yet. It’s been marked so many times, there’s no way I was going to be able to straighten it out to match the system I want to use. That said, there are so many paint marks out there, it would be tough for anyone to get lost, at least for the short loop. The long spur south along the west side was a different matter, those markings were mostly faded so I was able to fix some of those, though not all. At least I got it done, though I’m not too happy with the color, it’s more yellowish and is often hard to see because it’s the same color as a lot of the foliage out here, and using a roller on a lot of this is crazy. The pine tree bark is so thin it flakes off as I’m painting, and the hard-barked trees have so many gaps it’s hard to make a solid marking, so not my best work, but the best I can do with the tools I have! Anyway, I was out from 9:30 to 3:30, got back, let the horses out on the back section to graze, took my shower and relaxed for the rest of the evening, other than feeding and rounds. Down to my last half tank of fuel, so I need to request another refill tomorrow. Just one trail left, the Teal trail, but that’s the longest and farthest trail out here, so it will take me at least two days to finish, if I get the fuel. Meanwhile, I’m getting to bed early, tired from jumping off and on my tractor all day! Good night, my darling! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
Well, once again the weather forecast was way off. It was predicting lots of rain and strong winds for most of the day, so I hadn’t planned on getting out on the trails at all, but all we ended up with was a few sprinkles in the morning, clearing up in the afternoon, with no discernable winds at all! So it was kind of a wasted day, though I have to say, I’m feeling much more rested and will definitely be raring to go tomorrow. I figured out about how many posts I’ll need to mark the trails here, and I’ve decided to paint the tops the color of the trails for now, at least until I can get some arrows and numbers for them. It’s a start! Other than that, I pretty much just read and binge-watched the rest of the day. I had cordoned off the horses to they couldn’t get through the barn and let them have the run of the entire back section of paddocks, lots of grass back there, so I’m saving a lot of hay right now. Last weekend, a couple turned in some credit cards they had found by the back fence and when I went to look up who they belonged to, it looked like they might have a guy that was actually killed out in Hungryland back in March. Not sure if it’s the same guy, but I called the Sheriff’s office and had them come pick them up, just in case. Otherwise a quiet day, only two campers left, so not much to do. So, time for shower and bed, as soon as I finish my tea! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Had a good night sleep plus I slept late this morning, almost to 8:30! I still felt physically tired though, obviously all this activity is wearing on my. So I wasn’t terribly disappointed when it started raining just after I fed the horses, and kept up mostly of the day. It was cool enough to be able to turn off the AC and open some doors and windows, which was a nice change. Did a tad of housework, then read a bit, napped a bit, then spent the rest of the day binge-watching Supernatural on Netflix. Obviously, I needed a day off, and got one! So I’ll be taking my shower and going to bed early, though the forecast is more rain tomorrow, so I may have another lazy day as well! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!