Hi Darlin’,
Slept late, then joined five other folks here to have brunch at the famous Seminole Inn in Indiantown, which was very nice. Ate way too much, of course, that was about all the food I had all day except a little ice cream in the evening. Was hoping Jeff was coming out today to work on this exterior panel, but never heard from him, hoping he can get here before it rains, which it’s supposed to do by Tuesday. It was windy again, and after that huge meal I felt sleepy, so I ended up reading and napping the rest of the day, a pretty lazy day! Had a relaxing evening as well, so hopefully I’ll still be able to sleep tonight, and be refreshed tomorrow for whatever comes my way! Heading for shower and bed now, so good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
It was pretty windy today, so I decided not to go for a ride, so I spent the day mostly puttering around. I bought a new bit for Flash’s bridle, so I switched that over, found a couple of things I needed and ordered them through Amazon, did some research as to where I can go for an alignment and possibly a new tire, since one of the front tires on the truck is really wearing out unevenly. I visited with Margarita and George for a bit, then Ted and Jiggs and Laura for another bit, but mostly it was a fairly quiet day. Won’t be long out of bed, either! So good night, my sweet! Love you!

Hey Darlin’!
Woke up rested and mostly back to normal energy levels, with a hankering to get some housework done, so once I fed everyone and had breakfast, I got busy. First, I had epoxied the front panel back on the stove yesterday, so today I took all the tape and props out, looks good as new, especially considering the original plastic seal on it had never been taken off, but it had started peeling a while back, so I finished taking it off now, looks great. Then I got busy doing some dusting and burning a bunch of junk mail that had piled up, then did the floors, twice, just to make sure. After that I washed the truck, it was covered in dust and dried mud, then finally relaxed to read a bit in the afternoon. Took my shower and got dressed and headed for Jupiter to what was supposed to be a debrief of the OTL, but everyone else forgot or had something else to do, so it ended up with just Anita and I, as always! Did hash a few things out, but nothing we couldn’t really have just done on the phone. At least I picked up my pressure washer from Jeff, though he was saying he thought it wasn’t working right anymore, but I’ll have to check it. Evidently he turned the water off but not the machine, although it has an automatic shutoff, so it should be okay. I’ll check it tomorrow. Picked up a couple of things at Publix as well. Didn’t get back to camp until nearly after 9:30, and my trailer batteries are so dead the water pump is running on, so I had to put the generator on for a bit. Can’t remember if quiet time is 10:00 or 11:00, but it can’t be helped. I’ll turn it off as soon as I can. Anyway, bedtime for me soon! Love you, babe! Good night!

Hi Babe,
Slept late this morning, back to my usual schedule at last, and still laid in bed for a bit reading. Today was all about doing laundry, I must have done five or six loads today. It was a perfect day for it, not too hot, sunny, nice breeze, just perfect! George helped me figure out how much lumber we’ll need to build the three manure bins, just as James came by and gave me some Volunteer shirts. Shared cocktail hour with George and Margarita. and spent an hour around the campfire with Ted and Jiggs and Laura before finally coming back home and falling asleep in front of the TV, so I guess I’m ready for bed now! Short and sweet, best I can do today! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Had an excellent night sleep, woke up feeling almost back to normal after my day of rest yesterday. After chores and breakfast and a load of laundry to wash two sets of sheets, I headed into Okeechobee to do some shopping. I had three propane tanks to fill, and Tractor Supply ran out of propane in the middle of filling them, so I ended up having to go the Gerards Bait store up the road to finish getting them filled. A stop at Walmart, then back to camp. After I unloaded everything, I walked over to Steve’s trailer because James was there, and we chatted for awhile about what the priorities are here for this place. Then I had an early dinner, then headed over the Margarita and George’s new trailer. These were the folks I met at Lake Panasofkee and then had dinner with at their house near Goethe State Forest, and we had a great chat, like always. Back to camp, watched a little TV, had a phone conversation with Anita, now I’m headed to shower and bed, hoping for another great night’s sleep! Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
I allowed myself the luxury of staying in bed late, reading for a bit after I woke up just to keep the resting phase going, and it felt positively decadent. I was feeling tired even after a good night sleep, not surprising all things considered. I pretty much did nothing today, just like I planned, binge-watching a bunch of Gilmore Girls episodes. With full sun on the solar panel, it even kept the batteries well-charged throughout the day, and I only had to put the generator on for less than an hour at dinnertime. I ate too much, had a couple of glasses of wine, and now I’m ready for a quick shower and bed. A perfectly boring, quiet day, and exactly what I needed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Had a great night sleep, the field got progressively more and more filled with trailers today, as expected. There was supposed to be an organized ride into the woods across the street but it was canceled at the last minute, so three of us, Lynda, Wendy and I, took a short ride around the field a few times just to stretch our horses’ legs, plus I wanted to try out the Flexbooks I got delivered yesterday. I don’t know if I was doing something wrong when I put them on, but they kept falling off, despite readjusting them multiple times, at every gait, so I won’t be wearing those during the ride! Flash was full of pep, guess maybe I shouldn’t have been giving him the high energy hay until we started the ride. I have a feeling I’m going to be fighting him a lot, at least on the first day, as he tries to get to the front. I foresee lots of little circles in my future! I just hope he doesn’t get so crazy that he gets impossible! Anyway, I got all the information they gave out when I checked in this morning, still left a lot of gaps of knowledge, had to ask some questions, didn’t always get full answers, so a lot of guesswork going on at the moment. All I know at the moment is that we are moving trailers just after 7:00 tomorrow, and have to be parked and ready to get on their shuttle by 8:00, but the drive is only about 20 minutes, and I have to tie Flash to a livestock trailer while I’m gone. I guess the rest we’ll just play by ear. Chatted with my neighbors a bit, skipped the dinner and ate back in my trailer, settled down early to have a relaxing evening, now I’m ready for a super quick shower and bed, so I’ll be up and at ’em first thing. Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
Had a great night sleep, and actually woke up ahead of the alarm feeling just about normal, at last! I got busy doing the final packing, though Flash was still whinnying for Apollo, though nowhere near as much as yesterday. I topped the water off in the RV from the truck tank, then topped off the truck tank, hoping I have enough now to last the whole week. Got the trailer hooked up, stopped at the dump, then a quick stop at the Post Office in Indiantown for a package. I’m going to do a demo of a new kind of horse boot called Flexboots, I’m a little concerned about the road riding and all the trash that is typically roadside, and I haven’t been happy with the last set of Cavallos because they keep rubbing Flash’s bulbs raw, and the package had the boots in them. Everything timed out perfectly, and I arrived at about 12:15, just after they opened the field, evidently. The email said there would be a sign, but I missed it, so I had to turn around and come back. The road leading into the field had a narrow opening, so I had to be careful to not go into the ditch or hit the gate post, but I just managed it. Then there were ditches on either side of the raised roadbed going in, so I had to find the lowest point I could and sidle in a little sideways to avoid scraping bottom. It’s essentially just a great big cow pasture. I hope none of the other overnight stops are any worse than this, it’s going to be dicey! Once I parked, I discovered I had parked almost right next to Lynda, who had been on the OTL ride last weekend, and her friend Wendy, whom I had met a long time ago at Colt Creek. We chatted for a bit, but I quickly put up a small paddock for Flash and settled down for the afternoon. I actually climbed into bed and read and napped a bit, and it got pretty hot today, hoping it’s not this hot all week! Nice breeze, though, that helped a lot! Had dinner, watched a little TV, now I’m off to bed nice and early, just to keep my sleep rhythm in sync with what I will likely have to be doing this week. So off I go, quick shower and bed! Gotta scrimp on water, hoping to make the whole week without having to fill up the truck tank, don’t want to have to unhook if I can help it. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Felt a bit tired again this morning, didn’t get to bed as early as I had hoped, then spent the day packing things for tomorrow’s departure. Got Apollo loaded up in the little trailer, as well as all the hay and feed he’ll need, and drove him off to Jeff’s in the afternoon. Stopped at the feed store for some electrolytes for Flash because it looks like a hot week next week, and Publix to pick up a few last minute items I forgot to get the other day. Flash spent the afternoon running frantically around the paddock and whinnying for Apollo, and is still whinnying even though it’s been hours. Not surprisingly, they haven’t been apart since I first got him nearly four years ago, I just hope he quiets down overnight. He’ll have plenty of company starting tomorrow, so he should settle down after awhile. My package with my flex boots still hasn’t arrived, so if it comes in the morning, I’m going to have to run into town early then come back and hook up the trailer, so it looks like a later start than I had hoped, since the post office doesn’t even open until 9:00. It’s only a two hour drive, and they’re not opening until noon, so as long as I get there at a reasonable hour, I guess I’ll be okay. Cleared out the paddocks and got the screen room down, rug rolled up, chairs and solar panel put away, basically everything is almost done except for the usual last minute items, so I’m hoping I’ll still be able to get out of here around 10:00 or so. I’m still feeling tired after all my exertion, I have a feeling I’m going to be pushing myself hard this week to keep up, but when I get back, I’m definitely going to take a couple of days off and DO NOTHING!! That’s going to be the only way I’ll be able to refresh my reserves! Anyway, I’m off to shower and bed early, so good night, my sweet! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
I ended up sleeping for nearly 9 hours today, and felt better than I had been for awhile, but I still felt like every exertion I made put me closer to exhaustion than it should have! After breakfast, I headed to Ranch Feed to finally pick up my two bags of feed as well as some hay for both Apollo, who will be staying at brother Jeff’s next week, and Flash as we make our way to the Cracker Trail Ride. We had to divert off the highway on to a working road just off the highway due to a really bad fatal accident that was blocking the road. After I got back from that, I did a few things in preparation, including filling the air in the tires of the little trailer, which were doing some bad vibrating last week, and when I check the tires, one was a little low and another was REALLY low, so I got my little air compressor on it, but unfortunately it crapped out before the job got done, but at least it’s a lot better than it was. Then I started to work on a problem with my generator, I think it has a bad ground, which is why it’s not starting even when I have a very well charged battery, but I discovered a bad connection with one of the cables, so I had to run into Indiantown (and thus past the closed road again) to get a part that I needed. I finished the repair and it seemed to help, but it wasn’t the best fix ever. Afterward, I had an early dinner and fed the horses before Kathleen and her two friends arrived, and we had a pleasant evening chatting. After they left, I finished a TV show, now I’m ready for shower and bed! I was really hoping for one day with nothing to do so I could relax, but that is not to be this week, so it’s going to be interesting riding 20 miles every day next week, without much rest in between. I’m hoping since I’m not involved with the planning, that I’m just a participant, that it will be more relaxing, but I’m not sure it will be, since I know Flash will want to be out front and I’m expecting I’ll have to be fighting with him along the way. Hoping maybe he’ll be too tired to worry about being first in line, but we’ll have to wait and see. Meanwhile, I’m off to shower and bed! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!