Hi Sweetie,
Despite going to bed at 1:00 a.m., I woke up before 7:30, and got up because I had too much going on today. Did my rounds, did my chores, was worried momentarily about Flash, he was laying down when I was getting food, which is unusual at this time of day, but then after I gave him his feed bag, I looked over after a few minutes and he was laying down again. That made me REALLY nervous, so I went in and managed to get him up, got a halter on him, and walked him from the paddock to the little horse trailer, got the doors open, but before I could even get him in, he pooped like I was hoping he would, so I walked him back to the paddock and he went straight out to the hay, looking perfectly fine. I kept an eye on him for a bit, but he seemed okay after that. After breakfast, I headed out to the hospital where Jeff was, arriving around 9:30, but they said they wouldn’t be ready to discharge him until after lunch, so I decided to do some shopping at Walmart since I was so close and I needed some stuff, and shortly after I got back, he was discharged. Got him home before 2:00, with instructions not to push himself too hard for a couple of weeks. Grabbed some ribs, corn and zucchini and headed back to camp. I’m exhausted. Taking the day off tomorrow! I still did my 6:00 rounds, though it was closer to 7:00, but I’m too tired to check the gate tonight, I’m just going to get my shower and head to bed. Hopefully, I’ll be able to sleep well and even late tomorrow! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
After all the hard work yesterday, you would have thought I would have slept through the night, but no, I woke up around 2:00, had to read for a bit before getting back to sleep, then woke up again before dawn, same thing. Finally my phone rang at 8:30, brorther Jeff wondering if I could bring out some ribs that brother Glenn had made for him and his crew of friends who were coming over to help him put on his LONG overdue barn roof. I was already scheduled to do a quick one hour Zoom meeting with an old friend a colleague in Spokane who was teaching a public speaking class (using my book as her curriculum) and has asked if I could chime in for an hour, which I did. When I finished that, I called Glenn and arranged to pick up the ribs at his new house north of Indiantown, and took them down to Jeff’s. Got them in the oven to finish them off, then sent for a quick swim, and was just relaxing in a lounge chair when I got a call from one of the guys in back that Jeff had fallen off the roof. When I got backe there, Jeff was flat on his back, but insisting he was okay, just let him lay there for a minute, but then he started asking some non sequitur questions and we realized he wasn’t himself, so I called 911 and they had paramedics there so quick, they’re only down the road a mile or two, and they got him up on a gurney and rushed him off to St. Mary’s on 45th Street, which is about the worst part of the county crime-wise. When I asked why they couldn’t take him to Jupiter Medical which was nearer, they said he needed a trauma center, and St. Mary’s had the best one around. Not surprising in that neighborhood, I guess. Anyway, they did a CT scan, which they would normally get the results for in a matter of minutes, but evidently some idiot hacked into the entire Tenet hospital system and everything had to be done by hand, which delayed the results for over six hours! We finally got the result at about 10:45 p.m., even though they had been taken by 4:30.. Fortunately, the only problem was his concussion, no bleeding or other complications, but they wanted to keep him overnight for observation, which I definitely agreed with, consider the entire 6+ hours his short term memory was completely gone. He kept asking the same questions over and over, and I would answer them over and over, and then he’d start asking the same questions over and over again, every five minutes or so. Was tempted to take a video, because I know he will never believe it when I tell him, but that would be just plain cruel. Besides my phone battery was low and I had to turn it off, while keeping everyone apprised of what was happening. Anyway, once they cleared him, he was able to get the very uncomfortable neck brace off, and they gave him a couple of sandwiches and some drinks. They didn’t have enough staff to put him in a room, so he has to stay in the holding area overnight, which will probably be noisy since it’s next to the emergency room. Seriously, the guy in the bed next to us had a gunshot wound that shattered his ankle, and I heard over the radio of another 15 year old girl being brough in with a GSW as well. Yeah, it’s that kind of neighborhood. I finally left after 11:00, only to discover it was pouring rain outside, my favorite kind of driving, at night in the rain. NOT!! Fortunately, I drove out of the rain pretty quick, got back to camp, threw some hay to the horses, got my shower, had a bowl of cereal, now I’m heading to bed. Whether I’ll get to sleep is another matter. Going to have to get up and get to the hospital to pick up Jeff, too, so another busy day tomorrow. Not exactly the day off I was hoping for, but maybe there will be some ribs leftover. That’s it, I’m brushing my teeth and heading to bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Up with the alarm early, and just about had time to do all my chores and have breakfast before the work day was supposed to begin. James got here right on time, but everybody else showed up a lot later, which was find because it wasn’t supposed to get too hot today, so I guess no one was worried about that. I had a camper come in last night and stop right in the middle of the road, but realized this morning it was because he got stuck in the sugar sand and couldn’t get out. Unfortunately, when I came out to do my rounds I found him trying to work his way out, but of course, he only made it worse and was practically dug down to the axle by the time I got there. We tried to pull him out with my truck, but it was too deep. I told him I had a tractor coming and to hang tight and we’d get him out, but he and some of the fellow campers kept at it, jacking him up and putting boards underneath until he appeared to be cleared enough, then I came back and pulled him out with my truck more easily. And that was just the start to the day! As people came in, I assigned tasks, and we ended up getting a lot done. The last manure bin was built, a bunch of the chewed and broken boards in Barn Two were replaced, and lots and lots of palm fronds and palm trees were taken down, some of it moved next to the dumpsters so people can burn them, and some taken back to a big pile down by the pond. We found a lot of rosary pea plants, which are poisonous to horses, so James and I started to develop a strategy to get rid of it, but it will take some time. I went into town and picked up more screws and lunch for everyone, as well as drinks and chips, then got more work out of folks in the afternoon. Long day! Dennis kindly chainsawed some new blocks for my ramp, which was great. Then we started having problems with the water in the shower house again, and after several attempts to solve the problem, we ended up having to close the shower house again. This water system really needs to be completely reconfigured! Anyway, it was after 8:00 by the time I got back to the trailer, I was feeding horses during mosquito hour, but I’ve finally settled down. Lunch was big, so a bowl of ice cream and a couple of spoonfuls of peanut butter, plus a beer, will do me for the night! I’ve got a busy morning tomorrow, too, to get ready for a Zoom seminar I’m facilitating tomorrow. Heading for the shower and bed asap tonight! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

HI Sweetie,
All this exercise, I slept a full eight hours and could have stayed in bed longer, but I had a bunch of things to do today, so I got up and got to it! After my rounds, chores and breakfast, I started with a lot of little stuff, like putting hooks back on the closet door that had fallen off, and resealing the bedroom window, which, despite putting a new seal on it last year, leaked like a sieve when the rain came right up against it the other day. I found that some of the black seal underneath and broken through the clear seal on top, maybe from screwing it in too tight or something, though I hadn’t noticed it before. Hopefully that’s fixed now. During the afternoon I painted the three wheelbarrow with stencils for SFWMD, then I printed up some paperwork for tomorrow’s work day, so everyone can sign in and order lunch. I hope we have a good turnout again, though there’s a bit less work tomorrow, which is probably good because I think I overworked them last time :-). We’ll see! So after all my puttering and another round through the campground, I settled down for the evening. I’m definitely going to bed early tonight, since I called for this to start at 8:00 in the morning, so it will be an alarm for me for sure! So I’ll say good night now, I still have my rounds and a Spanish lesson to do (I figure I’ll have more use for Spanish anyway, plus it’s a lot easier than French!), and I need to get to it. Goodnight, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
A pretty good night sleep, then chores, then James got here just before 10 and we headed into town to buy up a bunch of spray paint for the trails. Then he took me over to their maintenance area where he showed me all the stuff they have lying around, all the posts and gates and fencing, and bunches of signs that are just hanging out in the shed. It’s a drop off area for whatever junk they don’t want anymore, but there’s some stuff that’s salvageable as well. Lots of big equipment, a lot they don’t use anymore, so just rotting away at the moment. He has plans to clean a lot of that up this summer, get rid of what they’re not using. We grabbed some signs and arrows that I can use on the trail. Now that I have paint I can get busy marking trails, which I feel like I’ve been waiting weeks to do! Can’t wait! Also got some stencils so I can paint the wheelbarrows and manure rakes with SFWMD just to hopefully prevent them from getting taken, though so far, we haven’t had a problem with that. Then we had a meeting with a couple from the Palm City equestrian group, sort of a power couple that James learned has a lot of influence and connections that can hopefully help us in a number of ways, and it was a great meeting. I think we’ll be able to get a lot done with their help as well. It was a beautiful day today, after that front moved through yesterday, and even better tomorrow, so I’m looking forward to getting back on the trail again. Not sure if I’m going to take Flash or Apollo tomorrow, I’ll see how they are in the morning. Anyway, I still have my last rounds to do, and my shower to take before bed, so I’ll say good night now. Love you, darlin’!

Hi Hon,
Well, I had to reset the GFI fault on the well pump several times today, there must be some load on the line somewhere that’s causing it to trip. I was surprised at the number of campers that came in today, I thought after Easter it would drop off, but it was pretty busy today. I took some time in the morning to measure all the boards that need replacing in Barn 2, as well as checking out the water spigots, James was talking about replacing the framework around them, so I figured out what we needed for that, too, though there’s one that’s in pretty good shape that doesn’t have a spigot inside it anymore, so I’m thinking we could dismantle it and use the boards to fix up the other ones that need it. James ended up having another meeting after his first one, and it took all afternoon, so we didn’t get a chance to go shopping, which is too bad because I was really looking forward to getting out on the trails tomorrow to start marking them. A front came through this afternoon, which brought some heavy thunderstorms and quite a bit of rain, yay! Didn’t last long, but dumped a lot in a short time, which we needed desperately, it hasn’t rained in months! Since I’m on concrete, I didn’t have my screen room pegged into the ground like I usually do, so that was whipping around in the winde, and I had a pretty good leak in my bedroom window that I’m going to have to check out. You remember I resealed it last year, I’m disappointed that it’s leaking, but it might be an easy fix. I hope so! So other than welcoming campers and flipping the switch for the well pump, it ended up being a pretty boring day. We’re schedule to go shopping in the morning, hopefully this time it will come to pass, and maybe I can even get some of the trail done tomorrow, though I doubt it, but that’s okay, since it’s supposed to be cooler for a couple of days. I hope I can get everything done that I want to get done by the end of the week, then we have the workday, then I have to start planning my departure, which will probably be within two weeks of that. I’m not going to rush north, though, because everytime I look at the forecast for upstate NY, they’re still calling for snow! But northern Florida, GA and SC are starting to look pretty good. No rush, I’ve got a sweet setup now, with 50 amp electric, big paddock and easy water access, so I’m not in that much of a hurry, but I am looking forward to some new trails. Besides, I’ll be back in the fall, and that will come in the blink of an eye! Not sure if I’ll find any new places to go in NYS, but I supposed I can bounce around between Sugar Hill, Brookfield and Otter Creek during the hottest part of the summer, then ease my way south after that. Maybe I’ll find someplace new, we’ll see. Anyway, time for shower and bed. Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Got to bed kind of late, so got up a little late, but I had every intention of going riding this morning, but as soon as I was getting hay for the horses, one of the campers came by to tell me that the water in the shower house wasn’t working, so I ended up going over there and looking it over. At first, I couldn’t find anything wrong, it seemed like an electrical problem rather than a water problem, so I closed it all up and put signs on it to use the other bathhouse. Then I took another look at it, and eventually found that the GFI on one of the electrical outlets out in the pump area had clicked off, so I reset it and that seemed to solve the problem.By the time I did that and had breakfast, it was getting too hot to ride, so once again, I ditched it, and spent the afternoon reading, on the computer and binge-watching TV. Figured I’ll get busy again tomorrow. Supposed to go shopping with James for trail-marking supplies, so I should be out on the trails by Tuesday morning doing that. There’s a cool front coming in tomorrow afternoon, so Tuesday it should be really nice, perfect for riding and marking. If I can get yellow and white mostly done Tuesday, the rest shouldn’t take too long, they’re mostly in better shape. But I’m going to have to take better note of where we want to put posts and arrows where they are really needed, until we can get the better intersection markers approved. Anyway, getting past my bedtime, so good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Got up pretty early this morning, I had a busy morning shopping. I discovered the Ace Hardware in Indiantown sold hay, so in an effort to save myself a trip to Okeechobee, I went in and checked it out. It wasn’t too bad, though the bales were pretty small, so I bought ten for now. Then I went to the Tractor Supply because I had completely run out of Flash’s food last night, they didn’t even get any breakfast except hay this morning, and also to pick up the Balance that I had ordered, only to discover that the manager had trouble finding it so he hadn’t ordered it. I waited for him to get back from running an errand and helped him walk through finding the right stuff, and he says he’s going to order it on Monday so hopefully I’ll get it before I run out of the one bag I have left. After that I went to the IGA to do some grocery shopping. Even though things are a bit more expensive there, it saves me all those miles, so I figure at over $5.00 a gallon for diesel, I’m spending less in the long run. By the time I got back it was getting too hot to do much else, so I ended up hibernating in my air conditioning and binge-watching Friday Night Lights, did a few rounds through the day, had to straighten out one young guy who had hooked up his hose to a shared spigot and was washing his RV. I explained that there were no hookups, and that considering we haven’t had rain in three months and are in a drought, it wasn’t a good idea to waste water on vehicle washing, very diplomatically, of course. Had a couple of conversations with some of the horse folks, but other than that, it was a pretty quiet, even boring day. You see, I’m getting ready to move on, because you know how I hate boring! Anyway, just got back from my 10:00 gate walk, time for shower and bed. Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
Didn’t do very much today, except have a meeting with James discussing various things about the trails and the camp and my hosting and so on. The rest of the day was mostly checking folks in, since it’s Easter weekend and there’s a hog hunt going on, though there were still a lot of empty spaces despite the fact that all the permits were out. Once again, lots of people make reservations and then don’t show up or cancel them. Nevertheless, there were quite a few folks here, so I had to keep making rounds. Did my bookkeeping and put some things away, that was pretty much my big activity for the day. I’m starting to hanker for a road trip, starting to get in a bit of a rut here, even though I’m doing a lot of good. I promised James I’d stay through at least when the mowers come in early May, and I’m also waiting to find out when my Vegas job gets rescheduled, was hoping it would be before mid-May so I can leave my critters with my brother while I’m gone, but it’s going to be getting really hot down here by then, so we’ll see. So it’s been a mundane day, and you know easily I get bored when I have too many of those, which is why I’m starting to plan my trip north. Meanwhile, shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Sweetie!
While I had great plans to get a bunch of little stuff done and go for a ride, in the end, I just didn’t feel like doing anything, so I just lazed around all day. Other than greeting some campers, I pretty much just binge-watched TV and ate today. Not much else to report! A nice change, though! Good night, darlin’! Love you!