Hey Darlin’,
Had a better night sleep last night, though I needed all four bed covers and a wool cap last night, since it got down to at least 37 degrees last night! I have the thermostat on the furnace set, and I’m sure it went off several times last night, so getting propane today became a priority. I called Tractor Supply last evening but they hadn’t gotten their refill yet. I spent most of the day on the computer working on the OTL mailing list and some other related tasks, so I was running the generator to charge up my computer and phone, and I ran out of propane in my third tank, no way was I going to let it run down on only one. I called and it had finally come in, so I jumped in the truck and ran into get all three tanks filled. Propane prices are skyrocketing, up to $4.17 a gallon! I don’t remember EVER paying that much for propane! Energy prices are getting ridiculous! Anyway, I got back just as the sun set, got the horses fed and settled down for the evening. Time for shower and bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Restless night sleep last night, which always seems to happen when I rest too much during the day! Still, took my time getting up, waiting for it to warm up a bit. Didn’t take me long to have breakfast and finish packing up, left just after 11:00. A short drive and we arrived a bit after noon. There’s apparently only three official campsites in here, all with corrals, and one’s being occupied by a guy starting to run a kayak service nearby, no horses. It’s a nice looking campground, pretty trees with enough gaps so it wasn’t too bad getting settled in, though I won’t get much solar power out here, and to my consternation, I couldn’t find a water spigot anywhere, turns out there isn’t one. Thought I saw on their website there was water here, but I guess I was mistaken. Just another challenge to overcome! After getting settled in, I put the horses in the corral (I had been letting them graze), and drove up to Dunnellon for propane at Tractor Supply (they had just run out, so I didn’t get that done), and they wouldn’t order any feed for me, so I’ll have to make a trip to Sparrs for my Balancer. Made a stop at Walmart so I could fill up my water tank and pick up just a few things, another quick stop at Publix, then back to camp. I let the horses out to graze again. Then a park guy came along to empty the trash bins and I asked him about water, he said I could drive about a mile up the road to his office and fill up, so that’s what I’m going to do for the duration. It’s a lot closer than Walmart, and I won’t feel like I’m taking advantage. Settled in for the evening, put the heavy blankets on the horses as the forecast is for 37 degrees tonight, glad I still have a tank and a half of propane left, I think I’m going to using some overnight! Binge-watched some more Burn Notice episodes, now I’m headed for a quick shower and bed, no doubt wearing my wool hat like I have been the last few nights! Supposed to warm up in a couple of days, though, fingers crossed. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Had a good night sleep, with my usual morning routine plus a couple of loads of laundry, then I mostly read during the day. Did most of my preliminary packing, but before I could get my awning up it started to rain (NOT in the forecast, surprise, surprise!), so I had to leave it down for the night. Binge-watched a bunch of Burn Notice episodes, so it was a really quiet and restful day, which I felt like I needed after riding three days in a row, not to mention my overindulgence on Friday, so hopefully by tomorrow morning I’ll be fully recovered. I only have about a 30 mile drive tomorrow, so there’s not need to get up at the crack of dawn, I just hope there’s as much room for me to get in as it seems like there is on Google Earth. They only have three equestrian sites listed on their reservation website, but they are all supposed to be 60 feet, so I should be okay. Apparently they have corrals, too, so that will be different! Anyway, I do feel more rested, just heading to the shower and bed (with fresh sheets, of course!) shortly. Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
A late night last night, but I finally got to sleep, waking up a bit late, but so what? Got the horses fed and chores done, had breakfast, then, since it was still a bit chilly to go riding, decided to drive over to the Flying Eagle Reserve, which was supposed to be my next stop. Good thing I went, too! The GPS took me down a bunch of WRONG backroads, which would have been nearly impossible with my trailer, and then I finally found the right route, and even THAT would be almost impossible with my trailer! Very narrow, too sandy, too many overhangs, there is just NO WAY I want to attempt this with my trailer! Once I got there, it wasn’t bad, though there’s only one water spigot at the entrance, and the horse camp itself would be pretty nice, but there’s no way I could get back there, not without serious risk. So change of plan, I subsequently canceled my reservation for the Flying Eagle and extended my reservation for Lake Panasoffkee, especially since my ride here turned out to be quite nice! After scouting out Flying Eagle, and a quick stop at Winn Dixie liquor for a very bad bottle of Jim Beam Honey Bourbon (okay, it’s a holiday, I know, but it’s still poison!), and Big Lots for a replacement clock since the one in my living area died, I finally got back to camp and saddled up Flash and got out on the trail about 1:00. By now it was finally warm (lows near or below 40 last night!), so the delay was perfect. We headed out for my first exploratory ride, which took us all the way down to the south end of the park, about 14+ miles round trip. It was an interesting variety, from wide open fields and sand roads to deep, dark swampland and grass roads, with plenty of opportunities for paces of every speed. We all had a great ride, including Lola. We saw beautiful white wading birds and a couple of speedy armadillos, and one quick snake that looked like a black racer to me. Very enjoyable ride! We got back around 4:00, so it wasn’t long before feeding time, then I joined my neighbors by their campfire for a bit before dinner, did my Snowy River for them, then headed into the trailer for supper and to settle down for the evening. It’s after 9:00 now and I’m waiting for Pistol and her crew to arrive, they’re on their way. I’ve been tippling some of that honey bourbon so I’m feeling no pain (I hope I’m saying the same thing in the morning!), but I wanted to do my writing and my French lesson while I’m waiting. Hopefully, it won’t be long! Once they arrive I’ll be doing my usual shower and bed, so I’ll just say good night now, sweetheart! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Woke up to a chilly, windy morning, even though it was sunny, so instead of freezing my butt off riding, I decided to get all my shopping done. I ended up going to half a dozen different places to get some of the stuff I needed, including a new one of those expandable willow trellises that I can use to keep Lola off the dining room bench, and a new dog tag for her, hers broke a couple of days ago. The metal is so thin on the part that connects to the collar on those expensive ones you get at the pet store (which I had to do last time because I couldn’t find one of those vending machines like they used to have in all the Walmarts), but I finally found one up near the Villages. So Ace Hardware for propane, Home Depot for trellis, Tractor Supply for horse feed, and two Walmarts for Thanksgiving shopping, it was a long and busy day of errands! It was still windy all day, cool enough to not even take off the horses’ winter blankets which I had put on last night. Finally settled down, binge-watched some more Burn Notice, had a nice grilled burger for dinner, now I’m ready to an early bedtime, since it’s supposed to be down to about 38 degrees tonight, brrr! Supposed to warm up for the rest of the week, though, so I’m planning on a long ride tomorrow, since Pistol and her crew are due to join me tomorrow evening. So, off to the showers I go! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Darlin’!
Despite the 20+ mile ride yesterday, Lola was restless again last night, and I had to get up twice to let her out and in. Finally got to sleep after midnight. After chores and breakfast I got busy with laundry, it was a partly sunny and windy day, so perfect for outdoor drying. Put a few things away, not much because it’s such a short trip tomorrow, and mostly had a quiet day after that. The group invited me over for dinner, so I joined them around 5:00, and just as we were getting ready to build up the bonfire some rain started coming in, and the radar showed a lot coming so we abandoned it. Came back to the trailer and binge-watched some more Burn Notice episodes, now I’m ready for shower and bed. Since it is such a short trip tomorrow, so no need to get up at the crack of dawn! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Babe,
It was raining when I went to bed, so the earplugs went in, but then I woke up around 5:00, and looked out the window at the longest lunar eclipse since Feb. 18, 1440! Can you imagine, fifty two years before Columbus discovered America, a hundred and twenty-four years before Shakespeare and Galileo were born! It was a bit cloudy, but it cleared up just enough for me to see the crescent starting to appear on the waning side. Remarkable! There won’t be another one like it until Feb. 8, 2669, imagine what the world will be like by then! I was lucky to even see that for a few minutes with all the clouds! Went back to sleep, woke up with the alarm because I had made arrangements to pick up some hay at 8:30 just 15 minutes up the road. Turned out to be really nice hay, too, Tifton 44, heavy and well packed, for just $8 a bale! Bought one for my neighbor, she was impressed with the quality, too. When I got back, I spent some time researching this ice-maker tubing thing to see if there’s something I’m missing in the repair, but eventually I just got to it, and put it back together again. I hope I’ve finally got it right, I sure don’t want to wake up in the middle of the night with a flood! I’m going to turn the pump off, just in case. Then I started getting involved with doing some work on the OTL mailing list, but the whole thing is being stymied by the fact they STILL don’t have a website up and running, so it’s hard to communicate with folks when I can’t send them anyplace for information. Working on it, though! Put a notice out on my Facebook page and the OTL page and have gotten some response already. I had hoped to ride today, but got so involved the time slipped by, so I’m vowing to take a long ride tomorrow to make up for it. Had dinner, visited around the campfire for a couple of hours, now I’m ready for a shower and bed. Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’!
Last night got off to a rocky start. Just before I was getting ready to take my shower, I heard a funning whoosh sound near the refrigerator, and the water pump starting running non-stop. I quick stopped the pump, suspecting what happened, went outside to the back of the refrigerator, and sure enough, the newly-installed fitting on my ice-maker had popped off. The only reason I can think of this time is that maybe I put too much teflon tape on it, and then it didn’t screw all the way on. Not sure, but can’t think of anything else! So I had to turn off the valve leading to the ice-maker so I could put the pump back on. Then I took my shower and was just crawling into bed to read at midnight when I heard the sound of thundering hooves outside my window. I put on my down jacket and went outside the check on the horses, and they were fine, quiet, and just munching on hay. When I stepped around the back corner of the trailer, I found my neighbor’s horse casually grazing. Well, I couldn’t leave him there, not knowing where he might go off to by morning, so I put a halter on him and walked him back to his electric paddock. The top tape was down a bit, but otherwise the fence looked fine. I put him away, checked to make sure the juice was on and finally make it back to bed, where I read for a long time before feeling sleeping. Got up at the usual time, did chores, breakfast etc., and looked a bit closer at the ice-maker repair. I tried to reuse the fitting but it didn’t work, so now another trip to a hardware store was in order! First, though, I got the three packages, returns to Amazon, ready, then I headed down to the UPS store in Zephyr Hills to send those off, then across the street to Lowes to pick up more fittings (this time I bought three, figuring I’ll need at least one spare!), then finally headed of to our friend Cherryl’s, who fed me lunch and we spent the afternoon chatting. I left about 4:30, picked up fuel, then headed back to camp in time to feed the horses and settle down for the evening, grilling some chicken. Since it was cloudy all day, I had to run the generator for a little over an hour, this is the first time I’ve needed it this week, so I’m happy I’ve made it this far without burning any propane for anything other than cooking and the fridge. Had to switch over to my second tank early, though, but I have three more full ones, so I’m not worried yet. Binge-watched a few episodes of Burn Notice, now I’m ready for shower and bed, I have an early morning, have to go pick up some hay first thing in the morning, so alarm will be set! Good night, sweetie! Love you!