Hiya Darlin',
Set my alarm to get up early, since there was a lot to be done today, though I didn't get a lot of what was on my list finished. We had a meeting with Richard the trail crew guy from the conservation foundation, and spent about two hours confirming which trails we are going to use, those in which direction is still to be confirmed. Then Richard and I went over and picked up the equipment we needed and headed out on the trails on a Gator towing a DR Field mower. We worked from about 11:00 to 6:30, with just one short break, so now I'm pretty tired! I was too tired to put up my portable fence and move the horses, or move the trailer, or do any of those things that need doing. The truck is still attached to the trailer and I'm on a bit of a hill, so I'm not level either! I'm assuming that Richard will be back to work on Monday, so I'll be able to get settled then. Not too worried, right now the trails for the Horseshoe Bend Boogie are the priority! Looking forward to a good night sleep, though, this is the most tired I've felt in a long time. Heading to bed shortly! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Got up bright and early, packed up and was out of camp by 8:30, only a few folks up and around by the time I left. Took a slightly longer but mostly highway route by going through Lowville to I-81, but there was a lot of construction along the way, so many slowdowns. I changed my route a few times because Google maps was trying to send me down tiny roads, and once up to a railroad bridge where the clearance was more than a foot shorter than I could get through, so that lengthened it, too. It mostly flew by, though, because I've finally gotten the knack for downloading Kindle audio books, so I listened to a story most of the day. Couldn't believe I had to pay $4.50 a gallon for diesel at Flying J in PA, and that was with a five cent discount! It was more than a dollar cheaper once I got to NJ, but I couldn't wait that long. I guess since that's been my only expense these days, I can't complain too much. Arrived at Meg's just after 3:30, not too far off my original estimate of 3:00-3:15. No one was around, though, so I waited a bit for the horses to get their sea legs back, and finally put them out in a pasture temporarily. Meg arrived from a ride, and we made some plans for tomorrow, but I'm too bushed to do much today! I did managed to dump my black water and hook up to electric, though I think she wants me to move a bit more out of the way, but we'll see tomorrow. Lola is enjoying not having to be tied up, and the horses are munching on a pasture full of nice green grass. I'll just have to watch to make sure too much of it doesn't make them sick, but considering they've been eating grass cut just a week or so ago, I'm not too worried. Had a quick cereal dinner, watched another couple of Havens, won't be long out of bed tonight! Feeling pretty tired after my early start and not being able to get to sleep last night. Looking forward to a quiet night here tonight (except for maybe the roosters in the morning)! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Well, today was one of those days where the dark side of humanity really comes out. When I got up this morning and was out doing my horse chores, Beth came out and started yelling at me about how inconsiderate I am having my horses on a highline because they get in the way of people trying to get to the horse manure bin. Well, no one but she has complained about it in the two plus weeks I've been here, because I've explained that one of my horses (Apollo) had gotten hurt in one of these stalls and I preferred to keep them on a highline. Yes, I understand it's against the rules, but generally we horse people are pretty forgiving when we know people are just trying to do what they think is best for their horses, and are tolerant of the many things that may entail, but that was not the case with her. I remained calm and tried to point this out to her, but she kept railing on. I finally said that if it bothered her so much, I would keep my horses in their stalls. I thought that would be the end of it. Then I saw that the ladies next to me were packing up, and since I had noticed evidence that someone had previously highlined their horses over there, I decided to pack up and move over there, thus getting out of everyone's way and still be able to highline my horses in a quiet spot that wouldn't bother anyone. So I spent the next three hours packing up and moving over, taking down the highline and putting it back up again in a quiet spot next to me, hooking up, moving and unhooking again. A lot of work. At 1:00 I finally stopped to eat breakfast. I no sooner got my breakfast started when a ranger came to my door. He demanded to see my permits and read me the riot act about the highline, which looked no different than a clothesline at this point, because I hadn't moved the horses over and there was no evidence horses had ever been there, so I knew he came gunning specifically for me, and I knew why. I explained that one of the locals had told me they didn't really enforce the permits, but that I was leaving on Monday anyway, but he insisted I had to move immediately. He eventually backed off and said I could move tomorrow, considering how late in the day it already was, and how long it would take me to pack up, again. After he left, and I went over to check on the horses, Beth had returned from her ride and asked me if I had been riding, and I informed her that, no, I had spent the last three hours moving my trailer. She asked where did I move it, and I told her where, and that I had done it to get out of her way, but that apparently wasn't enough, because the authorities had kicked me out and I was leaving in the morning. Then she curiously said she'd been out riding and that did I think it was her fault. I said, I don't know, did you? and she went silent. That was all the confirmation I needed, though I didn't even need that, there was no question about it. So my day, and my weekend was pretty ruined. I was really looking forward to a couple more days of nice riding, as the weather had cooled down nicely and it's going to be a beautiful weekend, but not, instead, I'm going to be driving straight to New Jersey tomorrow. I was even more disappointed, because the couple that was parked in this spot last week, and whom I had a lot of fun with, came around and ended up parking in the site I just left, and I was looking forward to spending more time with them. Interestingly, she overheard that conversation with Beth, and agreed that she displayed all of the characteristics of a guilty person. Anyway, that episode is over and I'm ready to pack it in here. Really disappointed, but am not going to let it fester. Anyway, Karen picked up my order at Tractor Supply in Watertown and I drove over to her place to pick it up, so at least I'm set with horse food for awhile. Binge-watched a few more Havens, soon to bed as I expect to get up extra early tomorrow so I can get to Meg's and get settled in down there. Good night, darlin', love you!

Hi Babe,
Woke up to the chatter of my new neighbors before it was even 7:00, managed to nod back off until I heard the sound of the forest workers coming to empty the manure bins about an hour later, so I got up and put the horses temporarily into the stalls just to be safe. Figured I might as well get my chores done and start doing some housekeeping, waited until most folks had left the camp loop before starting my laundry. Did a pretty thorough cleaning today, wiping down all the walls and ceilings, and vacuumed and mopped the floors. I had a problem with the generator when my second load only had about eight minutes left, checked the oil, changed the propane tank, checked the air filter, let it cool off for awhile, but it still kept cutting off. Finally went back and opened up what I thought was an empty tank of propane which I had just shut off, and that solved the problem. I think I need a new regulator on those passenger side tanks. Got the laundry finished anyway, but not before my new neighbors returned from their short ride. Then they built up their campfire and sat around that most of the day. I'm at a loss to understand why anyone would want to sit around a campfire during the day in 85 degree weather. The result was, unfortunately, that all their smoke found it's way into my clean house. I was glad my laundry was on the other side so it didn't get the full force of the smoke. Sigh. Anyway, the rest of the day I read and watched some more Havens, tired after all that cleaning. It was hot today, so I didn't mind staying in the shade and paddle fans of my trailer today. That was my day! Off to shower and bed soon! Love you, darlin'! Good night!

Hiya Darlin',
Rain moved in overnight, with some thunder and a lot of heavy precipitation most of the night, so it was a fitful night sleep. It finally stopped around 9:00 this morning, got up for chores, but with it being so wet, it wasn't going to be a good day for laundry, so I've put it off until tomorrow. I've decided to stay the week here after I figured out it's less than a six hour drive to Meg's in NJ, and there's no point to wasting time breaking down and moving for a short week. With all the rain, Brookfield is likely to be very muddy anyway. I thought it was going to be quieter, but then a group of women came in and parked right next to me again, so more campfire smoke tonight, oh, well. Spent the whole day reading, then I binge-watched several episodes of The Haven, finally managed to get a decent enough connection to live stream, which has been a challenge here. Not much else going on, just killing time until my next stop! Good night, my sweet! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Took a long time to get to sleep, woke up a couple of times during the night, finally dozed off and slept until almost 9:30! Usually the horses would be nickering for their breakfast, but since I've started using these big hay bags, they're a lot happier since they're not running out of food! After chores and breakfast, I headed out to town, first to Tractor Supply for propane and some washers to modify the hay bags to make them easier to use, only to discover that they're propane was empty or broken or something, and I had to make do with washers that weren't all the same size because they didn't have enough. This is the worst managed Tractor Supply I think I've ever been to. Anyway, I went next door to the coop and they filled up my tanks, though they did it by the size of the tank and not the gallons put in, but it was still pretty reasonable. Managed to pick up some additional hardware I needed, and was sorry I got my washers at Tractor Supply because the coop had a much better inventory, plus they had them individually instead of packets, so they were cheaper. Oh, well. Went to Walmart for a few things, then stopped at Mary's Dairy for a mini twist, just because I can't resist frozen custard! At least I got the smallest one... Stopped at Karen's for my final package, got back to camp, put everything away, fixed the hay bags, fixed a bad fuse in my solar panel, and finally settled down for the evening. Shared dinner with my neighbors (they cooked my steak with their hamburgers, so less dishes for me!) and we chatted into the evening around the campfire. Won't be long out of bed, though I'm hoping I'll get to sleep early enough so I get both a good night sleep and to not sleep so late in the morning! We'll see! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hey Darlin',
Got up with the alarm to get an early start, was done with chores and breakfast and out the door by just after 9:00, heading down to Camden to visit with my high school buddy Steve and his friends at his little cabin. Spent the day chatting away, with time just flying by! Of course, I came back smelling of cigar smoke (though I didn't imbibe myself!) and Buffalo wings. Left around 6:30, stopped at Karen's to pick up a package that came with my video camera (still in the original box, amazingly, even though it's refurbished) before getting back to camp. I was happy to see the horses still had a little bit of hay left, so these new giant hay bags are doing the trick! I had new neighbors move in right across from me, and I ended up going over and chatting for a bit before coming home, having a little ice cream treat with my tea, soon off to my shower and bed! A lovely day! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Had a good night sleep, woke up a bit later than I expected, about 8:30, leapt out of bed to start my first load of laundry. Strange hours here for generator use, supposedly limited from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 to 8:00 p.m., but I had laundry to do, so I overextended that by about an hour. But I got my laundry done and hanging by 10:00! Did a little housework, then in the afternoon, I headed over to Karen's to pick up three bales of hay she left out for me, and to pick up my packages. They hadn't been delivered, but I was expecting them shortly, so I hung around until they came, not really that long. Once I got back to camp it was like Christmas in July, opening all those packages! Of course, most of it was for various repairs and improvements, so I started fixing things with each box I opened. I got a new connector for the hose filter, something more direct than what we had previously had which had started to leak. I got new extra large, slow feed hay bags, a new Cavallo boot for Flash to replace the stretched one that keeps falling off, and two new batteries with a charger for the old camcorder. I wasn't sure, but I was hoping a new battery would do the trick, and when I put the new battery in, sure enough, it powered up! So I put them both on charger and did a little duct tape repair on the camera, but I haven't seen anything on the monitor screen yet, so I'll have to do a little more digging tomorrow. Kept busy for awhile, watched a sweet little movie with Pierce Brosnan as an old man returning to Normandy for the D-Day memorial, then went over to the ladies camp to visit for awhile. The day flew by! Quite ready for shower and bed, so good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Spent most of the day going through my mail and packages, then a couple of hours replacing the battery in my phone. The old one was still working, though it didn't seem to be holding a charge as well, but it was only 1420 amp hours, so I found a better one, they claim 9000 amp hours, which I'm hoping will mean I won't have to charge it as often on my Yellowstone trip. At least, that's the plan! This wasn't one of those easy ones where you just take the back off and replace the battery, I had to go through a whole process of heating it up to soften the adhesive, carefully taking it apart, unscrewing about a dozen tiny screws, heating it up again to get the battery out, and finally, the most tedious part, getting the adhesive off before putting a new back on (my old one was already cracked somewhere along the line.) Difficult, but I got the job done! Looks like new! Thank good ness for Youtube, where I looked at half a dozen different videos just to get it right. I also unboxed a couple of battery charger/storage units, also many amp hours, with a solar capacity, so I'm hoping I'll have enough power to last 12 days in the wild. Put a lot of stuff away, then settled down for a quiet rest of the day. Warmed up nicely, started out around 50, up to mid-70's, but only getting down into the mid-60's tonight. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, so I guess I'll put off laundry until Monday. Karen came by with another delivery, my micro towel, also for the trip. I think I've got myself pretty covered for the trip, not sure what else I'm going to need, hopefully not much! It will all come in handy for other things, too, so it won't be just a one time thing. Anyway, it was a nice, productive day, and I'll be headed to bed soon! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!