Hey Babe,
A very restful day, lazy girl! Got a late start to the day, but before I even had breakfast, I did put up a temporary paddock for the boys, giving them a lot of room to roam around, and just as I was getting it finished, a young couple camping near me came by to visit with the horses, and to ask for a jump, as the battery on their little Toyota had died. I gave them peppermints to feed the horses, then took my little jump starter up and got them going. Did a little bit of housekeeping, but spent most of the day reading. I look out once and found that despite all of the new space for my horses to wander, Flash was back in the paddock with the open door, just standing there! Silly boy! Horses can be so funny! Did a little mending job, but other than reading, it was a pretty uneventful day. I'm finding it hard to find a reason to take a walk now that I don't have a dog, but I expect at some point I'll get back to it. Finally settled down to TV for the evening, won't be long out of bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Darlin',
I had planned to ride my riding buddy Pam, whom I had re-met at Biltmore, but she became ill overnight and had to cancel this morning, so I spent the day doing a lot of little odd jobs that have been piling up. A load of laundry, fixing Flash's boots with a layer of rubber mat that I bought the other day, a little housekeeping, and just some odds and ends, so it was a productive day, albeit fairly relaxing. In between jobs I read, then finally settled down in the evening as usual. So nothing terribly exciting today, but I did get some things done! Nothing else to report! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Had the place all to myself last night, so I slept beautifully and let myself lie in for a bit in the morning, since I'm so deep in the forest the sun doesn't really hit me until after 9:00. Finally got up, did my chores, had a quick breakfast, did a load of laundry and hung it out, finished my ballot and put together a book order, then finally headed out to nearby Chester, with stops at the post office, then Tractor Supply to get some horse feed and to refill three propane tanks, having finished emptying one while I was doing laundry. The next stop was Walmart for some essential shopping, then finally went to pick up 15 bales of hay at Ricky's the same place I got hay last year when I was here. He was advertising $7 a bale, which was the cheapest I've seen later, but when I arrived, he remembered I had bought from him before, and he gave me last year's price out of loyalty, he said, so only $5 a bale! I bought 15 bales, which I'm hoping will get me through the next two weeks and still leave a few bales leftover for Broxton. Nice bales, not quite as green as Steve's hay, but nice enough that I don't think the horses will have any trouble eating it. Heavy bales, too, so I may have more leftover than I think, but we'll see. By the time I unloaded groceries, propane and hay, it was 4:30 and I was exhausted! Still had to feed the horses and clean the corrals, so it was even later when I finally settled down for the evening, reading a bit and then bingeing on my latest Aussie series. Off to be soon, for another good night sleep, hopefully! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Darlin'!
Enjoyed sleeping in a bit this morning, no hurry leaving Biltmore since I only had a few hours drive today, and I've done enough battling with the cold for awhile! Got up around 9:00 when the sun finally appeared over the trees, then made short work of packing and cleaning up the horse pen, though it was nearly 11:20 when I finally got on the road. Made a stop at Mountain Energy Truck Stop, which I discovered last time I was here, it's the best fuel prices around. With my Shell discount, I paid "only" $5.26/gallon for diesel, which, while outrageous, was considerably less than any other state I passed, with some over $6 a gallon! Anyway, the rest of the trip was uneventful, though I made a couple of questionable decisions on the route, but still managed to make it well before 2:30. I splurged on the group site this time, because I wanted the space, and because I wasn't sure I'd be able to get a clear view to the north for my Starlink at my usual spot, and because last time I was here, the group spot was full of noisy people that ran their generator all night and had a barking dog that never shut up all day and half the night, so I figure for my peace of mind, it was worth buying it out for the two weeks I'm here. Had no trouble getting set up, and was happy I had my new 100' ZeroG hose, because I needed it to reach the nearest spigot, but was glad it reached easily, which will make my stay here all that much better. I put the horses in the corrals, there really wasn't enough grass to warrant putting up their fence, but I may put up a highline just so they have a bit more room, maybe. We'll see how it goes. The forecast for this week is stupendous, warming up a little so it's only in the 50's at night, so hopefully I won't need to use my furnace quite so much. Finally settled down for the evening, watched some of my new binge series, and will be happy to be in bed soon! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe!
Had another busy day at Biltmore, though not so much at the finish. Today it was Ride & Tie and Equathon, and they had enough volunteers to handle it, so I mostly was chatting with a nice young lady named Taylor who is new to horse events and camping, so she was picking my brain about my experience with that. Always happy to share! Then I got involved with a couple that had a horse that was in the 50 yesterday, and for some reason, apparently uncharacteristically, refused to get in their trailer. They said they'd never had a problem with her in four years, so it caught them by surprise. To make a long story short, they tried the gentle approach for over and hour, then we tried the Clinton Anderson approach for another hour, and the stubborn mare just wouldn't give up! Tina rode her for another hour, she still refused, then her hubby finally went home, which fortunately was only about 15 miles away, and brought back a more open livestock trailer. She didn't even want to get in at first, but after I tried to give her a peppermint (she refused, silly mare!), she might have thought I may be there to make her run around again, or maybe just decided it was time to come, she finally hopped into the trailer with no issues. Very weird! Once they left, and I had done as much volunteering as I could, I started packing up my stuff so that I can leave in the morning. The horses are loving the new green hay that Steve let me have, it is SO MUCH BETTER than the stuff I bought in TN. I'm hoping I can find some good stuff in SC once I get down there tomorrow. I rinsed the truck off, as it was covered in dust from all the traffic on the dirt road in the equestrian center, and put some water in the tank, which I had run dry, just in case of emergency. Finally settled down for a quiet evening, working on a new binge, an Aussie show call the Heart Guy, looking forward to a good night sleep, and to sleep in tomorrow morning, since I'm only going about 100 miles, so an easy drive day, hopefully. Looking forward to a nice stay at Woods Ferry! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Woke up about 7:30 without the alarm, which turned out to be just perfect. It's still dark here in the woods then, but the sun was just coming up, so by the time I had breakfast and finished packing, I managed to get out around 9:30. Grateful to have an uneventful drive with a single stop at Buc-cees in Kodak, TN, and only about a 10 minute slowdown on I-40 through the mountains even though it's down to one lane each side for quite awhile. Arrived at Biltmore just after 2:00, passed the horse gals on the way in and was greeted warmly by them, got down to the volunteer camping area and was met by the head coordinator Rachel, who got me in the right place, though it's a bit different than past years. I actually have more room, so no objections there! Got everything set up and the horses settled in before 4:00, so had a lovely, relaxing evening. They really appreciate their volunteers here, everyone made me feel so welcome! Love it! Heading to an early bedtime, have my first ride tomorrow! Good night, darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Woke up to a very chilly morning, down to 36 degrees! Stayed warm in bed for a lot longer than I probably should have, but since it was a relatively slow day, and the horses still had hay, so I just bundled up in my blankets and waited until the sun finally broke through the forest. Did two loads of laundry, did some packing, and was grateful that my neighbor headed into town to get propane and was able to take two of my tanks to refill. I was going to stop there on my way out tomorrow, but then I'd have to carry them inside the truck, so this worked out much better. We chatted for awhile, then I got busy doing a little packing. Mostly just read, brought the laundry in, put some stuff away and generally did my usual "night before" packing before settling down to my evening routine. Horses are not really liking this last batch of hay very much, surprised that none of the hay I've been able to get in TN has been very good, I typically get decent hay. Oh well! Won't be long out of bed, and happy that I know I'll have enough propane to get me through next week, hopefully. Temps are staying in the upper 30's and low 40's, so the furnace will be running more than usual, but I can always put on more layers! Decided at the last minute to put my flannel sheets on, just to be on the warm side! Glad I have plenty of hot water, though I'm having to do a lot more power managing than I had hoped, I can't run more than two or three small things at once, and using the electric fireplace, I can only use one other thing. Sigh. Not the solution I was hoping for. Oh, well! Hopefully as I go farther south, there will be less need for that anyway. Heading to bed soon! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Babe,
A bit earlier, but still later than I planned going to bed last night, lazy morning. After chores, I filled up my truck tank with water, then mostly read and worked on my travel plans before I finally got confirmation that my FedEx package from La-Z-Boy had been delivered to the Dollar General Store up the road. Only took me a few minutes to get there, a greatly improved situation than having to drive all the way the Chattanooga to get it! Picked it up, got back to camp, and proceeded to finally install this last critical piece. Only three bolts, which sounds easy, but, of course, it wasn't. I had to finagle with it a bit to get it right, but finally managed to do so. The toughest part is getting the back lined up properly, but I finally managed to get it right, and voila! It now works the way it's supposed to! Yay! I decided to reward myself and spend much of the rest of the afternoon in it, in the proper position, in the hopes that it will help the back problems I've been having lately. I haven't taken painkillers since last night, so fingers crossed, my back will be better by morning! Read, watched TV, was too lazy to walk after struggling with repairing the recliner, so the rest of the day just breezed by. The only excitement was early in the morning, a couple of teams with wagons and a woman on a beautiful but spooky blue roan went by, but within a few minutes, that blue roan was moving past my window, fully tacked but with no rider. Of course I went out immediately, and it had stopped on the road staring at my horses on the highline, and it let me walk right up to it and catch it. I walked it back out to where I saw them go and soon reunited it with the owner, who was just managing to walk after her unexpected fall. Glad no one was hurt, and I was able to help in a small way. No other excitement for the day, pretty mundane otherwise. Just happy my chair is finally fixed! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Went to bed ridiculously late last night, and ended up sleeping ridiculously late this morning. After chores, I spent a lot of the day just working on my computer and trying to sort out my travel plans for March, when I'm signed up to go to the north end of Sweden for northern lights viewing, snowmobiling, and horseback riding. It's complicated, there are a lot of connections that don't connect very well, requiring a couple of overnight stays at the beginning and end. I think I have it pretty well sorted out, it's just a matter of confirming everything. Good news, I FINALLY managed to get a tracking number for my recliner part, though I had to call again to ask for it, but tracking as of tonight says it will be delivered in Delano tomorrow, so I should be able to wrap up my chair repair by tomorrow afternoon, yay! I'm not sure the ride yesterday helped my back any, I'm still having to take pain killers to keep the spasms down, thought I did take a decent walk down to the group area and along the river at the Gee Creek campground. Found an actual trail that had signs along the way designed for kids, sponsored by the Dolly Partin foundation. That woman did so much for Tennessee, so sorry to lose her! After the walk, did my evening chores, settled down for a couple of hours of TV and plan on getting to, bed at a little better hour tonight, as soon as I finish my Sleepytime tea! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!