Pix to come!

Hiya Babe,
Woke up way too early, then managed to doze a bit before getting up before the alarm. Didn't take too long to finish packing, since I hadn't unpacked a whole lot, and was out of the horse campground by 9:30, then I had to work my way back to the regular campground to use the dump. One of the challenges here at AH Stephens is that, despite how groomed this state park is, the roads are almost all just one lane, and they weaver around trees and tight corners, so a rig my size can barely make it through. The same was true through the regular campground and the dump. I managed it, but I had to be very careful, and more than once I had tires off the pavement, though thankfully, not into any ditches or scraping any trees. By the time I dumped and was leaving the park, it was just after 10:00, which was right on schedule. It was a great, uneventful drive, for most of the way, I didn't even have to stop for fuel like I thought I would, and we arrived at the recreation area at about 1:45. The last stretch on dirt and sand roads was pretty rough, lots of little ditches where rain had formed it's own runoff, and a couple of sections with some pretty soft sand, but we made it through. Could really use some grading, though! The campsite that I reserved, which Patsy had recommended, was good, closest to the lake and on the highest point in the campground, so I have a halfway decent cell signal. There's only one corral, but just large enough for my two guys, maybe. Lots of trees if I decide to put up a highline. Surprisingly, there was another horse trailer here, though no truck and no horse. I had heard this place was almost always empty unless there's an event, though the tag said he was leaving tomorrow. I put Apollo on his anchor and let Flash free, and they spent the rest of their day grazing on the long grass here. Doesn't look like they've mowed in a LONG time, and there are lots of gnats, so I'll probably put the screen room up tomorrow, since I'll be here 2 1/2 weeks. I ran down to the HQ to buy my annual park pass (good for a year from today), and to fill up the truck tank with water. They're only about five miles away, so it will be fairly easy to refill. I had already filled up the horses buckets, so when I got back, I just topped off the trailer, then settled down for my usual evening! At least here, Lola can wander again! While the horses were having their dinner, we took a walk down to the lake, she was pretty excited about that, I suspect she'll be coming home wet in the future. Anyway, time for tea, Spanish, shower and bed! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Got up with the alarm at 8:00 after a night of intermittent sleep and heavy fog, finished packing and loading up, out at about 10:00, shortly after the fog lifted and I said my good-byes to Linda. So grateful to be able to stay with her during this unbelievable tragedy! Considering that two major interstates in the region are closed down, and a lot of traffic is necessarily being diverted to I-75, it wasn't too terrible on the highway, though there were numerous slowdowns and more traffic than usual, but still manageable. I stopped once for fuel, and that turned out to be the most time consuming effort of the day. I pulled into a Pilot, only to discover 1) there was someone parked on the diesel pump who had disappeared, and 2) there was very little room to turn around after the pump. After waiting for too long, I finally just backed out and left. I had seen another station that had diesel for $.35 less per gallon, and if I didn't have the convenience of an easy in and out, I wasn't about to pay that much extra. I pulled into the other station, and there wasn't much room in there, either, but eventually, after multiple tries and having to get people to move their cars, I finally managed to pull around, though I had to jump a curb to do it. I got to the park 35 minutes later, just around 3:00, about an hour later than I had figured when I left, but understandable with the traffic. Going through Atlanta is never fun! Got checked in, and the nice ranger gave me a refund based on a discount for seniors, plus something else, so I got a little money back. I told him I was here to help clean up the trails, but they don't have a work-camper program here, so that was the best he could do. Got the horses settled and the trailer set by about 4:00, and went into my usual evening routine. Looking forward to seeing just what kind of shape the trails are in tomorrow! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Had a busy day today, though packing was the least of it, since I hadn't really unpacked all that much. I did laundry all day, taking advantage of having water and electric, so I did a bunch of extra stuff, like my towels and Lola's bed. I also did some more deep cleaning, this time the cupboards over the living room area. So much stuff had gotten thrown in there over the years that it took some time to sort through it all and get organized, but it really is looking good now! Moved the manuals into the file cabinet in back so it added some extra space, and everything is all together now in plastic bags. I have to admit, I like it when it's clean, I just hate the necessary housework to get it that way! I'm going to try to be better, though! Had a nice chat with Linda and some of her friends before dinner, then settled down for my usual evening routine. Looking forward to heading out tomorrow, though I'm very grateful for having a safe place to stay during this storm. If I had gone to a campground somewhere after the Biltmore, I'm sure I'd be in much more dire straits! I had considered Woods Ferry, and am very glad I didn't, because that sits just up the bank for the French Broad River, which also runs by the Biltmore, and the water level was so high there, I never would have been able to escape further downstream! Many thanks to my friend Linda for putting me up (and up with me!) for these past weeks. Ready to move on, though, to see where else I can be of service. Heading to A.H. Stephens in Crawfordville, GA for a couple of days, going to work on their trails a bit, though I'm having to keep an eye on yet ANOTHER hurricane heading that way. I'll be further east by the weekend, though, so hopefully it will miss me again. Fingers crossed! Beautiful night tonight, though, so I'm going to enjoy that! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Despite napping most of the day yesterday, I still managed to get good night sleep, and woke up nice and refreshed this morning. After breakfast, I tackled the oil change that was due on my truck, which didn't take long, except I didn't have enough oil to finish the job (10 quarts!), though I had enough to run the truck, so I ran into town to get more oil, drop off garbage, grab a few groceries and was back pretty quick. Finished filling up the oil, along with some brake fluid, and mostly called it a day. Finished organizing the shoe cupboard which I left undone the other day because I had to put some foam insulation around a pipe under there. I thought I had done that with all my pipes, but evidently missed this one. Hopefully that will help stop any critters or bugs from getting in. Relaxed the rest of the day, though I did make the decision to leave on Monday and go to A.H. Stephens and do some work there. I'll be on my own (what else is new?), and I'm having to pay full freight there, and being a state park, it's more than I like to spend, but it's in a convenient location to where I need to go the following week, so it's worth it. Had my usual evening, dinner and a movie, a good one with Michael Douglas and Kiefer Sutherland. Soon to bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Well, I had a full day planned today, which was supposed to include changing the oil on the truck, running into town to drop off some garbage and pick up a few groceries and maybe even a little bit more housework, but it all got pushed aside, and I ended up doing next to nothing. That's because I decided to take a dose of allergy medication for the itching and swelling from the bee stings. I figure if I took it today, by the time it wore off, most of the problem would be gone, but I didn't take it right away because I wanted to let my own immune system handle it, to keep it strong. It was a good plan, I thought, but the medication hit me so hard, I ended up falling asleep in my chair! I'd wake up and it would be an hour later, and then moments later, it was another hour! Before I knew it, it was after 3:00, too late to start anything. I ended up crawling back up to bed and sleeping some more, in between a tiny bit of reading. I was NOT expecting that kind of reaction! So I guess everything is pushed back until tomorrow, though I hate to shop on a Saturday, but I only need one or two things, so I guess I'll live. Dang, not the day I was hoping for! One thing I did do, I found a board in the barn to put over the ever increasing hole in the floor of my slide. Lola crawled back and ended up sticking her foot right through the soft spot, and needed help to get out. Did realize there was nothing else underneath it, I can now see straight to the ground. I checked it, though, and it seems to be okay outside the immediate are, so no change of my chair falling through yet, anyway. The board will hopefully keep it from getting worse. At least maybe now I can find where the leak is coming in! Anyway, I finally started feeling better at about supper time, so I had my usual evening. I just hope I'll be able to sleep tonight, after having slept so much during the day. My body rhythym is so off these days! I supposed I could use a pill as a sleeping pill, but I really hated the lethargy that came with it. Anyway, I'm going to try to get to bed and sleep during the night, and be back to normal tomorrow. Love you, darlin'! Good night!

Hiya Darlin',
Despite all the exercise yesterday, I still had a little trouble falling asleep, so late night equals late morning. Did some inquiries on where I can go next, waiting to hear back from some folks. Shared a lot of FB posts about missing people and animals. Was very excited that the gentleman I spoke with about donating a couple of big round bales of hay made a whopping contribution of 28 bales! I forgot to mention that yesterday we rode through a next of ground bees. Now ordinarily, I'm in the lead or on my own, so they never catch up to me, but yesterday I was in the back, so I got nailed big-time, with multiple stings on my ankles, hands and even on the back of my neck. They hurt for awhile but eventually the pain went away, but this morning, everything had swollen up and started itching. I toughed it out, figuring it will give my anti-bodies a workout, and it didn't really bother me too much. I wasn't in a mood to do much today, though, so I relaxed today. I did pull down my oil change stuff, since the truck is in need of an oil change, and fixed a pair of glasses, but otherwise, that was it. Just not up to doing more cleaning today. So, had a regular evening, though I baled out of one movie after half an hour, then watched a DC film that was just okay, a little too adolescent for me, so I guess I'm finally maturing :-). Heading to bed shortly! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Babe!
Can't believe it's October already, though it has been a busy year! Once again spent the day doing some more deep cleaning, gradually working my way back through all the cupboards. Just taking my time, a little bit here and there, and getting down to toothbrush and Q-tip territory. Made the decision to get back to Goethe the week of Nov. 11, but still not clear on where I'm going next week! Been keeping so busy, I haven't taken the time to think about it. Provided a little help to a volunteer convoy that's taking supplies up the NC for the hurricane victims, connected a haymaker willing to donate to a woman willing to transport it. Lots of folks sending stuff, which is apparently really needed up there. So another busy day all around. Settled down for my usual evening, enjoying a rather drily humorous British TV film called Stalag Luft, hoping to get to bed early. Linda and I have plans to ride tomorrow, and Lola seems to be feeling well enough that I think I'll take her with me. She's been doing a lot more wandering around the farm, so she's getting her strength back, and she needs the exercise. Meanwhile, I'm continuing my nightly Spanish lessons (I'm over 850 days in a row!), drinking my Sleepytime tea, taking my shower and heading to bed, as usual! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hey Darlin!
Had a good night sleep, and am slowly getting back to a more reasonable circadian cycle, going to bed and then getting up a little earlier, though not much. Started the day mending a new bottom on Apollo's feed bag. He keeps chewing through it! The last time I put a sturdy vinyl with backing on it, he ended up chewing up the vinyl! I used the same material again, but put the cloth side up this time, we'll see if it helps. Once that was done, I started cleaning a few more cupboards, and decided I needed to put down some shelf liner, which I'm surprised I hadn't done before in this trailer. To do that, I needed to go shopping, which I needed to do anyway, so Lola and I headed out, first to Tractor Supply for some horse feed and propane, then on to Walmart for the rest of it. Got back around 4:00, put the groceries away, then got busy installing the shelf liner and putting everything away. Finally settled down to a nice chicken alfredo dinner and salad, a few Farscapes, some Sleepytime tea, and soon off to bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
Had a good night sleep, then started on laundry and some more deep cleaning. Still very cloudy and we had a few more showers today, but I think tonight it's finally working its way out of the area. This storm has been very slow moving, and the devastation is hard to imagine. They had over two feet of rain in a lot of mountainous areas, which means the flash flooding has been horrific. So many homes, farms and business completely destroyed, countless livestock, including horses have died, and so far 64 deaths of people are confirmed, with hundreds still missing. Two million people are still without power. We got off easy here, thank goodness. I saw pictures of McCulley Farms, and they've been flattened. Whereas last year's hurricane took off the roofs of some of the buildings, this year's took most of the buildings. At my friend Sheila's house in Live Oak, where I helped out cleaning up after the hurricane last year, they had a big old tree land on the roof of the house, though I'm not sure it is went all the way through into the house or not. What a mess all over! Going to take a long time to recover. I-40 and I-26 both have long sections that are closed because of landslides and collapsed bridges. Linda said she even saw a news report where ducks were drowning, caught up the flotsam of bridges and unable to escape! Very bad storm. Apparently there was another hurricane in 1958 named Helene that was also a Cat 4 that did a lot of damage. You'd think they would retire names of hurricanes when that happens, wouldn't you? On a happier note, Lola is definitely feeling and moving a lot better, playing with Ivy and running after the side-by-side when Linda and I drove across the field to help her husband Richard with a gate that was stuck. I did some more work on the kitchen cupboards, so I'm still making progress. Not much else to do on a cloudy, wet day, figured it's worthwhile to do more deep cleaning. Finally settled down for my usual evening. Love you, babe! Good night!

Hey Babe,
Couldn't fall asleep last night, which always happens when I have a day of inactivity, so I ended up sleeping way too late this morning. I already promised myself that I would do some deep cleaning today, best thing to do on a rainy day, right? Did all the lower cupboards in the kitchen, cleaning and rearranging so now I'm a little bit more organized. That actually took most of the afternoon, until it was time to settle down for the evening. I had dinner early, figuring that might help my sleeping pattern, and will work to get to bed earlier in the hopes of straightening out this late to bed, late to rise sleep cycle I'm apparently in now. Lola's been playing more with Linda's dog Ivy, so she's been getting some exercise, which I'm very glad about. Horses are doing fine, they were at the gate today so I gave them some feed. They've been staying way out in the back of the field for the most part. Anyway, a pleasant evening, about to have tea, shower and bed! Good night, darlin'! Love you!