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!

Hi Darlin',
Had a good night sleep, with earplugs to drown out the constant sound of rain, rain and more rain. Fortunately it wasn't accompanied by a lot of wind during the night, but wind did come up considerably during the day. Other than having to re-repair my ice-maker connection (I think I tightened it too much and the plastic ferring popped off, so I had to do it again), and cleaning up the flood that caused and putting all those towels in the dryer for about the fourth time, I spent the day reading and watching movies. It was the perfect day for that. I'm happy to report that Lola went out to play with Linda's dog Ivy during a break in the rain, so she's obviously feeling better with her new arthritis treatment, yay! Otherwise, a pretty uneventful day, waiting for the tropical storm to pass. Off to bed soon! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
Slept better last night, thank goodness, then did a few chores this morning. Finished fixing the leak in my ice maker line first, put some tape on my awning topper, but that's clearly not going to fix the problem, so I ordered a new one. I decided to stay on here at Linda's for a bit, she has some more trail clearing rides in store, so I can help with that before I need to get down to Sandhills, and I can get some things delivered here that I need. The rain from a tropical storm arrived around 2:00 and it's been raining steadily every since. No wind, thank goodness, just lots of much needed rain, they've been in a drought here for some time. Perfect movie day! I cooked up some popcorn and was watching a movie when I got a call from an old friend of ours, TA, whom I haven't spoken to in years! It was nice to get caught up, and we're going to try to get together once I get to Florida. She and her partner Barry evidently still talk about us, would you believe! Anyway, spent the rest of the day listening to the rain and watching TV, glad to finally have a day off (mostly) after the busy two weeks I've had. Shower and bed soon! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Was very late when I finally got to sleep last night, got up and found a flood on the floor again. After breakfast, I started tracing it down, and was afraid it was a big water pipe that would be very hard to reach, but with further investigation, I found it once again to be the ice-maker hose springing a leak in the outside compartment, but eventually dripping back inside. I turned the water off, then just isolated the icemaker and started to make the repair. Turned out I didn't have everything that I needed, so I had to run into town to get some things. Filled up with fuel as well, then came back and went to work on that. It wasn't long before I realized I needed something else. Meanwhile, I found what I thought would be the right brakes in Illinois, so I gave the number to Russell and Truck and Trailer USA and asked him to speak with Paul there and see what they could work out. Took a second trip into town to get the rest of the parts I needed, dropped a book off at the post office, and stopped at the vet's to pick up Lola's medication for the next two months. BTW, she was feeling a lot better this morning, the pills seems to be working well for the time being. She was quite frisky and able to jump into the truck a couple of times without my help, though by the end of the day I did need to help her. I finally heard from Russell, and he had a long chat with Paul and they determined he didn't have the right parts, so we're back to needing new axles. Only problem is, according to Russell, I have some kind of hybrid axle, and we can't seem to locate the serial number, which is usually on a metal plate somewhere. He had looked for it yesterday, and I crawled under and looked again this evening, but no luck finding it. I seem to recall there had once been a sticker under there, but it's long gone. So, I think my only option at this point is to make an appointment with the folks in Florida and have them order the axles after they measure it, apparently it may take some custom fabrication. Sigh... Now I have to look at my schedule and see when I can get down there, when I can make an appointment, and make arrangements for somewhere to stay while they do the job, assuming it will take more than a day, though who knows, maybe not. Anyway, finally settled down to dinner and a quirky little movie with Simon Pegg about a talking mongoose. It rained several times during the day, and that's not even part of the tropical storm that's on it's way, so its a rainy forecast. May be a good time to do some deep cleaning, if I wake up in the mood. Of course, I have to finish with my icemaker repair first. But that's tomorrow. Tonight, it's good night, darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Darlin'!
Late last night I discovered I had voicemails. I don't know what's up with that, but ever since I got this new phone, it doesn't seem to notify me very well about voicemails. Anyway, I had one from the trailer place in Chattanooga from Friday, saying they were ready for my trailer either Monday or Tuesday! I thought it would be another week. I wasn't sure what to do, but I woke up around 5:30 and decided I should take it down this morning, so I texted them to let them know I was coming, and got up early to pack up and got. We got caught in rush hour traffic, naturally, but made it down about 8:15. I was hoping for a simple solution, but alas, that was not to be. I waited around for a couple of hours until I got the first bad news. They had to replace everything. Not just the brake assembly, but the hubs and backing plates, essentially everything that fit on the axle, to the tune of about $3100. Not what I wanted to hear. Since they were getting parts in later, I unhooked because I had made an appointment for Lola at Linda's vet to see what could be done about her back leg. I came back to Linda's first since I had some time, and I'm happy to say that it didn't take long to find Flash's lost fly mask, tucked away under a small copse of trees. I killed some time until her appointment, then ran down there for our 2:00. Dr. Lee had to take a couple more x-rays, but clarified that it was, indeed, arthritis that is catching up to her. He told me about a relatively new monthly injection that he thought would be helpful, so he gave her her first monthly shot, and will have more to give me tomorrow, along with some pills to take until the injection kicked in in a couple of weeks. After that, we went to a little Indian restaurant in Cleveland, Naan House, which was more of a take-out place, though there were tables, but it didn't have any charm at all. The food was good, though, and I had enough leftover for another meal. Just after I ordered, I got a call from the trailer place, talked to a new guy that is apparently their Dexter axle expert, and got even more bad news. They tried three different places and none of the parts they had fit, so we're back to the idea that if I want to get my brakes fixed, I have to completely replace the entire axle, and he wasn't even sure if he could get the parts to fit properly. All this time I though I had 7000 lb. axles, turns out they're 8000, so different animal altogether apparently. They evidently used to make a conversion kit, but they don't anymore, it's not available anywhere. I've been doing a little research and will talk to the guy, Russell, again tomorrow, he's going to call Harmar to see if he can get any more info on the specs. Of course, if I need new axles, how were talking $6000 for parts and who knows how much for labor, and it will take 3-4 weeks to get the parts. As it was, he was kind enough to only charge me for an hour of labor, still almost $150, and they put it back together so I could bring it back to Linda's. At least I'll be in my own bed tonight. It's been a frustrating day on many fronts, but who knows? Maybe it will all work out in the end. At least if we can narrow down what we need, if we can't get the parts in time, I should be able to have the trailer place in Florida order them and have them for when I get down there. It's always something. Speaking of, I discovered a leak under my refrigerator, something I fixed awhile back, but is leaking again, so that's another chore on my to do list! Always something! Anyway, after not getting enough sleep last night, I'm ready for an early night, so good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hey Sweetie!
Took a long time to get to sleep again, I thought for sure my body would shut down, but it still didn't. Probably because it's so bloody hot here right now. Slept late to make up for it, I guess. Spent the day doing laundry and getting caught up on my bookkeeping, which took me much longer than I figured, but I got well and truly caught up, balancing accounts and reconciling everything, and if I keep that up, doing my taxes next year will be a breeze, hopefully! After dinner, I went to give the horses an apple and some mints, and I discovered Flash had lost his brand new fly mask, which I deliberately left on because it's a smaller size and I was sure he wouldn't lose it. So much for THAT idea! I drove around with Linda's utility vehicle in a grid pattern, but haven't found it before it got too dark. I'll look again in the morning. I sure hope I find it, but from now on, it's not going on in a five acre field, only when he's in close quarters! It was another very hot day, in the mid-90's, and I tried to run the AC off the 15 amp power but it didn't work. I ran every other fan I could just to keep the air moving, it was still barely tolerable. Came south too early, obviously! Anyway, didn't get the rest I was hoping for, but did get some less physical things accomplished, so I guess that's something. Heading for a cold shower and early bedtime, too late for a movie after running around the field until dark! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Had a lot of trouble getting to sleep last night, but felt okay this morning. Rather than doing my usual Monday drive, I decided since it was such a straightforward trip, I'd leave today. Still, I took my time packing, still managed to get out before noon. It was straightforward, but slow. I ran into enough traffic so that it seemed like 50 miles of rush hour traffic! That surprised me, but I usually drive on Mondays so I guess I forgot how bad it can be. It was after 3:30 by the time I got to Linda's, got the trailer in place, then took Flash out to the pasture. I thought he'd be thrilled to see Apollo, but he kind of gave him the cold shoulder for some reason. Maybe he thinks it's Apollo's fault for abandoning him! Apollo squealed like a mare half a dozen times trying to get his attention, but Flash just got a drink and started grazing. I put their new fly masks on, I hope they stay on, I don't want to be wandering around a five acre field looking for them. It got decidedly hot today. In Knoxville, the temp on the truck thermometer was reading 98! It got cloudy and a little cooler later on, but still, very warm. Even though I have electric, it's only 15 amp so I can't really run the AC, though I've been running all my fans today. Still over 80 in the trailer at 8:30.. It's supposed to rain in a couple of days, maybe get a little cooler, I hope. It was nicer in the mountains of NC, that's for sure! Guess maybe I'm heading south too soon! You can never tell at this time of year. Anyway, I got all moved in, did one load of laundry and will do a bunch more, but mostly I just need to rest. I can feel I'm on the edge of crashing after all that activity last week, so tomorrow is likely to be a down day. Not planning on doing much anyway! Skipping tea tonight, too darn hot, but ready to take a cool shower and hit the fresh sheets. Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hi Darlin',
A typical "day before I move on" scenario, doing laundry, housekeeping and some packing, though I also took a quick trip into town to drop off a letter and pick up a couple of things I missed when I shopped the other day. I didn't want to wait until I got to the Biltmore, as shopping there is pretty far away, relatively speaking. Linda was kind enough to let me use her Jeep so I wouldn't have to unhook my truck from the trailer, so I put a little gas in it as a thanks. Otherwise, a fairly uneventful day. Since I'll be coming back here, I've decided to leave Apollo here tomorrow. It will be a lot less work taking care of just one horse while I'm there, and Apollo will have plenty of room to stretch out in the big pasture he's in, though I know Flash will be a bit upset about it, but there will be plenty of horses around in the next few days to keep him company, and it's only for a week. I won't have time to ride Apollo anyway, so he'll get more exercise here. Having my tea and cookies, won't be long out of bed! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
Spent another morning waiting to see if the mechanic would show up, finally decided to check on it ourselves. I first started to try to jack up the trailer with the bottle jack, but the ground was so soft the board kept sinking. Finally I had to connect the truck and run it up on the Jiffy Jack. We had a heckuva time trying to get the lugs loose, we ended up needing a long breaker bar to accomplish it, my impact wrench, despite being a very strong one, just couldn't get three of them off. I tried another tire later, and nothing moved on that one either. Somebody obviously went way overboard when they tightened these lugs the last time! About the only thing that got accomplished from a couple of hours messing around with it was that I confirmed that even though power was getting to the brakes, it wasn't activating the drums at all, and also learned where the correct hole is for the wires to go in (the last guy put them through the brake adjustment hole, would you believe!). I thought about changing it myself, but after watching a couple of videos decided I didn't have the right tools to do the job, so I'll let it go for now. Rather disappointing, I was really hoping we could get it done this week, but no go! On the plus side, Linda knows a place that specializes in trailers about 25 miles away, and she's offered me accommodations if they have to keep it overnight, so I'm going to try to get an appointment for the week after Biltmore and come back here, which at least temporarily solves my problem of where to go after Biltmore! Got everything back together and tools put away just before some rain came it, so I settled down to an afternoon of reading and movies. Getting close to bedtime now, so good night, baby! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Not a good night sleep, woke up in the middle and couldn't sleep for a long time, finally went out and didn't wake up until after 9:00. I seriously have to get to bed earlier and get my circadian rhythm back! Today a local mechanic was supposed to come out, so I didn't take a ride on Apollo like I had hoped to, did a couple of repairs like zip-tying the front bumper on the truck (my previous repair with nut and bolt didn't work) and fixing the water filter which was leaking pretty bad. I remember you put on this elaborate plumbing attachment because we didn't think a garden hose would fit in it, but today, I took that all off and DID manage to get a garden hose on it, and it works fine now, no leaks! I finished off a few things prepping for the Biltmore work next week, then tried to find a leak I have in the slide-out that I was hoping I could find when it started to rain a bit, but still haven't found it. It didn't rain very hard or for very long, guess I'll have to keep searching! Waited all day for the mechanic, but he turned out to be a no-show, for today at least. Apparently, he works on the local school buses and two broke down today, so he couldn't come. Spent the rest of the day just killing time, reading, playing computer games, watching a movie, etc. I'm determined to get to bed early tonight, so tea is already made and I'll be doing my Spanish lesson, taking my shower, and going to bed forthwith! Good night, sweetie! Love you!