Hi Darlin'!
Didn't sleep well, so woke up feeling tired, but that didn't stop me from my one final chore on the floor today. I measured the floor where I needed to put the strip linking the two linoleum pieces, marked my metal strip, and carefully cut it with my generic Dremel, and for some reason, it was too long! Not by much, not enough to be able to make another cut, but just enough not to lie flat, so I had to spend another half an hour carefully sanding down the cut end until it finally fit correctly. A few nails later, and it was perfect! Job done! I felt pretty lazy today, figured I needed to take the rest of the day off, so I mostly just spent it working on the computer. I've got myself all lathered up about the route I'm taking, apparently there is a very long, steep drop coming out of that stable I finally found that would take me in, I'm sure it will be another white knuckle drive, not looking forward to it, but there doesn't seem to be any other way than to take the turnpike, and that's quite a ways out of the way, not to mention expensive. I read on one trucker site that to cross PA with an 18-wheeler is $180! That's just crazy! Anyway, I hope I don't regret my decision to take this route, it really is the shortest. According to flattestroute.com, it's still all less than 10% grade, apparently it's about 6%, but it's very long. Finally just had to let that anxiety got, read a bit, watched some TV, including a 2024 movie with Shirley Maclaine! I can't believe she's still making movies! She was born a month after you, so she's 90, good for her! Had leftover Indian for dinner, plus the lovely ice cream stick they gave us on the way out last night, ready for my shower and bed, hoping to get a better night sleep tonight. Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Got up early, and after chores, started working on the floor again. I really took my time, knowing it would be rushing that would create mistakes, so it was nearly 2:00 by the time I was finished. Well, almost finished, everything except the divider between the two floors. Turns out the one I bought was for a transition between two levels, like a carpet to tile, not for the same level like what I have. This is the third thing I've had to return to Lowes because of the bad advice I got from a Lowes employee in NY. Sigh... So except for that, the floor is done, and it looks great! I also installed the batteries into Meg's truck, and it started just fine. She still has one code error that I'll look into when I have time. Didn't get my ride in today, but it's on the schedule for tomorrow. Weather's been gorgeous! Can't wait to get back on the trail! Had a pleasant evening, ready for shower and bed. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Woke up too early this morning, but it helped me get an early start on a busy day! After chores and breakfast, I started working on the bathroom floor, cutting out the old floor and using it for a template for the new floor. Fortunately there's a nice area in the barn with a concrete floor, so I cleaned that all up and it was perfect for the cutting I had to do. I looked at some Youtube videos to glean as much from those as I could, then got busy. One thing I learned was that the adhesive I bought is useless for what I'm doing, but I did need to get some double-sided tape instead. I managed to get the floor laid down in a rough cut, even taking off the toilet to get it right up to the flange underneath (though I had to do that twice to get it right), and when I finally reached a point where I couldn't go any further, I gathered up my propane tanks and Meg's batteries and headed into town. Picked up her batteries first (and even got a four-year battery at three-year prices, since he didn't have two of the three-years!), then went down to the Tractor Supply to get my propane tanks filled. Unfortunately, they didn't refill tanks there (why am I not surprised that in NJ they wouldn't let a mere company employee handle such dangerous substances, when they don't even allow self-serve gasoline here!), so that was a wasted stop. Then I went to Home Depot and bought what I needed to finish my flooring job, plus a big cabinet for Meg that she asked me to pick up. That took a lot longer than I expected, but I got it done. Next stop was Lowes to return the items that I had erroneously bought based on the bad advice I received when I bought them, and finally Walmart to do some much needed grocery shopping. Didn't get back home Until nearly 7:00, so no more work today. I had a salad I had bought at Walmart and a good stiff bourbon, watched a couple of Farscapes, and am looking forward to a good night sleep tonight. Need to figure out where to pick up the shelving unit I picked up for Meg, but other than that, it's my flooring job first tomorrow, then batteries in her truck, then maybe I might even get a ride in, hopefully, since the weather is absolutely perfect! Enough wishful thinking, time to get to bed. Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hey Darlin'!
Had a pretty good night sleep, though I woke up pretty early and read for awhile. Meg's having problems with her farm truck and though I put her batteries on charge, it made no difference this morning. I finally put my battery jumper on the cables and at least it turned on the lights in the cab and on the dashboard, so it's pretty definitive that the first step is new batteries. Chatted with John and Helen until they left, then moved my trailer over next to Meg's, so now I can reach the 50 amp plug and the sewer trap! I filled up my water tank from the nearby wash rack, it's really not necessary for me to have a water hookup, and it's very close. Once I was settled in I started a couple of loads of laundry, and decided to take the afternoon off, watched a couple of movies and generally just relaxed today. Well, at least I did until I had a pounding on my door, from a neighbor, telling me some of the horses were loose. I jumped into the UTV and headed over to the trouble spot, where neighbor Jack had been trying to round them up, but they got away. I headed out to the back field where Jack said they were, but they weren't there either. Then I spotted them, back in their own paddock! Turns out Meg has some paddocks in the back, and apparently the horses escaped from there, but we just closed the back gate so they are secure until we have time to check out the electric fence back there. Later on, I saw the littlest colt on the driveway, he's mastered the art of climbing through the vinyl strip fencing, but I managed to get him back to his mama as well. Busy day chasing horses! The rest of the day was quiet, though. Going to start on the bathroom floor tomorrow, and hopefully get my shopping done as well. A nice relaxing, come-down day after all the busy-ness of last week. Ready for my shower and clean sheets! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Darlin',
After getting to bed after 2:00 a.m., I allowed myself to sleep in an extra half hour before starting my day. Lots of little odds and ends to finish, helped with trailer parking for a bit, put up a few trail markers, helped Meg do some cutting of signs and putting out a trough, finalized the .jpg files so a map could be printed, and so on. Nothing pressing, it all just made the day go along at a nice pace. Finally had the riders meeting and dinner, and I managed to get back to the trailer by just after 7:00. I'll be showering and heading to bed nice and early, since tomorrow is an even earlier morning, but I'm hoping for a good, full night's sleep! Good night, my sweet! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
Woke up before the alarm and was ready to go this morning. It started with a hot air balloon going by, not something you see everyday! Than John and I went out on the Kubota UTV to work on the pink trail, which had a lot of trees down, so it needed some cleanup. It took a lot longer than I expected (it's so much faster on Flash!), but we managed to get it all marked up the way we wanted. Came back for lunch, and I'm glad I had some, because dinner never really happened! We went back out to work on putting up signs on the blue trail where I had already put markers. We got back at 4:30, just about the time we were supposed to have a meeting with the park folks, but that didn't happen. Instead, they wanted us to mark the trails inside the park TODAY, rather then them doing it tomorrow, which was my understanding. To complete that task required me to saddle up Flash and hurry into the park to complete the last nine miles or so of remaining pink and orange, and the sun was about to set by the time we got that done. When I headed out of the park, I found that the gate had already been locked! I called Meg, and fortunately, when she texted steward Jack, who was the one that locked the gate, he was only a couple of minutes away, and he came out and let me out. Otherwise, I would have had a long way around! Started working on the maps, compiling all of the data that we had gathered all week and making new gps map files, which took until well after 1:30 a.m. I'm only writing this entry now because I'm waiting for my water to heat up for my shower. That's another issue, I'm so far from the power outlet, the GFI keeps breaking, and it's low amperage anyway, so I can't hardly run anything off the circuit, much less anything as heavy duty as the water heater. Anyway, it was a very busy and tiring day, my eyes are bleary, and I'm more than ready for bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Darlin'!
Was up before the alarm again, then after a bit, found a missed call from the testing center, turns out the late afternoon appointment wasn't really available, but they could get me in this morning if I wanted. Well, that was actually better for me, so I quick fed the horses and Lola, then hopped into the truck with a bowl of dry cinnamon cereal and headed for the clinic. Took about 50 minutes, but made it by 9:15, on schedule. Amazingly, they didn't have me make out any paperwork (that's a first!) and I was in and out of the exam in no time. I was still in the truck checking on a few things when they called to say every was fine, no clots, nothing to worry about. Relieved, I headed to Home Depot to pick up a sanding block and a square for me floor job in the future, got gas in a tank for Meg, but I couldn't get ethanol free, as NJ doesn't allow that. They also don't allow you to pump for yourself, so I had to wait for a guy to pump my five gallons! What a waste. Got back to the farm right about noon, and neighbor Jack, who is involved with helping the mark the trails, stopped by to chat. While we were chatting, John and Helen arrived. They are also helping with the trails. We spent most of the afternoon swapping files and trying to figure out the best way forward, it was very productive. Nice to have folks that know what I'm talking about when I say, do you want that in .gpx or .kml format? Finally settled down to dinner when Richard, who works with the park where some of the trails are going, arrived. More discussions. Finally was able to finish my dinner, but not my movie when Meg arrived, another meeting in the barn, which didn't end until about 10:20, though it felt much earlier. Time flies! We did manage to get me hooked up to electric, although it's probably only a 20 amp circuit, but at least it's keeping my batteries charged. Heading to shower and bed, got a long day planned tomorrow! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Sweetie!
Woke up just moments before my alarm (getting good at that!), and managed to pack up and was ready to go just before 9:00. Pretty easy when I don't have a highline to take down or manure to pick up! Larry left ahead to me to check the low-hanging wires, and unfortunately, they were still hanging low. I left shortly after hoping I would be okay, and lo and behold, there was 5 or 6 work trucks right at that spot clearing up the remnants of the huge tree we noticed yesterday. The boss man got in front of me and guided me through, I figured if I got stuck too far off the road they had enough horsepower to pull me out, but it wasn't necessary, I got through just fine, thank goodness! To save time, I took the toll road, not sure how much that's going to cost me, but it would have taken me nearly a full hour if I hadn't, so I figured it was worth it. They were sneaky about fuel, though. For two service areas, the price for diesel was $4.13, higher than off the thruway, but not horrible. Thinking the last service area would be same, I pulled off just needing enough to get me another 40 miles or so to be on the safe side, but in that last station, the price jumped to $4.32! Not fair! I only got enough to just make it, considering off the thruway the price was nearly a dollar a gallon less! Anyway, got to Meg's gorgeous property before 2:30, got myself and the horses settled into a nice little paddock next to me and the hay barn. I hooked up with water, but it's a reach for electric, so I held off to make sure I found the closest outlet. Only turned on my generator for a couple of minutes to nuke some vegetables anyway. Once everyone was settled in, I drove into Flemington to an Urgent Care, Patsy insisted I get some imaging done. I mentioned a little twinge that I was having, and she was worried it could possibly be a moving blood clot, so I promised her I would look into it. Well, the PA couldn't do much for me, they don't have an ultrasound at the clinic, but they arranged an appointment for late tomorrow afternoon at a place about 50 minutes away, so my time tomorrow on the trail will be somewhat limited. It seems like Meg has a good volunteer team lined up, though, so we should be able to get it all done. After I got back from that errand (I also filled up with fuel at $3.47/gal), I heated up my pasty from the farmers market last week, along with the nuked veggies, and had a nice dinner. Started a new series, Farscape, an old sci-fi series I hadn't ever seen, and was done by the time Meg and her young rider got back from their ride. Eventually, we got on her computer and she walked me through the trails, I showed her a few tricks on Google Earth, and we figured out what to do tomorrow. She has to work, but then has the rest of the week off. We'll get it done! By the time we got done, it was almost 10:00, came back, made some tea, soon to be headed to bed! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Woke up a couple of times during then night, but ended up getting a pretty decent night sleep. Got up around 8:15, and as soon as I got dressed I went to check on the generator, and it was still running from last night's fill up. Got everyone fed and walked and the cat let out, had breakfast, and had a quiet morning, once again without electricity, until finally, just before noon, it came on and stayed on. I immediately went in and turned off the generator and got everything plugged back in accordingly, and started a load of laundry, which, as usual, is my big Sunday chore. Patsy and Larry got back a little after 1:00, I helped them unload some stuff they brought back with them from Long Island, where they had gone to do a memorial for her parents. Considered going riding but decided against it, had too much laundry to do. Not much to pack up, though, since I didn't unpack hardly anything, and I won't have to take down a highline or clean up any manure in the morning, so I should be able to get out without much fanfare. Patsy took me for a quick ride down the road because there were a couple of very low-hanging wires on the route I'm taking out of here tomorrow, and if they don't fix it beforehand, it's going to be a tricky job getting under a couple of those wires. I'm going to have to get a ways off the road, and it's on an uphill grade and the shoulder doesn't look too firm, though at least it's not a ditch. Patsy called the powers-that-be, and hopefully they'll have it fixed by the time I go through in the morning. It's about a five hour drive tomorrow, and my hostess Meg will be at work anyway, so I don't have a tight schedule. Had another excessive dinner with leftovers from the whole week, I'm sure I've gain at least five pounds while I've been here, so back to lots of exercise and much less food this week! Watched a movie about Errol Flynn, now it's shower and bed! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Woke up and there was still no electric, which was a little surprising. What's more surprising is that I'm ready for bed and there's STILL no power! Patsy and Larry were supposed to leave at 9:00 to drive to Long Island for a memorial for her parents, and Larry had decided he needed to stay here, but Patsy managed to persuade him to go with her, which was the original plan. I think we were all expecting that power would be restored quickly, but so far, it hasn't. After they left, I had a pretty quiet day, working on my computer trying to sort out my schedule. I updated my calendar on the website and spoke to several people about the next few weeks, so I managed to get some things confirmed. I'm definitely going back to the Biltmore in September, the trailmaster there was very complimentary about my "deep trail skills," and I also firmed up several other things in my schedule. Finally ended the day with a lovely dinner featuring the beef and veg pot pie I bought at the farmers market on Wednesday, which was lovely. The crust was spectacular, and the inside was typically bland British, but I managed to spice it up a bit. Still, a nice treat! I'm going to have to set my alarm to refill the propane tank after midnight tonight, if we don't get power by then, though the power outage map is indicating completion by 11:00 pm, though I'm losing hope that that will happen. Weather was beautiful, but I didn't get out in it much except to walk the dogs, let out the cat, feed the horses and put more gas in the generator. Enjoyed a bottle of wine with my delicious dinner, and hoping I have enough water for a shower tonight. Not sure what I'll do if the power isn't back on by morning! May have to take a trip over the Larry's sister's house and put some water in my freshly cleaned truck water tank! At least I'm self sufficient, one of the great advantages to living off the grid. Anyway, ready for shower and bed, fingers crossed we get electric back before I have to fill up the generator again, but we'll do whatever needs must! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!