Hiya Sweetie,
A good night sleep, got more chores done, made a few phone calls and managed to confirm that I've found someone to do both the welding this weekend and my bathroom repair in three weeks (yay!), then headed off into Hamilton for errands. First I stopped at the Post Office and picked up my package of mail, which I had confirmed by phone that they had received. Last night I had made an online order for the Tractor Supply (so happy this store carries the Balance!), for horse feed and a bag of shavings. The standing stalls are getting smelly, so I had to do something! Then I stopped at the Price Chopper and bought groceries, then a final stop at the Sunoco for fuel, where it was $4.19 a gallon. That's the most I've paid in awhile, but it was ten cents higher everywhere else it town. Stopped at two liquor stores, neither of which had my usual bourbon, and noticed there is an Indian restaurant in town! I usually have to go to a good sized city to find one of those, and Hamilton is a pretty small town, but it is a college town, undoubtedly with a bit more refined palate. I stopped and picked up a menu, I may just have to try to get back there for a meal. Got back to camp, put all the groceries away, let Apollo out on his rope for awhile, but this place has been getting much busier, so I couldn't let Flash wander. Sheila from last weekend texted to let me know she was here (and had checked on my horses while I was gone), so after dinner I went up to visit with her and her husband and sister for a bit. Watched an episode of Warehouse 13, now I'm ready for shower and bed. Temps going into the 50's tonight, so it should be good sleeping weather! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hey Darlin',
Woke up and got up a little earlier again today, trying to get my circadian rhythm adjusted a bit. Did a few repairs this morning, fixing the sewer hose which had split a few inches back from the adapter, epoxying the window handle on the dining room slider (second time I've had to repair that, I'm hoping the epoxy works better than the last glue I used), plus spent some time on the phone trying to located an RV repair shop that could look at my soft floor around the toilet, and finally reached a welder who might be able to come out this weekend to repair the frame around my water compartment. Spent most of the rest of the day downloading pictures, figured I must have moved 800 or so today. Not finished by a long shot, but I'm certainly making progress. Despite the forecast for rain, we hardly had any today. Another thing I did this morning was to transfer water from my truck tank to the trailer, so now I'm full, but was hoping for enough rain to finish topping off my truck tank, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. Finally settled down to dinner and a good movie, Crypto, and soon be ready for shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Babe!
Woke up early and decided to get up a little early, since I wanted to take a long ride today and there's more rain forecast for the afternoon. When I checked last night, they said the rain was coming in at 2:00, then this morning it went to 5:00, so I didn't worry about getting such an early start, but by the time I was saddling up at 11:00, it changed to between 3:00 and 4:00, so we had to hustle, especially for the last couple of miles when I started to hear some thunder. It was a nice ride, although one of his boots came off a couple of times until I left it off, though the one protecting his split hoof, so it was all good. The trails were once again a combination rocks, mud and some good footing, but was a great ride. Flash did well at a much faster pace today, worked up a good sweat as the humidity and temps were pretty high, which is why I decided not to take Lola today. We arrived back in camp at 3:25, and the saddle was half off when the first spit of rain at the leading edge of the front started. I just managed to get Flash and all the tack put away when it finally came on strong, whew! Just in the nick of time! I got the buckets lined up again, but the rain only lasted about 15 minutes and wasn't anywhere near as heavy as yesterday, but I still managed to collect maybe another 15 gallons, and I didn't even empty the tarp in the truck yet. It's supposed to rain most of the day tomorrow, but I've only got so much room left in the truck tank anyway! Settled down to dinner, watched a good movie, Timeline, and managed to download a lot of the Red Rock Ride pictures as well. A good day! Now I'm ready for shower and bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Sheila came around at about 8:00 to say she was leaving, so I got up and drove over to pick up the two bales of hay from her. After chores and breakfast, I made some phone calls to try to solve two repair problems I'm having, the first is the frame around the sewer compartment that I bought a new door for, but the frame is too rusted and needs to be fixed, and the second is the toilet. The wood floor underneath is getting a bit soft and the base is starting to rock, and I'm afraid one day it's going to just break through the floor, so that needs immediate attention. I left messages and texted several people, and I'm disappointed to say that no one ever got back to me. Eventually I got on the computer to try to solve a housekeeping problem. When I was sent a link to all the pictures that had been uploaded from the Red Rock Ride, while trying to download onto my computer, I apparently inadvertently had them all syncing up to my Google Photos account, and before long, it was so full I almost have no more space. Since I have another backup program, I don't really need them there, I only need them on my computer, but there is no quick or easy way to move them other than to download each picture (which takes between one and three minutes to do), then erase it from the Photo account. But then I saw that they were being re-saved, and I had to spend a bunch of time trying to figure out how to stop it from syncing, so more time was wasted doing that. Eventually I got that figured out, but it's going to take days to first download and then erase all the photos. Oh, well, gotta be done! Meanwhile, it was a hot day, and I was down to only about 10 gallons in the truck tank when the thunderstorm finally came in. I was ready! I had all my tubs and buckets ready to go, though I had to line them up once the rain streamers started coming off the trailer. Yesterday, when I refilled the trailer tank, I left it leaning slightly down in the front so that all the rain would run in a more predictable pattern, and that paid off big-time. There was a huge gust of wind before the storm, and the rain was coming in almost sideways, but eventually it settled down. The best source turned out to be the slide topper. I put a 15 gallon tub there and it was full in a matter of minutes. All of them filled quickly. Once the worst of the rain had passed, I started gathering it all up and pouring it into the truck tank, and by the time the evening was over, I had collected about 70 gallons! Whoo-hoo! There's still a bit more rain expected tonight, so the buckets should have more in the morning, and more rain is forecast for the next three days, so I should easily be able to keep filling up the tanks. Water problem solved! I'm grateful for the cooler air behind the front, it went from 90 in the trailer to mid-70's so it's going to be a much nicer night for sleeping, thank goodness! Anyway, after sitting around most of the day, I was grateful for a little exercise hauling water, and now I'm ready for shower and bed! Good night, darlin'! Love you!

Hey Darlin',
Woke up early but stayed in bed reading until my usual 8:30 or so get up time. My usual routine, with the addition of a single load of laundry that I put out on the line, and some housekeeping. Sheila's sister Judy came by, and they asked if I wanted to ride with them but said I wasn't going to ride today. I aired out Lola's beds just to freshen them up and bit, and later I refilled the trailer out of the truck water tank, leaving about 30 gallons left in the tank. The trailer sits a bit higher than the truck here, so I have to put the truck on the Jiffy Jack and lower the trailer in front to get gravity to do it's thing, but it's manageable. There's a lot of rain in the forecast, so I'm hoping I can collect enough rainwater to get me through the week, but there's also a tack store very close by, and it's been suggested the might allow me to fill up my tank there. I'll need some hay later in the week and if they sell it cheap enough, I'll just get it there and save me a drive, though there are several places within 10-15 miles selling it for $5/bale. Had a nice afternoon reading, then after dinner I went and sat around Sheila's campfire with Judy and Skip and chatted until after 8:30, waiting for the inside of my trailer to cool down. It was another warm one today, perfect for drying laundry, so no complaints! The New Yorkers find this temp very hot, but for me, it's just fine. Slightly warmer than perfect, but close enough! I'm not complaining! Anyway, a fine day, looking forward to slipping into clean sheets and having a good night sleep! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Was very happy to finally get a bunch of rain last night, and the first thing I did after my morning chores was to transfer all the water I had captured in my buckets and on the tarp in the back of the truck into the truck tank. I collected over 30 gallons, and that was even after I filled the horses' water tub! That's almost enough to completely refill my fresh water tank! Of course, I put a chlorine tablet in it to sanitize it. Very happy with that outcome! It will certainly allow me to do laundry on Sunday without having to run into town for a refill. Had breakfast after that, then decided my bookkeeping was overdue, so I spent most of the day doing that. It was too wet to ride, but I'm hoping tomorrow will be better. It's certainly cooler, thank goodness! Was getting tired of the very hot afternoons! I let the horses graze most of the day, until another trailer came in and I put them away for awhile. I let them out again after I went over and had a chat with them. A nice quiet day, so happy I was able to retrieve so much water! Next week they're forecasting a lot more rain as well, so hopefully, that will be enough, though I plan on making a run into town next week anyway, so if I have to fill up the tank, I will. Meanwhile, I'm grateful I'll be able to go to bed in cooler temps, and am looking forward to a better night sleep! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hey Babe!
Another good night sleep, still with campfire smoke blowing my way, but I managed to sleep through it. I've been ready for the forecast rain, but every time I check it, it gets pushed back later and later in the day. The biggest portion seems to have missed us to the north, unfortunately. I wasn't counting on it in any event, so today I took a drive into a nearby town, Hamilton (home of Colgate University), which I was happy to discover had a Tractor Supply. I took two propane tanks in to them to be filled up, and they were kind enough to let me fill my water tank up there, though it took a very long time. I also was happy to see they carry Nutrena Balance right on their shelf, so I will likely pick up another bag next week. Then a quick stop at the Price Chopper next door to pick up a carton of grapefruit juice, before heading back to camp. I kept looking at my weather, and they said rain was coming in at 6:00, so just before that, I put the horses away and fed them early to avoid the rain. True to form, the rain finally started at about 8:40, which finally gave me an opportunity to get the various buckets lined up. I managed to mostly fill two small buckets, which I dumped into the horses water bucket, but left them in place in case it rains again overnight. I also had put the canvas on the back of the truck, and that caught a bit, but I'm not worrying about that until tomorrow. Not too much, but every little bit helps, I suppose. I'm just grateful for the cooler temps that will be following this, high only in the mid-70's tomorrow, thank goodness! Finally settled in for the evening, the usual. Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hi Babe!
Woke up early, got up around 7:00, and even so, it took me about two hours to get out of camp. Because it's a fairly short drive today, just over 100 miles, I left some stuff to be packed this morning, thus the later departure. I had a bit of a scare on the way down to Watkins Glen. The road is very steep in a few places, and I didn't do a very good job of managing the hills (I've been a little spoiled as the engine braking on the truck seem to be working just fine), and I didn't downshift the way I should have, and by the time I got to the main street, my brakes were literally smoking. I pulled over by the park and let them cool a little, but then I was reading that if you stay still too long the brakes could warp and stick, so after about 15 minutes, and since I knew I would be climbing uphill rather than down, I headed out, making sure I did a much better job of managing the hills. The only other bad spot was going downhill into Ithaca, but I handled that a lot better, so no overheated brakes. I stopped twice in Cortland, once at the Tractor Supply for propane and another muck bucket (to catch as much rain as possible, since water is problematic at Brookfield), and again at Walmart for a few last minute grocery items. We finally reached out destination around 2:00. I took it nice and slow! Last time we were here (in 2012!!) we parked in the Assembly area, which turned out to be more of a group camp, but this time I headed straight to the actual campground. Took me about an hour to scope out the best spot and get situated, then another hour to get settled in. There's a nice big grassy area next to me, so I put Apollo on the anchors and let Flash free, and they had a great time grazing most of the afternoon. I've decided to put them in the standing stalls overnight, as there really aren't any good trees for highlining here, and I imagine it's probably frowned on anyway. I will let them graze until too many other folks show up. I was thrilled that the place was empty when I arrived (and so was Sugar Hill when I departed, first time since I got there!), so I had my choice. Water is a hand pump only, no spigot, so I'll need to figure out how I'm going to fill up my tank. Fortunately the nearest town is only about 10 miles away, so that may be the easiest answer. I also was considering how well my new impact wrench might work on the little drill pump I have, but I think I might need an adapter for that. Anyway, got settled in, though it's quite hot, but there's rain in the forecast later this week, hoping I can recover some water from the awning, not the first time we've done that! You know I'll find a way, somehow! Hot and sweaty, heading to my shower and bed! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hey Sweetie!
Had a great night sleep, so glad I went to bed early. Spent the day doing a couple of loads of laundry, gorgeous day for outdoor drying, and started to pack up everything for our departure tomorrow. Used their garden rake to level off some of the ground that the horses stirred up, and scatter the manure further into the woods. Tomorrow I'll cover it all with leaves, so in a few days, you'll hardly know we were there! It's a fairly short drive tomorrow, so I'm planning on stopping at Tractor Supply along the way to refill the propane tanks. I was amazed that the last tank I opened last Sunday, and which I ran for about half an hour each day, plus the hour+ for laundry today, is still working! That means more than an entire week on one tank, which is fabulous! I haven't had to run any extra fans, much less AC here, so it's been very efficient, plus I've had enough sun on most days to help keep the batteries up. Looking forward to a change of back yard, though I learned from a phone call I made the other day that the water situation at the next camp may be challenging. Evidently, all they have is a hand pump at the horse camp, and some kind of wheel pump at the other, with no spigot to attach, so I may have to get creative, or I may just decide to only stay a week instead of two. We'll figure it out once we get there. My truck tank is about 2/3 full, as well as the trailer tank, so that will last us for most of the week anyway. Headed to shower and bed shortly, want to get another early night in! Good night, darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Babe!
Had a hard time sleeping last night, probably because of all the sugar in the two bottles of wine Steve and I drank yesterday, after 2:00 by the time I got to sleep. Dragged myself out of bed after 9:00, then spent the rest of the day reading and playing computer games. I half thought of going on a ride today, but just couldn't muster the energy. I did spend a little time moving the little door frame around the sewer area, though I had no success actually removing the screws, despite numerous efforts with my new screw removal kit. I did end up drilling the screws until they got so hot they actually melted the plastic frame, so at least I was able to get the frame off. There's so much damage and rust, the whole metal framework will need to be replaced, so I'm on the lookout for a mobile welder somewhere near the next few camps. A very lazy day, which I figure I needed, and I will be good and rested for tomorrow when I have to do laundry, repair the yard, get packed and generally get ready to go on Monday. Watched a couple of Warehouse 13's at dinner, planning on going to bed early tonight, don't want another 2:00 morning! Good night, baby! Love you!