Hey Sweetie,
Had an excellent night sleep, thanks to a very quiet and cooperative Lola-girl! I think moving her bed to the bottom of the stairs did the trick, I hope! We'll see how it goes tonight. She was a bit strange today, I put her on the cable and she crawled under the camper and stayed there for literally hours. She didn't move the whole time I was out working. Had a busy day, lots going on with dozens of trailers coming in during the day. I was all set to go out and work on trails, but then Robin decided to take me along to put out water troughs, which was fine, because Deb had her two sisters come in to help on the trail, and the UTV would have been too crowded. We put up tents and canopies, set out the awards, particularly some five gallon water jugs, which everyone seems to love, and generally kept busy all day. One driver went a bit too close to the treeline and ended getting stuck, so we spent some time dragging her out of there. We had her truck, then Robin tried to pull her out, but that didn't work, then I hooked up in front of her and that didn't work, until we disconnected the trailer. The truck came out easily, then we had to drag the trailer out far enough to hook up on dry land, and my truck seemed best suited, so we did that. Probably took about an hour all told to get that job done, but it was a nice break in the day! Reminded me of my old wrecker days! I finally got Lola out from under the trailer and took her for a walk. Helped a bit getting the volunteer dinner ready, pigged out on that, sat through the rider meeting, took Lola for a walk, did her PT and red light treatment, now I'm ready for shower and bed! I'm a bit afraid since Lola rested all day that she's going to be restless again tonight, but we'll see! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Lola was restless like crazy last night, so my sleep was constantly being interrupted, sorry to say. Still haven't figured out what makes her sleep through the night sometimes, and not at other times. It's almost like when I give her the pills, sometimes they actually make her worse! Last thing I need are sedatives that make her anxious! Decided to cut back her dose this morning just to see what happens. She seemed fine all day, although she was still barking for no apparent reason. Sigh. Anyway, finally met the ride managers today, first Deb, who had to tell me that I was parked in the crew area and would have to move, darn it, and later Robin. I helped put up Deb's popup camper, and unloaded some stuff from her truck and trailer, then went about moving my trailer, which was a bit tricky. The ground is still a bit soft and slippery, and though I managed to pull up on the gravel, I then backed a good ways into the field before doing a circle around to the position I wanted. Then I wanted to back up a bit closer to the treeline, and didn't get far before my tires started slipping, but at least I was far enough off the road in. It took about an hour or more to get everything moved. I put the horses on their anchors, though I tied them off to a tree, and moved their highline to another set of trees that will work just fine. I'm hoping it won't get too breezy, since I'm now broadside to the prevailing winds, but the stairs do fit better now. Getting out will be interesting, since it's supposed to rain on Sunday afternoon, and the turn is too sharp and the bumps a bit too big, which means I may be scraping bottom, etc. Not the ideal situation, unfortunately. The biggest problem is that I had to leave my rain barrel in place, no way I was going to empty that with no way of filling it back up again. Fortunately, it's not too far away from the horses' new highline position, so it's just a matter of me having to transfer some water by hand as needed. Helped Robin put up a fence along the road for security, using her posts and my fence charger, which was great because it meant I didn't have to move all my hoses to get to my fence posts. Finally settled down to a steak dinner, watch the series finale of my Drop Dead Diva binge, then joined Robin and my neighbors for a little group socializing before coming home, doing dishes, and now I'm ready for shower and bed. Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hi Darlin',
Had a decent night sleep, only got woken up once by Lola barking, but she settled down and I was able to get back to sleep. The rain came in around 10:00 in the morning, and I was glad I put my portable rain barrel together yesterday. I positioned the awning so all of the rain would drain to one corner, put the rain barrel and another storage box at that corner, and it didn't take long for the rain barrel to be filled! In fact, I didn't realize I had left one of the spigots open, about halfway up, but when I saw it draining and closed it off, it continued to fill all the way to the top. That's about 50 gallons! Then I used a small bucket to transfer enough to fill the horses buckets, and then it rained again and filled it almost to the brim again! So I don't have to worry about water anymore, very happy about that! Did not relish the idea of either using the hand pump or having to take another trip to fill up my truck tank, which still has over 60 gallons in it, so I'm good to go. Spent the day reading, on the computer, or watching TV, a nice, relaxing day. By the late afternoon, the sun came out, mist was forming in the field, and it turned into a beautiful evening. Bodes well for the rest of the week! Ready for bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Well, today was full of surprises, both good and bad! The first surprise was climbing out of the bedroom and discovering that Lola had managed to get herself into my recliner! That's her favorit spot to sleep, and I was thrilled that she was able to accomplish it. It didn't take too long to get breakfast and finish packing up (and I slept late, thanks to a quiet Lola!), but there was no hurry, we only had to move 80 miles or so. Left the site shortly after 10:00, stopping at their marvelous RV dump just at the entrance, and was leaving there before 10:30. It took about 20 minutes to get to the freeway, but after that it was clear sailing. The next pleasant surprise was that I was looking for fuel, and a few placed had really come down on price. I remembered reading that some kind of truce or treaty was supposed to be signed with Iraq and the Hormuz Strait was to be reopened to all, so I imagine that has something to do with it. That made me look up my investment portfolio, and sure enough, we were at more record highs! I tried to stop at a Casey's before getting on the freeway, but it wasn't easy to get into, so I skipped it. As I was driving along, I still had enough fuel, but I didn't want to cut it too close (nothing worse than running out of diesel, so much trouble to fix that!), but then I noticed I was coming up on something that looked an awful lot like a Buc-cee's! Countless aisles of pumps and plenty of room to get around, so I quick pulled off to check it out. Price was $4.69, just about the cheapest I've seen, and I had no problem pulling straight into an aisle. It was called Wally's, and it barely showed up as a blip on GasBuddy, which rather annoyed me, but at least I saw it in time! The rest of the trip went fine, I came in the back way just because the freeway had suddenly gotten really bumpy and I figured the back roads would be better. They were fine, and I arrived at the camp where I got a few more surprises. The parking area was tiny, the gate into the camping area was tiny, there was absolutely no way I was going to be able to get into any of the gravel sites, or even make it around the loop! There were a couple of women there I chatted with, and they were just leaving, so I was able to use part of the space they occupied to turn around in a way that would let me back into an open space on the lawn, that looks like I won't have any trouble getting out again, as long as it doesn't rain too much! There were a couple of trees where I put up a nice long highline, though they have to stupid metal hitchrails here, which I'm no way, no how using. Then I had my next surprise, and not a very nice one. The water supply here comes from a hand pump, and according to the ladies, not a very good one! I was sure I had been told there was a spigot here, but then again, that was from someone in the office, which, as we know from long experience, is typical. They have no idea what's out here. So, since I was under the delusion there was a spigot here, I didn't fill up my water before I left, which I could have easily done had I known. Anyway, I had enough in my tank to half fill a couple of buckets for the horses, so I got them situated on the highline and mostly set up before I headed out to the nearest Walmart about 20 minutes away. I stopped at a couple of places hoping I could find some rope to replace the fraying ones on the anchors, but Ace didn't have any 1/2" cotton, and Tractor Supply wanted $2.29 a foot! That's crazy, over $200 for 100 feet of rope! I asked at the counter if it was by foot or by yard, and he said foot, but I could hardly believe that. I looked it up on Amazon and found 50 feet of the same stuff for less than $20! So I'll wait until I have an address, probably next week, and have it sent. BTW, my package that was sent to Joyce is still stuck at the Indy distribution center, even after it was sidelined to Fort Wayne. I have no idea what the problem is! After Tractor Supply, I finally got to the Walmart, found their outdoor spigot (next to the fire hydrant), and filled up my water tank. I forgot to bring a hose, so I had to unhook the one from the tank, and getting it back on was not easy, but I finally managed it. Picked up a few things at Walmart and got back to camp before 3:30, transferred water to the camper and to the horses' buckets, and still have about 60 gallons left, which should be enough. I seem to recall the ride manager here telling me that the forest guys will be bringing out a tanker, so if I can get them to water the horses (or fill up my tank again), I shouldn't need to make a second trip into town. Anyway, finally settled down to a light dinner (I better lose some weight tomorrow!!), but even though I have two bars of signal here, I couldn't get any streaming services on any of my devices. Not happy about that! Seriously looking into Starlink again, I'm getting tired of having slow or nonexistent service, even if I have to pay more for it. Grrr! I was really looking forward to some new TV after a week of nothing! Nevermind, I'm still living the dream! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Had another excellent night sleep, again with only a little bit of a disruption from Lola early, but she settled down again. She is doing so much better! Today she not only walked when I had a leash on her, but when I was packing up and doing yard cleanup, she wandered around on her own, sometimes following me, other times just exploring on her own. Definitely getting stronger! Spent the day doing laundry and packing, with a little research and planning thrown in, finally ending with first a rather depressing Australian movie called Animal Kingdom, about a criminal family with no real plot, but I followed that with an old Hopalong Cassidy film just to end on a lighter note. Heading to bed shortly, hoping my next location will have a better cell signal so I can actually upload my pix! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
So grateful I had a full night sleep! Lola was spectacularly quiet until morning, so I managed to get some decent sleep. Of course, that meant I had a lot more energy today, so I decided to put it to good use! Not a cloud in the sky, much drier today, so I took out the runner carpet and washed it. Lola had had a few accidents on it earlier in her convalescence, so the camper was getting a kennel smell to it, so my goal today was to try to get rid of that, now that she seems to have more control over herself. I also washed her bed, vacuumed and mopped the floor, took her for four walks (I measured them, one loop is about 1/3 of a mile), and even gave Apollo a bath with fly shampoo, just for good measure. They wandered around the property on their anchors today, as there was no one else around, but of course, they eventually ended up right outside the screen door looking in! I am actually pretty astonished that not a single new camper arrived today! This is a pretty nice horse camp, and the weather was perfect today, and will be again tomorrow, so I'm amazed that I'll apparently have this place all to myself, even over the weekend. Spent the rest of the day as usual, and am ready to settle down for the night! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hey Darlin',
Had a rough night last night. A very long, serious thunderstorm came through, beginning about 10:00, and even though I had given her what I thought was plenty of the sedative gabapentin, Lola was inconsolable. She fretted and fretted, turning circles, whining, even tried to climb the dreaded stairs a couple of times. I tried everything. Petting her, hugging her, draping my body practically on top of her, she just kept fighting me and fighting me for more than an hour. Nothing I did helped in the least. We were both miserable, and there were moments when I felt murderous. It was a long time before she settled down, but she finally did. We took a bunch of walks again during the day, and she's definitely improving, so there's that. But after our midday walk, she came and and started barking and barking and barking for no reason that I could discern, and it got pretty annoying. I finally got her quiet by whining louder back at her! But that's not an ideal solution. It's been such a long time since I did any decent housekeeping, so I decided to do a deep clean on the bathroom and the kitchen, which kept me busy for awhile. Filled the gaps with reading, and finished the night with another Dragonslayer movie (#3). Oddly, toward the end of the movie, another thunderstorm came in, and Lola slept through most of it! I had given her three gapapentins about 20 minutes before it arrived, so I thought that helped but then, after the storm had almost passed, and I took her for her last walk of the day, she came back in all crazed again. Wish I could figure out exactly what causes this behavior so I can hopefully discover a way to help her. Sigh. I did have the camphost come by with an envelope to pay, evidently there's a pay station in the middle of camp, which I've missed up to now, so I finally learned what I owe. Amazingly, it's only $15 a night M-Th and $20 for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, pretty cheap for having electric and nearby water. Once again, I let the horses wander on their anchors, still nobody here yet. A ranger finally came by to tell me that the trails would be closed today, and possibly tomorrow if tonight's rain is as heavy as the last two nights have been. Anyway, Lola and I took our evening walk, and now she's back to barking at me for no reason. Grrr! Hope she settles down before I go to bed! I don't need another night of disruptive sleep. Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Sweetheart!
Yup, it would have been 37 years happily married if you were still with us, my love! And about 40 years together! Wow! Still miss you, still feel you in the forest with us when we go riding, which, of course, I did on Flash today. Not a very long ride, just over 6.5 miles, but the woods were lovely, and so much cooler. It's been hitting 90 degrees, so I'm VERY glad I have electricity here. I had put on both the breast collar and his boots, but it turned out we didn't really need either one, they were both surplus to requirement. Just all that much easier on our next ride! It wasn't the best night, though, Lola woke me up around 3:00, and she was so restless, whining and barking, and the only time I could keep her quiet was when I came down and sat next to her and petted her. I finally managed to get into my recliner, at least, but fell asleep in an awkward position, so I didn't get a lot of rest. Other than the excessive whining and barking, she does seem to be getting better. She doesn't fall and start screaming, and we did a great walk around the entire campground by the end of the day, with a couple of shorter walks earlier. She still twists both her back legs into very squirrelly positions, and occasionally hops off her right leg, but most of the time she's working it, so I think it's getting stronger. We had another afternoon thunderstorm around 4:00, and that did cool things down a bit, but with the humidity, I'm still running the AC! Did some more research and planning for where I'm going later this summer, but still flexible. Watched the second Dragonslayer movie off the DVR, so another quiet, early evening! Good night, baby! Happy Anniversary!

Pix to come!

Hi Babe!
Had a busy morning before getting on the road! First up was going to the post office to see if my overdue package was there, before it was put on the delivery route. Figured if I didn't have to wait until a late afternoon delivery, I might be able to get out today. As much as I've enjoyed staying at my friend Joyce's, it's high time to be back on the road, and parked at an actual trailhead! Well, once I got to the post office, I soon learned that the package STILL hadn't reached Danville! Since there was no chance of it arriving today, I went to Plan B, which was to call my vet in TN and have them put in the Rx to the Walmart. I had already checked with them to see if they had Carprofen, and the website said they did, but the gal at the vet's office didn't think they did, but she willingly called the Walmart and confirmed they could, in fact, fill that Rx, and put in the order. They were so quick about it, that by the time I finished doing some very light shopping, it was ready! I was back at the camper in short order, and managed to get packed and ready to go fairly quickly. Said my good-byes to Joyce, and was on my way before 11:30. A very straightforward drive, mostly I-74, but I changed time zones, so I arrived before 1:30 local time, or 2:30 ET. This is a pretty nice horse camp, actually! About 30 sites, all with 30 amp electric, but there's only a few spigots scattered around. I walked around, and ended up at site 14, which was the farthest west site, because it was fairly level (I'm hoping to not have to unhook), close to a water spigot, nice and shady, and easy to back into. Only downside is the cellphone signal is pretty weak, so that will be a challenge. I may have to unhook just to go find a signal! It's pretty wide open here, with lots of nice grass and clover, so I put the horses on anchors and let them have at it while I put up the highline, filled the water tank (though I should have let a lot of water run through first, it was pretty brown when I saw it in the horses' buckets), and otherwise finished getting set up. I was done by 3:00 local time, so I settled down after that. Worked up a real sweat, if was very humid and hot, but just as I finished, I took Lola for a short walk, and it started to rain! Perfect timing! It did cool things down a little bit, and the horses didn't mind getting wet at all, and afterward, it cleared up nicely. I so prefer Central time, because now it get dark at the reasonable hour of 8:30 instead of 9:30. I like a couple of hours of darkness before going to bed, otherwise I feel like a kid! Not that that's a bad thing, just not my preference. Glad to have AC though, it's going to be hot I think. My only concern is that when I came in, I saw a sign that said the horse trails were closed! I'm going to have to check that out, or at worst, apologize afterward (they gotta catch me first!) Even if I don't ride, it's a nice quiet place to chill for a week or so, except for the cell signal problem. No matter, I watched an old movie from the Dish DVR, Dragonslayer, the original, though I also have several sequels I can follow up on as the week goes on. Hopefully, I can get just enough signal to post my blog and check my emails! Will try it now! Good night, darlin'! Love you!

Heya Darlin',
Managed to get a better night sleep, Lola was a little quieter, though I had to take her for a walk at 11:00, and 12:00, and 1:00 before she finally settled down for the night. At least it was 7:00 before she woke me in the morning. She did seem to do better today, though, we must have gone on a dozen walks or more during the day. She'd come in, settle down for about 10 minutes, then start barking at me again, so I'd take her out again, and again, and again. She does seem to be moving better, though, so I can't complain too much. She's certainly making me walk more, which is a good thing! Especially since I'm doing so much sitting around. Got the disappointing news that now my package isn't expected until TOMORROW! I'm still not convinced of that either, as they're still showing the same information about it reaching Indy last Thursday, with no other updates, so I'm worried that it's just window dressing and wishful thinking on the Post Office's part. If it doesn't show as Out for Delivery tomorrow morning, I'm making other arrangements for the medications, I can't just sit around here for another week! My hostess Joyce has been so generous to let me stay here, and I finally spoke to her today, they arrived around 1:00 last night after flying back from a week in Utah, had a great mule trip out there. We chatted several times during the day, and in the evening, my other Indiana buddy Trish came by, and we had a chance for a brief visit. She had also gone on the Utah trip. Other than that, I did pretty much nothing but read, play computer games and watch TV. My life is really mundane at the moment, I'm just going to have to make up for it once I get back on the road! Very glad I have electric here, though, since it's been pretty hot and humid. More rain scheduled for tonight, I just hope Lola has enough sense not to try to climb any stairs! I'm going to give her an extra pill to keep her quiet, so hopefully, she'll be calm through the night. Not much else going on! Good night, sweetie! Love you!