Hey Sweetie,
Had another good night sleep and another quiet day of recovery. My fever broke last evening, and I felt much better today, but figured I’d be better served to take another day off in self-imposed quarantine, since most places are closed today anyway. The campground emptied out throughout the day, and when I finally walked out to feed the horses dinner, the place was empty, at least the equestrian side. Delighted to find that every single stall and paddock was clean! First time I can say that after a busy weekend! Only one pile of trash that someone left on a picnic table (about 10 yards from the dumpster, would you believe!), and the same site where I learned the motorhome that was parked there had kept their generator on all night, so I’m going to have to make sure to keep an eye out for them again next time. So a very lazy day, but I’m feeling much better, and expect by tomorrow I’ll be as good as possible. Almost out of hay and feed so I’ll be having to go shopping tomorrow anyway, it will be good to get out of the abode for a bit! I’m sure Lola is bored still, we’ve barely even played fetch for the last few days. Read all morning, watch movies all afternoon, enjoyed some leftovers that Jim and Carol’s friend Ben made (oxtails and egg noodles!) so I didn’t even have to cook today. Ready for my shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Slept fitfully through the night and late into the morning, before I finally thought I was well enough to go feed the horses around 10:30. Barely made it, though, got a little dizzy, so went straight back to bed. Finally checked my temperature and I had a fever that got worse through the day. Finally just crawled into my recliner and watched movies all day. Even though it was 83 degrees in the trailer, I still had to put a blanket on to keep from shivering. I had Carol do the evening feed again, still trying to do nothing but rest. Sure hope I feel better tomorrow! Not fun! Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hiya Darlin’,
The day started out busy, with the volunteers starting on the shelter around 9:00, and James and I going over to the maintenance yard to exchange gates so we can replace a bent one on one of the paddocks. Then suddenly, in mid-afternoon, I started feeling like I was getting chills, like shivering under my skin, so I came back to the trailer and after a while, crawled into bed. I alternated between chills and sweats, and didn’t get out of bed at all. Carol was kind enough to feed my horses for me, so I was able to stay in bed. I haven’t been sick in so long, this is really a bummer. Loaded up on liquids and am staying in bed. Good night, Sweetie! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Not much to report today, just kind of a regular day at camp. Was supposed to go riding with Bev and her group, but they were leaving much earlier than I expected, so they went without me, which turned out to be a good thing, because James came by to drop off some manure rake heads, so I put those together. I’m going to need to replace one of the screws because it’s so round out I can’t tighten enough, but I jury rigged it with another screw for the time being, will pick up a new screw next time I go into town, no big deal. Closed my horses up into a single paddock and stall, thought we’d get more people in and didn’t want to be hogging a bunch of paddocks. Looked at Apollo’s feet, there’s definitely something weird going on with his back feet, but I’ve called the farrier to set up an appointment, probably be next week before he can come out. Checked in more campers, then had a steak dinner compliments of Bev, sat around the campfire for a bit, now I’m ready for shower and bed! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
Had a busy day today! Set the alarm but ended up waking up before it went off, since I went to bed so early last night. Got the horses fed and had breakfast, then was leaving camp a little after 8:00. First stop was the hardware store to pick up a couple of e-clamps to finish the repair on the tractor, which ended up not working anyway (I dropped one and didn’t try to put the second one on.) Put some duct tape on the end of the bolt, though, just to make sure they didn’t come loose and I lose them again. Got the lawn mowed, and the pool was perfect so I didn’t need to do anything to it, then headed over to the Kane Center, grabbed a bowl of beef barley soup and played a couple of hours of euchre. Small crowd, guess every one is busy with the holidays. Another stop for fuel, then Walmart for the bulk of my shopping, then a quick stop at Publix for more eggnog (as if drinking the half gallon over two days at Christmas wasn’t enough!), then finally back to camp just after sunset. Put away the perishables, then went through camp to register a couple of new folks, finally settling in for some ramin, a couple of hours of evening tv, now a quick shower and soon to bed! Love you, sweetie! Good night!

Hey Babe,
Decided I needed to do some housework today. I had kind of thought about cleaning out my wardrobe and trying to get ride of some stuff I don’t wear anymore, but ended up just doing a good clean in the bathroom and on the paddle fans. Took out Lola’s bed and gave it a good spray with Febreze and let it air out, put the cushion in the dryer to fluff, and generally did a nice clean up of the bathroom. Was going to do more, but then my friends Maggie and Pistol arrived, so that kind of brought that cleaning binge to a halt. I finished up a few things, put some stuff away, checked in a number of equestrian campers, and generally just got back to a regular day. Still chilly today, but definitely starting to soften up, thank goodness. Supposed to be in the 80’s by the weekend! Sat around the campfire for a bit, then came home so I can get an early night sleep. Heading to the shower here shortly! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hiya, Darlin’!,
Had a great night sleep, finally got moving after 830, gave the horses some alfalfa cubes soaked in hot water for breakfast as a special treat, then once again spent most of the day watching Christmas movies and calling family, including your sister Jean. Sorry to say she’s bedridden now, the health system there is struggling and they’ve cut back on the number of sessions they’re giving her after her surgery. Hopefully it will improve after the holidays, but who knows? Spoke to all my brothers. Jeff asked if I wanted to go down to the Turtle Tavern, but I decided to say in front of my cozy electric fireplace instead of driving 60 miles round trip for a meal. Not sure if he even went in the end. So a quiet day, did one load of laundry, but that was about it! It’s actually been perfect, it has been too cold outside to do anything. Granted, warmer than up north, but we had wind chills this morning below freezing, and didn’t get above 50 degrees here today, so staying home in front of a cozy fire was a perfect way to spend Christmas. Lola spent many hours in my lap today, too, so it’s been a good day, albeit spending it alone. Had a nice ham, mashed potato and glazed carrot dinner as well. Heading for shower and bed, now, so good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Decided to spend the day doing nothing but watch Christmas movies and drink eggnog. Couldn’t muster the will to do anything else today. Probably drank a few thousand calories. Happy Christmas Eve, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Managed to keep busy all day, and got a lot done as well. After feeding the horses, I worked on my union contract, they’re still giving me a lot of trouble about the same old things they always give me trouble about, then took Flash for a ride, only about 6.5 miles but I wanted to check out the water on a few particular trails, and was glad to see it’s mostly gone, safe for tractor travel, so whether I want to put up the few posts I have left, or to mow, I can safely get around a lot more trails. After we got back, I spent about an hour finishing my set up, putting out the skirting, putting up the screen room, and generally getting ready for what looks like the coldest night of the year. It was absolutely gorgeous out on the trail today, but there’s a cold front coming in that’s dropping temps into the mid-30’s tonight, so before dinner, I put the horses’ heavy winter blankets on. I also closed up all the doors and half doors in the barn to keep it warmer, there’s a cool north breeze I wanted to cut off. No one else here yet, but at least my guys will be warm! Expecting a big crowd next weekend, but pretty slow here right now, at least on the equestrian side. Finally settled down to dinner and a Christmas rom-com, as it my wont this time of year. Got the fireplace going, and will likely leave it all night, even got out my flannel sheets with the expectation of a very chilly night! Headed for shower and bed nice and early, which is becoming my habit these days. Looking forward to cuddling up in my little bedroom cupboard, and hopefully, Lola will sleep better tonight! She’s been a real pain the last few nights, scratching on the door and the bedroom divider, her toe nails clicking on the floor. She’s been quiet all day, then when I go to bed she suddenly gets all restless. Hoping she’ll be quieter tonight after our ride today. Anyway, good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hiya Darlin’,
A good night sleep, then after feeding Flash I fixed a fence board that had bome loose in one of the paddocks, picked a few ragweed that were about to bloom, had breakfast, then headed over to brother Glenn’s to check in on his place, with a stop at the hardware along the way. Delighted to find that the chlorine in his pool finally did the job and all of the stains were gone. Other than a plugged up filter and a dead rat that I had to scoop out of the pool, everything else looked great. Fixed the lawn mover as best I could with the parts I got at the hardware store, but didn’t have time to do the mowing yet, I’ll get it done next week. Stopped and got some fuel, then headed down to Jeff’s to pick up Apollo and bring him back to camp for a happy reunion with Flash. Did a little grocery shopping for Christmas at Public, can’t have the holidays go by without some special fixings, like eggnog. Parked the small trailer back in its place, moved some salt for the wells, then settled down for the rest of the evening. Ordered a couple of Trojan batteries for the RV, expensive but they should last, providing I take good care of them. Just starting to rain here. Supposed to be nice during the day here tomorrow, then a huge cold front is coming in, dropping temps into the 30”s, just in time for Christmas! Brrrrr! At least the horses will have the barn to hide in, and I may put some blankets on them as well. Anyway, heading to shower and bed momentarily. Love you, sweetie! Good night!