Hey Babe,
Yesterday was so busy I didn’t even take the time to write my blog, but suffice to say it was a very busy day! Did all that was needed to be done for the trails, had lunch and dinner over at the ride camp at Helen’s, and went to bed nice and early yesterday. Woke up early to the alarm today, and was busy all day with the ride. Started out early and ended up late as the timer of the last of the 50 milers that didn’t get in until nearly 6:30, well after dark and after I had to put my Alaska parka on, which I wore this morning as well. Waiting for the last few stragglers, I had Lola at my feet, me sitting in a chair bundled up, with a Goethe Benefit blanket spread over both me and Lola, it was quite the picture, I’m sure. A long and tiring day, heading to the shower and bed. Once last busy day taking down markers and picking up troughs tomorrow, and then I’m done! With the weather forecast as it is (COLD AND RAINY!) I’m planning on heading south on Monday, earlier than I expected, but appropriate if the forecast remains the same. A busy and productive day, but exhausted! Still not fully recovered. SO need a couple of days off! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Woke up before my early alarm (I really don’t like getting up when it’s still dark!)1`, and was ready to go when Jo picked me up at 8:00. We ran some errands, picked up water troughs and distributed them, then went to lunch at Willards. Great patty melt, but the service is unbelievably slow there. Then met DeDe with her side-by-side and went out and re-marked the corrections on the Red Dot trail, only took about 90 minutes. Glad to be back in camp nice and early, get a few hours to relax anyway. Nothing going on tomorrow until dinner tomorrow night, though I’ve been invited to come over for lunch as well, so I’ll have a much needed relaxed day tomorrow, too. Evidently we have a real system down now, everything has gone smoothly, even the changes in the trail were a minimal issue. Practice makes perfect, I guess! Settled down for the evening, put a blanket on Flash tonight since it’s supposed to go down into the 40’s (brrrr!) watched a little television, ready to take my shower and hit the hay! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Heya Sweetie,
Woke up a time or two during the night, but finally got out of bed after 8:00, though I read a little before getting up. Did my chores and a little extra work around the trailer. Weather forecast is for a very cold weekend, so I went up into the attic and pulled out my Alaska parka and washed it, along with some other laundry, managed to put some wire loom around the drains on the refrigerator, don’t know how well the duct tape will hold, but it’s a temporary solution anyway. Washed out the horse trough here at the trailhead, revisited the Red Dot Trail with Kelsey and decided to make some changes, so that’s something else that needs to be done tomorrow. Supposed to rain, so I’ve called DeDe to bring over her side-by-side, since I’m not going to ride Flash in a cold rain. Finally went into town to fill up three propane tanks, do some shopping, and fill up the truck with fuel so I can get home without stopping, maybe. Finally ended the day meeting Margarita and George for dinner at Willard’s, had a lovely steak, so that’s two days I’ve pigged out at a restaurant. Not stepping on the scale tomorrow! Got back around 7:00, planning on an early shower and bed. Sorry to say, Lola got into the bedroom while I was gone, so there’s probably some sand in the bed now, grrrr! Didn’t block it off well enough before I left, so it’s my fault, I know. Still tired, and keeping this busy isn’t helping much. I expect when I get back to Dupuis, I’ll crash for a couple of days! At least, I hope I get the chance to do that! Anyway, that was my day. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Woke up a couple of times during the night, and was thinking about getting up around 7:00, then decided to lay in for a bit, dozed off, and the next time I looked at the clock, it said 11:45! Holy mackerel! Well, it turned out my clock had jumped forward an hour, don’t know why, but still, 10:45 was ridiculous, but I obviously needed it. More than 12 hours of sleep, that’s crazy! I heard other campers leave, and someone come in for day riding, and when they left for the trail, Flash started whinnying away. I thought it was just because they were leaving him behind, but I think by then he was just hungry! Finally got up and fed him, then put up the highline and eventually moved him over, took down his paddock, did a load of laundry, got out the awning and porch rug, disconnected, then found a problem with my refrigerator, it didn’t seem to want to switch over to propane, so I had to fool with that awhile. In between, I played fetch with Lola, she was desperate for some exercise. Spoke to the day riders for a bit when they came back as well. Jo came by to hand off the trail markers so that I could start putting them out tomorrow. Had her help me put some stuff in the attic, then finally was able to relax a bit after she left. Dinner, shower will soon be next, and an early bedtime tonight, I’m still crashing! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Had some trouble sleeping, most likely because my hair was wet, but still felt pretty good in the morning. Flash was perfect through the night, never heard a thing, though I did have my earplugs in so I didn’t hear the restless horses further away, even the mules this morning were great, surprisingly. Got up around 7:30, did chores and breakfast and promptly started setting up camp and finish packing. I headed out to the end point, the Silver Spurs Practice Arena in Kenansville just after 11:00, since I had heard the shuttles were starting at noon. I was about the first one out, and would have been on the first shuttle back, except stupid Google maps took me to the Silver Spurs arena in Kissimmee, not Kenansville, in the opposite direction! So 20+ miles going the wrong way, the 40+ miles back, and by the time I got there, two shuttles had already left, and the wait for the next one was 45 minutes. Finally got back to camp right at 3:00, when there was an historical program starting, but they were running late, so I went and saddled Flash. I wanted to walk him around a bit to see if anything spooked him, and he was quiet as a mouse. Got to the dining tent and they still hadn’t started. Finally they did about 3:30, and I listened to some great stories. Ninety-three year old Iris Wall from Indiantown talked about putting posts in at Dupuis back in the day, so afterward, I spoke to her and told her how many of her posts were now being re-purposed for trail markers and showed her a picture, and she seemed pleased. Got back to camp, got food for Flash from the feed trailer, then settled down. Did my Spanish lesson before going to dinner. Pretty organized at dinner, better than last time, can’t wait to see what breakfast is like! Had our riders meeting afterward, tomorrow is the longest day, just like last time. They want us packed up and ready to go by 7:45. I’ve set the alarm for 5:20, and turning out the lights now! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Got up right before my alarm went off, and promptly got to work after breakfast to get all the final things packed up. Stopped at the dump, then went over and got Flash and his water bucket, and then headed over to the shop. I needed to put air in my tires all around, and in particular on the trailer. When I arrived, I discovered that the combo lock that had been on there a few days ago was gone! Grrr! I made a few phone calls and discovered it was young James who had taken it off, he thought it was just for the water contractor, not realizing I was using it, just forgot I guess. Anyway, I had to wait for him to come and open up for me, and to put a combo lock back on for future use, so in the end, it only delayed me about half an hour. It was a very straightforward drive, and I ended up arriving around 12:30, and I was SO GLAD I came early, because by the time I finished registering, there was a line behind me. There wasn’t enough room between the fence and the road for me to back into, so I ended up just parking by the side, where I was able to put in a decent paddock for Flash. I had put him in the middle stall, and he didn’t have room to turn around, so he ended up backing out, first time EVER in this trailer. Unfortunately, he slipped and landed on his knee, but no damage, fortunately. He settled down nicely in the paddock, even laid down awhile to sleep. Hope he stays quiet tonight! When arrived, a woman at registration recognized me, gave me a hug, and got me hooked up into the Royal Blue Circle this time around. After I parked and got set up, I spent a couple of hours carefully packing, using both their suggested list and my own list, so I think I’ve got everything. I was going to the back of the trailer to get something when I looked around and found that my friend Linda and her horse Tonto, who we met a long time ago at Colt Creek and keep running into each other, the last time on the Cracker Ride, was backing up into a spot directly across from me, so I helped her for a few minutes. Eventually, after dinner, I took a walk around and found Luan, who I met at Dupuis before Thanksgiving, she’s also in the Royal Blue Circle, as is Linda! Guess I’ll be surround by folks I know. Linda lit a Duraflame log by the edge of her road (a really cool idea, actually!) and we sat around and chatted for awhile. Eventually we were joined by a group of three girls and a boy (the son of one of the girls) from Pennsylvania, who proceeded to cook Mountain Pies and s’mores over the flame. We had a nice chat, so it was a very nice evening. Turns out, THEY’RE in the Royal Blue Circle as well, which dashed my assumption that the circles were being determined by geography. Looks it will be a fun week! By 8:30, I came back to the trailer, now I’m ready to take my last shower for the week. Heading to bed shortly! I’ll be writing everything in longhand, with no way to post anything here until it’s over, but I’ll be putting things on my Facebook page via phone, as long as I have a signal. Oh, dear, I just heard a mule braying! Guess I won’t need my alarm clock in the morning! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Whew, what a day! Got up bright and early and started doing some last minute things I’d been meaning to do, like cleaning the last two stalls in Barn 2, which I hadn’t gotten around to yet, then James showed up, so we chatted for a bit, mostly about how certain folks in the hierarchy weren’t happy about getting complaints about me (though they didn’t seem interested in my side at all, and were only reacting to minimal information-welcome to bureaucracy!), but James we completely understanding, knew exactly what I was doing, and kept the wolves at bay long enough for my message to have maximum impact. Anyway, it was a good “meeting,” and after he left, I grabbed some breakfast and then started breaking down everything. The screen room, cleaning out the back of trailer and rearranging it, generally packing up as much as I could. After a few hours, I finally got an email that I had received my package at the post office. I had ordered a large, inexpensive duffel bag, since it became clear I didn’t have enough room in what I had. I hooked up the small trailer, loaded up Apollo and Lola, stopped at the post office for the package, and made my way to brother Jeff’s to drop off my critters. Had to take a quick run into Publix to pick some more cans of dog food and grapefruit juice. I was going to get eggs but the prices have done through the roof! Nine dollars for an 18 carton of eggs! Crazy! Dropped everything back at Jeff’s, then headed back to camp, though I stopped to top off my tank. I though it would only be a top off, because I had a nearly full tank, and it STILL cost my $45 dollars to do that! Got back to camp, got the truck hooked up to the trailer, checked in an equestrian group of three, then finally did some packing into my new bag. It’s big, and I’m trying not to overload it and make it too heavy, but this combined with the red duffel bag should be plenty of space, and hopefully not weigh too much. Getting ready for “fun” is exhausting! Finally settled down for the evening, now I’m ready for an early shower and bed! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hiya Darlin’!
Had a tough time getting to sleep last night for some reason, probably because I showered so late, and Flash kept nickering and getting antsy in the portable pen, so at 1:00 I decided he wasn’t going to settle down so I got up and took him back to the barn, where Apollo promptly chastised him like a parent with a kid coming home after curfew. So funny! Finally got to sleep after that, slept until 8:00, then got busy again. Put a lot of stuff away, like the skirting around the trailer, the barbecue grill, a bunch of stuff in the barn and the shed, and generally cleared some things up. I decided to mow brother Glenn’s lawn today rather than tomorrow, I already have enough to do tomorrow, so I drove over, found the pool looking great, put the new nuts and washers on the steering control, though I didn’t have the right tool to tighten them up, so before long I lost them both. Going to have to get some more before I mow again, it’s just not safe. Stopped at Tractor Supply to pick up some horse feed and eight more bales of hay for Apollo, he and Lola are getting taken over to Jeff’s tomorrow. Much cooler tonight, so I’m looking forward to a good night sleep. Settled down to a little TV and leftover ribs, won’t be long out of bed tonight! Love you babe! Good night!

Hiya Sweetie!
SO GLAD I took the day off yesterday, I, indeed, was ready to go this morning. Got started right after chores, with the first job of putting up the electric fence I’ll be taking, making sure it works and that I have all the bits I need, then setting up my old tent, plus a tent someone left behind to see if I liked it better. I didn’t. It had a few things I liked, but most importantly, it was half the size, and with all the stuff I have to bring along, including all my tack, I figured I needed the room. So once it was up, I cleaned it all up, then pulled out a can of Camp Dry spray (leftover from the LAST time we went on the cattle drive in 2016) and completely sprayed it, and even got a second spray on about half of it later in the day. Once that was done, I headed to town, got fuel (I prepaid $150 figuring I’d get money back, but instead, it didn’t even click off before it hit it! Grrrr!), picked up a package that had the final missing zero for the new number system, which I put on as soon as I got to back to camp, went to Glenn’s and happily found that all was well with the pool, just added a little acid, then stopped at Tractor Supply to pick up hay and feed. The hay was really nice coastal, but the only type of feed they had was Senior, they had no Perform and no Balance, so I guess I’ll have to take a ride up to Ranch Feed before I leave. I need to get more hay for Apollo while he’s at Jeff’s anyway. Going to be a busy day Friday! Once I got back, I put away the hay in the trailer, moving the last old bale to the barn to finish off this week, then took the tent I didn’t want down to store it, washed the two sleeping bags, though I’m only taking one and a blanket, cleaned the duffel bag I’m going to take, and pretty much kept busy the rest of the afternoon doing small prep work. I’m trying to pace it out so I don’t exhaust myself before I leave, so I quit around 3:00 and relaxed the rest of the day. Got lots more to do tomorrow, including actually taking Flash out for a conditioning ride! On track, though, which is all I can expect at this point. Heading for shower and bed early again, so we can get it all started tomorrow! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
Had a pretty good night sleep, woke up tired from all the activity of the last week, so I laid in bed and read for several hours just to rest. Essentially did almost nothing today, I felt that was the fastest way to recharge my batteries so that I will be raring to go tomorrow and the rest of the week. Considering I have to get ready for the Cattle Drive, to which I’m planning to drive on Saturday, and don’t have a lot to time, I still felt it worthwhile to rest today, though I did spend some time researching for my health insurance for next year, and determined that another union contract was in order to achieve the best deal, so I put that together. So that’s essentially what I did! Had a nice turkey leftover dinner, watched a good movie, and now I’m heading to shower and bed, nice and early so I can be ready to go tomorrow! Good night, babe! Love you!