Hi Sweetie,
Though my plan was to get out on the tractor and put some more posts in today, when I woke up this morning, I felt pretty bad. Maybe one too many drinks last night? Anyway, I just couldn’t seem to get the energy to do anything today, and since it is a holiday, I decided to just take the day off. Pretty much just lazed around reading and watching TV for the day. Most of the campers left today, and one woman was booted out by law enforcement for having multiple accounts (you’re only allowed one, with a 30 day annual limit), but otherwise a very quiet day in camp. Feeling a lot better tonight, so a good night sleep tonight should put me in the right frame of mind to get out there tomorrow. Headed for the shower shortly, and bed right after that! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Had a good night sleep, stayed in bed a little reading, finally got up and fed the horses. Also did a repair on Barn 3, I noticed a board came off, so I pulled all the nails out and screwed in back into place. The manure rake handle was also broken, so I apprised James we needed a new one. Skipped breakfast because I was meeting with my new friend Joan, whom I met in the Charlotte airport on my last trip to Vegas, at the Seminole Inn for their brunch. We met at noon and ended up chatting together until 4:30! She’s quite the talker, and we had a good time. Then I headed over to Glenn’s to start my duties of “property manager”, i.e. cleaning the pool, watering the trees, and mowing when necessary. Turned out his entire pool system had shut off, so we had to go through the process of starting it up again. I cleaned it up, then he wanted me to stay for awhile, which was no hardship, I put on my bathing suit and enjoyed swimming around for awhile. Saw some fruit dangling from their trees, very tempting but not quite ready, though they should be the next time I come through later in the week. Got back to camp before 7:00, decided to quickly mow my little patch of yard since the mowers had been here on Friday and everywhere else looked so tidy, which takes no time at all. Did my rounds, then settled down for the evening, doing computer work mostly, didn’t even have a chance to turn the TV on. Did several loads of laundry as well today, so I’m set for awhile! Trying to figure out which trails to work on tomorrow, not sure yet, but I’m sure I’ll do something! Heading for bed shortly, so good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Had a decent night sleep, didn’t get up until almost 8:00, but still managed to do chores, have breakfast, and get Flash saddled up and ready to go by 9:45. I think there might have been a fire somewhere, because there was a bit of a haze in the sky, which actually worked out great because it kept it from getting too hot. We did a lovely ten miles, checking out whether I can get my tractor down to install the last two numbered posts on the south end of the yellow and white trail, and it’s looking good, as long as we don’t have a lot more rain in the next few days. I went east on the yellow trail, though, and ran into a lot of water, so I won’t be mowing down there any time soon! There’s also a water crossing that I can’t get around, even on a dry day, so that’s one I’ll have to come at from both sides when the time comes. Ended up coming around on the green spur and loop, it was a bit wet over there still, too, though I could probably make it if I wanted to. Not worried, it will get done when it gets done! I’ve been getting worried about my AC on the trailer, whenever it kicks in, it causes a brown-out condition, shutting off the TV, making all the lights dim, and setting off my carbon monoxide detector, making it chirp. I asked brother Jeff to come out and take a look, and after awhile he got here and changed out the start capacitor (well, he actually put in two smaller ones that equal the one bigger one I had), and we thought that fixed the problem, at least it seemed to. But later on in the evening, I had the same problem again, so it’s obviously something else and he’ll have to look at it again. probably the compressor. Disappointing, I was really hoping it would be something easy and cheap, but that’s just not the way things are going for me right now! Dropped my new phone, and I didn’t have the cover all the way on it, and it landed badly and broke the screen, so I had to order another one. Found an “open box” one on Ebay cheap, so hope that will solve the problem. No one to blame but myself on that one! Finally settled down for a late dinner, started a load of laundry I forgot needed doing, now I’m ready for shower and bed! Love you, sweetie! Good night!

Hey Sweetie,
At long last, I think I have all of the final post painting done! There may an odd one or two more I might decide to add later, but for now, I’ve reached the stage where the end is nigh! All that’s left is putting them out there, which will take a few days. I’m probably going to have to stage them at intervals again, but I’m going to take a couple of days off before I contemplate exactly how to complete the job. Meanwhile, the plumber came back and finished up most of the work that needed doing, we finally have three working showers and in the new bathhouse, and the water is running, so everything is flowing. Finished up a little after noon, then went into town to run a few errands and pick up a few groceries. I picked up a pump siphon, hoping I could pump the tank on the Buick out, but I still couldn’t get it in deep enough. I finally looked underneath and discovered why, there are multiple bends and narrow metal pipes, so there’s no way I’m every going to siphon it out that way. Looks like we’re back to the fuel injection strategy, or just dropping the tank. Need to discuss that with Jeff. Anyway, finally got back to camp and settled down for a lazy evening. Ready for my shower and bed for sure! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Another good night sleep, up at the crack of dawn. James arrived before 9:00 to meet various workmen for plumbing and electrical problems. I stayed in camp today to do as much of the final painting as I could. This is presumable the last batch of posts to be painted, but it’s a lot easier to do the crosspieces here in camp, and the posts as well. I did all the crosspieces that I can think of, and the final white base on the back of the posts, so tomorrow I’ll only need to stencil and paint a few posts, and they’ll be finished! Just getting them out there is all that’s left to do! Plumber got here late and didn’t finish on time, so he’ll be back tomorrow. Settled down for the evening, now I’m ready for shower and bed! Can’t believe it’s September already, this summer flew by! Glad of it, though, it should start cooling down in a few weeks, which will be wonderful! Meanwhile, good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Glad to say I had another good night sleep last night, thank goodness! Woke up at dawn, got my day going pretty early, was out on the trail by 8:30, this time finishing off the last of the painting of posts in situ on the western side of the grade, yippee! Also had to correct a few things I had done previously, like move a post along the powerline which I had put at the wrong intersection, add a couple of crosspieces, added a couple of posts and moved a marker on the teal trail, and take down one crosspiece I had put on the wrong post, put it on the right post, and put the right marker on the first post. Had some criss-crossing across the property to do it, but still managed to get it all done and get back to camp by 3:30. Just in the nick of time, too! I had just enough time to put away the tractor and move the truck into the carport, get in the trailer, strip down and jump in the shower just as it started raining! Perfect timing! Felt a lot better today, too, no ibuprofen needed! Settled down for the rest of the day, just about ready for bed. Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Thank goodness, I FINALLY got a good night sleep. I don’t know if it was just because I was so tired, the ibuprofen I took, or the double dose of Sleepytime tea, but I was in bed before 10:00 and was out like a light. Woke up once and fell right back to sleep, finally waking up for good just before 7:00. Got up feeling rested and did my chores, spend a little time cleaning and refreshing my little paint pots, and was back out on the trail before 9:00. Today I started all the way down at the southern end of the property and started working my way back. Some of the signs took me a lot longer than I expected because I had to do some fiddly words, not just numbers, so it was nearly 5:00 by the time I got back to camp, what with the long drive as well. So glad I’m making progress, though! I only have about seven numbered intersection signs left to finish, plus the two post I haven’t been able to put in yet, so after that, it’s all gravy, first with the arrow signs and finally with just the guide posts. I’ll get James all the shape files he needs before then so he can work on the map, but all the posts should be out in the next couple of weeks. Then I can finally relax for awhile! I seem to be going in spurts these days, working like crazy part of the day, then sitting around doing nothing the rest of the day. I guess it’s like hibernation up north in the winter, except it’s too hot to be comfortable unless I’m doing something. As hot as it was today, mid-90’s with high humidity, it still didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would. Anyway, I took my shower, had my dinner, settled down, now I’m ready for bed! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Had an absolutely terrible night sleep last night! Despite doing everything I could, I didn’t finally get to sleep until almost 4:30, so when I finally woke up at 7:30, I was exhausted! My back hurts for some reason, and I ended up taking a second helping of ibuprofen, and that’s what I think finally kicked it off. I was determined to get some posts painted today, though it was a real exercise in self-determination! The day started out cloudy, so comfortable, and there was rain in the forecast for the afternoon, which unfortunately never materialize, so it was hot and humid, but once I got going, I kept pushing myself until I got twelve more posts done. Had to backtrack around a water crossing once, so the traveling-by-tractor took a little longer, and I worked from before 10 until 4:00, so a full day. Once I sat down, though, that was it! I struggled to take my shower, took some more ibuprofen, then settled down to the final of the Great British Baking Show, then a movie. Now I’m having a double strength Sleepttime tea, and will be off to bed VERY SOON, very early, because I have another full day scheduled for tomorrow. Getting closer! I figure two more days to get all the intersection posts completely painted, then I’m going to finish my arrow posts here in camp so all I have to do is plant them, which will be a lot easier, I think. I’ll put out as many as I can, though some areas will still be too wet. We did have a good rain yesterday, but nothing here today, so I should be good for the south end tomorrow. Headed to bed right after my Spanish lesson. Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Slept late this morning after taking hours to get to sleep last night for some reason, did my chores and fed Lola, then headed over to the local country club for lunch with two of my brothers and my sister-in-law, then a quick trip over to Glenn’s house for instructions on taking care of his pool and his lawn, something I agreed to do when they head back to Texas next week. Got back to camp, and continued my day off, which was my plan for today, binge-watching nearly an entire season of the Great British Baking Show (okay, I’m hooked!), except for the finale, when I just ran out of time. Did a load of laundry, but that was the extent of my energy today, as I’m planning on a busy week next week getting back out into the field and doing more post painting, in weather that looks extremely hot and humid, so I need to start as early as possible. So good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Didn’t have a very good night sleep, and still got up fairly early. After breakfast and chores, I decided I needed to stay in camp because there was a Celebration of Life for someone who apparently rode these trails when it was still a cattle ranch, and I wanted to be nearby in case anybody needed anything. So I decided to make it a painting day, when I painted a bunch of posts that won’t actually have intersection numbers on them, but that I’ve decided need to be installed to help keep people on the right track. That kept me busy for most of the morning. Then I had a fairly quiet afternoon and evening reading and binge-watching my latest obsession, The Great British Baking Show. Just finished off a season, now I’m ready for shower and bed, so good night, babe! Love you!