Hey Sweetie,
Did my usual morning of chores before saddling up Flash and heading out for a ride. It's too bad there's only about eight miles of trails here, today was the third time we've done pretty much the same circuit, and I can tell Flash is getting pretty bored here. But we still managed to get in a bunch of nice canters and speedy gaiting, which is always fun! Later in the day, I got a notice that my package had arrived. It was supposed to be here Friday, then Tuesday, then Monday, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised it showed up today! Which was fine, I managed to get the PSA done. I was working with a program that I had downloaded earlier, but couldn't work with until I got the headset with the microphone, which was in my package today. I build the whole two-track PSA, then when I tried to export it into a usable format, it informed me that my 7-day trial was up and I couldn't do anything else with it unless I paid a bunch of money! Grrr! So I downloaded Audacity again, and managed to make that work, but it meant doing the vocal part over again, which was challenging because Lola was being very fidgety and making a lot of noise, but I finally managed to get it done, thank goodness. Managed to get in a couple of episodes of Bones, now I'm off to my shower and bed! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hey Darlin',
Woke up to a beautiful morning, got some early chores done, then saddled up Flash for a lovely ride around the park perimeter. Managed to clock eight miles, but we made a pretty good pace, including some speedy canters and gaiting. Saw some wildlife, too, like an armadillo, water birds, and Gator Lake lived up to it's name, with numerous gators floating like logs out there. Being Friday, a bunch more campers came in, and I stopped at a couple of sites on the way back through camp to let some folks admire Flash. Sorry to say that all of the new campers in the equestrian area are non-equestrians. Really a shame they don't keep them separate, especially since several of the new campers are families with young kids, and I'm not sure they know how to behave around horses. Riding bikes through camp willy-nilly would be dangerous for less seasoned horses than mine, if you know what I mean. Not my place to complain, though, but I'm sure the only reason I couldn't stay a full two weeks was because this site was booked by a non-horse person next week. Oh, well, I've made lots of plans already, so it will all work out in the end! Settled down for a quiet evening, pigged out on a big smoked turkey drumstick (I got hooked at Thanksgiving, so will probably become part of my dinner routine in the future) and binged on a bunch more Bones. Won't be long before I'm finished with it, twelve seasons in all! Lola is getting used to her splatter-proof bowl, and it seems to mostly be working, though there is still a couple of drips escaping as she retracts her mouth, but it's definitely a lot better! Didn't get my second delivery of stuff which was due today, so I'm hoping they'll come tomorrow. Hope they didn't get lost in the system! Washed my flannel sheets and put them away, as it's been getting into the mid-80's here and don't need them. I've even been running the AC in the evening to cool things off at night, but that will change next week when a cold front comes through. Pleasant sleeping, though! Off to bed soon, so good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Feeling a bit nostalgic today, thinking a lot about you on this 6th anniversary of your departure for the undiscovered country... But lived life to the fullest, doing some computer work in the morning while I waited for the mist to burn off, made my annual "In Memorium" donation to the Musk Ox Farm in Palmer, Alaska (our latest Adoptee is an ox named Lola!), then taking a ride on Apollo in the afternoon. We only went two miles, around the nearest lake, but it was lovely. Sorry to say he's stumbling quite a bit these days, and seemed to be limping a little by the time we got back. I did some work trimming his feet today, I think that's where his problem lies. His soles are very hard, brittle and overgrown, though I tried to trim them back a bit. They seem overly concave as well. Once I get back up to Morriston, I'm going to try to find a good hoof person and see if something remedial can be done. After all, he does turn 30 years old this year! I should probably just retire him, but he does seem to move a little better once he gets warmed up, just like the rest of us aging folks! Settled down for the evening, missing you, as always! Love you, darlin'! Good night!

Hey Darlin',
Nice and quiet here, had a good night sleep! Woke up to a rather foggy morning, but it didn't take long to dry up into a beautiful day! Got a bunch of little things done in the morning, including having to use my blow dryer to defrost part of the freezer. Last week I had a day when my propane was empty and after I switched over, my refrigerator didn't start properly, so it defrosted enough to put a puddle in the bottom of the freezer, so when it started working again, everything that was on the bottom got frozen and impossible to remove, so I had to blow dry it loose, which took some time! Got it done, though. Finally finished what I had to do and saddled up Flash for our first venture out. We ended up going about seven miles. There is literally no markings on the trail, so I had no frame of reference, though I did plot a GPS trail and put it on my Garmin, which helped a lot, but I still had no references! There were a couple road signs at a couple of intersections that simply said 'trail' and 'exit', but otherwise, nothing. No big deal, though, as it's only 1200 acres, so it's pretty hard to get lost. Quite a bit of the trail was following roads or going through open fields, but we finally came to the preserve area, which turned out to be quite lovely. Lots of old growth, and even some wildlife. Saw an armadillo and heard the splashing of some rather large gators, though I didn't actually see one, and, of course, lots of water birds, as there are numerous lakes here. Lots of docks and boat launches along the way. A lovely ride, and Flash was quite happy to race along whenever we had a nice grassy, open space. We were out about two hours, and he was perfect. Perfect weather, too, so I couldn't ask for more! Gave him a nice bath when we got back, but I made him stand at the trailer until he dried off a bit, so he wouldn't immediately roll after his bath, and it helped! Then I got busy with the trail planning for TOG and managed to get that done before finally settling down for the evening. A wonderful day, not too taxing, just what I needed! Won't be long out of bed tonight! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Darlin',
Was woke up before 6:00 by the sound of Flash whinnying, sure enough, Apollo got hungry and busted through the fence, heard him munching the hay beneath me. Flash soon followed, so I had to get up and fix the fence and give them more hay. Managed to get a little more sleep, then got up and got busy. So many things have been ignored with the busy month I've had, so I managed to get a couple done before I saddled up Flash and took him for a short but fast ride. Under seven miles, but at nearly 7 mph the entire way, and it was wonderful. Meanwhile, Art took Lola for a walk, then eventually we met up at Willard's to have lunch with Helen. Stopped by Jo's on the way back to drop off some stuff, then Apex to look at the parking situation before getting back to camp and doing a few more things. Braided a bunch of bale string, got enough for awhile now! Put some stuff away, filled up with enough water to get me through the rest of the weekend, fixed the solar fence charger, which had the wire pulled out when the horses escaped this morning, and did as much as I could until after 5:00 when I called it quits. Busy day! Still have a lot to do tomorrow, though. Heading to bed shortly! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!