Hiya Sweetie,
Got up a bit early today because James was going to come by this morning, though he ended up coming later than I expected, but that’s fine. Got my chores and breakfast done, then did some computer work for a bit. After he arrived we had a long chat about the work day that’s scheduled this weekend, and what my future plans are. He wants to go ahead and get me approved through their HR department as a camp host, even though he knows I won’t be here during the summer. I told him I’d only stay longer if they could get me electricity, I’m not going through that many bottles of propane to run my AC when I could just head north and not need to use any. It may mean suffering through some heat, but it might be okay through April. He said he’d work on that. After he left, I walked through every single paddock looking for what repairs need to be made, counting what broken boards we need to replace, and other hardware items. He brought me a couple of gate latches, I’ll have at least one stall door that needs a replacement, I’ll try to do that tomorrow. It’s a lot of walking around to every single paddock! Got it done, though. I’m trying to arrange lumber pickup for those boards, though James ended up coming back with the lumber delivery for the manure bins. I have a bunch of volunteers lined up, so hopefully we can get a lot of work done on Saturday. Finally settled down for the evening, it’s back to being pretty hot at night, looking forward to a cool front that’s due to come through tomorrow, bringing rain, though I’m hoping to take Apollo for a short ride tomorrow, he keeps giving me that look with his mournful eyes, wanting to get out of his paddock. But for tonight, shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!
Tuesday, March 23, 2022 – Another Long Ride on Flash
Hey Babe,
Cool enough for another great night sleep, then chores and breakfast and a little route planning, and said good-bye to Laura from Ontario before Flash and Lola and I headed out. Managed to GPS another 17.6 miles of trails, some of it brand new. I’m getting close to getting them all the designated trails done. All that’s left are a bunch of side roads that I have to explore a bit more, just to see if they go anywhere or if they just dead end. We were out until nearly 4:00, and by the time I downloaded all my pix and GPS routes, it was nearly suppertime. Learned that over half a dozen people are already planning on coming to the work day on Saturday, which I’m glad to learn since I was late getting it announced. Somewhere along the line, I missed a week this month! Getting later than I thought a lot faster! Anyway, settled down, grilled a steak on my new grill, watched a little TV, now I’m more than ready for my shower and bed. Good night, darlin’! Love you!
Monday, March 21, 2022 – Laundry and Housekeeping
Hi Darlin’!
Had a great night sleep, first time it was cool enough to really be comfortable in a long time! Read for a little bit before getting up as well, so a bit of a late start this morning. After chores and breakfast I started my first load of laundry and then started doing some housekeeping. Since I have to be running the generator to run the washer, I’ve decided to take that opportunity to run the vacuum as well, and do some housekeeping on a more regular basis. You know me, not much of a housekeeper, but I’m trying! Once I got started, though, I couldn’t be stopped. I did all the dusting and vacuuming, including a deep clean behind the recliners and under the kitchen table, swept and mopped the floor, even spot cleaned all the little bits of carpeting on the stairs and the slide-out. I even took a fan apart and cleaned that up as well, since I’ll doubtless be using it again in the coming weeks. So a very busy day in the end! Did three loads of laundry, too. Finally settled down late in the afternoon, then Steve came by and told me they had a bad water leak somewhere, so we split up and checked all the water spigots throughout the barns, paddocks and campground, until he finally found it was a toilet that was continuously running that accounted for the use of 8300 gallons of water over the last three days! Can you imagine? So he shut off the toilet and stopped that for the moment, until it can be repaired. Used my new grill again tonight, to cook a burger, and I’m really liking it, especially because it has an electric starter, an improvement over my last one. I’m determined to keep this one cleaner, too, and keep it in nice shape. Finally settled down for the evening, binge-watching another few episodes of my latest series, won’t be long before I’m off to my shower and climbing into my clean sheets! Good night, sweetie! Love you!
Sunday, March 20, 2022 – Long Ride on Flash, Mapped Another 18.6 Miles
Hey Sweetie!
Another hot night, and even though I ran the AC for nearly an hour, it was still hot by the time I went to bed! Never mind, once I get to sleep it doesn’t matter. After chores and breakfast, I saddled Flash and was out before 10:00, while the weather was a bit cooler. Not as hot today, thank goodness, but in the sun it was till plenty hot! Poor Lola, I wasn’t sure she was going to make it since there is so little water on the trail, but we finally managed to find a few water holes on the way, and she was fine. She even want to play frisbee at dinner time, which surprised me, I thought she would be too bushed, but she seems to have recovered okay. It was a long ride, but we took a few breaks and I had some water on board which I shared with Lola, so it was fine. Covered a lot of trails today, too, so I’m making some headway at last. It was lovely today, and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! Got back to camp, did a little computer work, and it wasn’t long before it was suppertime and evening TV time, and now it’s shower time and bed time! Good night, babe! Love you!
Saturday, March 19, 2022 – Short Ride on Apollo, Map Work
Hi Babe!
Another warm night and hot day, unseasonably so, really. Called your sister today, meant to do it yesterday but the morning got away from me. She’s doing well, was actually in a physical therapy session when I called, so it was short and sweet. Got out on the trail fairly early to try to avoid the heat, happy there was a nice breeze, which helped tremendously. I did some hair scraping off Apollo before I saddled him, his winter coat is coming out big-time, but I’m sure he’s a lot more comfortable as a result. We went for just about four miles, just a bit over an hour, just to give him some exercise and to check out a couple of trails closer to camp, though at first he fought hard against leaving camp, so we had “words.” He finally saw things my way. It seems I’ve done all the horse trails, now I’m on to the so-called hiking trails, though evidently, it’s up to the landowner (i.e. SFWMD) to determine which trails are hiking and which are horse. Hoping I can convince James to let them all be both, which seems more practical. I kept seeing markers for a blue trail, though there had never been a blue trail on the map that I can find, but it seems it’s a connector for the white trail from a small campground. Anyway, it’s on the map now! I spent most of the afternoon on the computer trying to create the final version of the trails on Google Earth, as well as to see which trails I need to confirm for sure. Still a lot of work to do, both on the ground and on the computer, but at least I’m a little more organized and making progress. I also downloaded an interesting program called Relive, which takes your GPS information and makes a video out of it, and matches it with whatever pictures you tak along the way. That could be very useful if I can figure out how to match up my digital camera photos rather than my phone. You know how hard it is to take pix from my phone when I’m on Flash, I don’t have enough hands! Finally settled down for the evening to a couple of episodes of the latest series. I ran the AC for awhile, which was wonderful, experimenting with closing all the windows to see if it would help. Maybe a little, but of course it started getting warm once I turned the AC off. Supposed to have a cold front come through overnight, hopefully it will be a bit cooler tomorrow. Anyway, time for shower and bed! Good night, darlin’! Love you!
Friday, March 18, 2022 – Happy Birthday, My Love!
Happy 88th Birthday, my darling!
As always, you were in my thoughts today, even more so because it’s your birthday today. A little busy today, first with a 15 mile ride on Flash, once again seeking new and old trails to be marked and/or recovered, though I have to speak with James at the SFWMD to figure out which will be which. It was a hot day again today, maybe not record temps, but pretty close. Flash and I did a lot of gaiting and cantering, especially toward the end, because I had made arrangements to have lunch with brother Glenn and Dena and we were pushing it on time. We managed to get back to camp just before 1:00, so I was only a couple of minutes late for our 1:15 lunch date at a Mexican restaurant in Indiantown. Brother Jeff joined us as well, so it was a good opportunity to spend time with the family, and to toast your birthday. Glenn’s been looking at investment real estate for a week now, finally found something he’s put an offer on, looks like he’ll get it if the inspection goes well. Afterward, I stopped at the Post office for my new grill and went shopping at the IGA and Dollar General. My old grill had some parts that were completely wearing out, and they quit making those Sidekicks and I couldn’t get parts, or they were so ridiculously expensive it didn’t make any sense to fix it. Fortunately, I found another one exactly the same, with a different name, Flame King, and Amazon had one in their warehouse that had apparently been returned so it was considered “used, like new” with supposedly only damaged packaging, for a nice discounted price, so I ordered that earlier this week and it came in today. Once I got back to camp and got my groceries put away, I put it all together and put it up, a perfect fit and it looks great! Well worth the price. I’ve been using the grill a lot, so it’s nice to start fresh with a new one, since the old one had so much wear on it. Settled down for the evening with some more binge TV, another hot night so I’ve been getting to bed pretty late just to let it cool down. I got the big fan out of the back of the trailer and put it in my bedroom, so hopefully that will help to cool it down in there before bedtime. Not liking this heat too much, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to end any time soon. Time to start thinking about heading north! Except I have so much to do here, I’m not sure when that will be. Anyway, time for a cool shower and bed! Good night, my love, Happy Birthday!
Thursday, March 17, 2022 – Happy St. Patty’s Day!
Hi Babe!
Other than being St. Patty’s Day, not much happened today. After chores I did some much needed housework, then some computer work including preparing and sending my Equity contract for the summer season, then cleaned a couple of stalls that needed a touch up from last weekend. Kind of relaxed a bit during the afternoon, then settled down in the evening to watch more of my binge TV. All in all, a rather mundane day! Don’t get too many of those, so I’ll take it! Getting hotter every day, so I’ve been getting to bed later, having to wait until it cools down to be comfortable. So I’m off to my shower and bed here shortly. Love you, sweetie! Good night!
Wednesday, March 16, 2022 – Another 14 Mile Recon Ride
Hi Sweetie!
Had a good night sleep, though when I was taking my shower last night, I ran out of water and power to run the water pump at just about the same time, so I barely had time to rinse off before I was done! So first thing this morning, while the beautiful mist enveloped the campground, I filled up the water tank and took another quick shower just to get off any soap residue I might have missed. Had a brief meeting with James and the new Land Manager named Blaine, hopefully this new crew will be able to work together and we’ll be able to get some things done more smoothly here. Planned a nice recon ride that turned out to be very enlightening, found some nice firebreaks, some other trails I need to learn whether or not we can use them, found one that should have been a trail but hasn’t been mowed it a very long time, and another that looked like a trail from Google Earth but was nearly impassable, including having to go around a fence. Very interesting! Flash and I did a very quick pace because it was due to rain, but it missed us almost all day until just at feeding time, naturally, so I got a little wet. I helped Laura with her RV batteries, she didn’t think they were charging properly and when I asked her when the last time she checked it, she admitted she never had, so we worked on getting access to them (they’re in a very tough position), until we could top them off. They didn’t really look bad at all, only two cells out of the six really needed anything, but we got it all back together again. Don’t know if it will help, but it was worth a try. I figured while I had all the equipment out I’d check mine, too, and I’m glad I did because I had several cells that were low, though not critically. Lola found a new cooling off spot, laying on the hay under the gooseneck! She can’t usually get in there, but I opened it to do the batteries and she climbed up as if it were made for her. I put the screen room back up because the flies were starting to be bothersome, and since I’m evidently going to be here a few more weeks at least. Stuffed myself with my Uncle Mick’s leftovers for dinner, watched a few more episodes on Prime, now I’m headed to shower and bed. Good night, darlin’! Love you!
Tuesday, March 15, 2022 – Relaxing Day
Hey Darlin’!
Slept late and drank lots of water in order to alleviate any hangover symptoms I was bound to have after imbibing too much last night, so I didn’t get up until almost 10:30 (still getting used to the time change!) Mike came by to say good-bye when he was pulling out, then I mostly read the rest of the afternoon, occasionally slipping into a little nap. Settled down in the evening to a new series on Prime, The Man in the High Castle, the start of a new binge-watching event. An uneventful day, which is just what I needed! Heading in for shower and bed, so good night, babe! Love you!
Sunday, March 13, 2022 – Ride to Pick Up Markers and Uncle Mick’s for Ribs
Hey Sweetie!
Lost an hour of sleep due to daylight savings time going into effect last night, so didn’t get up till a bit later, not surprisingly. After chores and breakfast, I saddled up Flash and before long, we were headed out with Mike to pick up markers. Rosie joined us for a bit, then peeled off to meet up with her boyfriend. My neighbor Sonia took Apollo out for a ride as well, which she did yesterday during the Poker ride, I’m happy to see him getting his exercise! It took a little while, but Flash and Mike’s big Tennessee Walker managed to find an equal pace, so it was a pretty enjoyable ride, though I’m getting a bit tired of doing the same trail over and over. I hope to do something a bit different tomorrow! Jamie’s group went around in the opposite direction, so by the time we got to the water stop, we didn’t have many markers to pick up, though there were several strays. Got back to camp around 3:30, then Mike and I drove into Jupiter for ribs at Uncle Mick’s, which I’ve been dying to have for a long time, was glad we finally did it. Lots of leftovers for another meal as well. Then we took a little scenic drive over to the beach and up to the lighthouse, plus a quick stop at Public and the IGA before getting back to camp around 8:00, which was just getting dark now. Got the horses fed, then settled down for the evening. Tired from losing that sleep and a busy day, but I’m heading off to shower and bed now! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!