Hey Babe,
Woke up to another cool morning in the low 40's, and after chores and breakfast headed out to get my hay. I left just in time to say good-bye to Patsy, who was literally in her truck just getting ready to pull out. I then headed out to a hay place only about 20 minutes away, picked up some decent coastal for just $6 a bale. The bales were a bit inconsistent, but the hay looked fine, and for that price, it was a bargain! Got back to camp and loaded eight bales into the front stall, and another eight bales under the gooseneck, which I covered with the skirting. Just as I was starting to load it out, I felt a sprinkle of rain, so that nixed the idea of going riding today. Once I finished that, I headed over the forest HQ to fill up my truck water tank, then got back, let the horses out, but they headed up the driveway, so I had to go fetch them back, as they were going a little too far for my comfort. I pinned Apollo's anchor to a tree and lengthened his rope, and that took care of it, since Flash won't go that far without Apollo. I then settled to read the rest of the afternoon. It stayed cloudy and did sprinkle a few drops later in the day, the beginning of things to come, apparently. Relaxed the rest of the day, and had my usual evening, enjoying leftover fried chicken and broccoli salad left over from the weekend. Heading to be soon! Good night, my sweet! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
Something weird happened with my furnace this morning (and also last night, now that I come to think of it). Typically when it comes on, the blower goes for about five or ten seconds before the spark starts the heat, but last night, and again this morning, it went on for a full four minutes before sparking. Four minutes of cold air before the heat comes out! Not good! So after I got up, had breakfast, and did my chores, I pulled out the manual for the furnace and read through it, and the only thing I could find was something about the reset button, which I had pressed a couple of times when I was cleaning it out the other day. So I went through the complete process as described in the manual, and that fixed it, thank goodness! Didn't need any problems with the furnace considering the forecast for cold nights for the foreseeable future! Once I got that straightened out, I drove up to the ride area and spent the day doing a few odd jobs during the day, then helping Patsy pull out all the signs and get them back into their storage shed. For most of the day, though, I sat around the vet area, surrounded by delicious sweets, and my willpower took a vacation, and I ate way too much sugar, so much it almost felt like poison in my system. That's it, though, I'm back on my diet tomorrow, satisfied I've done my big splurge, and won't be doing that again anytime soon! Got back to the trailer at dusk, got the horses fed and blanketed, and settled down for the evening. I've arranged to get hay tomorrow, and I may try to get a ride in, since there's a tropical storm bringing cold rainy weather for the three days following, so I'll probably just be hanging out for that! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hi Darlin',
Had a leisurely morning, where the only real chore was to put together the leg on my solar panel, which only took me a few minutes. Again, not sure how long it will hold, but at least it fixed for the time being. Drove over to Patsy's trailer, leaving Lola behind, though loose, thinking she would stay at the trailer once I got out of sight, but she decided to follow me and turned up at Patsy's a few minutes later. I ended up tying her up, just because there were so many people coming into camp and I didn't want to have to keep an eye on her. Spent the day doing the odd jobs that needed doing, helped setup dinner, and generally tried to make myself useful. Had dinner, stayed through the ride meeting (even though it dropped ten degrees and I was freezing!), then got back to camp about 7:30. Fed them hay and put their blankets on, but didn't bother to clean up their paddock, too dark and too cold! I had to put the furnace on for a few minutes just to take the chill off in the trailer, though it was probably just that I was so cold when I arrived. Anyway, settled down with what little time I had for the evening, be off to bed soon! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
I am delighted to report that my furnace came on right around 7:00 this morning, and STAYED ON! It didn't quite warm it up as much as I would like, so I'm raising it a couple of degrees to see if that works better, but I'm just happy that the problem seems to be fixed. Today was a day of keeping busy with a lot of little things. I mixed up some borax and powdered sugar and put some in the back of the trailer (as a roach killer), epoxied the second leg on the solar panel, which gave out yesterday, finally found the missing strap for Apollo's blanket, washed it, let it dry, then sewed it back on (a job that's literally been waiting years to be done!), and helped Patsy take down a tree branch that had fallen across a trail. I threw Apollo's bridle on and rode him bareback up to Patsy's trailer at one point, with Flash and Lola tagging along (on the loose, but ever present!), and finally ended the day with Patsy coming down and having dinner with me. Well, she had her dinner and I had mine, but we ate together. Once the sun went down it got chilly fast, so she headed back to her trailer and I settled down for the evening. Another beautiful, cloudless day, glad to get so much accomplished! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
Another good night sleep, then after chores and breakfast I headed out to Hartsville, about 25 minutes away, first to Tractor Supply for propane and to order some Empower Balance for Apollo when I discovered they could have it shipped to the store by next week (though it was a computer nightmare to get it done!), then to Walmart for a few items I needed, plus fueling up at the fabulous price of $2.99/gal for diesel! Gotta love that! On my way back to camp, I stopped at forest HQ to fill up my water tank. By then, my friend Patsy had arrived at camp, so I stopped by there to pick up a package that I had sent to her (my new car seat cover), and she and Julia were still getting unhooked and set up, so my timing worked out even though I was running late on everything I did today. Went back to the trailer, put away my groceries, then Patsy came and picked me up, and the three of us went over to the shed where they store all their trail marking stuff, got what we needed, and proceeded to put signs up at all the important intersections. Julia had to leave at 4:00, so Patsy and I finished up, and were done by 5:00. I then had a few minor chores to do, like hooking up the three full propane tanks, putting away the horse feed, installing my new plush car seat cover, changing out the drawstring on my big hay bags (the ones that came with them were so big I had a hard time getting my carabiner-type hook around them, and they work so much better now!), let the horses out for a few hours of grass, and finally, checking on the furnace. It hasn't been lighting well, I've only had it going once, and with most of the upcoming mornings in the forties, I wanted to see if it needed cleaning or some other kind of servicing. The only thing I found was part of a wasp's nest covering a small round plate, but I don't know what it was for or if it made any difference, but I cleared it off. I didn't see anything else, no soot buildup or anything, so I just generally dusted it out a little bit, then turned it on with the thermostat at 80 degrees, and it came right on and stayed on, which is all I want it to do! I had thought up to now that maybe it just had a little air in the lines since I haven't used it in a very long time, and that may well have been the problem. In any event, it seems to be working, but the real test will be tomorrow morning. I'm leaving the thermostat set for about 58 degrees, hopefully it will come on in the morning like it's supposed to, fingers crossed! Had a nice salmon dinner while settling in for the evening, won't be long out of bed. Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Woke up to a very chilly morning, in the low 40's, but since I only have about 100 miles to drive today, I let myself luxuriate and didn't get out of bed until about 9:00 when it finally warmed up into the 50's. Didn't take too long to get breakfast and finish packing, then I had a short chat with my new neighbors who also travel with a base north of Tampa. She needed directions for the various shortcuts to the trailhead here, which I was happy to give her. Finally got on the road about 11:30, had an uneventful drive, thank goodness, and arrived about 1:45, not even having any problems with the deep sand I was worried about. I got the trailer situated, the horses on their anchors, then decided to take a quick trip down to the ranger station. When I had checked my email earlier, I discovered a package that I wasn't expecting until Thursday was actually out for delivery today, and since I hadn't warned them it was coming, I figured I better get down there before they closed, which I just barely did. I topped off my water while I was there, and indeed my package had come (a ranger was just bringing in the mail!), so it all worked out. I was having a problem with not having cell service, which I thought I had last time I was here, and confirmed it by looking back at the last time I was here (thank goodness I keep this diary!), and discovered it was just a matter of putting my phone outside, though for some reason, that hadn't worked earlier. Of course, I rebooted it, I've learned that often makes a difference when I move to a new area. Anyway, after watching a movie on my PVR, I then managed to get a signal, so I watched an episode of MOTG, though the signal seemed to disappear after that for some reason. Heading to shower and bed soon! Good night, my sweet! Love you!

Hi Sweetheart!
With rain in the forecast, I decided not to do laundry, but in the end, we only had a couple of sprinkles of rain until about 9:00 p.m. when it finally rained for all of five minutes. Regardless, I had a nice, quiet day of slow packing and reading, until I finally settled into my evening routine. It's supposed to get down into the mid-40's tonight, so I blanketed both horses, albeit after they got a bit wet. Otherwise, a pretty boring day! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!