Tuesday, November 26, 2024 – Finished Painting, Wore Myself Out

Hey Babe,
Despite still feeling tired from all the physical labor over the weekend, I couldn't get to sleep to save my life last night. I tossed and turned until well after 3:00, then finally took a couple of aspirin and nodded offed until 8:30. I was out cleaning the restrooms by 10:00, chatting with several couples that wandered in and out, then finally got to painting, finishing off the water standpipes and the trash receptacle around 2:00. I had a minor hope to take a ride after I was done, but I was thoroughly exhausted, no doubt one day of rest wasn't enough to completely make up for ten hours on my tractor over the weekend. I was nodding off in my recliner before I finally made an early dinner, fed the horses, watched a cute movie called Hard Times about an Irish village that hijacks a Viagra shipment. It's the first time I ever saw recipes for Irish dishes mingled in with the final credits! Very original! Since I have to get up extra early to meet with Jo to get her new horse in the morning, I won't be long out of bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Monday, November 25, 2024 – Finally, A Rest Day!!

Hiya Darlin',
Woke up achey, which was no surprise, so I decided that today would, indeed, be a day off. Other than my usual chores, one load of laundry and chatting with a couple of riders, I spent the rest of the day reading, on the computer, or watching TV. My bones so needed this!! Sleepytime Mint Tea and a shower, and I'll be back in bed again, with hopes that tomorrow I'll be fully recovered and ready to go! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Sunday, November 24, 2024 – Another Long Bush Hogging Day

Hey Sweetie,
Had a decent night sleep, the usual chores and breakfast, started a load of laundry, then I headed out to finish up bush hogging Yvette's pasture. At least I didn't have any of the distractions or issues that I had yesterday, the tractor ran great, but this pasture was a lot bigger and took a lot longer than I imagined. Even though I started about 10:45, it was 4:00 by the time I finished. Then a did a couple of spots around the yard that looked bad, but it was too crowded with junk to do much about it. Then I did a paddock she said she wanted to do, and that took me up until 5:00 when I finally quit. Not much of a day off today! I'm exhausted. That pasture was full of bumps and holes, and I was bouncing around so much, every muscle and bone in my body feels like it's had a workout! I'm really looking forward to a good night sleep tonight! I took my shower as soon as I fed the horses, I was filthy from head to toe. Watched an amusing Woody Allen film about Paris with Owen Wilson, now it's just tea, Spanish and bed. Can't wait! I may just take the day off tomorrow, I'll see how I feel in the morning. Love you, babe! Good night!

Saturday, November 23, 2024 – Bush Hogging Day

Hiya Darlin',
Slept in a little this morning after not getting to bed until late last night, didn't have any urgency to get up this morning so I laid in awhile. After chores and breakfast and few odd jobs, I finally headed over to Yvette's to check on my tractor and bush hog her pasture. Unfortunately, I soon discovered that the sheer pin was broken (I thought it had been replaced, but it hadn't), but fortunately there was a spare there, so once I searched youtube to find out how to do it, I replaced it. That wasted over 45 minutes. Then I noticed the exhaust stack was broken off and missing, and I couldn't find my logging chain, which I'm pretty sure I had bolted to the tractor so it wouldn't get lost. No idea what happened to it, though I'm absolutely certain I left it here with the tractor. The tractor didn't have a lot a fuel in it, so after about an hour, I had to take a half hour to go get more fuel, and had to search for the small fuel tank I had left, finally found that up by the house. One time I got stuck in a hole and wasted a bunch more time trying to dig it out, ended up having to bring my truck out to pull it out. Whew! I worked until after 5:00 and still had half the pasture to go, so my planned day off tomorrow isn't going to happen, darn it. Got back at sunset, fed the horses, and settled down for the evening. I've gotta have a day off soon, I just don't know when it will happen. Grrr! Anyway, I'm going to bed early tonight, hopefully! After a much needed shower! Good night, darlin'! Love you!

Friday, November 22, 2024 – Finished Painting the Buildings

Hey Sweetie,
Not a bad night, but a chilly morning! I was all set to start painting early, but it was too cold for me, so I waiting until it warmed up into the sixties, after noon, before I finally got busy. I managed to finish the main restroom, and also did the trim on the well house, so that means all the buildings are done. The only other thing they wanted done was the spigot posts and the one trash can receptacle that hasn't been done yet, but those won't take me long. My plan is to do those on Monday. Settled down for my usual evening, heading to bed in a bit! Good night, babe! Love you!

Thursday, November 21, 2024 – More Painting

Hi Babe,
A decent night sleep, the usual chores, did some computer work, then it was back at it with painting. Had some high eaves to do, so I had to bring out my extension ladder, which is a little scary, it's been bent so often with being scraped by trees in tight places, but I managed to make it work. Not done yet, but made good progress today. Probably another day or two and it will be finished, at least until Ranger Rick puts in the rest of the trim on the well house. But then I have doors and water spigot posts to do, so I have my work cut out for me. Flash went running around the paddock this morning, cooler temps and too much sitting around is obviously making him frisky! Can't wait until this dog hunting season is over so I can get back on the trails! But I do plan on getting a lot done before then. Keeping too busy, actually, I'm feeling progressively more tired, but I will find a day to make up for it one of these days! A good day, though, living life large! Love you darlin'! Good night!

Wednesday, November 20, 2024 – Painting the Bathroom Exterior

Hiya Darlin',
Up with alarm again this morning, starting a routine now. After chores and breakfast, I got busy painting the outside of the bathrooms. It had been mostly painted, but a lot of the trim was left to be done later, apparently the bugs got too bad during the summer (not to mention the heat!) so they left it for later, which, of course, has become now. It still has a long way to go, but it's slow and tedious work, with lots of climbing up and down ladders. Finished up around 4:00, then I made another street number sign for the road, hopefully UPS will run out of reasons to not deliver to me. Settled down for the evening to a fun little movie about a pencil factory, and plan on getting to bed early. Very tired after all the physical activity, sure hope I can get my full eight hours in tonight! Slowly getting progressively more tired, I really need a whole day off to do nothing, which I haven't had in a long time! Unfortunately, I don't see much of a break in sight, I many just have to insist with myself one of these days, but you know how hard that it for me! Love you, sweetie! Good night!

Tuesday, November 19, 2024 – Shopping and Hay Day

Hey Sweetie!
The night was too short, but I had to get up and do a bunch of stuff today. Went over to Helen's to help move some rocks, with Scotty's help, then to Chelle's to try to figure out a way to tone down all the ad posts appearing on the Friends of Goethe site. Then headed into town for several stops, first to O'Reilly's to pick up a fuel filter for the Air Dog on the truck. I'd replaced the water separator part of the two part system because it got smash up at Sandhills, but didn't change the filter, so I picked on up. Then Tractor Supply for horse feed, very happy to see a big stack of Topline Balance. They never used to carry it, but evidently now they do! Then Walmart for my big monthly shop, then EV Hay for half a dozen bales of hay. I didn't want to stock up too much since I still hadn't heard back about when I'm going be taking the trailer back to the shop, but once again, I heard back late in the afternoon, and they finally concluded brakes are not available and I do need new axles. I didn't want to have to pack up everything and drag it up there again just to get the axles measured (which, to my mind, probably should have been done last time I was there), so they're sending someone out in the morning to measure it in situ, much to my relief. It was nearly 4:00 by the time I got back, once again exhausted from a busy day of running around! I passed the mailman on the way out of Steeplechase, the neighborhood next door, and he gave me a package containing a new duffel bag for my fenceposts, the old one was completely ripped apart, so I took a few minutes to change those out. I finally sat down, and that was it for the day! Well, except for a nice chat I had with a woman, Gina, and her daughter Gianna, who were her looking for a geocache which I didn't even know existed here! Finally settled down to dinner and a movie, ready for an early bedtime tonight. I haven't been able to get caught up lately, so it's piling up on me, gotta try and make a dent in my exhaustion tonight! Good night, babe! Love you!

Monday, November 18, 2024 – First Ride of the Season at Goethe

Hiya Babe!
Flash made it very clear yesterday that he was ready for a ride, by running circles around the paddock for 10 minutes, so I felt I had to take him for a ride. I was ready, too! In the morning, though, I spent some time putting some more of the truck stuff away, things I had taken out to clean and were now ready to be put back in or trashed. Did a quick clean of the bathrooms, then saddled up Flash and away we went! Was alarmed and disappointed when I saw a truck coming out of the orange trail, passing a very clearly marked sign that said no vehicle traffic was allowed on the trail. Grrr! I don't object to hunters in the forest, there's enough room for all of us, but I do object to them blatantly ignoring the rules and endangering people and horses. There were a lot of hunters I passed, but most of them were perfectly friendly. It was a beautiful day, and the ride was wonderful. We only found a few trees down that were blocking the trail that will need big chainsaws, but I'm going to check all the trails out here first, then arrange a day with Rick to clear them all on the same day, hopefully. Flash was, indeed, ready to rock and roll, and we never walked less than 4 mph and he did plenty of gaiting and cantering as well, so the less than 11 mile ride went by pretty quickly. Had a great time, a beautiful day, only marred by my still not finding out about the parts for the brakes on the trailer and UPS still refusing to deliver my packages. Got back, rinsed off Flash and put him away (though he promptly rolled, of course!) before settling down for the evening to a great movie (The Tailor of Panama) and a couple of episodes of my latest series, Newton's Law, an Aussie show that's good for filling in the gaps. since it gets dark so early, it seems like the evenings are so long now! Anyway, it was a lovely day, spent just how I like it. Love you, my darlin'! Good night!

Sunday, November 17, 2024 – Unexpectedly Tiring Day

Hi Darlin',
Had a good eight hours of sleep, and was hoping for a rest day today, but it didn't turn out that way. After chores and breakfast, I put some more stuff back in the truck, trying to keep it fairly clutter free as much as possible. Then I headed out to the DG mart to do a little shopping, just a few things that I had run out of, including laundry detergent. On the way back, I went to Helen's and picked up the little horse trailer, then brought it back to camp and dropped it off. Then I drove to Yvette's to meet with her about mowing her pastures as part of our deal of having stored my tractor and Buick all summer. Then I got back to camp and started a load of laundry (some new sheets I bought that were delivered on Friday), then discovered there were a couple of tables in the back of the horse trailer that I had forgotten we had stored there, so I loaded them in the pickup and drove them back to Helen's. When I got back from that, I started putting the mailbox I received yesterday together, and got that put in. I made a small sign with the street number on it and screwed it into the sign by the road, so now UPS will have no more excuses about not delivering to me. Can you believe it? Even though I clearly put on the address "Black Prong Trailhead" and there's a big sign out front, the dispatcher claimed the driver isn't allowed to pull into a driveway without a street number visible from the road! I call BS on that one! Anyway, now there is a sign with the number, so we'll see what their next excuse is. Did another load of laundry and finally settled down for the evening after feeding the horses. Watched a great horse movie, 50-1, about Mine That Bird, the come from behind horse from New Mexico that won the KY Derby back in 2009. Heading to bed early soon, I feel exhausted with all the running around today. So much for my day of rest! It's supposed to rain later this week, I guess I'll take my day off then! Love you, sweetie! Good night!