Hiya Darlin',
After a few last minute changes in my plan for today, I headed down to town to do my shopping, first to Winn-Dixie to get a wide variety of nectars (Walmart here doesn't have much), then to pick up my mail, then to Walmart, where I made two excursions, because the baskets on those motorized carts don't hold very much, so it took two rounds to get it done, then finally, to Tractor Supply, where I had made my order while sitting in the Winn-Dixie parking lot, and it was ready just as I was finishing my Walmart run. Picked up a bunch of horse feed (not that I'll need it right away, but I wanted to stock up on everything), then headed back to camp. Got everything unloaded and put away, then sat down for a minute to take a break. Then I got the phone call I've been waiting for, informing me of what time I need to be at the hospital tomorrow. Turns out I'm first in line, so I have to arrive by 5:30! Which means we need to leave here by 4:30, which means I have to get up by about 3:40 so that I can take the final required shower with their special soap. I called Jo, who is supposed to be my ride, and offered to drive down if they can just retrieve my truck at some point, but she insisted she'd rather get up and come and get me, so she's going to have to be up early as well. Sigh... Well, at least that means I should get home fairly early, and maybe I can get right back to my normal sleep cycle if I can stay awake during the day. Anyway, after speaking to my care team, (Jo, DeDe and the Gralds), I hooked up the little horse trailer, loaded up the bobos and got them moved over to Michelle's, where they'll be staying until I'm mobile enough take care of them myself. Got back a little after 4:00, had a nice salad for dinner and settled down for a VERY early evening, with intentions of getting to bed by about 9:00, if possible. Can't wait to get this done!! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Had a great night sleep last night, thank goodness, making up for the bad night last night. After my usual chores and breakfast, I finished off pressure washing the sections of the trailer that I didn't finish the other day, then fixed the seat controller in the truck. Somehow it had been jammed in such a say that the slider to move the seat back and forward would only move backward, so last time I drove, I could barely reach the pedals. Turned out to be an easy fix that only took me a few minutes. Spend most of the day reading, then watching an old movie, Solomon and Sheba from 1959. I've been saving up some of the longer movies and watching them when I have a whole afternoon to kill, and today was one of those days! My knee is getting worse, I really had a hard time walking today. Settled down for a quiet evening, having my tea and will be off to bed soon! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Babe,
I decided early that the task of the day would be to get the pressure washing done. Right after breakfast (and a quick trip over to Val's for a laser treatment) I started on the water tank on the truck, and did a very thorough job, which included moving the tank and clearing out all the hay and junk around it. Some of the hay had been trapped in the corners so long it had turned to compost. Meanwhile, the guys from J&S Trailer came and looked for the leak in my slideout, but all they did was squeeze a little sealant along a couple of seams, and I'm pretty sure it's more than that, but we'll see after it rains later this weekend. I gave the truck a quick rinse, then I moved to the trailer, starting with the skirting around the hay, then moved down along the side to the back. I had to take a break for half an hour, my knee was screaming at me. Then I went back and did the back of the trailer. Not the completely thorough job I had hoped for, but I did move everything from side to side, and washed the padding really well. I still need to go through my filing cabinet at some point and clear that out, there's a lot of junk in there I can get rid of. Not perfect, but a heck of a lot better. Needless to say, my knee was beyond screaming at that point, so I quit after that, about 2:30, which was more than enough. I still have some work to do sorting stuff out, but I'm a lot further along, so I feel satisfied. I started my pre-surgery routine today, so I'm well and truly on my way! Can't wait! Relaxed the rest of the day, ready for bed very soon! Need my knee to feel better by tomorrow, Jo and I are going riding, and it will be my last ride for at least a month!! It will be worth it, though, when my knee starts getting better instead of worse. Good night, my sweet! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie!
Happy Anniversary to me! This is the five anniversary of my personal Independence Day, when I left Tennessee after selling the house and going on the road permanently. Hard to believe it's been that long, but am grateful for all the wonderful things I've seen and done since then! Today was another day of work, work, work. I was up on the roof by 9:00 working on trying to finish off all the sealing. I scraped around the skylight, and found rusty screws, of course, so I had to spend quite a bit of time cleaning off the roof and both sides of the skylight base, but I managed to get it done. I started getting ants a few days ago, and I discovered that one of the places they were getting in was through one of the rust screws on the skylight! Explains why I've seen ants in the shower lately. I also sealed the last little strip on the roof by the attic, and the satellite antenna attachments. I thought that would just about finish it, except for a strip at the very front, but then I discovered another trail of ants coming in at the top of the refrigerator, and realized I still had that and the vent to do. Another day, though, I was exhausted by the time I came down six and a half hours later! Whew! Good news, though, the insurance company has approved a partial knee replacement, so the schedule is still May 7. They didn't approve a full knee replacement, which was merely applied for as a contingency if there was too much damage, but after looking at my MRI, the surgeon feels that the partial will work well enough. Good, I've had experience with those! Of course, by the end of the day my knee was screaming at me, and I'm not supposed to take ibuprofen (only acetaminophen) after tomorrow, but I may take a couple tonight if it hurts too much. I don't have any Tylenol in the house, though I think I may have some seven year old Panadol from New Zealand, which is the same thing. On my grocery list! Finally settled down for the evening, ready for bed! Love you, darlin'! Good night!

Hi Darlin',
Started the day after chores up on the roof again. I finished most of the roof seam, except for about the last 14 inches, because I didn't want to open another tube of lap sealant for such a short section. I can finish that when I do the rest of the small stuff, and the sunroof. I tried to strip back the coax on the radio antenna, but it's so short, and I really don't have the right tools, I decided to wait and see if I can get the trailer repair guy to do it for me, assuming they show up tomorrow as promised. Headed out to the hospital after that. Happy to report that I passed my pre-surgery exam, including the EKG, with flying colors! None of that nonsense like we had last time, thank goodness (which, frankly, I think was a money grab on the part of the Cleveland Clinic...just staying). The RN was very personable and helpful and we had a nice chat. I also called the surgeon's office and spoke with the gal there, they only just resubmitted the notes from my visit, with amendments, late this afternoon, so hopefully the insurance company will see the error of their ways and get me the approval we need to proceed with the surgery. Such a bother! Stopped at Walmart to pick up a couple of pre-surgery prescriptions (a special body wash and some antibiotic cream), and a tomato cage for my new tomato garden. Got back to camp and rested the rest of the day. That's my life at the moment, I do one thing and that's all I have the stamina for. Hopefully, we're almost done with that cycle! Anyway, settled down to a quiet evening, hot tub, shower, tea and soon bed! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Darlin',
Well, I had great plans to get a whole lot of roof work done today, before the rain moves in tomorrow, but am sorely disappointed that Amazon did NOT come through! I specifically ordered the lap sealant from a company that said it would be delivered on Sunday, so after chores and starting some laundry, I climbed on the roof and starting scraping off the old sealant from some of the other components that are on the roof, which included the radio antenna, the vent near the shower and two things related to the satellite dish installation, if we had one. I decided not to do the shower sunroof yet, since I wasn't sure how involved that was, and I was worried it would take too long. I got all of that cleaned up, and discovered that the radio antenna connector was terribly rusted, which explains a lot about my poor radio reception, and I'll need to get a new connector for it to get it fixed right. The cable is very short, so I'll have to be careful not to cut it back too much putting the new connector on. All of that didn't take terribly long, so I worked on a few other things. Because I had a feeling about Amazon, I took some of the butyl tape leftover from the vents and covered up everything reasonably well, so hopefully, even if it rains tomorrow, the rain won't get through the roof. Later I discovered baby birds in the Lost and Found box, which I hadn't look at in a long time. One got scared when I opened the lid and flew out, but I managed to catch him and put him back with the other two. When I checked later, they were all gone, so I guess Mama came and moved them. They can't have been flying for long, or maybe this was their first time, so I hope they're okay. I kept watching for Amazon, but they never showed up! Around 5:30 I finally climbed on the roof with my heavy tarp and covered up as much of the one remaining roof seam that runs from about the last third of the slideout to the attic, but couldn't cover the whole thing. There's maybe four or five feet over the horse compartment exposed, but I'm not too worried about that. I just hope it doesn't start rotting the walls! It was after 10:00 when I finally got a notice that the package was left in Jacksonville, and now they're expecting a Tuesday delivery! Crap! Maybe I'll get lucky and the rain will miss me, but the farmers sure do need it around here. Fingers crossed everything will hold out the water until I can get the rest of the sealing done. I also emptied and refilled the hot tub, it was getting kind of smelly and I didn't want to put up with that, even if it was only for another ten days. Of course, that meant it wasn't hot enough in the evening, so I just took my shower, now I'm having tea and just about ready for bed! Good night, babe! Love you!