Saturday, Dec. 14, 2013 - Too Cold and Damp to Ride

Woke up to more rainy, cloudy weather, and chilly temps that weren't going to go much above 40, so we tucked in for the day, working on my soon to be released Equicamping website with the Army/Navy game in the background. Settled in for the evening as usual.

Friday, Dec. 13, 2013 - Rainy Day

Rain moved in overnight, so we woke up to the sound of thunder and rain on our roof. Had a quiet day, which helped me finish the preliminary work on my new writing project, several days ahead of schedule.

Thursday, Dec. 12, 2013 - Short Ride at Reynolds Creek

After a great night sleep, (no nearby traffic and no trains! Though the airport is just across the lake, so we did hear a few early morning takeoffs), we had a leisurely morning, getting some work done, before deciding it was warm enough (around 46) to saddle up for a short ride, just to do some exploring. What a pleasant surprise! Once we crossed the field to the concrete bridge across what I assume is Reynolds Creek, we were enveloped into a forest of mostly cedar trees about 25-40 feet tall, and the trail started to weave through them, in many places almost like a tunnel. The footing was perfect, a medium packed dirt with only a few sections of rounded rock that seemed to be put in deliberately, and one or two areas that looked like it could get muddy with rain, though there's been such a drought here in recent years, chances are it would soak right in anyway. We turned west and followed the creek, and though we didn't see any blazes on the trail (which worried me at first), at every intersection it is very well-marked with both clearly painted wooden signs, and a You Are Here placard. We had no trouble staying on track with the trail map, though in reality, compared to the actual GPS trail, the map is significantly off. As long as you follow the trail map, though, you have no problems. Plus, it's a pretty small area, and all trails on the west side eventually lead back to the bridge, so it's pretty hard to get lost. We only went out for about an hour, less than 3 miles, just to stretch the horses' legs and get us back in the saddle after 8 days. Apollo had energy, but not even close to the oat-driven madness he had earlier. This new feeding regime seems to be working, he's calmer and Clio's starting to put on some weight, really starting to look good again! We put their winter blankets on again, as it's supposed to get below freezing overnight again. Had plenty of time to have a relaxing evening, having only taken an uncharacteristically short ride today! Looking forward to the next one, though, I sure wish the weather would warm up some, at least to their seasonal norms!

Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2013 - Travel Day to Reynolds Creek

Got up just a bit earlier than usual, got packed up, headed out to the dump, which was in a separate campground, but they had given us the code for that when we first checked in, so no worries. Had stops at Tractor Supply, Walmart and Bar None for horse feed, finally arriving at camp at 3:00. No one was manning the booth, so we headed straight to the horse camp, thinking there was an iron ranger there, but there wasn't. I guess someone will come around and collect at some point, or I'll just run up and pay when the time comes. This isn't much of a campground, more like a gravel parking lot with water and electric hookups at the end of each parking spot, and a fairly large field just to the south. The pavilion was empty, as all of the picnic tables had been moved out under the trees for some reason, and a very large fire ring with a concrete sitting circle around it, so obviously this is meant to be a group camp. One nice surprise, though, was that even though the picture on Google Earth shows open corrals at the back of each parking spot, they have since had a roof put along the entire row, so that both the corrals and the spaces in between are now under cover. Glad of that, as there's some chilly rain in the forecast later in the week. Got settled in quickly, as there's not much of a challenge to finding a satellite dish over an open field, and were soon home again, home again, jiggety jig!

Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2013 - Work Day

Spent the day working on my project and doing some logistics for the next few weeks, with Hubby watching TV and reading his Kindle. Did a little prep work, but since the next horse camp is just 40 miles away, we're not too worried about getting out at the crack of dawn tomorrow. Just another regular, non-riding, non-traveling day!

Monday, Dec. 9, 2013 - Still Too Darn Cold!

After looking at the forecast, we decided to stay here through Wednesday, so we took a side trip out to the office and paid for a couple more days. We had hoped they'd have a phone we could use to send in Hubby's quarterly heart monitor report, but no such luck, so we ran out to a nearby grocery store, and they let us use their phone. We also bought some milk, as that was the only grocery item that we were running low on, and didn't want to drive all the way into town just for that. The day was still cool, but at least it was sunny, so the trip out was a nice diversion.

Sunday, Dec. 8, 2013 - Slight Warm Up Today

Temps got above freezing today, so by the end of the day, much of the snow and ice had melted, though we had to start out the day thawing the horses' spigot with hot water again, as well as the RV's spigot, as I had laundry to do today and neede to fill up the water tank. Spent the day making considerable progress on my latest book project, with Hubby watching football all afternoon. He had to thaw out the drain as well, just in case we start to hit the high mark when we're showering later this evening. Otherwise, and uneventful day, except that we made the decision to stay here at least another day or two until the ice is completely gone and our travel day is rain-free. Right now there's a slight chance of rain and a high of 37 tomorrow, not getting excited about that yet...