Spark Scare

The wind was blowing so hard this morning I had to take the dog door out. It was blowing cold lifting the dog flap and freezing out the room. I built a big fire in the wood burner to warm up the house.  Greg Rumbold had the morning message at church. During the afternoon service we got word that Spark was taken to Methodist Hospital and they thought he had a stroke. He had just had the service at the Canton Prison when he got very confused and didn't have any memory of current events. Gary Unsicker who went to the prison with Spark called Rhonda who had gone to the Peoria County Jail this morning. She took him in to Methodist.  They are keeping him overnight in the hospital but after the CT Scan they believe it was transient global amnesia.  We all had to Google that to learn what the problem was.  Thankful for that diagnoses instead of something worse.  The wind was blowing from the south and by the time church got out it was actually warm, the sun was shining and 67 degrees outside.  All of that wind caused a lot of damage. Braelyn, Taegan and Kensley's playground equipment blew down, tore out all of the bolts and smashed the plastic parts. Mark went around picking up limbs off the driveways but when he reached Mike and Diane's drive had to stop and come home for a chain saw.

This was a pretty big tree down reaching all the way across the drive.

There was just one other branch that needed a chain saw and that was on our drive.

Karin had a trail ride scheduled by the time I finally got back, they were just putting the horses away.

Karin rode Galena, Ivan Carlson rode Anna, Faith rode Tory and Sarah and Lucy rode Oksana double. 

 It was a good ride.

Phil and Anna brought their girls over to try out Mark's new toy.  He bought this at the auction last night and Braelyn and Taegan had a lot of fun.

 Taegan took the first fall but that didn't stop her long. 

They had to take turns which wasn't too fun. Anna had to time them to make sure each girl got the correct amount of time to ride it. 4 year old Kensley went over to play at Berlica's house today. She loves cats and when their cat came over she picked her up and said, "This cat has 4 white hooves!"  Do you think maybe these grandchildren are a little too much exposed to horses? 

After supper we all went to the playground where Karin had a fire going to help keep everyone warm. The wind was suppose to calm down and it did enough that they could play the usual volley ball games but it had turned and was coming from the North. The fire was for sure needed. The games were fun but most of them froze their feet. Almost everyone plays barefoot and after the games had to come to the fire to heat of those cold feet. This is the last Sunday for outdoor volley ball. In November they always move indoor to the Hanna City gym.   No one wanted to leave the fire. The stars were so very bright tonight and the fire was good hot coals.  Now though we all smell like smoke.