Volleyball Sport Court Tiles For SALE

 Phil was out at the barn early this morning getting ready for the people coming in to install the bullet proof windows. We had a good walk, Joan shared pictures of the dolphin encounter on her cruise. She was going to email them but must have forgotten. Hopefully tomorrow those can be shared. They were really good pictures. Today mom, Aunt Jinnie and I took the wheelchair van to the Berean office. We were all kept busy this morning. IF you would like to read about our morning there click HERE.  We had to stop for gas on the way home and today only needed 22.8 gallons of gas. 

I made chicken sandwiches for lunch then mom was ready to get comfortable on her recliner and watch more travel vlogs. When Karin got home I needed to drive back to the Berean office to pick up the studies I had forgotten. Those will be taken to Peoria church tomorrow and hopefully we can get our guests speakers for Family Night (the Brakers) to deliver them to the Roanoke church. I got a message that Roanoke was ready for more studies to grade and the Brakers are from Roanoke. On the drive to Berean I got a message a man wanted to come check out the Wolf Pup so as soon as I got home Mark helped get it hooked up to the truck and I pulled it out of the barn, parked it next to the shed, plugged it in and put the awning out. 

He arrived within minutes of us getting that job done. Phil and Anna were at the barn when the man left and had 6 girls out there playing. The new windows were installed. Those windows weigh 1000 pounds each and are bullet proof. They also really muffled the sound.

A short video of the girls helping sweep the barn floor.

Spark went to Middle Grove today and sent back the picture below of some of the horses out grazing.

We decided the Sport Court Volleyball tiles were not the best for basketball AND they just don't match. I decided to post them for sale on Facebook Marketplace. There must be someone else that needs a volleyball court. These tiles cost a little more than $6.00 a square foot when purchased new and we have 3780 square foot we are willing to sell WITH the 2 storage carts for $2500.00. That will be quite a savings for someone.

The gray ones are for the actual volleyball court and the green ones go around the court. 

Camper For Sale

 We had lots of rain early this morning. There is SO much mud, the ground is soaked. At least it was a warm  57 degrees at 7:15 am.  I left for the Peoria post office to pick up the Berean mail then to Sam's to pick up the food for the Wednesday dinner.  One of the items needed for this meal was rice. The best buy for the kind of rice needed was in a 25 pound bag. 

SO if anyone needs any rice I'm glad to share just let me know how many cups of dry you would like.  Before going home I dropped off the mail at the Berean office.  Once home Phil and Anna were here finishing the metal and unloading the truck and trailer. By the time Mark and I got out to the barn they had finished.

That flooring is really heavy. Those two got quite a work out.  Anna said the windows are coming tomorrow so they needed to have the flooring over by the doors out of the way.  Today I posted the Wolf Pup for sale on Facebook market place and within minutes of posting had someone that said they wanted it and wanted to come at 4:30 pm.

That meant I had to drive to the bank in Hanna City to get the title out of the post office. That turned out to not be necessary. They really wanted something bigger. The good thing about the Wolf Pup is that it only weighs 3097 pounds and can easily be hauled with a smaller truck that gets much better gas mileage. It also has a power awning and UBS ports at every bed for easy charging.

I also left the memory foam topper on the queen bed making that very comfortable.

I listed it for $14,000 and am somewhat negotiable but also don't mind keeping it. It is by Forest River which is a good brand and is a 2018, built before the pandemic. It is in good shape and everything works. There are a few scratches at the base of the dinette and also by the corner under the fridge where something (probably luggage) bumped it. This afternoon a cold spell came with the wind blowing and gusting, slamming into the walls, doors, windows and trees. No damage except a few limbs fell across the drive.

Mark spent some time cleaning those up.

Albino Grackle

 We had a very foggy morning. The picture below was taken about 8:00 am. 

Ruth stopped by on her way to pick up mom with a fresh home baked loaf of bread Steven baked using potatoes.

Of course it needed to be sliced, toasted and served for breakfast. 

On our way to church we saw another flock of hundreds of Grackles  On Friday I was watching the huge flock at mom's and taking video but stopped the video when they flew into the trees by the dam. They were still there when I walked out the back door and all took off again except this time I saw one pure white bird in the middle of the noisy flock. I was not able to get the phone out to video it but couldn't imagine why a white bird would be flying with the black grackles and even wondered if there even was an albino grackle so did a google search. David and Jan Lopez from Moore, Oklahoma in Cleveland county took the picture below and wrote: We photographed this white albino grackle with a large flock that were at our feeders in our backyard. We live in Moore, Oklahoma. Cleveland County.

I was glad to know I hadn't imagined it.  

At church Craig Stickling had the first service and read Zephaniah 3 verse 17. The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love, He will joy over thee with singing. The second reading was Romans 8, truly one of my favorites, especially the last verses.  If interested in watching and hearing this message click HERE. David had the afternoon message on Luke 1 and reminded us of the perseverance of prayer. If interested in watching and hearing this message click HERE.  Amy sent a text that I need to listen to Tremont's first service. Jeff Grimm was visiting and he read Psalm 137 and Romans 8.  If you would like to see and hear that click HERE. It shouldn't amaze me but does when two different church services in two different towns both have morning messages on the same chapter.

Kathy brought Nancy to church. Joan is on her way home from the cruise and Lucy told Nancy that her sister Joan was going to be home tonight. Nancy was so excited and kept telling everyone, "My sister is coming home!" It was 55 degrees and sunny on the way home. We all enjoyed the warmth and sunshine. Storms are moving in tonight.

Corey posted another picture of Quiet Dreamer at 21 months old (Hadassah x Evan). I'm always thrilled to get updates like the one below:

Corey writes: This girl is my soulmate. As she grows, she just becomes more stunning. I can’t believe we are nearing her second birthday! Today I just admired how she is growing into the most amazing beauty! Even with her winter beard she is more beautiful than I could have ever imagined.

Lazy Saturday

 We had a pretty easy Saturday. Just 3 small loads of laundry and putting dishes away for me. Mark brought the stools in from the porch where I put them yesterday to get them out of the way. He also brought down the plastic tub full of his paper work.  Ruth was at mom's this morning. I drove over to take a few items left from last night. Mom said she slept well.  The picture below popped up on my memories. This is Jewel's first foal by Evan. We were pretty thrilled with her. 

We had left over pork loin for lunch. Mark wanted a vegetarian meal for supper so he was given a big salad, cottage cheese and steamed asparagus. 

We have had the fire going all day and tonight watched a true story about a magpie named Penguin and a mom of 3 boys who broke her back. It was a good movie called Penguin Bloom.

 

Rotating Potluck

 It was my turn to be with mom again today. While there mom's house was visited by very noisy transitory neighbors. Hundreds of birds were landing in her yard. When I opened the door to get some better video they all took off for the trees but more and more kept coming. This went on for quite a few minutes.

I was hosting rotating potluck and even though most of the cleaning had been done before heading to St. Louis there was still last minute work to be done. Aunt Jinny stayed with mom for a bit so I could get the potatoes peeled and the tables set before lunch. Lunch for mom and Aunt Jinnie was chicken stew served with fresh baked biscuits and an orange for dessert.  We didn't want to eat a big lunch knowing we were going to have a big meal tonight. The pork loin was prepared and put in the oven at 3:00 at 3:25 degrees.  Once that was cooking the potatoes were set to boil. I brought in one of the round tables Karin gave me from the library. We were easily able to set 12 places without being crowded. The pork loin was almost done at 5:00 pm which gave me time to use the drippings for the gravy and slice the pork then that was put back in the oven to keep warm at 175 degrees. The potatoes were mashed, hind sight those needed more milk.  Mom, Aunt Jinnie and Ruth came a bit early.  Alex, Michaela and Jeanette arrived at the same time as Gary and Marie.  Jesse and Joanna arrived last. Marie brought green beans from their garden, Jeanette brought crescent rolls, Joanna brought the salad and Michaela brought the dessert. The meal was delicious but the fellowship even better. No pictures we were too busy visiting. Thankful for my church family.  

Cold Again

The weanlings were grained this morning and by this afternoon I could see they would be completely out of hay. We should have made a special effort to move the bale in early as it was mild this morning, 44 degrees.  I had no idea that was the high of the day and it was going to drop below freezing this afternoon.  Ruth brought some eggs over for mom's house and we decided we would walk tomorrow. I started a load of laundry then drove to mom's house and stayed with mom and Aunt Jinnie today. Aunt Jinnie was pretty tired from the long day of travel yesterday but was thankful to have made it here without any real problems other than delays. She is working on a new needle point and this one is for a kid and really cute. 

For a better look of the picture: 

Karin came home a little early so I had time to change the wash machine before drivng up to the apartment to meet the guests at 2:00 pm. By the time Mark got home the temperature had dropped down to 27 degrees and the rope tying the shelter gate shut had frozen solid. That rope had to be defrosted before Mark brought the bale. Crazy how hard winter weather makes life. Usually this is such a simple job. The weanlings were given grain while I worked on the rope.

I had frozen fingers by the time the tractor came but the gate was opened. With 3 weanlings eating on the bale each lasts almost 3 weeks. 

The guests and their 5 golden doodles moved out of the apartment tonight. Anna dropped Braelyn off to start the laundry. We have another family moving in tomorrow.  Mark just brought in a load of wood and started the fire to warm up the house.  

Rebekah and Brian's Bernadoodle Izzy had a litter of puppies. There is a heart warming story about this litter. If you would like to hear this story, just watch her video posted below. 

Home James

This morning it was raining so I decided to ride with Mark then take the car back to the hotel so IF I wanted to go shopping or out to lunch I could. Check out time was at 11:00 am and Mark was not going to get out of class until 4:30 pm. I told him I would probably visit the building pictured below as it was just across the street from our hotel.

It just happens to be a huge gambling facility. We toured it years ago when we were here for another class and no I wasn't really going back there. That place stunk like second hand smoke from the moment you entered the building. Plus I'm way to tight to take a chance on losing any of our hard earned cash. (we brought $60.00 with us). The rain was really coming down hard at the hotel so instead of shopping I people watched and played on the computer until 3:00 pm then drove to where the class was being held and just sat in the car for an hour and a half reading and drifting off every once in a while to the sound of rain hitting the car..  Trane provided a really nice lunch for Mark and his class mates of build your own burger. When we started home at 4:40 pm it seemed everyone else was heading home too and the roads were crowded. We stopped in Litchfield at a Wendy's 5:45 pm for supper and both ordered a taco salad. At 6:50 pm used the AC Central app on the phone to listen on line to Peoria's service. Mike Kaisner had the message. That ended as we turned onto Airport Rd.  Mark had the house thermostat set to 55 degrees. The unpacking was done quickly and as soon as this is finished I'm heading to bed. The electric blanket was turned on high before I started unpacking. It is good to be home. 

Lazy Day Tuesday

We were up at our usual time of 5:00 am but didn't go down to the lobby for coffee until the breakfast place was open around 6:00 am. Coffee was  strong and the breakfast good. There was 2 kinds of scrambled eggs, one plain and one with bacon mixed in, sausage patties, breakfast potatoes, biscuits and gravy, hot oatmeal with 3 kinds of toppings, fruits, bagels, donuts and of course waffles.  We sampled a lot of the foods. I brought a bagel with cream cheese and strawberry jam up for my lunch. Our room has a fridge and a microwave. Today was another warm day although it wasn't quite as warm as yesterday and the clouds moved in this afternoon. Mark left for his class around 8:15 am. I went for walks around the hotel then studied in the room. We were invited to dinner with 4 other Trane guys to a restaurant within walking distance to the hotel. This weather feels like spring and I'm starting to get anxious to get home to start moving mares home. Rosalie is the first mare due and she isn't officially due until April 7th. 

With her first pregnancy she delivered almost a month early so I for sure want to bring her home early March. Hard to believe we only have a week more of February. The guest that was suppose to arrive tomorrow for the apartment made arrangements to come today. This guest is bringing in a Goldendoodle to be bred to Anni's Chewy.

She is booked for the next 3 nights. 

Today was a very lazy day and I am thankful for the rest.

St Louis

 Up early to start cleaning the house up before making Mark's breakfast. Spark sent an update on Rhonda's phone as his was dead. Last night the doctor said she could eat tomorrow so at 12:01 am Rhonda had a donut, a turkey sandwich, vanilla pudding, chocolate pudding and fruit. This morning they were disconnecting things and she would be moving out of ICU into a step down room. Diane asked Spark how he was holding up and he replied fine but later we were sent a picture that was pretty convincing he may not be fine. Rhonda however looks great.

Seriously though the tests pretty much all came back normal. Truly prayers were answered.

Mark and I left for St Louis at 11:15 am and had an easy trip down. We had only a short section on 270 that was snarled with traffic sometimes coming to a complete stop. We arrived at the Drury Inn at 2:30 pm and both of us were hungry as breakfast was eaten at 7:00 am 7.5 hours before. After stowing the suitcase in our roomy comfortable room we started hiking around to find someplace to eat a light lunch. There are many restaurants all within walking distance.

We ate at a Chinese restaurant that had a big horse statue in front.

We shared a lunch bowl of sesame seed chicken with fried rice. We didn't want to eat a lot as dinner at the hotel was going to be served just 2 hours later. That was the typical Drury dinner, spring lettuce, steamed vegetables, meat balls, mashed potatoes, a vegetable Florentine soup, hotdogs and nachos. All foods were pretty bland but mix them together it was ok. We each took a bag of popcorn up to the room for later if we get the munches. The pool and hot tub were beckoning us so right after supper we changed into our suits and headed down to the pool area.

The entire time we were there we were the only ones in the room, only ones in the hot tub and only ones in the pool. We probably stayed in a little too long. The exercise room is right next door. Mark went in to check it out and may use that tomorrow.

We got more than enough exercise with the cleaning and hiking. I'm going to take it real easy tonight and tomorrow. Today we had bright sunshine and 60 degrees, hope tomorrow is as warm as they have a nice area by the indoor outdoor pool to sit in the sun and read. Thankful for the chance to rest, thankful for Rhonda's good news. 

Sunday Feb 19th, 2023

 Another hard night, I may need to start taking drugs for the hip pain OR just stop working so hard during the day.  Probably popping one of those blue Aleve pills will do the job so tonight I'm taking one of those. Spark had to take Rhonda to the ER last night. They are not sure what is wrong but Proctor ended up transferring her to Methodist. When I sent a text at 6:00 am they were waiting for an MRI. We left at 9:15 am but both Ruth who brought mom and Kathy who brought Nancy beat us to church. Nancy loves singing the hymns and isn't shy about singing out even if she doesn't know the words. Gregg Rumbold had the morning message on 2 Timothy 4 and Tim Roecker had the afternoon on 2 Kings 20 and Acts 27. Nancy went home with  Ruth and mom. Karin was willing to make a 7 course dinner for them.  Phil and Anna's girls were here when we got home from church so I put them to work helping with dinner. They started with the pudding for tonight's cake learning how to fold whipped cream into pudding to make it light and fluffy.

Once that was in the fridge 2 heads of lettuce were brought out for shredding.

The next vegetable to be cut up were the peppers.

Those make a nice colorful dish.

Dinner was delicious, probably because of all the good help. After supper the volleyball players left for the Hanna City gym and just left Taegan, Kensley and River here with grandma.  Mark went out to the barn to work on the golf cart batteries.  I went over to mom's to pick Nancy up and was surprised to see Dan and Susan were there eating that 7 course meal Karin cooked. They offered to take Nancy home. They stopped at the barn to see the progress before heading to Morton. The girls had a ball using the new markers then playing ball with River. Below is a video of them helping with the cooking then playing with River.

Tomorrow it will have been a week since I've published anything on the blog. So I've gone through each day and did a quick diary of the week. We leave tomorrow morning for Missouri. Mark has a class for a couple days. Hopefully I'll remember to pick up the laptop tomorrow. We got good news from Spark, the MRI was normal. She was getting a spinal tap to check for meningitis but we haven't heard the results yet.

 

Saturday Feb 18th, 2023

 Not a good night, hip pain kept me awake. The coffee this morning was a welcome energy boost. Breakfast for Mark was blueberry pancakes, sausage and scrambled eggs. After breakfast the vacuum was used to remove spider webs and Asian beetles from both the upstairs and the downstairs. So many of those ladybug lookalikes had congregated by the doors and windows I think there must have been hundreds of them hiding.  Lee came to help Phil and Anna with the barn walls. Braelyn went on a hike and found a treasure. She brought it back and was cleaning it up thinking it may be obsidian. 

Mark thought it was slag, melted metal.  Since she was in and her hands were clean she helped make the dessert for today's lunch and tomorrow's meal. The workers didn't come in to eat until after 1:00 pm. After they went back out to the barn I left for Walmart.  We are hosting rotating potluck on Friday and I needed a few things for the house.  We don't have very many mugs without chips in them but I only found 6 white ones. We also don't have any matching drinking glasses but Walmart only had one kind of drinking glass where there were exactly 12. I actually found a Walmart employee to ask if perhaps they have more glasses or cups somewhere else. Nope only 1 aisle of dishes and most of those were not sets.  People usually just order things on line now so not many stores stock dishes. The glasses are plastic but at least look pretty. I also bought a set of salt and pepper shakers as ours is rusty and just can't be cleaned up. Mark wanted some tubs for all of his paper work that must be moved before Friday.

It is obvious the salt and pepper set was made it China, the 3 hole is marked pepper and the 2 hole is marked salt. Once filled neither one work well. It takes a LOT of shaking to get enough salt out. At least they match.

I spent $108.00 but really it was the 12 plastic glasses that were the most expensive. Those were $3.49 each. The ceramic mugs were just $1.12 each and the big blue 3 tubs were $9.98 each. I also bought a few groceries. I stopped at Arby's and picked up 2 fish sandwiches for $7.00 for our supper tonight. After supper we went out to check the progress today.  AMAZING they had 2 sides done.

Just the garage side to go. 

 This is a big project and can only be done because of my Shepherd's provision.

Friday Feb 17th, 2023

 We had ice and snow on the drives and needed our ice tracks for the walk.  Winter is back.  Diane stayed with mom this morning. I drove to Aldi in Pekin to get food for the lunch workers on Saturday and food for the Sunday dinner. While there a text came in that the barn apartment was booked for today so as soon as the groceries were put away I ran up the the barn to turn the lights and heat on. They wanted an airbed so that was blown up and the bottom sheet put on. This way once the renters move in they can decided where they want it. The top sheet, two pillows and a comforter are ready to finish making the bed when they decide where to put the bed. 

Diane called right then needing to be relieved early to do an errand for Mike then to pack. They decided to start their trip to Gulf Shores today and take two days to get there.  Aunt Jinnie called while I was at mom's house. We 3, mom, Aunt Jinnie and I had a good visit. When Karin came home I left to start making tuna salad for Mark's lunches. He came home early and wanted to take a check to the bank before moving bales so we drove to CEFCU. We stopped in at the barn once home. Anna was on one side of the barn putting on tracks while Phil was putting up the metal on the  other side of the barn. They were each using a lift for these jobs. I think that is the first panel up. This is perforated metal and supposed to help with sound. By the time they quit they almost had half of that wall done.

Below Anna is installing the tracks for the metal.

Blueberry needed a new bale today as did Evan. Mark helped with both of those getting Blueberry done first.

Below is Evan with his new bale.

Tonight for dinner we met Phil and Anna's family at Gils at 6:15 pm. We were seated right away but it took longer than an hour to get our food. When that came though it was delicious. We started with a basket of their amazing onion rings. Our meals were well worth waiting for. We finally walked out at 8:00 pm. It stayed below freezing all day. I'm thankful our Shepherd provides not just nutritious food but delicious food.

Thursday Feb 16th, 2023

 I slept! For the last 4 nights very little sleep.  Last night I went to bed at 9:30 pm woke once at midnight, did my 50 squats went right back to bed and fell asleep almost immediately not waking until after 6:30 am. I had forgotten to make the coffee last night but there was enough left over in yesterday's pot to heat up while the new pot brewed.  What a difference in life when one is rested.  Today after the walk it was my turn to stay with mom for the day. We started out by checking on Jackie and Shadow the eagle pair in California. Jackie was sitting on the nest.

Today is 34 days since she laid her first egg and it should start hatching but we are not too hopeful. Both Jackie and Shadow were off the nest for hours a few nights ago. Jackie kept leaving the nest today and we didn't see Shadow at all. We changed the channel to travel vlogs and today traveled through Barcelona, Greece, Rome, Lichtenstein, and a few other countries. We saw lots of wonderful foods. Mom was saying she would really like to try the cheeses so for lunch made her a meat and cheese plate. 

We could almost pretend we were in Sunny Barcelona. Outside here it was cold and raining. I  left at 2:00 pm. The rain was still coming down and the temperature was falling.  Phil and Anna were out working on the barn. Phil got the new lift there so they started putting up the track for the perforated metal and got two sides done. 

Mark got home and wanted to see what they were doing but they had left by the time we got over there. The rain had turned to sleet and was covering the car windshield by the time we left the barn. The car was put in the garage for the night. I needed to get 3 loads of laundry done this evening. We had chicken and vegetable lo-mein for dinner. Mark has just started a fire in the wood burner and we will have an easy relaxed evening. I'm thankful my Shepherd gives life restoring sleep. 

Wednesday Feb 15th, 2023

 OK So it wasn't a UFO, it was Elon Musk's satellite.  Another windy day. By the time we walked it was 45 degrees but the wind made it feel really cold. We walked with winter coats. Joan needed to take Mackenson to the dentist this morning, Faith stayed with mom and I was on call. Once Joan got home I drove to Sam's club to buy paper towels for the Berean office and also picked up two more boxes of plastic ware, the 600 count forks and 600 count spoons as they had been marked down to $13.98 each. Coffee was also on sale for $11.98 so two of those were picked up. The paper towels were taken to the Berean office before heading home.  I needed to be at mom at noon to relieve Joan. Mom was just finishing up lunch. It was too cold and cloudy to sit outside today.  When I got home a box had been delivered right to our door. It was the box of halters. I had ordered 10 yearling and 10 small horse halters. They were on sale for $4.00 each but with shipping and tax came to $4.65 each. 

At that price we don't worry if they break or get lost. The yearling halters are bigger than the small horse but both should work for weaning. Each year we need to have enough halters for the coming foals. When a foal is sold we send it with a new halter.  Foaling season will start soon enough. We went over to Spark and Rhonda's to sign some papers before church. Mark drove to church. Craig Stickling had the message. Our water dispenser broke but I'm thankful the Shepherd provides cool still waters for my thirsty soul.