Unicycle Accident

During the night I remembered I wanted to take the drinking glasses I bought for potluck last year over to the barn. I got up walked right to the cupboard they were stored in so Mark wouldn't use them, opened that up and there were NO glasses.  I must have moved them sometime during the year but don't know why or when. That meant every closet in this house (there are 4) was searched, every cupboard was also searched. Those glasses are not in this house. I only used them once. I didn't want Mark to use them as he might put them in the dishwasher and I didn't want them scratched. I'm sure someday they will turn up but today was a mystery. It was almost above freezing this morning. Diane called while we were walking so I asked her if she had any glasses I could borrow for potluck. Yep, Diane is well stocked. She had some in her garage. Right after the walk we moved the new camper into the barn with the other 4.

We still need to unhitch the truck from the camper but I was due at mom's so needed to leave pretty quickly.  Mom and I had an easy day. When Karin got home I went straight to the barn. The floor there needed mopping and a few dishes put away then took the golf cart over to Diane's garage to get the glasses came back and set the table for tomorrow.

My next job was to go into the apartment, turn up the heat and turn on the lights for the guests coming in this evening.  After that was a trip to Sam's club to pick up ice and groceries. It really is a blessing that we can buy anything we need on pretty much any day. We don't have to go out hunting for food nor do we need to butcher our meat, grow vegetables and preserve food for the winter and fresh fruit is available all winter long. We just drive to a grocery store. Sam's had raspberries for sale so I bought 2 containers just because. We really do live in an amazing time. By the time I got home it was time to get ready to leave for A Taste of Madrigals. Both Faith and Berlica are in it.  On the way we got a text from Ruth saying she was at the emergency room with Joan who fractured her radius near the end in 2 places. It is stable enough that she is getting a temporary splint tonight and is going to follow up on Monday to decide if it needs surgery or a permanent cast. Joan was to be the Jester at Madrigals. She was riding her unicycle hit something the wrong way and was slammed to the ground.  She was in a lot of pain but that didn't stop her from changing out of her Jester costume before she let Ruth take her to the hospital.  The Taste of Madrigal was a lot of fun. Jordan and Riley were there so I snapped a picture of them with the knight

Our table had one person too many so Ivan sat with Becky's son. We had Jim, Faith, Lucy, Rhoda H, Bonnie, Ann, Mark and I at our table.

During the food we could send notes and flowers up to the singers. Below Faith is trying to read a note.

Not many pictures but I tried to video the entire performance and only missed a few beginnings. Below is the video, It is quite long but very entertaining. 

Ash & Soot

 We walked!  It had warmed up into the low 20s. The ice was still hard and tracks were still needed on our shoes but for sure we could tell the warm up was coming. Joan was with mom this morning so we quit after one round, I took her home on the golf cart so she could bring her car over. She took mom to Bible study at the church.  I took plates over to the barn and spent some time cleaning to get ready for potluck on Friday.  Evan and Sheena were in the field grazing and it is a pleasant picture to see them from the kitchen window of the barn.

Two of the round tables were left up but the others put away. Mark helped move 2 of the big 8 foot tables back into the gym. Those are so heavy he really thinks we should replace them with plastic tables. I found a Christmas table cloth that would work for the big table. It is actually one large and one small but it looks ok. By 1:00 pm it had warmed up to 40 degrees. Mark needed someone to hold the ladder while he cleaned out the rec room chimney.

This one was way easier to clean than the living room chimney.

The next job was to move in bales. The middle paddock needed a bale as did Evan and Sheena's paddock. We first moved one into the middle paddock for Lea and Blueberry.

This is first cutting hay but was put up early and is still green and fine stemmed.

The horses really like it and do well with keeping their weight up on it without needing to feed grain. Below is the video of Mark putting in the second bale.

After coming inside Mark wanted to use the wet dry vac to clean out all the ash and soot that had fallen from the chimney into the fireplace.

 The bag inside must have fallen off and it sprayed that ash and soot throughout the downstairs.  I'm SO glad potluck is at the barn. That black gray dust went everywhere. The floor was swept up but I ran out of time to start cleaning up all the surfaces. We both needed showers again.  Hind sight after working on our 2 chimneys it might be worth the $150.00 the chimney sweep charges per chimney. On the way to church we saw an orange glow coming over the horizon towards Peoria. At first I thought it might be a big fire but soon we could see the moon peeking through the trees. When we got to the stop sign on Farmington road I quickly snapped the picture below.

Church was great tonight. Craig Stickling had the message on 2 Peter 1 and Caleb our new minister finished up.  Caleb will be speaking on Sunday morning.  After church we went to Culvars for a late supper. 

They Are HOME

 Ruth sent a text asking if we could call off the walk so instead of walking I called her on the phone. We were working on the plans for the Meister Christmas. We decided to just live on the wild side and ask everyone coming to bring a dish and a dessert to share. I'm not sure the entire number but we are thinking it is close to 160. Fried chicken will be the meat. That seems to be a tradition for this family. I was due at mom's at 8:00 am but arrived early as I wanted to check the horses hay and the automatic waterers. I could see the heat rising from the waterer as soon as I turned into the cabin drive that the cabin one was working.

I drove up to make sure it wasn't running over. 

That is Sally framed in the sunlight with the icicles coming off the cabin roof. All was well with all the horses. I was driving the golf cart and my hands were pretty frozen by the time I arrived at mom's. Mom caught a cold and didn't think she should go to Berean today. Joan had a dentist appointment for all of her family today so mom and I made honey cookies.

While they were baking mom mentioned that her Christmas cactus is blooming for the first time ever.

Such pretty blooms.

Right about then Karin sent word that they would be arriving TODAY around 2:00 pm. We were not expecting them until Friday. We got the cookies done just in time.

John, Beth, Jackie and Karin walked in to find us eating a late lunch. John explained everything that happened to him including losing the skin on his hands and feet. We asked for proof and he gave it to us.

That was supposedly caused by the extreme amount of antibiotics he was on. He really did about lose his life. One thing he is excited about and happened as he was getting his IV port out was he bought a sawmill. He has all these wonderful trees at his Missouri property and has been wanting a sawmill. As he can walk again he can't wait to get back to work. 

After leaving mom's it was time to help Mark. He decided to clean out the chimney of the living room wood burner. We knew there was a bird nest in it and now that it is cold out we want to use it. He started by taking apart the pipe then pushing the brush into it.

That is how we clean it out each year but not this year. That brush got stuck about half way up. Mark needed to take the next section down then pull it out with pliers. Instead of that brush he put a fishing lure with a treble hook on the end and that worked but it took quite long. Below is a video.

The picture below shows daylight at the end of the chimney.

The pile of debris was shockingly large and the picture doesn't even show the amount on the floor. 

We were both black when finished plus I got a piece of something in my eye. The shower tonight was VERY needed. Of course we had to try out the wood burner and tonight have both of them glowing brightly warming the house.

I really am thankful for the heat.

 

One of a Kind

 As cold and icy as it is today Ruth and I walked. We both wore tracks on our shoes. Ruth brought Ryan's dog and Fedi's dog on the walk. We stopped at mom's and Ryan's dog ate the buttons (grapes and nuts) off of Ilene, mom's snow lady. 

Can you tell why we named her Ilene? We only did one round, it was really cold and very icy. On the way back to the house I stopped to take a picture of the red berries glowing in the sunshine with the snow.

Evan and Sheena were standing in the sun against the shelter to stay out of the wind.

Sheena is no longer showing so we will mark her out.

Mark did his walking on the treadmill in the barn.  Today was an inside day. The only times I would step outside was to bring wood in from the porch to keep the wood burners going all day. The propane guy came to check out the gauge on our propane tank. Mark thought it was not working. They replaced it so it must not have been working correctly. We are down to 31 % so Mark called to have it filled. The last time he had it filled was in 2022 so we are doing well on propane. Today the stove was moved away so the sides could be cleaned and the floor beneath the stove. Amazing I found one of my plates under there. The last load of laundry is drying now.  Dan finished a new song he titled One of a Kind. He bought a hand crafted guitar and this was the inspiration for this song.

Obviously there is a lot of symbolism about the Creator designing us for a purpose and I couldn't agree more. Not that I'm bragging about my brother but to be able to write beautiful music and play on something so unique takes a special talent. He is also one of a kind..

First Snow

 We awoke to clean white snow on the ground and flakes flying down from the sky.  Mark went out early to shovel and reported back it was a heavy wet snow.

Unfortunately it is only going to get colder for the new 2 days down into the teens and this snow is going to turn to slippery ice until Wednesday when it should start to melt and hopefully by Thursday will be gone.

 Joan sent the next couple of pictures below. Each year there is a competition out here as to who can make the first snowman of the season.  Her children went out front to work on one while Joan brought in snow for mom to work on one and MOM WON! 

The kids didn't think that was quite fair.  Although mom said they both won as hers is a snow lady. Joan put that snow lady out on the deck so she could sunbathe. 

She sent a video of mom making the snow lady but it isn't clear enough to share here.  I took a couple pictures of the evergreen trees on our front lawn.

Then measured the snow while Mark was shoveling.

The horses like this weather better than hot summer. There are no flies to bother them and they have nice winter coats that are well insulated. 

Mark had to clear the car off before leaving for church.

We had a wonderful day in church. Braelyn, Taegan and Kensley came, they spent the night with Berlica and then just came to church with Faith. Tim Roecker had the first message on the sacking of Ziklag. Each time I read that story I was surprised that the others would blame  and want to stone David but Tim gave a reason that really made sense. The second reading was of Paul defending himself to the Corinthians. IF you would like to hear that message click HERE. We had Caleb and Kristin Plattner's minister confirmation for the second service. Click HERE to watch that. After church we took the girls over to Joan's to pick up their clothes then took them home. Phil and Anna's family were the only ones that could come to dinner tonight so we just had it here at the house. Braelyn came in to help and made the deviled eggs all by herself.

She is becoming quite a cook. We played games after dinner. Mark walked over to mom's with some of the pizza, salad and wings then stopped at the new camper and found a present in the sink. The owner of the camper put that in as a surprise for us to find and wrote, Merry Christmas. We didn't wait until Christmas to open it and was surprised to find salt and pepper shakers.

She was sent a text thanking her. What a nice thing to do! Right now we are both enjoying the fire in the wood burner. The electric blanket was turned on high a few minutes ago and after making the coffee and finishing this I will enjoy snuggling up in a heated bed. 

The picture below was taken in 2010 of Emma and Darcy at Pleasant home.

We sure do miss those dogs. Not enough to get another puppy but enough that I joined a couple of English Mastiff facebook pages and have been enjoying looking at other peoples puppies. They are such loving dogs but they just don't live long enough. 

Quick Trip

 We left at 6:00 am for our quick trip to St. Louis. While driving on 155 we saw an amazing sunrise, all was black around but a beam of red surrounded with a lighter pink on top and a darker pink on the bottom broke through. I was driving or I would have taken a picture. We made it there with one stop for gas (cheaper in Missouri) and pulled up at 9:25 am at Carol's house. Carol spent over an hour showing us every little detail on her beloved camper and truly the camper looked brand new. We were hooked up and back on the road by 10:40 am. Carol had packed us a lunch so we didn't stop at all on the way home and pulled in at home by 1:44 pm. That was a quick trip. Mark wanted to park it at the new barn in case the kids wanted to check it out before storing it in with the other campers.

Ruth was with mom all day today. While we were driving the people renting the new barn on December 8th and 9th for the wedding reception asked if they could come take a look at it as the bride was in town. Anna and Phil were at the barn putting in the basketball lines at the gym when they arrived. Anna reported they loved it and remarked that they would also be renting it in the future for more family events.

When I got home there was another booking from a different family for the barn in February. The word is getting out!  Mark built a fire in the wood burner and we are enjoying the heat this evening.

Honestly it is almost putting me to sleep. I thought it must be bed time but it is only 6:15 pm.

Gruesome Discovery

 We were up at 5:00 am and at 6:00 I took the golf cart over to the barn to bring back the fruit left there and the left over food in the fridge.  The pineapple was cut up first then 2 pears, 4 cuties, a banana and grapes. That was served for breakfast along with sausage and biscuits. Kim left for home after breakfast. We were sorry to see her go. I needed Mark's help to move a bale in for the cabin horses so he got the tractor to move the bale while I opened gates and kept the horses from running out. They still had hay but we are going to be gone tomorrow so it needed to be done today. While opening the gate I made a gruesome discovery, an aborted foal.  

It was about the size of a large rabbit. We only had 3 pregnant mares in the cabin field, Blueberry, Sheena and Dancer. I checked Dancer over well as she is the only pregnant mare in the cabin field right now. There was no sign of dried blood on her tail and all looked well. Left to right is Sally, Titus the yearling Friesian stud colt and Dancer.

 Sheena and Blueberry were brought over here when Mike and Diane left for Gulf Shores. We were really surprised that she started showing to Valiant as I knew she was sonagrammed in foal in September. She must have aborted right before they brought her over. Now we know why Sheena came into season this late in the year. This would be her foal heat.  After finishing the chores here Mark and I drove in to CEFCU to get a cashiers check for a camper we are picking up tomorrow. This one Mark wanted. We are planning on going out west in May. Joan, her 3, the Christensens and their daughter Ellie are also going. We will be driving the motorhome and pulling the camper for Mark and me. We needed a light weight camper under 2000 pounds and that is what we found. Introducing the Mini Max.

We wanted one that had a decent size bed and a bathroom but the bonus is it also has a nice size fridge for how tiny it is. We looked at another brand of the tear drop but that one Mark would not have been able to stand up in. This one had all of our requirements.

The dinette when it is made into a bed is 70 inches by 71 inches.

This is larger than a queen size and the largest bed we could find in a tiny trailer.

When used as a dinette is large enough for both of us to work on our computers.

It also has the stargazer back window.

The kitchen has a sink, microwave and 2 burner stove. There is also cubbies, shelves and drawers.

The fridge is 5 cubic feet with a drawer below that holds a gallon of milk plus and won't spill. The freezer section is also pretty deep and holds plenty of ice cream. It is 3 way, gas, electric and battery.

There is a solar panel on the roof to keep the battery charged.

Below are the dimensions of the camper.

The bathroom is a wet bath but MOST of the tiny trailers did not have any bathroom.

We were pleased to see more storage than expected with the extra cupboards and drawers.

The motorhome can pull 3500 pounds and even loaded this one is under 3000. We leave early tomorrow morning and hope to be back before dark. We will need to head to bed soon. Just one more load of laundry to finish.