Mother's Day2022

 I only got about 3 hours of sleep last night so it was really hard to get moving this morning.  After chugging down 2 cups of strong coffee I headed out to the barn to check on Tatiana and her new colt. He is doing great.  The barn was cleaned up then down to the house to make breakfast and clean up a bit before leaving at 8:50 am for Morton to pick up Nancy.  She was so excited to come to church and got to go to Sunday school in Joan's class. Wow was she ever excited about coloring a paper and making mom a mother's day card.  Tim Funk had the morning message and Tim Roecker had the afternoon. There were not other ministers in Peoria today. During the morning service Judy G had a medical emergency. She was taken by ambulance to the ER. We got word later that all is well.  Tim prayed for her and but didn't use her last name.  Well Ruth is up at the hospital with Fedi (he has been in for a few days now as his blood pressure keeps dropping) and heard my name. She sent texts to everyone including me but all of us had our phones on silent or turned off because of church.  I happened to notice at lunch that I had a text and saw it was from Ruth asking if I was ok. I was confused and said I'm fine, I'm at church.  It was only later I heard she thought it was me and was trying to figure out what had happened. After church I ran right up to the barn. Tatiana's colt is doing so well and the weather is really nice today so they were turned out in the pasture.  Jury followed them from the indoor right into the pasture.

He got a nose full of dandelion fluff and wrinkled up his nose so funny.

He had to get some nursing in to remove the tickle.

Jury settled down to graze close enough to them to feel safe but far enough away that Tatiana was content to leave her be.

I left at 2:30 pm to head to Kroger to pick up the chicken ordered for the picnic tonight. Mark used the air fryer to fry up 8 pounds of french fries.  When I got back with the chicken I drove to Joan's to borrow her roaster as I needed mine and hers for the 96 pieces.  We had an abundance of delicious food for this picnic. Everyone brought really nice dishes.

We had a good afternoon and evening with lots of games. If you would like to see the rest of the pictures click HERE.  I took Nancy home at 6:30 pm. Gertie came along for the ride and to keep me company. When I got back there were still people here so we got in some visiting before I needed to bring the mares in.  I led Tatiana, her colt followed very well and Jury followed a little ways behind. She wants to be with them but not close enough to incur the wrath getting too close to a baby of a new mom.  It was dark by the time I got back to the house. The dishes are now done and I'll be very glad to head to bed as soon as this is finished. We had a most unusual letter come in today.  It was addressed to Sheena: 

Hi Mom!
It’s me, Mayberry. I just wanted to wish you a very Happy Mother’s Day and to let you know I’m doing great. I have big fields, friends and even a pond. 
I’m learning a lot and everyone says I’m the princess of the barn.  I’m really smart and pretty; everyone says so. 
I’m almost 16hh now and just got my first clipping since it gets hot here in NC.  I have a big trailer so I can go places and I might even go show off my fancy new halter in a local show this month.
Anyhow, I just wanted you to know I’m healthy, happy and doing well. I hope you are, too. I have attached some pictures so you can see how big I’ve gotten. I think I look a lot like you. 
Love,
Mayberry

Tatiana's Colt

 Tatiana was in the first stage of labor yesterday evening. She was pacing in the arena but when I tried to take Jury out she got quite upset. Jury was left in with her. I went to bed then got up at 1:00 am to check on her and she had already given birth and the colt was standing.   At that point I put Jury out in the field behind the mare paddock.  Jury threw a fit and to my surprise so did Tatiana.  She was so distressed by not having another mare in with her she almost stepped on her colt.  I had to go back out to the field and call Jury.  Of course it is pitch dark outside and by the time I brought Jury in the colt was rooting for the milk bar.

It is always a relief to hear that sound of sucking. Jury was content to stand by the hay and watch.

Her placenta passed pretty quickly once he started nursing so I got the wheelbarrow and cleaned up the arena then put the placenta in the wheelbarrow. That will be buried in the morning.  Tatiana had to come over to see what I was doing.

It was nice to just sit and watch to make sure he would follow his mom and find her udder no problem. Below are a few pictures taken while watching.

As long as Jury is in the arena Tatiana settled right down and was very attentive. At 2:50 am I felt all was well so headed back to the house to make the announcement. So very thankful for another safe delivery and healthy foal.

Picking Up Sheena and Sangria

 No foal yet for Tatiana.  After our big day yesterday I didn't make it up to the barn until 6:00 am. She was very glad to get outside after spending 2 days and 2 nights inside because of the cold rain. Irish's colt was laying by the gate inside the shelter.

I wanted to make sure he was not stuck in the gate, he wasn't and stood up as I was petting him. Of course I had to get another picture as his face was stuck in his mama's mane.

Lily and Soul had taken their foals into the pond pasture to graze when Lily found a wonderful scratching branch. 

Today promised to be beautiful. I got the laundry started then headed out with Mark to fix a broken board in the short shelter paddock. The barn was cleaned up, the apartment made ready for the guests coming in this afternoon then we went down for breakfast. After breakfast I left with the truck and trailer for Middle Grove to pick up Sangria and Jury. 

They were almost to the lake at the start of the trees grazing and started coming to me when they saw me. That is Rosaleigh and Jewel coming first with Sangria, Mika and Jury. Dancer is behind the tree with Oksana. Sangria was haltered and I started walking her back to the trailer when Mike arrived with the 4 wheeler. He took Sangria while I haltered Jury and we started the long hike back to the trailer.  Dancer followed us the entire way. Mike put a halter on her so she didn't follow the horses out the gate.  She turns two the end of this month and is just spectacular. Her dam is Jewel and her sire is Evan. We are really glad we kept this one. 

IF you would like to see the rest of the pictures from this morning at Middle Grove click HERE.

Mike is also more than likely going to keep Sheena's 2022 foal.

We need some younger riding horses and we may be a little prejudiced but we think ours are probably better than any others. They want to please, are easy to train, beautiful and have amazing movement.  I'm keeping Lily's filly this year so it is only fair that Mike keeps Sheena's. Mark was still working up at the barn when I arrived with the horses so he held Jury while I took Sangria to the paddock next to Valiant's.  She is here to get her coggins drawn when Dr. Hoerr comes on the 12th.

Jury was put in the field with Tatiana as they are both close to delivery. The others were all staring as Jury was being led to the field.

Tatiana had rolled and was enjoying the sunshine. She was glad to see Jury.

Jury dropped and rolled then settled down to graze.

Once they were settled I went to work on the 5th wheel. We needed to see if anything had frozen during the winter as we were not sure it had been winterized correctly.  Once I found a long enough hose to reach the camper water was added.  Thankfully there were no leaks in tanks, but the kitchen faucet had a leak and one of the pipes under the kitchen faucet did too.  We are not sure if the water heater works and will need to do some research on that. The fridge needed cleaning but thankfully that works well. We are going to replace the shower hose, it wasn't leaking but didn't turn off when it should have.  We think we will be able to fix everything ourselves thankfully.  We will need to order the parts on line as no one seems to have them in stock anymore. A wonderful review came in today for the barn apartment: The facility here alone is 5-star worthy, but throw in the horses and this is just an amazing place to stay. There were two several day old foals when we were there and the horses are friendly and will approach you from their enclosures for some attention. As my son who stayed there with me said, "We can only give it 5 stars?" Highly recommended!

I'm thankful they enjoyed their stay but that may not quite be accurate with all the mud right now. Our guests that came in today hiked some of the trails and even found some wild catnip they picked and are going to dry for their cats at home.  Before the sun went down today Tatiana and Jury were brought inside for the night. Tatiana is much more content to be inside now that she has company.

As I was walking back down to the house the sun was on it's way down and shining from the West on the redbud tree and the tree was glowing.

Trip to Wheaton

 We left this morning for Wheaton College. The drive up was uneventful. Mark enjoyed meeting his old friends and some of his roommates from school. I enjoyed the different symposiums.  We ate our lunch in the cafeteria then went to a class on the journey of Pilgrim's Progress given by Crystal and David Downing.

Our next class was actually a class on Spiritual First Aid Work Shop given by two professors, Jamie Aten and Kent Annan, here at Wheaton. Both of these men told a bit about their stories then gave the class. It was really interesting.

The first person Mark met when we walked into this room was also a Chemistry major (just like Mark).

Of course we had to take a selfie.

The retrospective class was just for the class of 72 and was pretty much all testimonies and memories of their time here at the school and what they are doing now and how they are serving the Lord. That was probably my favorite part of the day.  The entire reunion alumni group was then invited for hors d'oeuvres and dessert reception.  We left after that but the rest were headed to the big concert hall to listen to musical highlights from Men's glee club, Women's Chorale, Concert Choir, Symphonic Band and the Symphony Orchestra performed for the final student performance of the school year. We were sorry to have missed that but had a 3 hour drive waiting to get back home.  We pulled in right at 10:00pm, drove straight up to the barn to check on Tatiana before heading down to the house for the night.  She is waxing now quite heavy but was standing quiet at the gate.  We may or may not have a foal by morning. 

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Tatiana Waxing

 Another wet cold day. I left the house at 5:30 am to bring in Tatiana before the rain started up and was pleased to see she is finally starting to wax.

She would have preferred to stay out in the field raining or not. She really isn't due until May 16th but has always gone early, as much as 3 weeks early. This time it looks like it will be about 10 days early.  She is not happy in the indoor.  A request came in from Ohio, they are giving out Bibles to prisoners and needed Bible studies. That meant another drive in to the Berean office. An entire box of 1-4's were boxed, wrapped and taken to the post office for mailing.  We only have 1 box left so one of our jobs next Tuesday will be to work on folding 1-4s for stuffing in Bibles. I stopped at Sam's club before heading home for more cat food. It was pouring down rain when I made it home so left the cat food in the car for later. I got pretty wet and the house was cold so brought in wood and got the wood burner going again.  Hopefully THIS is the last time for a fire until November. Who would have thought we would need a fire in May.

Joan was getting the 2011 Keystone trailer ready for the renter picking it up today when she noticed the extra extension cord was missing.  The extension cords were left in the indoor and pretty dusty. I drove them over and was cleaning them up when Beth called, she was at mom's and needed a little bit of help. When I got home Mark was here.  He wanted supper early and after supper went out to clean up his car for our trip to Wheaton College tomorrow.  It is hard to believe but 50 years ago he graduated from there before heading to North Western for his graduate program. We have someone wanting to come look at Rocky. He is scheduled to be gelded May 12th so I told them to wait until after he is done with that. They happen to want a gelding so this works out well.  I also got the fried chicken ordered for Sunday.  Kroger is going to fry it but are going to close on Sunday at 3:00 pm so we have to pick up the 96 pieces at 2:45 pm Sunday afternoon and keep it warm until 4:30 pm. It should come in two boxes so we can put one in my oven and one in the apartment oven.  This evening I spent some time out in the barn with Tatiana grooming her and encouraging her to settle down.  Hopefully she will hold off delivering until we get home tomorrow evening, either that or deliver tonight before we leave tomorrow.  It is still raining but has been a nice soft soaking rain all day.  We got word today that Olivia, Jewel's very first Evan daughter delivered a colt this morning. Julie, Olivia's owner sent the picture below stating Evan became a grandfather: 

The other news was Skye was confirmed in foal.  

Fun With Feathers and Beads

 I only walked one round today then getting back to the house, changing and heading to the Berean office to finish up some work I did not get done yesterday.  Four more Bible requests had come in that didn't get processed yesterday.  From there I stopped at Sam's club and picked up pears.  Two of the 5 pound packages. They had them on sale for just $4.65 and these pears are delicious. I also picked up 4 big containers of folgers coffee as that was on sale for $2.00 off the price last week and this is for the 3 pound 3ounce can.  On the way home I stopped first at CEFCU to deposit some first of the month checks then to the Hanna City post office to drop off the Bibles.  I made it home in plenty of time to meet Anna who was bringing Sarah and Nolan's girls over.  River went right down for a nap but the other two couldn't wait to get going on crafts. Eden strung flowers and feathers together to make a hat that matched her dress while Zion worked on making her's as gaudy as possible.

Eden had to turn around to show the entire beautiful hat. A little later River woke up and played with the beads.

Zion loves using glue and tape on all of her creations.

I took them home at 2:30 pm. When I got back around 3:15 pm Mark was already home and ready to help move in bales. We moved in 4 today. The middle paddock got 2 bales and both stallion paddocks needed a bale. Evan was turned out in the field where the new barn is going up. There is no fence on the East side of that field and I was just hoping he wouldn't cross the new drive and be content to graze.

He was. He looked over at the cabin field but since there are no horses in there right now settled down to graze until the bale was in. He willingly came to me to be put back in his paddock. Valiant wasn't completely out of hay but we put a new bale in his anyway as rain moves in for the next two days.  Irish, her colt and Rosalie were turned out in the pond pasture to join Soul and Lily and their foals. The 3 foals are now all in the same group and all of them are getting along great.  Faith and Mackenson came over to mow and mowed even longer than they should have. Tonight was family night at the fellowship hall with the meal starting at 6:00 pm.  Joan and her family were just a little late arriving after the prayer but that was because they didn't quit mowing in time.  It was much to wet to mow this morning.  Marvin Hodel gave a presentation on Egypt. It was very good. 

Turn On the Heat

 No walk today it was raining and I needed to leave early for the Berean office so I could stop first to pick up the mail at the Peoria post office.  I made it to the Berean office in enough time to turn the heat and lights on and make a pot of coffee.  What I didn't realize is we were completely out of coffee cups.  Shirley Ringger saved the day by driving back to her house for coffee cups which she had left over from her wedding.  We had a very good time at the Berean office and were kept busy by quite a bit of mail.  All of those pictures and videos that were taken today will have to be posted tomorrow. I left the camera at that office. I have to go back anyway, I have 3 letters here that need to be processed and 2 from Kathy that need to be checked from last week. Anna is dropping off Sarah and Nolan's 3 girls tomorrow late morning so I'll have to leave early for Berean to be home before Anna brings the girls. I drove straight up to the the barn once home, unhooked the horse trailer and took off for D & H Trailer repair to pick up the Wildwood. 

That was not a good trip, the trailer isn't repaired, the battery disconnect has not been installed, the trailer was moved and in a muddy area and the battery cables were put back so on the brand new battery was dead as could be. I had to tromp all the way back through the mud to the office to ask for a jump then back through the mud to meet the guys bringing the jump.  I was grumbling on the way home until I finally realized, good grief it isn't worth being grumpy, it is just a battery. The Wildwood was parked near the shed so it could be plugged in except I couldn't pull the plug out without a tool to grip it. It was still drizzling and still cold and by this time my shoes were soaked through with mud and water.  I walked in the door and a message came through that 7 dozen  fresh laid eggs were ready for pick up. Back in the car and off I went to the farm to pick up the eggs. Three dozen were taken to mom's house, 1 dozen was taken to Diane's and I took the other 3 dozen.  That is what I cooked for dinner tonight.  First the sausage was fried, then I sliced thin a baked potato and fried that up and finally added the fresh eggs.  Both Mark and I enjoyed that. We had a ripe pear for dessert. The last job today was to put Tatiana inside. It is so wet and cold outside I sure don't want her delivering unless it is inside.  She is starting to progress, her udder was tighter this evening and I saw a drop of liquid on one of her teats. Not enough to say she is waxing but it is a start. Tomorrow no rain is predicted cloudy and 50s, still cold. Crazy this is May 3rd and we had to turn the heat back on. 

Another cold Monday

 It was my turn to stay at mom's today which meant I needed to get out early to tease mares and cover them. Soul must just be going out. She would not stand today but showed at first then clamped her tail. Lily was in big and covered by Valiant.  She stood very well. Their foals are 12 days old.  Tatiana was taken back out to her paddock and the indoor arena cleaned up.  All of that got done in time to still meet at the dumpster at 7:15 am.  Diane and Ruth walked, Joan was on her way back home from Gulf Shores.  We stopped and talked to Sarah, Joan's daughter, who had spent the night with her siblings.  I had time to go home and pick up my car before needing to be at mom's. Mom and I had a quiet day. It was too cool in the morning to sit out on the deck at only 45 degrees but by this afternoon we were able to enjoy sitting outside and listening to the birds sing and the geese honk.  We also watched a pair of wrens working on building a nest in the house we put out on Friday. The flowering crab tree was full of bees. In the video below you can hear the hum of busy bees. 

I couldn't capture all the bees in the picture.

After Karin got home Faith and Berlica came over so we could play games. Joan made it home by 4:30 pm just in time to meet the person renting the Wolf Pup so I left for home. I needed to get a bale moved into Sally's paddock. Mark helped with that while I opened gates and kept the horses from running out.

Rockaway was fascinated by the tractor bringing in the bale.

Missy and Sally are the dominate horses in this paddock. Rocky and Cookie stood back until the other two were eating away then joined in a bit later.

Tatiana was put back in the barn for the night. Storms and a cold rain is predicted again tonight and tomorrow.  The man buying Irish' colt came out with his two children. I didn't have my phone on so couldn't take a picture but both of his children were able to pet the colt. He loved their attention. On the way back down to the house I had to stop to take a picture of the redbud tree. 

Such a beautiful tree.

The Sunday Prayers

Mike was at Middle Grove yesterday, it was such a beautiful day. He was working on the other side of the lake, looked across and saw the herd all spread out grazing. He took the two pictures below and sent them to me. 

Still no waxing with Tatiana. She isn't due for 15 more days but usually delivers at least 2 weeks early so I'm glad she is here in Hanna City.  We did not have a very nice weather day today, cold, cloudy and windy.  Thankfully we had a special day in church. A day of prayer. David had the message for the first service on prayer.  If you would like to hear it just click on the video below:

After lunch the entire second service was devoted to prayer. Each minister took a turn to pray and after each the entire congregation spent time in silent prayer. It was a beautiful afternoon service. After church I turned the phone on to see the apartment booked again with airbnb.   The kids and grandkids arrived, that is all except Lee and  Rhoda's family as they are in Florida and it is just a little to far to drive here for Sunday dinner. As soon as some of the grandkids exited their cars they exclaimed, "look at the chicks!" Well they weren't chicks, our resident geese pair hatched out six little goslings.  

We all enjoyed the meal. After supper some of the kids worked on crafts and some went straight out to play 4 square then volleyball. The mom's all went for a walk while the youngest grandchildren stayed inside to work on crafts. No pictures, I was too busy supervising the painting of sun catchers.  It was too cold and windy for Mark and I to want to go watch the volley ball games so we stayed inside with the youngest grandchildren. After everyone left I walked back up to the barn, put Tatiana in the indoor and fed the cat. She hadn't finished yesterday's food so must have caught a rabbit for dinner. We are swamped with rabbits. Mark and I will have an early night tonight. 

Cooking and Baking

 Ruth was staying with mom this morning and decided to take her down to the river front museum. It was free today. They were there for about 3 hours and also enjoyed the planetarium.

Ruth said the morning was a success. Mom enjoyed it but had to remark this planetarium was not nearly as impressive as the one she went to as a child in New York City.
Early this morning I pulled soup bones out of the fridge where they had been placed on Friday and was so surprised now that they were defrosted to find the packages soft. They were opened and this was not like any soup bones I've had in the past. 

These were more like fine cuts of meat with a bone in the middle. I saved 4 back for Mark to grill tomorrow. They are much too nice for soup. The frozen tongue was also defrosted so that plus 4 of those really good looking soup bones were put to boil.

While that was boiling I ran up to the barn to take care of the horses and cat. At 9:00 am I left for Aldi to buy the vegetables needed for the soup along with tomatoes, avocados, onions hamburger buns, hotdog buns and more salad mix for tomorrow's meal.  I parked next to a very unusual car. 

of course that bass needed a close up.

The sign on the door.

I wish I had the time to wait for the owner to come back so I could get some history on that bounty hunter. Since we now have over 100 pounds of hamburger in the freezer, we will be serving on Sunday, that and some of those good all beef nitrate free hotdogs. I also picked up some more cans of solid white tuna and noticed the price went up another 25 cents per can.  There really doesn't seem to be any slowing of this awful inflation. The bass car was gone by the time I finished my shopping and got back to the car.  By the time I got home the meat was cooked enough to peel the tongue lining off and slice it thin. I also deboned the meat off of the soup bones and removed any fat.  This was the easiest soup bones I've ever cooked. Usually they are big leg bones with just scraps of meat left on them. Below is the pile of good useable meat for this pan of soup with the scraps off to the right.

The scraps were taken over to mom's for the dogs there.  Both Studly and Molly enjoyed chewing on that tough tongue skin. The meat was put back in the broth then the carrots, onion, celery and mushrooms were chopped up and added to the pot along with some savory herbs. This was left to simmer for hours. This afternoon it was cooled then put in containers.

Most was put in my fridge but the cool whip containers full of soup were shared around here.  Diane came over with a container of turkey soup she made yesterday.  We had that for dinner tonight. The last thing cooked today was 2 pumpkin dump cakes for our dinner tomorrow.