Another Loss

 On the way to the walk I usually swing by the paddocks to make sure all is well. My guests staying in the foaling apartment were out petting Jewel and Jewel was loving the attention.

They really enjoyed staying here. Just Ruth and I walked this morning. Joan is still on her trip out West and Diane spent the night at Middle Grove. We just did one round then went in to visit with mom. She had a much better night last night sleeping well. She is still coughing but it is now a productive cough and she feels better. 

Joan's cats were still over at mom's so Mark brought their food over there but still left some food out for the black cat that lives at Joan's house. I left for Aldi right after breakfast getting a lot of the food we will serve on Sunday night. I decided to do haystacks as we haven't had that in a while. Mark was gone when I got back. HE took the truck down to the Dream Center to purchase another lawn mower. This one is an older Toro but starts right up and works well. From there he drove to Sarah and Nolan's house to take down some saplings and weeds along their fence. Those were loaded into the back of the truck and brought here for the burn pile. 

As Diane has airbnb guests coming in today at the cowboy cabin she wanted some horses in the cabin field. Madiera and her colt were taken over.

I thought they would be fine but both Madiera and her colt kept calling for the other horses so finally I went back and got Missy and put her in with them.

Mom called as I was taking the video so quit and took the golf cart over. Mom's deck was taken over by Joan's cats and kittens. Karin sent the picture below of mom enjoying the sunshine AND the cats.

Tomorrow I'll show mom some of the Eastern Camp videos. Aunt Jinnie called and said the orchestra was beautiful this year and they have 1200 campers for this camp but the facility they are using has room for 1500 so they can grow next year too.  On the way back to the house I took a few pictures of the flowers. Mom has surprise lilys popping up all over.

The flowers grow well at mom's.

After supper Mark took the truck to the burn pile to empty it.

That burn pile is huge. From there we took the truck to Joan's to unload the mower he picked up at the Dream Center.

I was so impressed with how easy it starts.

It never hurts to have extra mowers around.

We just got word that David Jacob's beloved dog Zero died. Zero was a miracle dog, his mother, a husky, was considered too old to have puppies and one morning Rachel was shocked to find her nursing one big puppy. They named that puppy Zero and he became David's dog and companion. They spent hours hiking in the woods, hunting and we never saw Zero without David. Rachel took the picture below.

He was a big shaggy happy dog and had a wonderful life with David.

David and his brothers dug the grave over by Rachel's orchard. What a hard year this has been for losing beloved pets. Studly, Molly, Kabur and now Zero all this summer. 

Camper Business

 I stopped at the apartment before heading over to the walk to turn on the lights and the airconditioner for the people coming today. The apartment had been cleaned and ready for guests so there was no need to do anything else. Diane had arrived and was walking over to mom's with her eggs from Tina. Tina left them at church for us to pick up on Wednesday night after church.  Mom had a bad night last night so on our walk we decided we must call the doctor and see if the doctor would prescribe an antibiotic. Mom has a chest infection and is coughing really bad. On the walk we noticed Berlica's cat AND her 3 kittens were in the woods by mom's house. Ruth picked up the mama cat and Diane picked up one of the kittens to put in the car but the other 2 kittens took off and were afraid to come close. Ruth let the cats out of her car, drove to Joan's and brought back cat food to feed them. They were hungry.

The mama cat was not hungry or was just waiting for the kittens to finish she just laid down and stared at them as they were eating.

 Mark has been feeding the cats over at Joan's house each morning but hasn't seen any. Each morning though all the cat food is gone. Starting now he'd better start leaving food in both places.

After the walk Ruth went straight to mom's and stayed until she was able to talk to the doctor. They could not get her in for an appointment but were willing to prescribe the meds so Ruth drove to Kroger to pick them up. Hopefully this will help. I had to meet the first people coming for a camper at 9:00 am at Joan's I snapped a picture of those flowers on her hibiscus plant as they are so beautiful right now. 

The man that picked up the camper told me it was his 5th time of renting from Joan and that made it really easy for the walk through. He already knew it all. I stopped at the lake on the way home as Anna and her girls along with Sarah and her girls were all over swimming.

I stayed and visited a bit before heading home for some lunch. Mark had been mowing but left the mower at the barn and went inside to have lunch too.

I got a message from the next person picking up a camper in twenty minutes so went to Joan's to turn the fridge and air on and grab the paper work only to realize this person had the wrong name for the camper going out. It turned out he was taking the minimax I quickly went back turned the air on in that camper then sent him a text with the directions. I couldn't find the keys so brought out the second set. When I was showing him how everything worked I found the first set of keys in the camper. They had been put away in one of the cubbies. The camper was hooked up and that man left within an hour sent back a text with a picture showing a melted connection on the power cord. As we do not have any spares we offered to trade him the motorhome for his trip. He is just traveling to Shelbyville for 2 nights. The motorhome was pulled out and hooked up to electricity so the slide would come out.

He returned the MiniMax and was very glad to take the motorhome. Mark is going to order the parts to fix the Minimax and if he can't will haul it down to TriCounty RV tomorrow. Mike arrived about then to help tease mares. We were in the process of teasing Bulu when the apartment guests pulled in, that spooked Bulu and she took off pulling the lead rope from Mike. They stopped their car while he got her. At least she didn't run far. She was still in and covered by Valiant. The next mare to be teased was Jewel and she was also still in and she was covered by Evan.  At 5:15 pm I went back to Joan's to meet the people taking the last camper. They were a half hour late but were also repeat renters so it wasn't too hard to show them everything. While I was at Joan's Mark started the water boiling for the corn. We were going to give this batch of corn to Taunya but when she didn't arrive yesterday Mark decided he wanted it for tonight's supper. This corn was picked on Tuesday morning and was just as delicious as the corn we ate on Tuesday.A BIG thankyou to Marvin and Sharon. We thoroughly enjoyed that fresh picked sweet corn. The camper business kept me really busy today but in the end everyone was happy with what they got. 

Wednesdays Work

 When I reached the meeting place for the walk I saw 2 big branches had fallen from the locust tree on to the trampoline. 

They were too big for me to lift off myself so when Diane arrived we took them off together.

You can see how big they are by the picture below. Diane is standing near the end of these limbs.

When Mark arrived he hauled them to the burn pile which is fast becoming huge again. Amazing how quickly that burn pile grows. Ruth joined us and when we reached Joan's we noticed her hibiscus plant was blooming.

The picture above was taken and sent by text to Joan. This bush was huge and the last storm destroyed most of the bush but at least she has part of it left growing.

Instead of doing 2 rounds we went in to mom's after the first round to sit and visit. Mom has had a bad cough but last night was able to sleep ok. Diane stayed with mom this morning and tried to keep the chair more upright. After the walk breakfast was cooked. Today we had a wonderful vine ripened tomato from Ruth's served with 2 eggs over medium, 2 home grown sausage patties, a piece of toast and a sweet ripe Geogia peach. I was thanking God for my taste buds this morning. That breakfast was delicious. After breakfast it was time to tease mares. I could tell Jewel was still in when I took the picture below. Notice her tail. 

The first mare teased was Bulu one of Mike's Thoroughbred mares. Mike was called to help with her. She is in and was covered by Valiant. Jewel was taken out of Evan's paddock and moved into Ribbon's old paddock as I want to make sure she gets covered tomorrow.
Next the golf cart was taken over to Joan's to work on a camper. I think we have 2 going out either tomorrow or Friday. I was almost done when Braelyn sent a text asking if I was home.

She and her friend Sofia spent the night in the big barn sleeping upstairs in the game room. Anna dropped of Taegan and Kensley and the girls wanted to go horse back riding. Missy and Cookie were taken out and tacked up. Taegan rode Missy to the round pen while Kensley rode Cookie. 

Below is a short video of these girls working with the horses in the round pen.

 

Next Braelyn and Sofia took their turns with the horses in the round pen. 

All 4 did very well in the round pen so I had Braelyn and Sofia ride them right into the outdoor arena.

It started to rain so we quickly let Taegan and Kensley have a turn in the outdoor arena before heading back to the indoor.

It was sprinkling as we were walking into the arena but that quickly turned to a downpour. The horses were tied up while the girls waited on the golf cart for the rain to stop.

We were going to go on the trails but the rain lasted longer than expected then Anna sent a text that she was bringing lunch to the barn for the girls. The horses were untacked and put away and the girls taken over to the barn. I went back to the house to start laundry and of course listen to AC Central while waiting for the machines. Tonight was church. Gregg Rumbold had the message tonight on James 4, Life is a vapor. To watch that click HERE. After church we went to Culvers for a late supper. David brought his two (Israel and Elisabet) and a neighbor boy Israel's friend. It was a bigger group tonight at Culvers. We enjoyed the food and the fellowship.

Tuesday At Berean

 We were both up by the time the coffee finished. I really like this new coffee machine, it cost a lot less than the Kuerig and is much easier to program each time our electricity goes off. This one is a Proctor/Silex and makes 12 cups when it is programmed to make 12 cups. We could never get our Kuerig to do that. It was a beautiful morning when I left for the walk. I stopped to take the picture below of Evan and Jewel. 

Diane, Ruth and I just walked one round as I needed to leave for the Berean office. Ruth went to mom's after the walk. Mom is still coughing so didn't feel like coming today. She had a bad night and Karin said she was really tired. 

We had a good busy day at the Berean office. Below are a few pictures.

Above Shirley opened up a letter that was filled with scribbles. Below is a close up of that letter. Some of these prisoners may have just a little too much time on their hands.

Marvin brought in a lot of bounty from his garden. There were fresh cucumbers, zucchini, green beans and lots of corn on the cob. All of it was picked this morning so all was very fresh. 

We took everything he brought and shared it with others. Sharon and Irv brought in even more corn on the cob also picked today,

Above Skip is getting the Bibles out for today while both Shirleys work on the studies and Vonnie fills boxes. Below Marvin is working on the returns.

Below is a short video.

When I left there I left with enough corn on the cob to run a bunch down to Sarah and Nolan's house. They had Taegan and Kensley with them so I left extra corn for Phil and  Anna's family then drove to David and Stephanie's house to drop off a Bible for a man from the Rescue Mission and also dropped off corn for their family. When I got back Mark was just getting ready to leave to pick up a mower from the dream center. He saw someone needed a push mower so picked one up there and delivered it. At 6:00 pm all of us girls (Diane, Ruth, Karin, Rachel, Jackie and I met at mom's to watch the movie Pride and Prejudice.  We needed to watch that movie before reading Jackie's book as her book tells the rest of the story of Lydia, the youngest daughter who married at 15 and caused the major scandal of the family.  

Jackie has quite an imagination. The book is on Amazon and called The Nobility of Lydia Wickham. 

It was fun to watch the movie together. Joan called while we were watching to tell us she was in coast  Oregon so we had to tell her we were in England. She really called to let me know the Little Guy Mini Max camper had rented for this weekend and another time in August. 

Elgin Trip

 

Another hard night last night with leg cramps. I'm not sure why that happens at night but when it does it is shocking. 5:00 am came all too soon. I'm thankful for the coffee maker that has hot coffee ready to be poured into a mug as soon as I roll out of bed. This morning we left at 8:15 am for the 3 hour trip to Elgin arriving at Jon's house at 11:15 am. We went right to work with me weeding and Mark weed whacking. The length and thickness of the grass in the yard was impressive.

It was tall enough to bale but of course we had no way to do that.

Jon has not been able to work for a while and was in the hospital a week and has now been moved to rehab for the next 20 days. Everything was overgrown. 

Kim arrived after noon and opened the garage doors so Mark could get the riding mower out. I was able to use the wheel barrow to dump the weeds in the backburn pile.

Kim and I also got some cleaning done inside the house. We were ready to quit around 4:00 pm so we could go visit Jon at the rehab facility. He was surprised to see us but glad we came. After a nice visit we left for home but stopped at a restaurant called Just Kabobs in St. Charles, IL for dinner.

Mark checked the reviews and it was a 4.7 with almost 2000 reviews. Those reviews were RIGHT. The food was awesome, delicious, healthy, quickly served and a good price. We each bought a meal and for the 2 of us the bill came to $20.00. Below is Mark's meal.

Mine is pictured below.

Mark ordered the gyro plate and I ordered a combo plate, which was the gyro plate with one chicken kabob added. We split that kabob. Neither of us finished our meal but we for sure finished the meat and vegetables. If we go back up again we will for sure stop again. It really was a good value. 

On the way home we got stopped by a commuter train. The barriers were already down, the lights flashing and we could hear the train horn blowing but no train was in sight. After watching a while we realized the sound was coming from speakers not a train but sure enough soon the train arrived.

We left this morning with a full tank of gas and would not have needed to stop for gas but when we got to Chilicothe Mark wanted to stop and get a drink so we filled up the car too. It cost $26.00 to go all the way to Elgin and then back to Chilicothe (about 340 miles). You just can't beat a Prius. 

When we reached Maxwell Rd I had to whip out the camera to take the picture below of the sun setting.

The camera just doesn't capture the red setting sun. Thankful to make it home safely and thankful for what got done today. We are both more than ready to head to our oh so comfortable bed.

The Gift of Sunday

 Last night sleep was elusive from aches and pains of an aging body that may have worked a little too hard and by morning the muscles in my legs were cramping. I had to do my breathing exercises to get them to relax. Diane needed a ride to church as Mike is sick. Mom was also not feeling well so she stayed home too. Molly brought Nancy to church.  She couldn't wait to go in and start singing, off key but she certainly tries. Tim Funk had the morning message, click HERE to watch that. Tim Roecker had the afternoon message, click HERE to listen to that. After church we took Nancy and Diane home. The cake was frosted then the chicken and vegetables were stir fried and taken over to the barn. Phil and Anna arrived with a couple of champions.  Braelyn and Taegan's team won the championship. 

Pretty neat that these girls got to play on the same team AND had a big part in winning.

We were only missing 2 from our family of 26 for dinner tonight but Diane and Mike came over to round off our numbers. Supper was good and everyone had plenty. After supper we all went either to the playground or the lake. Many babies came tonight. 

The only baby I don't think I got a picture of was Micah, Rebekah and Brian's baby. Mike brought his jeep home from Middle Grove so his company could have fun driving it on the trails yesterday. Below they are taking it back to the cabin.

The volley ball games were fun to watch but they were a little short of players as Phil and Anna were at church tonight.

Below is just a short video of the kids enjoying the lake.

Nancy came with me to collect the garbage from the foaling apartment. We stopped and took a picture of Jewel who was waiting to be moved back in with the mares.

Nancy was pretty excited as all the new clothes Diane and Karin ordered for her fit. Rhoda and Lee took her home to Morton tonight.

I'm very thankful to them for taking her. It saves me a 50 mile round trip. Nancy loves coming and we all love having her. Today was another blessed Sunday. It really IS a blessing to be first with our church family then with our immediate family and finally a lot of our extended families AND we get to join others in corporate worship of HIM our Creator and our Savior. I'm so thankful for this wonderful gift of Sunday!