Beautiful Hay

 I over slept this morning not getting up until 6:30 am. I really was just too tired from working yesterday then had a late night. I left for the walk early to have time to check out our bales. 

They are beautiful. Large, nice and green, put up dry and fine stemmed. I think this is the very best hay we have ever had for a first cutting. 

On our walk I pretended I wanted to take a picture of the ladies but really wanted to get one of those gorgeous bales in the shot.

we stopped and talked to Spark for a while then stopped when David came by and he told us about his awful day yesterday trying to get to Galesburg and back. I was a little late getting back to the house to make breakfast. Right after breakfast I went to the barn to start cleaning. Mark picked up Mackenson. They got the forks off and put the spear on so he could start moving bales. Mark loaded diesel fuel in the tractor and started moving bales. Mackenson weed wacked the round pen and outdoor arena. Mark used the tractor to just move the bales close to the barn. I was almost finished when Sarah asked if the dumpster had been emptied. It gets emptied on Friday so today was a good day to clean out the tack stall. I took the golf cart over to help Sarah. When I walked in the 3 girls were busy cleaning tack.

We found a sparkly pony halter in one of the tubs. 

The perfect size for a pony and tomorrow we are going pony shopping so the girls will take the halter along. Hopefully we will come back with something WEARING the halter.

I went back to work to finish but stopped when I saw Mike burning scrap lumber.

I don't really need scrap lumber this winter. We won't have wood burners this winter so decided to just let it burn. Crew and Jackson were busy helping unload the trailer in Mike's barn, hauling boxes up to the second level. Crew and Jackson are 2nd cousins and work well together.

I took a short video below of the boxes going up.

I finished the barn at 1:30 pm and went over to mom's as Sarah was letting the girls swim after all that stall work. David had Elisabet there too.

I didn't stay, the bales needed to be stacked in the barn. There were 3 older bales that needed to be moved to the other side. Once those were moved I started moving the bales from Joan's field over to ours. I had finished and was bringing one back to stack when Mark arrived with the tractor to help. First though we needed to move the broken golf cart out of the way. Mark had it up on stilts well it was lifted so he could work on taking the tires apart. We finished putting the last bale in the barn at 5:30 pm. Valiant was given a bale then I quit working.  I was covered with dust and bits of hay. The shower helped get rid of most of it but I still feel like there is more in my hair. I made a pizza for supper. Mike and Diane came over and we went for a short walk so I could show them the hay all nicely stacked in the barn. It really is beautiful!

Emotional

 On our walk this morning David and Rachel were heading somewhere with their truck and trailer. David had a tail light out. This tail light went out years ago and he fixed it then. This is how he fixed it. 

In case you can't see how he fixed it, below is a little better picture of the non working light.

He didn't even use a 'real' tupperware, just one of those cheap knock offs. He told Rachel he needs a new bulb and a new container. Hmmm I wonder if that makes him a redneck? After breakfast I spent some time cleaning out our closet before going over to mom's house. There I worked on cleaning out the coat closet. That took about an hour. I found lots of medical equipment from the last 4 years and 8 months. 

All of the puzzles and games were taken downstairs where we are laying everything out for family to go through. I found a huge mother's day card we gave to mom and everyone signed.

We didn't just sign, we all wrote something and my ears started watering as I read them. 

No wonder mom kept this card. I left then and want to my house to start cleaning out the 2 upstairs bedroom closets. Diane was cleaning out mom's desk and found letters and cards mom kept written by her children and she too got emotional. She found a note from mom giving her quilt to Hannah as Hannah was with her when she bought it. We all knew she wanted Hannah to have it but didn't realize she actually wrote that out in 2019. Mark had all of his financial papers probably for the 49 years we have been married stored in tubs in those upstairs closets. Those were hauled downstairs. I have a lot of show equipment, Ribbon's vaulting surcingle, the swords, the fancy capes. Lots of Christmas decorations, extra towels, bedding and pillows for the 2 airbnbs and more. A lot of it was hauled down stairs until I ran out of room in our small living room. How could 2 closets hold so much? I was glad to quit and take a long shower to get ready for church.  David Beutel had the message tonight and I felt it was just for me. God really IS in charge. To watch that click HERE. After church we went to Culvers for a late supper. I sat next to Teresa and asked at our table if anyone knew someone who needed a hospital bed. Teresa immediately replied, "I DO!" Her 19 year old son Brandon really does need one so we have found a home for that. Joan is going to be looking for a new to her used washing machine and if she can find one in Peoria she will borrow the truck, drop off the bed and hopefully pick up a washer soon. On the way home from church an airplane flew right in front of us. The picture is fuzzy as the plane was moving pretty fast. The top light is the moon and the other lights are the plane as it was coming toward us.

Mark and Mackenson got lots of weed spraying done today. We are both tired. I found out when I turned my phone back on after church that Bryan, the farmer who does our hay, raked and baled today. He said we got 40 bales. Mark is going to help tomorrow by putting the bale spear on the tractor to get them close for me to stack with the skid steer.

 

Wonderful End to a Wonderful Day

Our big news was Bryan, our farmer asked if he could cut the hay today. Of course I said, YES! I was able to walk this morning at least for the first round before leaving for the Berean office. We had a good productive morning there. Dave, our director showed up today. Vonnie who is related to Dave had no idea he was the director of Berean Prison Ministry. 

We had a good laugh at that. As Dave was our guest he had the prayer this morning. After the prayer he told us a little about his trip to Romania and a little of his past trips with Fedi to Romania.

Once he left we all went to work.

The studies and Bibles were loaded into the car and dropped off at the Hanna City post office. Sarah sent the picture below while I was at Berean. She and her girls cleaned up every stall in the stall barn.

As soon as I got home and changed it I ran up to check. They did a wonderful job. Of course I needed to check the fields and was very glad to see the tractor out mowing.

Then it was time to get the bales moved. I was working by myself so would just bring the bales out then put them near the paddock they were going into. I had moved the bale over at the cabin field for the riding horses and as I was moving Valiant's Mark drove by. Of course he was asked to help with the rest. 

Above is Bulu and her colt's new bale and below is Valiant's new bale.

Above is the bale we put in the last shelter for Tessa, Izzy and Sheena and below are the riding horses, Rosalie in the lead followed by Jewel, Sally and Dancer.

My next job was to clean out the inside of the truck. Then Mark helped get the generator out of the back and on to the golf cart. That was put back on the front porch. The truck was taken to the gas station to fill up the tank and it only cost. $114.30. The sad thing was it wasn't even empty, it still had a quarter of a tank left before filling it.

The trailer was hooked up to the truck, pulled out enough that it could be cleaned out also. We will be all ready to go on Friday.

I met our new airbnb guest and had a nice visit with her. I explained she might see a stink bug or two and gave her our little battery operated vacuum just in case. She explained she has them at her place too and that is what she uses at home. So far though all was well so hopefully there won't be any. I left then to get cleaned up and ready for the wedding shower for Sarah and Josh. 

The food was delicious and the shower a lot of fun. Amy claimed the baby pretty quickly.

Bonnie gave them the best present. She ordered it on Amazon then went to Pet's Mart where the helpers were glad to help her find the exact box needed.

Before mom died she had Diane order the gift below and signed her name to the card. 

After the gifts were opened Sarah and Josh shared their engagement story.

It really was a wonderful end to a wonderful day.

My First Bad Review

 Our Airbnb guests in the apartment were in no hurry to leave and we have another guest coming. These guests were not at all like I expected. I saw them the first day and tried to say hello but as soon as the husband saw me, he went inside and shut the door. I thought they must be busy. The second time I saw the husband come out we were loading horses. I waved and kind of yelled, "hello, I'm Judy," but he went right back inside. I told Mark they must want privacy. Mark said he saw them but they never made eye contact. So each morning we were very quiet feeding the horses and taking the long way around the back of the barn to feed the cat.  The husband told me when he booked it that his wife was allergic to cats and wanted to make sure there would not be a cat around. I assured him that our cat was a barn cat and they would probably only see her from a distance out hunting. The tomato plants were watered. early. All 3 plants are doing well.

 We had to fix fence today as Mike was bringing 4 of the riding horses home. We were trying very hard not to make noise while working. 

Mark had to use the chain saw to cut down some saplings but by this time it was after 10:00 am. We finished the fence and only one time did I see someone looking out the window but as soon as they saw me looking up at the apartment he or she turned away. I never did meet the wife. Once the fencing was done I went to the cabin field to bring Bulu and her colt over.

The colt started out walking well but all of a sudden he decided he didn't want to go and started dragging the golf cart backward then sideways.  I was at the main drive struggling with him when David S and a friend came by on their golf cart. I told them you would probably want to go a different way as the colt was fighting every step of the way. I finally got him up to the paddock but he sure didn't want to go in. He broke one lead rope but never got away. I was able to tie him to a breeding stand then got a bucket with grain in it. Once he saw that he and Bulu followed me right into the paddock. Only then did I find out from Mike that this colt had not been trained to lead. Braelyn and Anna arrived to clean the apartment right about the time the guests left and that was around 11:30 am. I went inside with them and saw that they had put something on the futon comforter and that left a brown stain that looked like grease, so that was taken down to the house to pretreat then wash. Mark and I left at 2:30 pm to drive to Middle Grove to pick up the camper. Mike and Berlica had just finished riding Sally and Jewel. They said both horses were perfect. They were tied to the stock trailer while Mike and Berlica went to get Rosalie and Dancer. Joan helped get the camper hooked up. We took it straight to the new barn to empty the tanks. 

Once the tanks were empty we drove it over to Joan's house. I was asked to leave a review for our guests. I gave them 5 stars and wrote they were very quiet guests (since we never got to talk to them).

Later tonight they left a terrible 2 star review for staying here. They wrote in their review that the horses were so bored, they craved human companionship. They complained that this was supposed to be a working horse farm and they never saw us do any work. They also said they had 50 bugs flying around hitting them. I found 4 dead stink bugs so I think that might have been a slight exaggeration. They contacted me yesterday that the internet went out but within a minute sent me another message saying never mind it is back on. I told them it happens. They wrote in the review that the internet was spotty.  The internet went out once for a few minutes the entire 3 days they were here so I wouldn't think that would be an issue for a review but for this couple it was.  They also left me a long private message on how awful we were for not introducing them to the horses. Oh well, we completely misunderstood their reason for booking and thought we were giving them the privacy they wanted. Funny how we were SO wrong. All these years of hosting airbnb guests and this is my very first bad review. As I was writing this the foaling apartment booked again. They probably didn't read this latest review. 

Enjoyable Sunday

We picked up Rhonda for church this morning as Spark went to the jail but they only held one service so Spark made it before the first service. Caleb Plattner had the morning service on Genesis 39. Click HERE if you would like to watch that. Tim Roecker had the afternoon message on Romans 12 and 13, Click HERE to listen to that. We left right after church as we needed to quick clean up the barn before the Co-op graduation and party for Tim Ricketts. The Airbnb guests left the barn very nice so it didn't take very long. The ribs were heated up in the oven for about a half an hour before putting them in 2 crock pots and loading those in the truck with the other food for supper at Middle Grove. We had a feast then Spark and Rhonda's group came over from their campsite and enjoyed the leftovers.

There was plenty for everyone.

After dinner Diane took us on a pontoon boat ride.

We caught up with the solar coaster which Dan was driving. They fell in behind us to enjoy our wake.

We passed the only other people on the lake not from our family. They had some of their grandchildren out on their deck fishing.

It was a peaceful quiet ride with beautiful scenery. We saw the cows but not the horses.

When we got back to the dock, Rhonda was waiting with the side by side to take us on a tour of the summer and winter pastures. Today we saw the 10 acre lake, the 5 acre lake and the 60 acre lake along with a herd of horses.

Nancy thought the ride was kind of scary but was happy she got to go and pet the horses.

We made it back to the campsite just in time for some delicious s'mores. Dan was playing the guitar and singing songs with and for Nancy. 

Diane was taking a turn to hold the youngest family member.

There were 8 of us siblings camping this weekend only missing Karin, Beth and John.

Joan, Berlica and Braelyn were out on the solar coaster fishing.

Spark had his family out on the pontoon boat for a sunset cruise.

Diane took Rita and Serena for a jeep ride.

Fedi made sure the camp fire was perfect for the group.

Rhoda had her children and Sarah's girls riding Cookie on Saturday and sent back the picture below.

This afternoon Anna sent the 2 pictures below. Taegan's volleyball team won the championship this afternoon.

 Kensley's softball team also won their championship this afternoon. 

There is a big group camping out at Middle Grove tonight but not us. We get to sleep in our OWN bed and I'm really looking forward to that in a few minutes. It really was an enjoyable Sunday.