Middle Grove

 We got up early and after dressing the first thing I did was to take the golf cart over to the barn to check the fridge. It is still working. Thank goodness as the guests were coming in by noon today. I left my cell number in case they needed anything then went to check the mares. Once back in the house breakfast was cooked then we packed up the truck with 3 folding tables, 2 chairs, a cooler full of food, swim suits and extra clothes and took off for Middle Grove. When we arrived Rhonda and Spark were out on the lake rescuing the pontoon boat. The mooring rope had broken and the pontoon was quite a ways away. Rhonda used the small fishing boat to drop Spark off to get it back to the dock. The solar coaster was just going out with Joan, Diane, Rachel and David.

I parked the truck then Mark helped unload the equipment. Mike had dropped off Rosalie and Dahlia in the 76 acre pasture then this morning couldn't find them. We took the jeep into the winter pasture and somehow they had broken through the fence in the 76 acre pasture and got into the summer pasture. They were on one side of the fence and the rest of the herd was on the other side refusing to leave them. Mike had left halters on so it was easy to hook a lead rope on and lead them to the back gate. They were thrilled to join the herd.

All the rest of the horse pictures are posted on Facebook. Click HERE if you would like to see them. I took the video below. Mike brought fly spray so those that wanted to be sprayed got in line for that. Lily loves to be sprayed and once we did she wouldn't leave us alone.

We removed the halters then went back to camp. Mark had taken a canoe out to go fishing. Diane and I walked over to Spark and Rhonda's camp sites and visited with Rachel who camped over there.

I walked back and took a picture of our camp site from the other side of the lake.

Joan went out to scavenge wood for the fire and came back with a good size dead tree.

She and Mackenson unloaded that.

Fedi had the gas chain saw, he and Joan used that while Ruth gave Mackenson the electric chain saw.

Joan made a fire and soon Mark and I were cooking our lunch over that.

Joan and Fedi took the solar coaster out fishing and came back with 5 nice size bass for their dinner tonight. Below they are cleaning the fish while Spark and Rhonda were cleaning up the dock.

We were sitting around the campfire when Luke arrived and asked where he was camping. We told him, "your parents are over at Spark's camp site. They spent the night there last night." He looked confused but we kept insisting until we FINALLY realized we were not talking to Luke we were talking to LEVI! Those 2 cousins look and sound alike. We were all laughing about it when Dan and Susan arrived with Levi's camping gear. We had to tell them the story of mixing Luke and Levi up.

Mark and I were just packing up to leave. We will go back out tomorrow after church and will skip the campfire tonight but will certainly enjoy it tomorrow. As we were leaving Mike and Diane were giving jeep rides and Spark and Rhonda were giving rides in their side by side. It is such an amazing property, it doesn't look like it belongs in Illinois, more like Montana. Once home I didn't finish the chores until after 7:30 pm and we ended up eating dinner at the fashionable time of 8:00 pm. The dish has fried rice, vegetables including cabbage, carrots, onions, broccoli, celery and water chestnuts mixed with noodles and topped off with a pork egg roll served with sweet and sour sauce.

It was good but eating so late is not good for us old folks.

Fixed Fridge

 The fridge at the barn had been turned off last night so on the way to the walk I stopped to put the ice maker back together and turn it on. I didn't have a lot of hope it was fixed but it was one more thing to check. I decided the mother's day flowers the kids gave me were ready to be thrown out so took them out to the dumpster but found the carnations, a few of the roses,  babies breath and some of the other flowers were still really beautiful. Just then the garbage truck arrived. Diane asked the driver if he was married and when he said he was we gave him the still beautiful flowers along with the vase for him to give his wife. He was really pleased with them. We were coming up from Spark's drive when we heard a car and started moving off the road when Spark hit the accelerator and scared Ruth who screamed and scrambled off the drive. Ruth said she thought maybe his foot got stuck on the accelerator but Spark called right then to tease us, explaining now that mom is gone he doesn't need his sisters anymore. Obviously that was a joke and we laughed along with him. We reminded him of all he did also these last 4 and a half years, how he fixed the lift chair, installed new lights and lots of other repairs. After the walk I went home to cook breakfast. We had just sat down to eat when Dan sent a text that he was at the barn working on the fridge.

He had pulled it away from the wall, found a leak, shut off the water to the ice maker and water dispenser in the door of the fridge, and blown out all the places that dust or crud could accumulate. When we turned it back on IT WORKED.  He determined it must have been the leak that was causing the problems. We left it pulled out from the wall just in case it wasn't the problem. Later I had Mark come help me move it back to the wall as it really is working. It was holding steady at 37 degrees in the fridge and 0 degrees in the freezer.  I was so thankful as we have guests coming in tomorrow morning.   Mark was installing overhead drip cap guards on the porch of the apartment but quit to come help.

I went in to make sure the apartment was ready for the guests moving in today. The big job for today was to get the barn cleaned and ready for tomorrow. I had one bunk bed that still needed a sheet, gave the 6 bathrooms a good cleaning, cleaned up the game room, organized all of the sports toys and swept up any of the Asian beetles or stink bugs that found their way into the gym. The barn was used quite a lot over the last two weeks with so many people coming in for mom's funeral and then Faith's wedding. Star Temple and her Valiant filly were standing by the fence by the barn. The filly was curious to see what I was doing. 

She is a pretty filly, her legs will end up black once the foal coat is gone. You can see 2 spots on her left front leg where the black is coming through.

This filly will be registered with FHHI as 50% Friesian 50% Thoroughbred once she is named. She should end up a bit over 16 hands and will have great movement. She can be reserved with a deposit of $1000.00 with the balance of $3000.00 due at weaning and pick up in September.  Mike took a 4 wheeler out to Middle Grove this morning with the horse trailer. As soon as he got back we loaded Rosalie, her daughter Dahlia into the stock trailer then drove that over to the cabin field and loaded Disco.

Mike and Diane drove to Western Hearts where Disco's new owners were waiting. I sent the picture below to his new owners letting them know he was on his way.

On the way back to the house Rosaleigh's colt was over talking to Evan but by the time I got the phone out to snap a picture he saw me coming and came running over for attention.

It was getting cooler and both Mark and I are too tired to drive out to Middle Grove tonight. We will go in the morning and join the campers out there. 

Another Job Done

 I knew it was Thursday this morning. We were up early again and I had plenty of time to check the mares and cook breakfast before our walk. Diane, Joan and I went to Tony Plattner's funeral and got to Grace church in plenty of time to also go through the visitation line.  The funeral was very touching. Many got up to speak but the hardest to listen to was Jared. I saw many people weeping along with him. We did not stay for the lunch as the funeral lasted about 2 hours.  After getting home I worked again on the fridge.

Dan gave me one more thing to try before pulling it out away from the wall to get to the sensor. We have guests coming in on Saturday so really hope we can get this fixed. As a lot of the family will be camping at Middle Grove this weekend we loaded the generator into the back of the truck then drove the truck over to Joan's to pick up a camper to take out. 

Joan drove the motorhome out and we followed. The motorhome was parked first at the campsite up on the hill and while Joan was working on that we got the camper parked and set up.

We got home at 6:00 pm, had just enough time to cook and eat a steak dinner for supper.

Diane had invited everyone over to help write thank you notes at 6:30 pm.

With 9 of us working we were able to finish in good time then spent the rest of the time visiting. Below are the notes going out tomorrow. Joan had some yet at her house that needed to be finished still.

Another job done. It was a good evening.

 

It's Wednesday!

 We were up at 5:15 am. Breakfast was cooked early as we didn't really stop for supper last night.  I needed a couple cups of coffee before going over to the barn with the clean sheets. We met at 7:30 to walk, but we didn't get as much exercise as usual as we were busy visiting. As we were walking over the dam to Rachel's house I noticed the diving board Mike and Diane bought had been installed.

After the walk I started teasing mares. Not one mare is in season today. We had a lot of rain while we were gone, our driveway had some big wash out areas and some of the mares were muddy. Mark installed the jack on the camper so we moved the last two campers out of the barn and over to Joan's house. One of the campers will need to get the bumper fixed or perhaps a new one installed. Fedi had welded it but now the metal itself is breaking. It only has the spare tire on it. Mark is checking into buying a new one but if they are too expensive we will ask Fedi if he can fix it with some metal plates. My next job was to go to Kroger for some groceries and for some reason when I got there thought it was Monday so looked for a treat to take to the Berean office tomorrow. I found 2 different kinds and when I got home and unloaded the groceries, those treats were left in the car so I could take them to Berean tomorrow. BUT today is Wednesday, not Monday and it took me a few hours to realize those treats were going to have to come inside. Mark got the driveways graded while I was shopping.  I wasn't the only one confused on days. Diane showed up at our house about 6:05 pm as we were getting ready to go out to the car for church and asked, "where are you going?" She also forgot it was Wednesday. Now that we don't have schedules to take care of mom we don't even know what day it is. Church tonight was the prayer meeting. Caleb started the evening with a prayer, Gregg read out of Daniel then prayed, we sang and prayed the evening. After that was over we went to Culvers for a late supper. Today just happened to be the last day of school for Israel, Elisabet, Zion, Eden and River. 

The Ark Encounter

 Our night wasn't awful at our airbnb. We weren't used to all of the street lights and lights around the houses here. Even with the blinds closed there was enough light that we certainly didn't need any night lights. This tiny house had a couple mouse holes. The first was in the living area.

The second was by the bed.

We ate my leftovers from lunch for our breakfast then checked out and left for the Ark Encounter. That really is impressive. It is just massive.

We asked a lady behind us if she would take our picture at the door. The door too is massive.

If you would like to see the rest of the pictures taken inside click HERE. After exiting we walked through the little zoo before getting on the bus to go back to the parking lot. The ride home was uneventful. We didn't get home in time to go to Iris' program but Rhoda sent a marco polo of her class singing. 

Israel's team was playing Jackson's team tonight. Below are the two dads who happen to be first cousins. David Sceggel and Tim Meister.

Below are the 2 second cousins who played against each other tonight, Israel Sceggel and Jackson Meister.

I did not hear how the game went except one video David sent of Israel hitting a double. I walked over to the barn to turn on the barn fridge. Joan was there cleaning the bedrooms. All of the wedding guests left today. I took one set of sheets back with me to wash, she had the rest done. I know it is only 9:00 pm but feels much later. I'm glad to be home and looking forward to my own bed.

No Backpack

We met at the dumpster, all 5 of us. It started to sprinkle after one round so we all went in to visit with Aunt Jinnie but she was still sound asleep. We worked her much to hard at the wedding although it wasn't us that was pushing her. She wouldn't quit. I ended up not staying to say good by as Mark and I were leaving for our trip to the Ark Encounter.  We were packed and Mark got his pillow in the car but not our small backpack which had clothes for tomorrow, our pills and personal items when a big storm suddenly slammed into our door. We decided to wait it out before leaving. Below is a video just as the storm hit. 

We drove through rain almost the entire trip. We got to our airbnb and opened the back trunk to get our backpack out but it wasn't there. We will need to keep the clothes we are wearing as clean as possible for tomorrow at the Ark. This airbnb thankfully provides new tooth brushes and tooth paste. We went to a Mexican restaurant for supper. That was delicious.

It is an hour later here. We also found out Becky and Aunt Jinnie's plane got delayed until tomorrow. 

Wedding Day for Faith and Andrew

 Something got into the tomato plant bed. Yesterday one of the plants were completely uprooted and laying on it's side. I replanted it, today what ever is digging didn't uproot any of the plants just dug a hole.

Since I was ready for church and didn't want to get my hands dirty I left it. That poor plant is just not growing very well. We picked up Aunt Jinnie and Becky first and they were already outside waiting for us. Next we picked up Rhonda and got to church just before 9:30 am. It was wonderful to see church full and hear so many happy voices fellowshipping before the service started. Dave Huette was visiting from Tremont and had the morning message on Psalm 1 and John 15. Click HERE to watch that. David and Craig had the marriage message. Click HERE to watch that. I admit to getting emotional a bit. What a week this has been. After the service Mark picked up Aunt Jinnie, Becky and I from the front door and we went straight out to the fellowship hall to get ready for the reception. Aunt Jinnie and Becky were put on making the icecream punch. 

Diane and I got out the fruit cups Beth had prepared for us and set those out. There was another crew working on cooking the chicken strips.

We were all kept busy and by 2:00 pm when the line started there was a quick scramble to get everything on the table and ready. 

The sauces were for the chicken strips which were not pictured.

We were all pretty busy. I was washing trays from 2:00 pm until 3:15 pm. When someone came to take my place Amy and I went through the line and ate our meal before going up to see Andrew and Faith. We were waiting in line when I looked out the window to see 5 of my grandchildren chasing a baby bunny. They caught it.

Rhoda took the pictures below of Faith and Andrew getting ready to taste the cake.

Mark and I took Aunt Jinnie and Becky home but stopped at the parking lot to check out the car.

The kids were passing out bubble wands for the guests to blow bubbles at the new married couple as they left. Below Amy is blowing bubbles at us.

We got home a little after 4:00 pm. Sarah and Nolan along with Brian and Rebekah were here hiking the trails. A big branch had fallen across our second drive while we were at church.

I changed my clothes then went out to tease mares and was disappointed to see Basilea and Thalia were still in season. As we didn't cover them yesterday they had to be covered today. Basilea was covered first by Valiant then Thalia covered by Evan. Once they were fly sprayed and put away I took the golf cart over to mom's where the grandchildren were playing on the beach. They were busy burying Jordan.

Later we all migrated up to the fire pit. It was too hot outside to think of lighting a fire so we just sat around and visited.

Ruth brought a kite for the kids to try out as it was breezy.  Below is a short video of some of their fun with that kite.

They played with that for quite a while before going to the volleyball court to play games.

Around 8:00 pm the party started breaking up. I stopped in at the barn to check the fridge and it is still too cold around 20 degrees inside. That was turned off and hopefully by morning I can turn it back on. What a good day! The wedding and reception were very well attended. The church and fellowship hall were FULL!