Wonderful Day

 Today was amazing. Even before leaving for church as I got a couple phone calls of family coming in from Missouri to come for Sunday dinner. We left for church at 9:00 am and were happy to see we had guests from Tremont. David had the morning message and after listening and learning could only say, "WOW." To watch that click HERE. I'll have to watch it again, there is just so much in this lesson. Gregg Rumbold had the afternoon message on Genesis 3 and 1 John 2. Click HERE to watch that. Nancy came home with us after church. Rhoda and Sarah were out working with the horses and had new riders today. Tom brought his kids all the way from Missouri to ride. His red headed daughter Anni really really wanted to ride a horse and today was the day. Now she really really really WANTS a horse. Sorry Tom and Tarah! I was most pleased with Harli today. Both Rhoda and Sarah rode her. She is just doing amazing under saddle. Rhoda even asked her to step up on the pedestal. 

Below is a short video of this evenings training session.

We had a big group for supper tonight as tonight is the annual 14th Halo contests. Ruth's boys and Rachel's boys had it all set up in the barn. 

As Tom AND Tim came with their children, John and Beth also showed up. It was like a big family reunion!

The video was taken after supper and after John and Beth left.

Nancy was given some golf cart rides this evening before Rhoda and Lee took her home. Joan took the motorhome to Middle Grove as her family are camping out there tonight. Ruth and Fedi also went and so did Mike and Diane and Spark and Rhonda. The weather had cooled down and is great for camping. Today really was a wonderful day.

Registrations

 Another really hot day, not sure how hot but in the 90s again, at one point the car was reading over 103 degrees. Braelyn had some friends spend the night at the farmhouse last night. Philip asked them, "are you sure you want to stay there?  You know John the ghost lives right next door, in fact that is why they moved out." Braelyn said at first they were terrified and wanted all the curtains shut and all the doors locked. It didn't take long for them to get comfortable and by morning told Anna as she was driving them home it was the best nights sleep they can remember. The house reminded them of their grandmother's house and they loved going there.  Yep, it is really old. As it was booked for tonight Braelyn helped get it flipped. I was SO glad for air conditioning. The man buying Tessa's filly asked for a new video today but since it was so hot I took a very short video outside of her trotting then inside to cool off. 

Next Rhoda wanted me to send Jozsef pictures of the East door of the barn. That has had a problem leaking. Those were taken and sent by text to him. He is now in business for himself and working as a handyman and he IS very handy. I'm not going to give anyone his information yet though, otherwise he will get too backed up to do our small job. About that time a message came through from someone asking to see the motorhome. They were from Lake Camelot so just a few minutes away. I was taking the golf cart over to plug it in and turn on the air when Diane and Joan showed up walking. They were left in the dust until after I got the motorhome ready. We were still talking when the people showed up and somehow knew we were sisters. After they left it was time to work on registrations. I was able to get Izzy registered on-line for $215.00. They will send a the dna paper by mail but it is paid for. Next was to order the DNA My Horse. That could also be done on line and I could pay by credit card. This is supposed to tell us what breed other than Friesian Sapphire has. She sure looks like a purebred.

Supposedly she is 7/8ths Friesian so we need to know if that is true and what the other 1/8th is.  The next job was to download the Gypsian book of the Friesian Heritage Horse International registry and fill out all of that paper work. I also had to make copies of Harli, his dam's papers to send along with it. The last two done were a little more simple, Tessa's filly and Rosaleigh's colt. I didn't finish with all of that paper work until almost 1:30 pm. It is very time consuming and expensive. For the 3 foals the cost was $315.00. I spent almost $600.00 while sitting inside. I left at 1:50 pm to drive to Sarah's house. She and Nolan were invited to a wedding and needed to leave by 2:15 pm. The girls and I had a ball building forts and staying on cushions away from lava in their living room. Those girls were jumping machines.

When they finally quit they were exhausted.

After resting a bit they got their shoes on and we drove to Sam's club to pick up the food for tomorrow supper. We have a big group coming. Rachel is cooking 2 large pork roasts to add to the dinner. Before leaving Sam's we stopped at their little café and each ordered a slice of pizza and a slushy. That came to 11:00 and was a bargain. We brought it home so we could put the food away at our house then Mark could join us for supper. Those slices were huge. We drove back to Sarah and Nolan's house. Zion's job was to let all of the dogs out. Right now they have 3 mama dogs in the house. Rilla has 5 puppies, Bailey has 3 puppies and Fiona just has 1. Each mama dogs goes out by herself and once she does her business comes running back to the door and then runs to her puppies. It is a good system. Sarah and Nolan got home around 7:30 pm from the wedding. It was an outdoor wedding and the reception was held in a barn with no air-conditioning. I'm sure glad I wasn't invited.

Horsemeister's Sapphire

 Luna just doesn't fit this new mare of ours. Today Rhoda and Sarah must have showed up very early to work with her and decided her new name is Horsemeister's Sapphire and we will call her Fire. She has a lot of holes in her training. She does not respect our space (typical Friesian) but we must teach her to do this. They are big horses and don't understand how much room they take up. She leads ok but does not like her back legs handled. The girls did some really amazing work with her before taking a break for pictures. Introducing Sapphire: 

We will get some better action shots later. Once Fire was put away they brought out Tessa and her filly. The pictures on the website of Tessa were taken when she was only 2 years old. We really needed to update those. Plus Zion was here with her flowers and dress so of course we needed a photo shoot.

She had to stand on a chair for some of those pictures and her filly was very curious about what was happening and just had to come check it out.

While all of this was going on I had the other kids with me while I worked on the farm house. The men that stayed the last 5 nights left it nice. I had garbage to empty, bedding to strip and lots of towels to wash. Those were all hauled over to the barn washer as that one is new and has a short cycle on it. When Zion was done she came down and the kids loved the curtains in the bedroom. 

They decided to put on a play. Here it is below with zero practice.

While I was finishing up the farm house it booked for Saturday and Sunday night. I had blocked it off for tonight as Braelyn and her friends are staying the night but now I'll need to kick them out around noon and get it ready for the next group coming in. When I got back to our house Mark was busy washing the car.

It was very dusty and the cameras were letting Mark know they needed to be cleaned. It is funny how often the car contacts us. Mark calls the car Fred and at least once a day Fred sends me a text. 

It was another extremely hot day. The high was again 96 degrees with a heat index of 110. We just can't work outside. I was very glad to be working on laundry all day in an airconditioned building. Now I'm logging off here and will go to work on the website.

Picking Up Luna

 Ruth didn't come on the walk today. She had a tooth pulled yesterday and a graft put in so later she can have an implant. This morning she was VERY sore. Right after the walk I left to pick up Luna, the new mare, and didn't arrive there until almost noon. She was born March 11th, 2023. The owner bought her at 8 months of age and was not able to get her registration papers. He was told she is 7/8ths Friesian but they didn't say what the other 8th is. I will need to see if we can do a dna to find out. We usually only buy mares that are registered. The owner had paper work to show her birth date and the vet papers to show that she had an ultrasound in August. She was 90 days along and the vet gave her the first shots of flu rhino.  I also got the copy of the covering stallion's FHANA registration papers and the stallion certificate so we can register the foal. She is due the middle of May 2027. It was 92 degrees when I left with Luna but the farther South I drove the warmer it became. Soon it was 94 then 96 and by the time I was on route 29 down by the river the truck thermometer was reading 98 degrees. By the time I pulled into our drive, at the farm it was only 96. Mike was waiting to see her when I arrived. 

She is a tall mare but not bulky, like our baroque Friesian mares. Rhoda found her and told me to tell Mike, "The reason I picked this mare is her body looks just like Ella Sky, the mare you had to sell." Mike's first reaction was, "this is exactly what I wanted." She was taken to the last paddock where she did some exploring. Mike showed her where the water was, she found the hay all by herself.

Once she was settled I took the golf cart home and was SO glad to walk into the house in air conditioning. The truck's air wasn't cooling well. Sarah and the girls had come and spent the morning cleaning the house. Mark was impressed with Sarah's girls. He told me they really know how to work. Zion is 8, Eden is 7 and River is 5 and all three worked. What a wonderful surprise for me.  At 4:00 pm I had to take the golf cart over to Joan's house to meet a man renting a camper. I asked if he was related to Dave and Susan H from Tremont and told me he is their son. Dave and Susan went on a cruise with us years ago. They are a great couple but today is the first time I've met one of their children. At 5:00 pm the last person came to rent a camper only his wife had made all the arrangements and he didn't realize he was supposed to bring a check. I told him to bring the check when he returns the camper. He is a repeat customer so it was not a problem. As soon as I got back to the house Mark and I drove to Gils Supper club for dinner.

It wasn't that crowded when we arrived but by the time we left every table was filled. We just ordered a cobb salad to split.

That is plenty of food for the both of us. We are now home and going to have some ice cream. That is a much needed treat when the thermometer is STILL in the 90s. 

Driving Harness

 There were 2 texts waiting for me when we got up this morning. Both had come last evening but I didn't seem them until morning. Both were answered. We enjoyed our walk today but even at 7:40 am it was already hot. Most of today was done inside, Rhoda found a mare she thought we be a good purchase for Horsemeister. She is 3 and a half years old and is bred to a FHANA registered Friesian stallion due early April, 2027

She is not a purebred Friesian mare but is 7/8ths Friesian and looks like a purebred. They are calling her Luna. Below is the stallion she is in foal by.

He is tall and has the mega hair. His registered name is Hedser fan It Skar

They sent a video, she has the nice big Friesian movement. I'll leave tomorrow morning to go pick her up. It is only about a 6 or 7 hour round trip so should easily be home by 4:00 pm.

Marvin and Gail joined Spark & Rhonda and Mike & Diane at Middle Grove today. It was the perfect day to be out on the water as the temperatures had reached 95 by early afternoon. The lake is so deep at Middle Grove so that it is wonderfully cool and clear. Marvin bought Spark the blow-up kayak so of course they had to try it out.

We left at 5:30 pm for the fellowship hall for family night. Mike and Mindy and Leon and Eunice provided dinner for everyone. Chelise sure enjoyed it.

After dinner we all went outside to watch Sandy give a talk with her horses.

I used my phone to video the talk and when I got home downloaded it onto the computer then spent 45 minutes rendering it into a video. Pushed save to computer and went to upload it onto youtube but it disappeared and I can't find it anywhere on the computer. It is too late now to start over as it is already after 10:00 pm so I'll try in the morning.

The driving harness came today for Penny. It came to the farm house, the guests there let us know when we were driving so stopped and picked that up when we got home.

Now if our kids take our driving licenses away we use Penny to go into town.

 

Photo OP

 On our walk this morning Faline came bounding out of the woods to follow us. I'm not sure if she was listening to us talk or just wanted to take a walk. 

I quit after one round so I could get to the Berean office early. We had a lot of mail today, making up for last week. At 9:30 we stop working for a prayer than today Marvin gave us an update on the jail.

The air conditioner wasn't working and it was really hot today.

 

We were moving quickly to create a breeze inside. That didn't really help, just made us feel hotter.

Meisters was called but they wouldn't be able to come out until after we were finished so I was glad to let Amanda know that they could come anytime this next week as we won't need the office until next Tuesday. I dropped off mail at the Hanna City post office a couple seconds after my niece Brook pulled in. She got the good parking place and only had a small box to drop off. I had to carry the heavy box full of Bibles and studies so of course I had to tease her about taking my parking place.

We were supposed to go to Middle Grove to pick up horses but it was 96 degrees outside with no breeze. I just couldn't face it and decided the horses are cooler out at Middle Grove than here so hopefully once it cools down we will pick them up. Sarah and Zion came though for a photo session.

The pictures with Merlin were sent to his owner. He loves kids and loves to pose. Spark came over for a short visit late this afternoon. Around 6:00 pm my farmhouse guests sent a message asking if the washer worked. I replied "yes" then asked if they wanted me to come over to show them how. There are 5 men staying there and they are working on the substation which is 7 minutes from the house. They are very glad to be here rather than driving in to Peoria for a hotel room each night. They may have 3 more men coming down next week and asked to see the foaling apartment. They will let me know if they are going to take that next week but for sure are going to rent the farm house next week and the week after. I'm really thankful. They reported they are very pleased with the house, the air conditoner works great and the beds are comfortable. They are grilling each night when they get off work. 

Star Temple & Filly SOLD

 I went over to the horses at 6:30 am to move Jewel, Sally and Missy into the middle paddock as I was sure they would be out of hay today. They weren't out but it was good to move them out of the breeding shed paddock to give them all more room. I was done before our 7:30 am walk time. A 8:10 am I called Hoerr Vet clinic to see if we could get Star Temple in for an ultrasound. Sarah sold her and the buyers wanted to pick her up today. I wasn't willing to send her until we were sure she was pregnant. We were able to get an appointment at 10:45 am. On our walk we 4 sisters met our airbnb guest in the foaling apartment. He had his Great Dane out and that is an impressive dog. After breakfast Mark helped me move a bale into the mare paddock and into Evan's paddock. Our guests were getting ready to move out so I went home and got all the cleaning supplies. The sheets were put in the barn washer while the towels were put in the apartment washer. At 10:00 am Diane and Mike showed up to load Star Temple and her filly into the stock trailer then leave for the vet clinic. 

I worked on the apartment but needed to run back and forth from the barn to the apartment for the laundry. I'm thankful for that fast golf cart. It sure beats walking in this heat.  Diane called to report Star WAS pregnant, about 90 days along. Oliver did his job again.  After the filly was born I could not get Star anywhere near Valiant or Evan. She was so protective of her filly, we finally just took them to Middle Grove. On July 2nd we were out at Middle Grove and saw Star and her filly walking WITH Oliver so I was sure she had accepted him and now we have the proof. We had Dr. Hoerr draw blood for a coggins test and give Star all of her vaccines she would need for her new home in Wisconsin. When Mike and Diane got back to the farm Star was given a bath then turned out and the eta for the shipper was 5:00 pm. Sarah arrived this morning with the girls. They tacked up Penny first then once the girls were riding Sarah brought out Harli, tacked her up and led Zion around on her. 

They didn't do a lot but Harli was nice and relaxed throughout the entire ride. Merlin got into the grain bucket while his mama was being worked.

River was having a good time on Penny while Sarah was busy with Harli.

It was so hot out they didn't ride long. Once River was finished Zion got on to walk Penny a bit to help cool her down and also remind her of the correct aids.

They came over swimming but I went home to get all the paper work filled out for the new owner to be able to register the filly and the 2027 foal by Oliver. At 4:30 pm I went over to finish the floors in the foaling apartment. The shipper ended up 20 minutes late. Berlica brought Jury out so I worked with Berlica on slowing Jury's canter down a bit. Jury explodes into a canter which can scare the younger riders.

The shipper made it by 5:20 pm. Diane and Mike both came over so once I had gone over all the paperwork I had the driver pay Mike while I brought the horses out. Star didn't want to get into the trailer. She had stepped right in on the way home from the vet clinic but this was a new trailer and she didn't want to leave. It took a little persuasion, like maybe 5 minutes. It was a bigger step up than the filly was used to so between Mike and I we kind of lifted her in. The cleaning supplies were put on the golf cart and I was giving Diane a ride back to her house when Beth and Greg pulled up. We sat in Diane's drive visiting. By the time I finally got home it was almost 6:30 pm and 93 degrees outside with no breeze. I was VERY hot. Mark had been replacing all of the parts in two of the grills and now both are working perfectly. He has one more to work on but he too was to hot to want to work outside. We had left overs for supper and will have an early night after a nice long cool shower. 

Another New Puppy

 Since most of the dinner preparations were done last night I had an easy morning. I went over to the barn to see what needed to be done and only had to haul out 3 bags of garbage. The rest of the barn was clean and ready for tonight. The family that rented it sent a nice text this morning: Our party last night was fabulous! Everyone loved the venue, the horses and the kids all had a blast playing in the gym.  It was Perfect. The horses didn't play in the gym only the kids. We left for church around 9:00 am and were about half way there when Diane called. They needed to be picked up at the Peoria airport. They had lost the key to their car. We made it to the airport and still got into church before the service started. Rick Kaisner had the morning message. I highly recommend listening to this message. He started with Psalm 80 then Acts 4. Click HERE to watch. Bob and Jill served lunch today. The afternoon message was the last statement of faith message from Craig Stickling. Click HERE if you would like to watch that. After church we took Mike and Diane home then drove to our new house. We have made the first payment on it and hopefully next week will make another. Joan was hosting the Bible class and wanted to give them a hayrack ride. Before taking the road grader off to put the wagon on the tractor he decided to quick grade the driveways.

Rhoda and Sarah were here working with the horses. Sarah got a flower crown for Penny and of course the girls needed to try it on her. 

Above is Zion and below is Eden.

When Rhoda arrived with Iris and Zeke they got to try barrel racing with Penny and they all loved that. Rhoda and Sarah worked with  Harli again. Rhoda actually was able to trot her a few steps. She is doing very well with her training.

Harli's colt is so funny, when Rhoda was leaning over Harli's side before mounting he reached up to give her a kiss.

When they brought Harli back inside of course the girls wanted to try the flower crown on Merlin.

It might be just a tad too big for him.

He sure puts up with a lot from those girls but he really does love the attention.

As Mike and Diane are home they also worked with Star's filly.

At 4:30 pm we all met in the barn for a haystack supper. Amy and Ken came, Rhoda snapped the picture below as we were visiting at the sink.

After supper we all made our way to the playground and were visiting when Joan came by with the wagon. This was actually the second group that went out.

We sat and visited until almost dark. Nolan had left early this morning to pick up a King Charles Cavalier puppy he purchased in Kansas and just got back tonight after about 11 hours of driving. I tried to take a picture of him but he was so wiggly and it was getting too dark. I finally just took the video below.

He is going to Rhoda's house for puppy training and Iris was SO excited. Since I didn't post the bear video yesterday I decided to post that today. Spark and Rhonda were at Lake Gerard in New Jersey with Mark and Becky at the cottage when they saw the black bear with her cub. 

We spent many summers there when I was a child at grandpa and grandma Zeug's cottage and never saw a bear. Amazing how the wild life is making a comeback in the East. 

Today really was a great day.

How Blest WE ALL ARE

 Today was the Co-op picnic. Joan, Mackenson and Berlica were over early getting all the picnic tables washed off. I needed to hook the electric up on the motorhome as we had someone arriving at 10:00 am. On the way over I saw Berlica and one of her friends just heading out to the trails on Jury and Penny.

The motorhome was hooked up and the slideout put out, then I went into the foaling apartment to make sure that was ready for guests, It was perfect so just turned the lights on and the aircondtioner down then started cleaning stalls. At 9:15 am the lady called to let me know they were just 10 minutes away. I wasn't able to finish stalls before they arrived. They took the motorhome for a test drive then said thanks and drove away. I put it back by the barn then went back to cleaning the stalls. Mark was working on cleaning up one of the grills when I finished the stalls we moved it over to the farm house.  He showed me how it worked and it should be easy enough to explain it to the guests coming tomorrow. By the time we got back to the house the place was packed. There were kids on the playground, kids in boats, in kayaks, in the water and lots of adults watching.

A very nice text came in from the lady that bought Basilea. She wrote: Judy-Baslea is the best girl! She is so kind and gentle with the kids.  She is settling in very nicely and has made lots of friends at the barn.  She sent the video and picture below and gave me permission to share them.

That is a wonderful update! At 2:30 pm we had someone coming to look at the hoist lift Mark was selling on facebook market place.

He commented that it looked brand new and was glad to buy it. We used the skid steer to load it on to his trailer. Below he is strapping it down.

Before going back I had to stop to admire the hay again. 

We think this is the best hay we have ever put up. I had to pull some and smell that wonderful scent of sun dried hay. Just admiring that hay in the barn makes me feel we are so rich. The horses will love it. These bales will have to be wrapped before putting them into a paddock so they don't waste any. When we got back to the house I took the video below of Rilla's puppies, now a week old.

At 3:30 pm we left for Bartonville diner for an early supper then drove to Sam's club to pick up the food we need for Sunday Supper. We decided to serve haystacks. When we got home the puppies were gone. Sarah and Nolan made it home from Gulf Shores and stopped here to take Rilla and her puppies.  I started browning the 10 pounds of hamburger then got that simmering with taco spices.

While that was simmering the peppers were cleaned and cut up.

All sorts of videos and pictures started coming in from my siblings who are all having a wonderful time and as Ruth says, "They are all in their happy place." The first was just Diane's toes at the bottom of the video and the Gulf on the rest. She was sitting on the beach watching the waves breaking on the shore. I'm not sharing that, it is boring. Dan's video was much more interesting. He took that of Levi in slow motion.

Dan's family, plus Ruth, Fedi and their dog are all camping at Mark Twain Lake in Missouri.

Rhonda sent the picture below. They are out on the Maine Coast with Marvin and Gale.

Joan is too busy to have a happy place right now but she is very thankful for where we live and loves to share it with others. 

I guess my happy place is right here on the farm. I always did want to be a farmer. How blest we all are!