Busy Tuesday

 I was so worried I wouldn't wake up in time this morning I awoke at 3:30 am then decided I'd better stay up as if I went back to sleep I just might over sleep. I needed to be at Sarah and Nolan's house by 6:20 am. I was there at 6:18 am. Sarah was in Ohio getting a dog bred and Nolan needed to leave for work by then. He had put all of the puppies outside at 5:00 am. When the girls awoke we needed to bring them all in. Those puppies are being crate trained. 

Once they were all in their crates, fed and watered we left for our house where breakfast was made. I left then for the walk while they enjoyed breakfast. Beth surprised us and came on the walk and when we got to Sparks house he also joined us. We stood at Joan's visiting for a while as 6 of us siblings were together. After the walk the girls went with me to help move a round bale in for Harli. When we got there Tessa's filly was out and over by Harli and Merlin. At that point Tessa and her filly were moved in with them. Zion opened the gate and kept the horses from running out while I moved the bale in.

Then it came time to tease Gypsy but Gypsy had lost her halter and ran from me when she saw me carrying one into the paddock. We moved Stardust, formally named SnickerDoodle into the outdoor arena and then Gypsy stood well for the halter. She does not like to be alone. She was taken over to Valiant and teased. She is now out of season, we only got one cover on her so hope she settles.  Meanhile Stardust (named for the galaxy of stars on her body) was having fun running around the arena.

She is such a nice pony she comes running for the gate when the children arrive.

I took a couple of pictures of Gypsy for the website.

As the mares are no longer using the mare pasture Evan was turned out to graze on his pasture but he was more concerned that the mares were no longer next to him and kept running back into his paddock and staring at them across the yard.

From there we went into the barn. I was putting away the new goblets and glasses Diane found while shopping on the Spoon River drive.

The girls had a lot of fun in the gym with the hula-hoops.

At 11:30 am we went back to Sarah and Nolan's house to put the puppies back outside. They are doing so well with their potty training. Everyone of them went once they were out in the yard. They were given food and water. Nolan arrived home around 1:00 pm so I left to go home. We had the water softener repair man coming and he showed up at 3:00 pm. He found the problem and has ordered the part. At 3:45 pm we left for Farmington school to watch Kensley and Taegan play. Tonight's games were against Dunlap, the 7th graders had no problem winning their game but the 8th grade game was a nail biter. They won the game 21 to 19. It was a defensive battle the whole game. I took video of the entire games. Below is the 7th grade game.

The 8th grade game is posted below.

Having Fun Yet

 I overslept again. I'm getting lazy in my old age. I had a dentist appointment at 10:00 am and because of the hip replacements and open heart surgery have to take antibiotics a couple hours before and I couldn't find the medicine. It was found but only after pulling every pill bottle out of the shelves of the pantry and the closet in the bathroom. Joan borrowed the truck today to take all of the copper wire Mackenson  cleaned up for scrap. He has a wire stripper and that is his new job. He gets wire from an electrical company in Morton, Joan takes it home, Mackenson strips it and organizes it by size then they haul it in, take the money back to the electrical company and they pay him 15% for the work. They gave him another big box of wire to strip. It is the perfect job for him. It is nice at the dentist office. The chair lays back and I almost fall asleep while my teeth get cleaned. No cavities but then I didn't expect any. I haven't had one of those for years. My phone went off just as everything was done and that turned out to be from Airbnb. Guests booked the farm house starting today for the next week. As soon as I got home I took the mop over to the farm house to mop all of the floors and dust. I sent a message to the booker that the house was ready for them at 1:00 pm and they arrived shortly after. My next job was to take a picture of the roof of the camper we have for sale and send the picture to the couple interested in coming to see it.

She wanted to make sure the roof vents were in good shape. The couple interested live in Normal, IL and will make a trip down sometime this week. 

We called off Berean for tomorrow, today is a federal holiday and we couldn't get the mail. That will give me time tomorrow to work on the barn as we have guests moving in on Thursday. This evening after supper I was relaxing in my rocker recliner when a text came through from my guests in the farm house telling me there was a horse out. I was sure it was Merlin but they sent me a picture and it was Harli. That stinker she saw me coming with the golf cart and took off at a gallop into the big field with Merlin following. I grabbed a bucket of grain, put it on the golf cart and went after them. Merlin saw the bucket and came right away, Harli decided it was more fun to be free then eat the grain so I just looped a lead rope around Merlin's neck and led him into the indoor arena. Harli realized he was gone started galloping around the yards screaming for him. It was getting really dark and the lights were not on in the barn so she couldn't find him. He finally called, she came running into the barn, I grabbed her halter and hooked her up then put them in the paddock next to Valiant's so I could figure out how she got out. I drove the golf cart in the mare pasture with the lights on and could not find a fence down then realized Tessa and her filly were missing. It is really hard to find a black horse at night. At least Harli was easy to find.  I was driving around the pasture looking for them and discovered a wide open gate. The gate between Evan's paddock and the mare paddock. I drove out of the field through that gate, locked it behind me and found Tessa and Lucy standing on the drive with my 3 guests, perfectly content to be petted. They were walked into the mare paddock but the automatic waterer was over running badly so instead I locked them in the mare pasture. I got the water to stop running then called Mike. He will fix it in the morning. Tomorrow I will have to put in a bale in the paddock next to Valiant, put Tessa and Lucy in their with Harli and Merlin then let Evan out into his pasture so a bale can be put in his paddock. When I was finally done with everything I thanked my guests for letting me know and wished them good night. I got back to the house after 8:00 pm. Sometimes it isn't fun to own horses.

TWO Ponies!

 I ran over to the stall barn early this morning and noticed the truck and trailer were already gone. I only found out later that Nolan had picked it up the night before, filled the tank in the truck then took it to their house. Rhoda and Iris spent the night at Sarah's house. They left for Waverly Iowa at 3:30 am to pick up Snicker Doodle. Mark and I picked up Rhonda for church and made it there by 9:30 am. It really was good to be in church today. We sure have a special, wonderful church family. Mike Kaisner had the morning message on Isaiah 40 and John 1. Click HERE if you would like to watch that. Rachel and David along with Jon and Kim served lunch today and that was really delicious. They had hot ham and cheese sandwiches. Nancy LOVED that. Gabe Stickling had the afternoon message on Obadiah. Click HERE if you would like to watch that. After church I quickly changed then drove over to the farm to meet Snicker Doodle. I was shocked to find Sarah and Rhoda brought back TWO ponies. They ended up buying Snicker Doodle then bid on one more, a paint pony named Gypsy and won her also.  Gypsy is 13 years old and is 14.1 hands. She was listed as broke to ride so Rhoda got on her first to try her out. Below is a video of Rhoda riding Gypsy.

She was obedient and did everything asked. She is also in season so after talking it over decided to breed her to Evan. Mike and Diane pulled up right then so Mike helped with that. Next Rhoda tried out Snicker Doodle and she did so well that all of the grand daughters took turns riding her.

Zion even led her friend around on her.

After that of course Zion had to ride her again.

Below is a video of Rhoda riding her first then Zion and Iris.

The horses were put away in time for dinner at the barn. Spark and Rhonda along with Mike and Diane joined us and later Joan brought Nancy over. We had a good time visiting after dinner. Berlica brought a bunch of hula-hoops over and Zion got pretty good at that.

The kids all wanted to go back and ride Snicker Doodle again. Diane, Nancy, Joan and I were on the golf cart going over when we had to stop and let the Sauder Hay Rack Ride go by first. They had the right-of-way and they were a lot bigger than the golf cart.

Oh the traffic in this neighborhood! Joan left to build a campfire so after the horses we made our way back to the playground and told stories around the fire.

Sarah and Josh arrived, they had been to Banner Marsh kayaking and Sarah shared a couple pictures she took. There were so many birds but the most unusual were the white pelicans. We just do not see them at our place.

There were also a lot of swans but she didn't share that picture. She took the picture below of the sunset over the water.

We had a pretty sunset here too but hers was really special. We old folks were the last to leave the fire. Spark, Rhonda and Joan helped move the chairs back but we just left the fire burning. It is safe, there is no wind tonight. Today was another really special Sunday. I'm so thankful to live here among lots of family in such a beautiful place.

Snicker Doodle

 I was not in a rush to get up this morning as there is no walk on Saturdays. Diane had gone shopping on the Spoon River drive and found 10 chairs for sale for $1.00 a chair. We need them at the playground and around the fire so I told her to buy them all and I would come pick them up as she was driving the Prius.

We are pretty thrilled to get them, they are all in good shape and should last if once the weather turns cold we store them inside.  I was on my way home with them when the lady coming to see the barn for her wedding next year sent a text that she was at the barn waiting. I was exactly 2 minutes away. I explained to her the barn is set up for family reunions but we are willing to do weddings IF the renter will do all the work. In other words they will need to cover all of the sports equipment themselves. The only thing I am willing to do is to take down the volleyball net. She was thrilled with the place and said they could easily do that. About then the guests in the foaling apartment sent a message that they had left the apartment so after breakfast I drove the golf cart over to get it ready for the guests coming in at noon today. They had left it in very good condition. The sheets and towels were brought to the barn to wash. I had not quite finished when the guests in the farm house left. Those towels and sheets were also brought over to the barn. The next guests for the foaling apartment arrived before I finished the farm house.  At 11:00 am the family arrived that are going to replace the motorhome roof and do all of the repairs. They are from Bushnell, IL and have a 5 star rating for camper and motorhome repairs. They showed us the product they use and it comes with a lifetime guarantee from any leaks. They have amazing service as they drove it to their repair shop in Bushnell. Below the husband is driving the motorhome away while the wife drives their car. They had 2 children and the older one went in the motorhome.

The guarantee transfers if we sell the motorhome. I'm pretty thrilled with that as if I was buying a motorhome I would want one that is guaranteed not to leak.

Rhoda and Sarah watched the Waverly sale on-line and ended up buying a 13.3 hand 4 year old pony mare well broke to ride. She does laterals, sidepasses and has a very balanced canter. I took the stock trailer off of the truck and hooked up the 2 horse trailer.

They will leave in the morning to pick her up as the sale was closing in a hour and the drive is 3 hours.

I finished the laundry and finished cleaning the farm house late this afternoon. Berlica came by on Jury.

I told her about the new pony and she is really excited too. The pony is named Snicker Doodle and she is an appaloosa/paint cross. She has 4 white stockings some Appaloosa markings and a white tail.

She is the perfect size for Zion, Iris, Eden and River. These grand daughters want to show next year and now they don't have to wait their turn as long.  

Dancer Sold

 As I went to bed early last night it was easy to wake up at 5:00 am and get the dishwasher started. Mark went over with me at 7:00 am to get the truck hooked up to the stock trailer and we got that done just in time for the walk. Ruth, Diane and I walked to Joan's and about then the rain started up. We walked back to Ruth's car and quit. Mike helped load Harli, Merlin and Lucy in the front of the trailer then Dancer in the back. It was raining when I arrived at Dr. Hoerr's, hard enough we decided to check Harli's abscess first. You can see it in the picture below. As this is the second time this popped up we thought it must be a tooth. 

Above Dr. Hoerr was getting the x-ray machine ready. Chris came in to help with that.

Dr. Hoerr took a couple different views in hopes to show which tooth was causing the problem.

Neither of them showed a tooth going through the bone. We thought that was good news as the abscess must be caused by a foreign object so Harli was given a sedative, numbed, and the area blocked before Dr. Hoerr went looking for the object. Unfortunately there wasn't one. He was able to follow the channel the pus was coming from all the way to the bone. The bone itself has an abnormality and the channel seemed to go through it. After cleaning it out well, Dr. Hoerr put medicine right into the channel.

After that was done the incision was sewn up. By the time Dr. Hoerr finished with her the rain had stopped. Harli was taken to the trailer and loaded. Merlin was so glad to see her and couldn't wait to nurse. Dancer was unloaded and tied to the trailer.

The back was opened and Lucy led into the back of the trailer for her blood draw for her coggins test. Dr. Hoerr was impressed with her. She is exactly what he is looking for in a foal but he was told she is already sold. Once her pictures were taken for the paper work she was put in the front with Harli and Merlin. Then it was time for Dancer's ppe. Aaron came out to help with that. Dr. Hoerr checked her over very well starting with her eyes then going down her body checking her heart, her lungs and all the way to her tail. Then came the hoof tests and the flexion tests. She passed all of that with flying colors. Dr. Hoerr needed to see her lunged in both directions so I helped with that. The last thing he wanted to do was x-ray her ankle. She had a cut on that and it healed with some scar tissue. The x-ray showed the swelling on her ankle was only scar tissue and not something worse.

I left for home then and made it by noon. Tessa was very glad to see her daughter Lucy and Lucy couldn't WAIT to nurse from Tessa. They were put away and once the truck and trailer were parked I went home. Mark was eating a piece of pizza for his lunch so I heated up the last leftover piece for my lunch. I was eating it when the guests coming into the foaling apartment sent a message that they were going to arrive earlier than expected. I took the hand held sweeper over and had to sweep up stink bugs all on the door and wall of the apartment just waiting for someone to open the door. Now that the crops are being harvested the stink bugs leave the fields and try to get indoors. None of these made it inside, I was busy using the vacuum to suck them into it when Rhoda arrived to work with Tessa. We talked then I went inside to inspect and didn't see any of the bugs had made it inside. I left then to work on our house to get it ready for potluck. Rhoda sent the picture below of Tessa on the pedestal.

Dr. Hoerr called the prospective buyer for Dancer and not long after the buyer contacted me and told me she is going to buy her. She has mailed the check so Dancer was marked SOLD on the website. She is going to a great home in Elgin, IL. 

Cleaning went well and by 4:30 pm everything was done. I was resting on the chair when Diane arrived to help. We sat and visited as everything was done. Mark did the grilling tonight. Craig and Jackie cancelled so Mike and Diane took their place. Gabe canceled so Rhonda took his place then at the last minute Alex and Michaela canceled so Ruth and Fedi took their place. Of our original group only Molly, MaryKate and Robers were left but we all had a delicious meal and a good time. 

Ruth and Dan have been giving updates on the hurricane. It has gone more East so Dan's daughter Sophia who lives near Pensacola is getting it much worse than Ruth's son who is East of Mobile. Sophia's house has lost electricity. Karl is at work as he works as an EMT so Sophia is alone but their house is far enough inland that they should be safe from flooding. It looks like Gulf Shores is ok, not much damage done there.

Isaiahs On the Way

 After our walk and after breakfast Mark and I went over to Joan's house to winterize campers. Below Mark is emptying the hot water heater tank and replacing the anodes.

We had some trouble winterizing the camper without the slide-out as the air pump didn't seem to work on that one. Something must have been left open but we finally gave up and got the other 3 done.

Joan and I are officially done renting campers. IF anyone wants to get into that business there is now a good opportunity as we will be selling all 4. They are all 2021's and all good quality campers. Three have slide-outs and all of them have a queen bed in the front that folds up into a couch during the day, double bunks in the back and the dinette makes another bed. They have the large fridge and freezers, a 3 burner stove, microwave, propane water heater, working air conditioners that easily cool the entire camper. They are all self contained as they all have showers, a toilet, and outdoor shower with both hot and cold water.  They will be sold with everything needed to start camping, and are also light weight as all of them are under 5000 pounds. They are all made by Forest River. Salem 3 does not have the slide-out and that one is for sale for $10,000.00  Salem 4 has the slide out and is for sale for $12,000.00 Wildwood 1 and Wildwood 2 each have slide-outs and are for sale for $15,000.00 each. Our children and grand children really enjoyed camping in them and I'm sure your family will too. 

I took a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up a few things for potluck and for Oct 31st. We are having Aunt Jinnie and all 5 of her children and their spouses from the Oct 28th until Nov 1st. We are hoping all of the Meister grandchildren will come trick or treating at the barn on the 31st to meet their great great aunt, and second cousins once removed. It sounds like it will be well attended. Rachel asked if they could borrow some straw bales. I had to check to see if we still had any and found some.

The story goes like this: David got the frame below from a man who was going to junk it.  Then Jake, (Spark's son) was trying to get ride of some old rims and tires that David (Rachel's husband) was able to retrofit on to the frame and the rest was wood they had or bought.

It fit perfectly on mom's old Kubota which is now Rachel and Dave's.

So those old straw bales are going to be used on Sunday for hayrack rides.

What an amazing transformation from something that was going to be junked to a very usable and needed hay rack.

We are all impressed with David's ability to see junk and also see what that junk could be. Of course Rachel helped. Later this afternoon the dessert for tomorrow's potluck was baked and is now cooling on the table.

It is a pecan pumpkin dump cake that will be served warm with cold vanilla ice cream.  The farm house instant booked today at 5:30 pm with the guests arriving around 6:00 pm. I took the golf cart over with the hand held vacuum just in case any stink bugs got inside. Harvest is going strong and those bugs are trying their best to get into the houses. I found none in the farm house but found 2 wasps in the windowsill that was sucked up into the sweeper. From there I went to the foaling apartment just to check. Even before opening up the door there were at least 7 on the door or near the door that were also sucked up by that vacuum. Thankfully I found none inside. Now our house is another matter. I'm not sure where they are getting in but we have had at least 10 in the house. They fly to the windows making them easy to catch. 

Mike dropped off Denver today to his maybe new home at Western Hearts in Kickapoo IL.

Mike and Diane went to Middle Grove and brought back Bulu and Denver. They were just loading Denver when Bulu got in the trailer too so they just brought her along. After Denver was dropped off Bulu was brought here and put in the middle paddock with Jewel, Jury and Penny. She will go back out to Middle Grove later. We are having beautiful weather here but Gulf Shores is right in the path of hurricane Isaiahs that is going to make landfall tomorrow. Diane and Joan spent some of the time on the walk this morning discussing what to do about guests needing to cancel and guests coming in on Saturday. Hopefully there won't be too much damage done. 

 

Burrs

 I kind of overslept this morning, not waking until after 6:00 am and that was because I stayed up way to late trying to download the video of Taegan's game. It was finished by the time I awoke so posted it on last night's blog. After our walk today Mark helped move 2 bales into the middle paddock. 

The mares were up from the pond pasture and Dancer had gotten into the burrs again. Funny Jewel,  Penny and Jury didn't seem to have any so I'm not sure where Dancer is going that she gets them in her mane, forelock, tail AND on the feather of her legs. I left cleaning her up until later as I really wanted to get the barn cleaned up. I started on that, got everything restocked and organized in the living area, went into the gym to organize the sports equipment when I realized it isn't rented this week and the grand kids will be over so why bother doing that today. I also skipped mopping the floors. It was another beautiful day so went over to get Dancer out and clean her up. 

I was going to lock all of the mares up in the middle paddock by shutting the back gate to the pond pasture but instead just put Dancer in the short shelter paddock. She can see the other horses but won't get into the burrs at least for the next 2 days. She is going to the vet on Friday so I would like to keep the burrs off until then. Mark had a dentist appointment this afternoon and I asked if he would stop at the shop on his way home to pick up last years registrations. He brought them home, I filled out transfer papers for 3 of them and put one on my purse so I would take it tonight for Family night to give to Monica. We left for the Fellowship Hall at 5:30 pm and as we were driving I flipped Aragorn's papers over to look at the back side and realized the registry had put down the wrong sire. How disappointing! I sent a text to the lady that sent the papers, she said she would fix them when the buyer sends in to transfer them into their name. Tonight Fred Witzig spoke for Family night. I only took one picture and it wasn't of Fred. Dave and Craig were having a laugh about something before the message started.

Steven did the video tonight click HERE if you would like to watch that.

 

Basketball Games

As today is Berean day the danishes were taken out of the freezer and put in the oven at 250 degrees for 15 minutes. While those were warming up a cup full of frosting was made and put in a sandwich bag. After taking them out of the oven and letting them cool for about 10 minutes a small hole was cut in the corner of the bag then the frosting drizzled over the danishes. Those were loaded into the car along with my purse. I still needed to get a bunch of forks from the barn as we were low at Berean and had just put those in the car when Diane walked up. Ruth was a couple minutes late for the walk and took the picture below of Joan, me and Diane. 

Today we went over the plans for when the Bossarts are here the end of this month. As I have a lot of ham and cheese left over from church lunch I'm going to make a big pot of split pea and ham soup while Diane will make a big pot of cheese soup. I just did one round so I could leave for the Berean office. We had a very light mail day and we are getting discouraged. So many states are going with Smart Communications which is not smart at all. We cannot send Bibles through that method and even the Bible studies are now getting rejected. Below is a short video taken after our prayer.

 There are also a few pictures of our morning there.

From there I stopped at Sam's club to pick up a couple items as long as I was right there and then to Aldi to pick up milk, eggs and wild rice. When I got home and the groceries were put away the farm house was cleaned and finished. Sarah and her girls were here this morning. They cleaned our house and worked on the rising trot with Penny. Sarah sent some videos but it is late and I'll download them tomorrow. Mark and I left around 4:30 pm for Farmington school to watch Kensley and Taegan play basketball. The 7th grade played first and it was pretty much a blowout so Kensley could only play 3 quarters. She is a starter on the 7th grade team. By the 3rd quarter they were well over 20 points ahead so the second string finished out the game. The video below is only of the first 3 quarters.

Sarah and Nolan arrived with Zion, Eden and River. They enjoyed the game but the girls really liked going to the concession stands.

The 8th grade team also played very well. Taegan made 29 points, lots of rebounds, assists and steals before they took her out of the game. She also only got to play 3 quarters but what was interesting was Kensley played most of the same 3 quarters. It was fun watching the sisters play on the same team. The video is below.

Productive Monday

 Well I gave in and had a cup of coffee this morning with one of those left over donuts and enjoyed every bite. It just isn't the same with tea. Not sure it was a good idea but it sure gave me energy. Before the walk I was able to get 2 of the 10 beds made with clean sheets. When we were coming back from Rachel's we noticed another tree down. We laughed as it looked like we are making a cross country jump that ends up in Mike and Diane's pond.

At 8:38 am the lady wanting to buy Dancer asked if I would be able to take her to Hoerr Vet clinic on Friday for a PPE. We are hosting potluck on Friday but I told her I would call them and if they could get me in first thing in the morning it could work. Well they did, the vet appointment is Friday morning at 8:30. If Dr. Hoerr gets delayed I worked out with Mike and Diane that they would come take my place with the horses and I'll take their car home to get the house ready for company. It's potluck you know and I heard over the pulpit that the fridge will need to be pulled out and cleaned behind. One of the ministers really did say that his mom always made them do that before potluck and we all laughed. I'm NOT going to be doing that.

After breakfast it was back to work for me. All 10 beds were changed, all of the laundry finished, all of the towels restocked in the farm house, the foaling apartment and the barn. Braelyn planned on coming tonight to clean the foaling apartment so that cleaning was left for her. While waiting on the machines all 6 bathrooms in the barn were restocked and cleaned along with the 2 in the farm house. I quit work around 3:00 pm. The floors still needed to be swept and mopped in both places but the weather was so nice I really wanted to work outside, AND the mare paddock needed a new bale. Mark came to help with that as someone needed to keep the foals from running out of the gate when the tractor goes in. The man that left his golf clubs at the farm house months ago decided today was the day to come get them. I had given up on him coming and had sent a message to the man that booked the farm house to let him know if he doesn't come get them by Oct. 1st I was giving them away and I did. I gave them to Nolan, except now the owner was less than an hour and a half away and already on the way. I drove over to Sarah and Nolan's house and got them out of their garage. The owner was very thankful and so of course I feel like I owe Nolan a set of golf clubs.. Anyone have any they are not using that would like to find a home for? At 5:30 pm Mark and I left for Farmington High School to watch Braelyn play volleyball. Their team is doing really well this year and tonight they won both games decisively. Below is just some of the game.

Taegan and Kensley were playing basketball in Lewistown so as soon as the game was over Anna left to watch the last of the 7th grade and hopefully all of the 8th grade game. Phil went to those games and gave us updates during Braelyn's games. Kensley is in 6th grade but plays on both the 7th and 8th grade teams. Taegan is in 8th grade and plays on that team. Pretty cool the sisters get to play on the same team.  It was a very productive day, I'm thankful for the beautiful day and thankful I can still do the work. 

A Blessed Day

 We left the house at 7:55 am, stopped at Casey's and picked up the donuts then drove to church. Mark helped unload the 13 dozen then he drove to Schnucks to pick up the 4 dozen fried croissants while I organized the food. David and Stephanie brought Israel and Elisabet to help. Diane and Mike also came early to help and Rhonda arrived with Joan around 9:30 am. Randy and Kathy brought Nancy and she wanted to help too but Joan took her in to sing and then down to Sunday school. Gabe Stickling had the morning message on Judges 4 and 2 Thessalonians 3. To watch that click HERE. I took a couple pictures of the food once we had it out on the serving lines. 

Today was invite a guest and I was a little worried about not having enough wraps but after lunch was over the only item I ran out of was potato chips. We had about 6 wraps left, a few of the croissants for the chicken salad, 1 cutie, 6 gogurts but plenty of chicken salad, ham, turkey and cheese. No one was going to starve. Dave Beutel had the afternoon message on the minor prophets. He spoke on Amos 7,8, and 9. Click HERE to watch that.

After church I ran to Sam's club to pick up 4 pizza's for Sunday supper and also served some of the leftover food. We celebrated Zion's birthday. After supper most of the adults went for a walk while the kids played both outside and inside. Below the second cousins, some of Ruth's grandkids, Spark's grandkids and our grandkids are playing football. 

Spark built a campfire and we soon gravitated to that as the evening was chilly.

The fire was so nice that even when all the kids and grandkids left Spark and Rhonda along with Mark and I stayed to enjoy the fire. The coyotes started howling. If you listen to the video below you will hear them.

We finally decide it was time to turn in. What a blessed day. Sunday's really are special around here and I am so thankful to be here.

Showing Dancer

 We had a cool morning and obviously the lake water was warmer than the air around it. At first the entire lake had mist coming off but by breakfast time just one area. It was so strange that I left breakfast and went out on the deck to get a video. 

With everything rented I could spend the morning reading. Today I read in Psalms, the last few chapters in Matthew of the last supper, the crucifixion and the resurrection then flipped to Luke to read his writing on the same. Oh what an amazing God we serve! That He would do that for us. At 10:00 am I had to quit, we had someone coming at 11:00 am to look at Dancer and Dancer needed to be groomed. She was waiting at the gate but had no halter. That meant I had to search for one that would fit her and that took a while. She was just left loose in the yard while I worked on removing burrs out of her forelock, mane and tail then used the curry, hard brush and was using the soft finishing brush when Rhoda arrived. She tied Dancer and cleaned out all 4 hooves.

Rhoda put all of her tack on the golf cart.

I left then to move the water tank we had been using out by the round pen. That needed to be hosed out before hauling it into the stall. Braelyn arrived about then with 2 helpers to clean the foaling apartment. The guests moved out around 10:00 am and the next family was moving after noon. While I was working on the tank two ladies from Elgin, IL arrived to check out Dancer. Rhoda took Dancer to the outdoor arena first to show the person interested in buying her Dancer's movement.

From there they moved to the round pen where Rhoda saddled Dancer and rode her first. Then the interested buyer rode her and finally the other lady that came with her also took a turn. The other lady owns a Raven son out of a Thoroughbred mare that is now 22 years old. She loves him and they are hoping for another sweet Horsemeister horse. Dancer was perfect the entire time. She really does love attention. Katherine is going to call to arrange ppe. By the time they left it was almost 1:00 pm. Mark and I drove to the church to start organizing for tomorrow. Rhoda, Lee, Iris, Zeke and Zion came to help. The kids helped get the tables set then even helped with making wraps. We made ham and cheddar cheese wraps along with turkey and provolone, all together we made 160 wraps.

Mark started slicing the croissants. We have 160 of those. There are also platters of just the ham, turkey, and 2 kinds of cheese if someone doesn't want a wrap. I also have about 30 pounds of chicken salad. I'll have a big bowl on each serving line right after the croissants so people can make their own chicken salad sandwich, but I also brought forks if someone wants it without bread. By the time we finished with everything washed and put away and all the food put back in the fridge it was after 3:00 pm. 

Mike and Diane met the owners of Cabo, an Evan son born in 2025 at the County Market in Farmington and took them out to Middle Grove. That place really is a horse paradise. With all the rain and cool weather the grass is thick and so green. Oliver heard the truck and came running first with the herd following. All of the horses were so friendly the owner of Cabo stated, "You could charge for this horse therapy." We need to remember our blessings as we take Middle Grove for granted. It is amazing to see this big herd of LARGE gorgeous horses galloping free out on fields with no fences in sight.

The video below was taken last year, we were dropping off 3 mares and their foals and picking up a Holly but she wasn't tied very well and she took off running dragging her lead rope.