Berean Day

 I woke up and thought, "today is Berean day" and had to smile. We really enjoy enjoy going and working with the best of the best! Ruth and Fedi are still out camping in their new truck camper and enjoying Niagara Falls so is not here to walk with us. She IS sending back pictures and videos.

Diane, Joan and I walked and on our way to the barn ran into Berlica riding Basilea and Zion riding Penny.

They were heading down to the trails.

It is wonderful that Sarah and Nolan live so close to us. Sarah is bringing Zion out to ride before the day gets too hot to do anything. I only walked one round so I could leave by 8:00 am for the Berean office.  Sarah sent the picture below of them coming across the field to the barn after the trails.

We had a decent amount of mail today and was glad for everyone that came. Kristen came again but we were most thankful that Bruce came. He is the best at the postage machine. We had studies come back from Jackson, MI for more postage. Marvin weighed them on his scale and the were all right at 1ounce but when he put them on the postage machine scale each was slightly over 1 ounce and I mean very slightly.  It was Sharon that came up with the best idea.

If you guessed cut some of the paper off on the studies, you guessed right. Why didn't the rest of us think of that. We all had to laugh.

Marvin has a paper cutter so he brought that out and all going to Jackson, MI got the sides trimmed, just a tiny bit but that put it under the ounce. All of those got sent back plus all going out today to that prison got trimmed. We were busy today. Skip had to leave for Sam's to buy more paper and more envelopes. Amazing how often that happens. He got back in plenty of time to help with the Bibles.  I left there and went straight to Meisters to drop off studies for grading then to the Hanna City post office to drop off all the mail going out today. When I got home it was really hot and humid. Too hot to work outside so instead I read a book finishing that around 4:30 pm. Sarah sent back pictures of her working with Harli. Her colt learned what fly spray, lead ropes and plastic bags taste like, and what his mom looks like when carrying a tarp.

The tarp didn't bother him at all. The video below shows the fly spray taste.

 Last night Mike brought Missy and 3 weanlings home from Middle Grove so moved Jewel, Rosalie and Missy here. When Sarah got here Rosalie and Jewel were out grazing and Sarah reported all of the gates were shut. Those 2 mares know where the break in the fence is in the pond pasture and we don't. They are sneaky and only get out when no one is around so this afternoon. They were put in with Penny in the shelter next to Valiant. They are the bosses of the herd and Penny needs to learn she is NOT a boss so hopefully those 2 mares will teach her to submit. Penny has all the other mares here scared of her.  Mark came to help move in 4 bales. The middle paddock got a bale, Rosaleigh and Tessa's paddock got a bale, The short shelter paddock got a bale and Evan's paddock got a bale. 

By the time the last bale was moved in we were both really hot and sweaty. It was 89 degrees out and very humid. We were hoping for rain but each storm seems to pass us by. Maybe tonight we will get a good shower. Spark and Rhonda came by for a visit. I gave him a really nice letter that came in for the Berean board. It really was a good day.

Horse-In-Around

Almost the entire day was spent with the horses. Diane shocked us by showing up for the walk. Their trip to Gulf Shores didn't happen. The plane was delayed and then delayed again so they just canceled. When we got close to the barn we had to slow down to let Berlica riding Sally and Joshua riding Jewel go in front. They were taking these 2 horses over to join Jury and Penny. 

William ended riding Jewel, Joshua rode Penny and Zion rode Jury on that trail ride. Joshua told us later it was a blast. When they got back, Rhoda had arrived with Iris and Zeke. She worked with Berlica and Basilea in the outdoor arena while the kids all took turns on the other horses.

Next she worked with Zion on Jury and had her canter her in both directions.

After that was the second trail ride of the day. We were short a pony for Eden so Eden got to go on this ride with Rhoda on Jury, Berlica riding Basilea, Zion riding Jewel and Iris riding Penny.

After the ride, Sarah wanted to try an English saddle on Penny. We need to buy a shorter girth but the saddle fits Penny and Zion.

The horses were all hosed off then the girls got into their vaulting uniforms for a vaulting practice.

They STILL weren't done, Harli and her colt were taken out. Sarah has been working with Harli in the mornings and some of the video below is of Harli's colt playing with the plastic bag and tarp as Sarah was trying to work with his mom. After vaulting, Rhoda got Harli out while Zion, Iris and Berlica worked with her colt in the round pen. AT the end of the video below he really enjoyed his shower even drinking from the hose.

Rhoda wanted to stick Harli before putting her away. She sticks right at 14.2 hands.

While that was happening her colt had to go check out Zeke.

Finally all the horses were put away and everyone went swimming. We adults kind of crashed sitting in chairs with our feet in the water watching the kids play. It really was a fun and very productive day with all the training happening. We have a lady flying in from Maine on Saturday morning to look at Basilea. We will pick her up at the airport, she will fly out Sunday afternoon. Right after that lady bought her ticket another buyer said he could come tomorrow with the cash but since she had already bought her ticket he will need to wait until after Saturday and if Basilea is still available then he can come. 

Hot August Sunday

 Another easy Sunday morning. I found out a couple days ago that we didn't need to haul our dishes over to the barn to wash and take our clothes over so we could have hot showers. MOM'S house has an electric water heater. I can wash dishes here and take showers here. I can even use the washing machine, just not the dryer as that is gas. I sure would have saved a lot of work if I'd figured that out earlier. Mark accidently found it out by touching a hot pipe then realizing it was to the water heater. I still have to haul food downstairs to cook but this morning brought it back upstairs to eat so it wasn't that much to carry up and down the stairs. We picked up Rhonda for church.  Mike Kaisner had the morning message on Psalm 90, you know the one that tells us 3 score and 10. Well Friday on our walk we had been talking about that passage. I think somehow those ministers are spying on us here at the lake. If you would like to watch this message click HERE. Roger and Melanie served the lunch. David had the afternoon message on the statement of faith. Click HERE to watch that. We took Nancy home after church. Sarah was here working with Harli and her colt.

She took the video below.

Our Sunday dinner tonight was steak, we had T-bone, sirloin and porterhouse. There was more than enough for all to eat as much as they wanted. The reason for that was when I served steak on our family vacation I way underestimated how much those hungry grandchildren eat so tonight we made up for that. After supper Mike and Diane went home to pack, they were leaving in an hour for their flight to Gulf Shores. I needed to find out how to turn the water on in their basement so the horses in the cabin field can be watered while they are gone. When I got back to the barn almost everyone had gone over to the beach. It was really hot and the lake felt wonderful on this hot August evening. 

They stayed until the sun went down. Zeke was the last one to use the diving board as the sun was hanging low just barely over the treeline but he is at the very end of the video below.

What a wonderful Sunday. So many first and second cousins got to swim and play together today and so much visiting from everyone. We sure do enjoy being together. Rhoda and Lee took Nancy home tonight and I was thankful. That is such a nice gift for Mark and I.

Trail Rides

 We had a good night going to bed early and sleeping in until 5:45 am. Amazing how wonderful that feels. I had plans to work on cleaning this house and actually started on it when our guests at the barn sent the message they were on their way out. I loaded up the laundry detergent, beach, all of our laundry on to the golf cart and drove that to the barn. The guests this time was a boy scout troop that had been doing service projects all week and this was their last stop. They LOVED the barn. They left such a nice thank you note signed by all of them and had everything cleaned up. I started collecting all of the sheets and towels and got the first load started then ran a load up to the foaling apartment so I could use 2 machines. One of the guests from the farm house came driving up to ask if we had found his hitch, a triple one with the 3 different sizes of balls. He lost it off of his truck. I took him around on the golf cart searching for it but it was no where in sight. He thinks it may have been stolen when he was in Peoria. I finally gave him the hitch off of my truck and got my other nicer triple hitch Joan had borrowed when one of the camper rental people forgot theirs. I think we may want to order another one, those are really handy. Mark was moving the extra black painted 16 foot boards from the outdoor arena into the indoor arena.  Rhoda and Iris showed up first today but not much later Sarah arrived with Zion, Eden and River. Rhoda had Jury and Penny tacked up ready to go to the outdoor. 

 Mark was loading the boards on the golf cart. I had him wait just in case that strange sight would scare the horses. 

I was using my golf cart to run back and forth from the apartment to the barn each time the laundry needed changing.

Sarah brought Harli out to work with and discovered a big abscess on her cheek. We were all shocked, it wasn't there yesterday.  We were able to pop it and clean it out then hydrogen peroxide was squirted in it to help clean out the infection and keep it open.

Once that was cleaned out she was feeling better and was taken out to the outdoor where Rhoda and Sarah worked with her. Meanwhile Iris and Zion were taking turns with Penny. When they were done they posed for a picture as they were dressed alike with their pink shirts and their cowboy boots.

Rhoda put a bridle on Harli and both Rhoda and Sarah were teaching her to bend and back up then Rhoda got on Jury and led Harli around. The colt just followed the entire time.

When Rhoda was done Harli and her colt were taken into a stall so the colt could take a nap. 

Next Rhoda wanted to take Basilea on a trail ride. Zion rode Penny and followed. We took a few pictures for the website. Basilea poses naturally, she has such presence! 

Basilea was great on the creek crossings. She marched right in and was happy to walk in the water.

She really is a nice mare, I can't believe we are selling her.

Berlica is at the Reinhard family camp with her family but when she gets home she will have another mare to ride. Berlica is getting all of the horses beginner ready on trails!

Sarah took the video below of the trail ride.

When we got back Harli's colt was still sleeping.

He needed to have the halter taken off, but Zion walked in right then. The colt was tied up so she could handle him.

He is 19 days old today and it is very good for him to be handled and tied. Below is a video showing how quiet and well behaved he is with both being handled and tied.

After Rhoda hosed Basilea down they decided to stick her so we could have an accurate number. 

She is just shy of 16.2 hands tall.

Once everyone left for home I was able to finish the laundry, finish cleaning all 6 bathrooms, straightening the gym and even finished our laundry and all by 4:00 pm. I came home and had a very late lunch. Mark had already helped himself but then wanted supper at 7:30 pm. We had left over chicken and potato salad and he was happy with that. I worked on rendering the videos and getting them posted on the website. Now I'm ready to head to bed.

Dahlia Sold

 My day started out really early. Mark was up before 5:00 am but I didn't crawl out of bed until just after that time. Thank goodness for coffee. We had an easy morning with both of us just sipping piping hot coffee and reading. I quit at 7:15 am to get ready for the walk. We had such a good walk, visiting and laughing at ourselves and each other. Berlica and Zion were already out getting ready to head down to the death trails when Berlica hopped off Jewel to tighten her girth.

Breakfast was cooked downstairs on the electric stove as we still have no propane. That is supposed to be hooked up next week. I packed everything in an Aldi bag to take down, determined not to forget anything as yesterday I forgot to bring the coffee and spatula for cooking, today I only forgot the pepper. After breakfast I went to clean the gym floor where a car had been driven inside and left mud on the concrete. The lights were turned on and the air conditioning turned down. The guests were due to arrive around 1:00 pm.  At 11:00 am Mark helped me load Valerie in the front of the stock and Dahlia in the back. Those horses were going to Western Hearts in Kickapoo. Dahlia is now sold and Valerie was going for training. There were plenty of people around to watch these horses get off the trailer. They settled down pretty quickly enjoying the hay together.

Of course when I was there I had to admire their gelding Raven (by our late stallion Raven and out of a Saddlebred mare). Pearl his sister. Zena, now a 4 year old mare by Valiant out of Madiera. All owners are thrilled with their horses and it took a while visiting before I could get home. I had an appointment with Gaetano for the website at 1:00 pm but let him know Mark was coming with me and we would be arriving at 1:30 pm as we didn't leave until 1:00 pm. We both needed to clean up. Mark and Mackenson had been repairing fences. Below Mackenson is taking down the old rotten board on the outdoor arena. 

They replaced that board with one of the extra painted black boards. Now they just need to buy black paint to finish the last board and the post.  We had a good informative visit with Gaetano. In my opinion it was well worth the trip. We left there after 2:00 pm and drove about a block to the Lin Chineses buffet. Mark wasn't impressed by the food but I was really hungry and thought it tasted good.

The had soft serve ice cream so I took a cone to go. It wasn't near as smooth and good tasting as Bees outside of Farmington. That really does have the best soft serve ice cream I've ever tasted. We got home just in time to make supper, which I didn't do. We're not hungry. That is a phrase mom would use when she didn't want to cook. We really were not hungry. Sarah posted some ads on Basilea and today I took two phone calls about her. The first wanted to know if she really belonged to me and was it a scam ad. I explained Sarah is my daughter and placed the ads and actually gave this lady the phone number of Hoerr Vet clinic so they could confirm that Basilea really was sonagrammed in foal. The second phone call was a man from Tennessee who has a 17 year old 75% Friesian he had been trying to get in foal for 5 years. He called me as Basilea is 18 and she settled on the first cycle we tried her. He had the mare to different vets and none of them could find anything wrong with her so wanted to blame the stallion. I explained, if the stallion has foals on the ground from other mares it probably IS that his mare can't conceive. This evening I worked on updating the website, now that I can add videos and post the pictures where I wanted them. It really was a simple fix. 

Cool Ultrasounds

 I didn't take the time to cook breakfast before the walk, I needed to get the stock trailer ready for the trip to the vet clinic this morning. Once that was ready I met Diane for the walk. Ruth didn't come, she and Fedi had a date taking their garbage to the dump this morning. When we got to Joan's, Faline started to follow us. Joan had forgotten to feed her. She went back to get the bottle followed by Faline and the ducks. Diane and I just visited while waiting, admiring her beautiful flowers. After Faline was fed we assumed she would go back into the woods but instead followed us on the walk. Joan tried to shoo her home but finally just ignored her.

I dropped out, took the golf cart up to the truck and trailer, grabbed leadropes and had both Valerie and Basilea out ready to load by the time Diane and Joan made it to the truck. The mares both walked right in and Diane shut the door until they were tied. The trip to Hoerr Vet clinic went fine but when we got to the clinic Dr. Hoerr was already working a colicky horse. I left room for that horse to be loaded but later found out I would not have needed to leave the extra room.

This horse is 35 years old and ended up staying at the clinic for Dr. Hoerr to try to keep him comfortable until he can get over the pain one way or the other. The owner of the gelding actually helped me bring Basilea into the clinic while I lead Valerie into the stocks. Both of these mares had been confirmed in foal earlier but we are going to place Basilea for sale IN FOAL so I wanted to make sure she was still infoal.  It took Dr. Hoerr like 2 seconds to pronouce Valerie still pregnant and by the time I got over to the ultrasound machine he was on already showing the foals ribcage. 

This foal is due April 3rd, 2027 and is already spoken for so I sent the picture to the owner. Basilea wasn't quite as far along but we could see the spine and the heart beating.

Basilea is due May 18th, 2027. Whoever decides to buy her will end up with a nice mare to ride and love on and a bonus of a purebred Friesian foal, all for ONLY $12,000.  We are selling Basilea as we are keeping her filly Thalia. Basilea was born March 8th, 2008 making her 18 years old. She loves attention from people. She saw River climb up on the fence and scooted over for attention. She really does love people.

When I got back from the vet clinic Sarah and Berlica were giving Zion, Eden and River a vaulting lesson on Jewel.

They are all picking it up quickly. 

I could only stay a short while since the barn needed to be made ready for the guests coming in today. While I was busy working, Sarah took the pictures below of the rest of their fun afternoon. Berlica took them on a trail ride. She rode Jury double with River in front while Zion rode Penny and Eden rode Jewel on the trails.

Joan had some of the old vaulting uniforms stored at her house and had Berlica give them to Sarah. When the girls got home they tried them on and they FIT!

I'm not sure there was a small enough one for River.

I worked on the barn until 5:30 pm then came in to make supper. Right after supper went back to finish and walked out of there at 8:30 pm. There is just one more small job to do tomorrow morning.

Genius

We were living like pioneers this morning. At 6:00 am I was using a bucket to haul water out of the lake so we could flush toilets. I carried one bucket in for the downstairs bathroom but Mark carried the other bucket upstairs for that bathroom. Each bucket allowed us 2 flushes. I left early to take care of the horses in the stalls. On the walk Diane, Ruth and Joan helped move Harli and her colt to the outdoor arena for grazing. No cooking breakfast, we still had no propane and when the man did come to hook up the propane, looked at the pipe and didn't have the correct fittings. He said those will be around $300.00 and had to be ordered. They won't come in until next week some time. I put Harli and her colt in the paddock with Valerie and Basilea. One less stall to clean tomorrow. The guests in the farm house left around 9:30 am. The golf cart was loaded with extra sheets, towels and cleaning supplies. I was pleased at how nice they left the house. It was 3 construction workers so I thought it would be worse but they had collected and bagged all the garbage, loaded the dishwasher and started that and had all of the used towels in the tub. The only thing one of the men did was to bring a comforter from one of the beds upstairs and slept in that. Of course that had to be washed and washed using the bulky load which takes much longer to run. Just then I got a notification from airbnb that the farm house rented again for TODAY! That put me in overdrive. I worked for a solid 3 hours, walked away at 1:00 pm and the new guests arrived at 1:05 pm.  I had the golf cart loaded but saw Sarah and Rhoda's cars up at the stall barns so drove up to see Rhoda riding Basilea and Sarah video taping it. When Rhoda finished Zion rode her. Below is the video from Sarah. 

This was the first time Basilea has been ridden in almost 3 years. She really did well. They took a few pictures too for the website.

I left then to change the washer in the barn where I was continuing to wash all of the sheets and towels from the farm house then went into our house to get something to drink. Sarah sent more pictures and a video of Rhoda working with Harli.

Her colt is really a cutie.

When they were done, Penny was brought out and each one got to ride Penny by themselves. They then came here to find the new kittens. The mama cat had them sequestered under the heavy desk in the garage. We were able to get one kitten out. The kitten is and orange female and was very calm while they all took turns holding her. There is one more kitten but that one wasn't brave enough to come out. Rhoda brought Jury and Penny here so Zion could ride Jury and her friend Lilly could ride Penny on the small loop before putting the horses away. I kept making trips over to the barn to keep the laundry going. At 5:00 pm Mark and I packed our church clothes, a hair brush, razor, tooth brushes and towels and went over to the barn for showers and to get ready for church. We left at 5:30 pm. Dinner tonight was served by Holly & Dean and Jim & Faith. I think Heather helped to. After supper we had a guest minister Brant Rushton, from Gridley,  give his testimony and he had everyone's attention. It really was an amazing testimony how God led him all the way. It is up on AC Central but only as audio. Click HERE if you would like to listen to this message. We are now home and have WATER. Spark and Elijah had just finished hooking everything up and were they ever muddy. We thought Elijah would cancel as it was raining when we left for church. I was moaning to Mark on the way home about not being able to cook eggs for breakfast when he said, "you can, the stove in the basement is electric."  YEAH eggs, bacon, tomatoes and toast tomorrow. We have been living here for a month and a half and I just now found out we have 2 ways to cook. Mom was a genius!