Ice Snow Wind

 We awoke to cold, wind and blowing snow. Dan and Susan were on their way to the barn from their house in Goodfield and reported the roads were terrible. They sent back pictures of Trucks and cars in the ditch. Spark and Rhonda left early for Missouri and also sent back pictures. It really wasn't a good day to travel.

I knew Dan made it when he sent the picture below.

The wedding guests that stayed in the barn, the foaling apartment and Diane's basement were all from Florida and we were not sure they should try to start their drive back home. Some of them waited until 11:00 am before leaving. The foaling apartment booked for tonight so as soon as the Florida guests were gone I took the golf cart up with cleaning supplies to get that ready for the next guests. The Florida guests were so thrilled with the snow that they made a snowman last night before the bitter cold came and placed it on the porch of the foaling apartment. 

That was left for the new guests but it will probably only last for 2 more days as we are expecting a warm up then. Meanwhile Dan, Susan and Levi were hard at work at the barn organizing and loading the van and their car. They ended up taking two trips and will need to take one more tomorrow. Susan got all of the bedrooms and bathrooms cleaned in the barn. I took a lot of the towels and some of the sheets to use my machines here at the house and the foaling apartment machines. The final load was finished around 5:30 pm. There is still work to do there but we have plenty of time to get it ready for the next event. I was going to take my car over to the barn but with first the rain then the snow it was all iced up. It only got worse late today, more wind, more snow and falling temperatures. Tomorrow morning is going to start out around 8 degrees. I want the Berean volunteers to feel free to stay home tomorrow as with the blowing snow and cold weather I don't want anyone to get hurt and have the time to stay and get the work done myself. I called Ruth to tell her mom would be staying home tomorrow as I will need to drive my car with it's snow tires. Ruth sent back a picture of mom petting the kittens. She wrote, they are both fragile.

She meant mom and the kittens. Mark took the golf cart and a snow shovel to the apartment and shoveled a path to the doorway. It wasn't easy as there is just so much ice.

We have a fire going in the wood burner and I have just 3 books left to finish from the books Rhoda and Iris found. They are old fashioned mysteries, easy reading and I'm enjoying them when I get the time to sit in the evenings.  Once the last 3 are read I would be glad to give them to anyone interested. They are hardback books and most are written by the same author so the characters stay the same through all of the Mystery Martha Vineyard books. The 3 Mystery at Lancaster county books are of stories of 3 sisters and a couple of those are by different authors but still of the 3 same sisters. 

Sophia and Carl's Wedding

 We almost goofed this morning. Last week Joan had asked us to take Berlica and Mackenson to church this morning but on Thursday Mark sent a text asking Joan are we supposed to pick them up at 9:05 on Sunday and Joan sent back the text she thought Faith would take them. Now I KNEW Faith went with Joan to Georgia on the mission trip but saw that text and didn't remember Faith left. This morning we picked up Rhonda at 9:05 and started on our way to church when Ruth called asking if we were picking up Mackenson and Berlica. Thankfully she was just on her way out of mom's garage and went over to pick them up so we didn't have to turn around. Mike Kaisner had the morning message on Judges 15 and Hebrews 12. So great a cloud of witnesses of the faithful that have gone before. Click HERE if you would like to watch that. At the announcements we finally found out who our new minister would be. We ended up with 2 new ministers, Gabe (Molly) Stickling AND David (Lanae) Beutel. So amazing how God worked in Peoria. Those were the exact two we voted for, Mark for one and me for the other. This afternoon Craig Stickling had the communion exhortation. Click HERE if you would like to watch that. We took Mackenson and Berlica home while Ruth took mom and Nancy to mom's house. At 2:45 pm we were to be at the barn for Sophia and Carl's wedding. I followed Ruth who brought mom over in the wheel chair van and parked at the East side door. Thankfully it wasn't raining as we were getting into the barn. Shortly after arriving a storm moved in with lightning and thunder. Believe it not the barn was almost considered cozy. Dan and Susan did a wonderful job decorating. I admit to getting a little emotional watching Dan walk Sophia down the aisle. 

The minister had a wonderful wedding service. Rachel was the photographer and I know Sophia is going to be thrilled with the pictures. Below are a few random pictures I took during the evening. Below is the youngest flower girl, Eden, Abram's and Addie's daughter.

Below Sophia is giving a big hug to three of my grand daughters who were in awe of such a beautiful bride.

Dan sang a song he wrote to Sophia while Susan played the drums.

After the actual wedding we were ushered into the living area for snacks and drinks (sweet tea and a very good lavender lemonade). Rachel and Karin were visiting so of course I had to take a picture of my two youngest sisters.

Berlica and Braelyn were wonderful help tonight.

I snuck into the gym to check out the reception tables, they were decorated beautifully.

Below we are waiting to be ushered to the buffet line.

After the meal to go get the dessert, cake, buckeyes, cookies and other goodies, you first had to get your picture taken with the bride and groom. Below is mom and Sophia.

Below are some of my family getting a picture with them.

The bride and groom had hidden tiny dinosaurs all around the two rooms and after dinner they had a contest, who ever could find the most dinosaurs would get a dinosaur trophy. Well Iris and Zeke worked together and found 34 of them. They won the trophy.

The dancing started after the dinner was over. We all got in a line, even mom in the wheel chair with Diane pushing her but after one round mom was ready to go home. Ruth had to leave earlier as someone needed to be with Nancy. A cold rain was coming down pretty hard as mom and I exited the building and we both got pretty soaked by the very cold rain. The temperature was dropping fast and soon this rain is going to turn to snow. Ruth was waiting for mom and as soon as I backed into the garage she got mom and had warm dry clothes ready for her. I had Nancy take her pills then get her ready to go as Rhoda and Lee were taking her home. By the time I finally got home I was wet and very cold. We got a fire going and both of us changed into dry clothes. Some of the wedding guests are staying over both in the barn and the foaling apartment so the heat has been left on. I am so thankful for that barn, the wedding was wonderful and the ending a lot of fun. Before going to bed Mark noticed the rain had changed to snow.

I didn't hear it change over until I realized I couldn't hear the rain pounding down. The snow was much more quiet.

 

Wonderful Time

 It was another cold morning. Mark realized he had forgotten to turn the heat pump back on after losing the electricity yesterday. Ruth sent a message that mom's furnace wouldn't turn on. After getting our furnace turned on Mark went over to take care of mom's. That was easy as flipping a switch. They were fine as mom has an unvented propane heater in her living room. Mark left to pick up some groceries. I went out to get Disco out of the paddock and give him a groom but Bill showed up a half an hour early so hadn't finished. 

Bill owns Western Hearts and one of his boarders bought Madiera's 2025 filly. He said she settled down fine and is doing great. His daughter Anna has been helping with her and all of the reports are great. We spent a couple hours discussing horses. After they left I went over to mom's to see if Ruth needed help getting ready for Sophia and Carl's rehearsal dinner. Mom decided to wear her funeral dress. This dress was from our great Aunt Emily who was 99 years old when she graduated to heaven. Mom decided this was the dress she wants to be buried in.

We were glad she is wearing it to new beginnings instead of endings. It went perfect with the wedding colors so was a good choice. I went over after the dinner to bring them some laundry detergent and checked out all of the beautiful decorations. Susan has the place looking very elegant. I met Carl, his parents and his mothers sisters while there. The adults went over to the foaling apartment to visit while the bridesmaids decided to drive in to Peoria. I think the groomsmen were up in the game room playing ping pong. I think they are all having a wonderful time.

Electricity Out

 We were both up before 5:00 am. Our bodies have finally adjusted to the time change. I went up to the foaling apartment with all the clean laundry then over to the barn at 7:00 am. I just needed to sweep the upstairs bedrooms and then empty the 2 big garbage cans and reline them. As I was bringing the one in the gym into the living area the first of the guests arrived. I explained I was doing last minute cleaning and just finishing up. They had been driving most of the night and were glad to go upstairs to crash in a real bed. At 7:30 am Diane and I walked, the wind was ferocious, blowing against us making the walk difficult. Ruth overslept and decided to just stay home. Joan does not walk on Friday as she has co-op. We made sure to be back at mom's by 8:15 am, the time Joan needs to leave with Berlica and Mackenson. Mom and I had a quiet morning but soon the electricity was flickering then went out all together. Aunt Jinnie called about then and finished reading a book to mom. Jessica and her 2 littles came over for a visit. 

At noon Diane arrived to take my place so I went straight over to the apartment to take the sheets out of the dryer, fold them and get them into the closet. It wasn't an easy task as there were no lights. We found out then that a van had smashed into a telephone pole and broke it off. This happened next to Mike and Diane's Hanna City office. The UPS box is at the other end of their parking lot.

Not only was the electricity out it also took out the internet and the estimate for repair was 7:30 pm. As my guests were moving in I had Mark take up 3 of my battery powered lanterns. They arrived while the electricity was still out so I was very glad I had them in and ready for them. Mark left at 11:45 am to pick up Israel from school. He had some projects he wanted to get done. The steps coming down to our patio had both broken off during the winter. Mark and Israel removed the broken ones and replaced them then cleaned up. Below they are just finishing the last pile of debris. 

The next job was to go split wood. Mark drove the tractor and Israel drove the golf cart over to the big pile that still needs splitting. They worked for a couple hours until Mark said he had to quit and rest. Israel helped here cleaning up the craft supplies upstairs and also sweeping up more of the Asian beetles. Those seem to be coming out of the woodwork. At least we aren't seeing near as many stink bugs as last year. Mark wanted to rest before taking Israel home Israel went out to play in the new car. He found you can put driving games on the big display and actually use the real steering wheel to play the game.

He already is a good driver using the golf cart. He came in first on both of the games he played.

I decided it was my turn to learn how to drive this self driving car so drove on the way to take hime home. It works, my hands were not needed on the steering wheel so when Ruth sent a text I just picked up the phone and sent her a text back. Then took a selfie of me not driving as the car is barreling down the road with Israel in the back.

I tried shutting my eyes just to see if the car would still go if I was sleeping but after a few seconds it started sending out a signal. Funny, Mark wears glasses and it doesn't seem to know if he shuts his eyes. After dropping off Israel we went to the Mexican restaurant in Chillicothe and split a chicken fajita meal. The pictures below are after we ate as much as we wanted. 

Of course we asked for a box and took the leftovers home. When we arrived home the electricity had been turned back on but Mark had left the generator running and that had run out of gas. He had to go switch everything back over and soon I had the last load of laundry getting washed. Tomorrow we have someone coming to look at Disco and he will need a good grooming before they arrive. Now that all of the wedding guests have arrived I am free to work with the weanlings. This morning I was telling Diane I have 8 mares that must come in soon for breeding. Basalea, her daughter Thalia, Rosalie, Valerie, Izzy the gypsy mare and 3 of the Thoroughbred mares. Bulu, Holly and Aiken. We will need to bring in Harli the 10 year old Gypsy mare to make sure she is still pregnant. We also have 3 mares due in April. The first is the Thoroughbred mare Star Temple due April 18th, Blueberry due April 28th, and Rosaleigh due April 29th. I'm going to be very busy!

 

Cleaning Day

 I was up at 4:45 am, I'm finally caught up from the time change. That gave me plenty of time for reading this morning before our walk. Joan didn't go again today as mom was not yet up. We stopped in at the barn to see Dan and Susan's decorations for the wedding. The most interesting is the wall. 

The yellow cord is from the vacuum cleaner so ignore that. The carpet he brought from the school. Behind that wall is all the other stuff.

The gym is so big, they have it divided into two separate rooms. One is for the wedding and the other will be for games. The tables are in the game section but right after the wedding the guests will be asked to go into the living area for drinks and snacks while the tables are brought in for the reception. It should be a quick turn-a-round. Dan made a video of Sophia and Carl growing up that will play on the big screen TV. The next stop on our walk was to check out the progress on Mike's barn.

As it was so cold outside, he had a heater running which made the building comfortable for the work he was doing. The building has plenty of lights and the entire area is well lit.

We stopped in after the walk to talk about the wedding and have mom pick out the dress she was going to wear. Diane brought 3 out and we all settled on this one.

Right after the walk I went home to make breakfast then went straight to the barn to finish the cleaning. The bedding for the 6 bunk beds in the bunk room was taken up and those beds were made. The 6 bathrooms were given a good cleaning then the living area was cleaned, swept and mopped. Once that cleaning was done I went into the gym, wiped down all the chairs set up for the wedding as some had dust on them. Then cleaned and organized the area where all the left over tables, chairs, sweepers, floor scrubbers and sports toys are stored. By the time I quit working it was 1:30 pm came home, ate a peanut butter and jam sandwich then sat down to rest. Mark got home and was put to work washing windows both inside and out at the barn. Mackenson helped with some of that. At 6:30 pm my airbnb guest left. Braelyn and Anna came to help get it cleaned. We found some medicine in the fridge. I sent her a message through airbnb that I have that down at the house. Hope she doesn't need it right away. Airbnb no longer will share phone numbers so can't reach her other than through airbnb. We are missing the rug by the door and the front door will not unlock. Hopefully it just needs batteries. It was too late to work on it tonight so Mark will try to get that fixed in the morning tomorrow as we have guests coming in for the wedding and they will be here tomorrow. I'm doing laundry here at the house and at the foaling apartment as we had to wash all of the bedding. The last of the towels are in the dryer now. Tomorrow morning all of this will be taken up to the foaling apartment.

Record Hail

The storms missed us last night. Some of the pictures of destroyed cars and buildings were crazy. The huge pieces of hail smashed cars and trucks to smithereens and even broke through buildings.  Matt Devitt weather man posted pictures of some of the hail that came down near Kankakee. We are SO thankful the storm missed us. 

Some of the hail stones were 6 inches diameter which is a record for our area.

We only got a quarter of an inch of rain but had lots of wind, lightning and thundering during the night. It was not raining at walk time. Mom was up so Joan, Ruth, Diane and I walked. We stopped at Mike's barn to check it out. It was pretty chilly outside at 39 degrees but felt warm in his new barn.

Joan was able to get an appointment for the yellow male cat to be neutered today and took him on her way to play practice so I went to mom's to stay until Diane arrived. That cat had been spraying and must have visited the stall barn. The smell was pretty strong. By the time I got home the temperature had dropped even lower and it was snowing mixed in with the rain.

Dan, Susan and Levi arrived to work on the wedding decorations at the barn. They brought in a 10 foot tall wood backdrop for pictures. It took all Susan, Levi and me to hold it up while Dan put in bolts. That thing is heavy!

The walls are up, the lights are up, the carpet had been laid, the chairs are in position and the arch is up. I was bringing 2 or 3 chairs at a time but Levi was bringing 8 at a time. These young men are so strong!

I came back to the house at 4:00 pm, took a nice hot leisurely shower and got ready for church. We picked up Mackenson and Berlica as Joan stayed with mom tonight. Caleb Plattner had the message on the reconciliation of Jacob and Esau. Click HERE if you would like to watch that. After church we went to Culvers for a late supper. Faith took the kids home after supper as when we finished eating we were more than ready to go home and go to bed. Us old folks just can't stay out late anymore.

Strong Storms

 Just Ruth, Diane and I walked this morning. Mom wasn't up yet so Joan stayed. Mom had a dermatologist appointment this morning and Joan was going to bring her to the Berean office as soon as that was finished. It was supposed to be a quick check up but ended up being a bit more. They found a couple spots on her legs that they decided to burn off but the most serious was on her chest. That one they took a biopsy.  They arrived at the Berean office around 10:30 am just as we were getting the Bibles ready for mailing. Below are a few pictures of the morning. 

We enjoyed cheese cake with fresh ripe strawberries for our treat but also we heated up the cinnamon raison biscuits we put in the freezer a couple of weeks ago. Sam's had the strawberries marked down to $3.97 for the 2 pound pack so I bought 6 pounds. Strawberries are a fruit that Mark likes and are good for him to eat. We packed up and left for the Hanna City post office getting there just before noon but when I took the Bibles and studies into the post office realized I had forgotten to bring the Michigan studies home to be graded. Those were still left on the windowsill at the Berean office. After dropping off mom I drove to the barn to pick up 3 rolls of paper towels as I noticed we were almost out at the Berean office then drove back there to get the studies and drop off the paper towel. By this time it was 1:10 pm and I had not had lunch so drove through Arby's to try their 2 for $7.00 fish sandwiches and took those home. Mark was glad as he also had not had lunch yet. After eating those we both drove cars up to the indoor arena. We have storms predicted tonight with a chance of hail. The stock trailer was unhooked from the truck and the truck moved in also. Joan put Kristin's new car in. I sent a message to our airbnb guest about parking her car in there also. Then we started cleaning. I swept up the stall barn then went to work in Mark's garage while he moved heavy equipment out of the way of the storm shelter. That was also cleaned out just to make sure there were no spiders hiding in there. The airbnb guest was sent message about how to get to the storm shelter. She is at work tonight until 7:30 pm so it will be dark by the time she arrives. We left the lights on in the stall barn and in the back garage. 

Dan was here working on the gym. He got more curtains hung and some of the lights. I didn't go over today as I spent my energy cleaning the stall barn and garage. Tomorrow I will finish taking the bedding up for the bunk beds and finish the 3 bathrooms. Diane will be with mom and I'm on call so won't go off the property until Joan gets home. 

Busy Day

 We had a beautiful warm sunny day. This morning was still cool and we 5 (Rachel, Ruth, Joan, Diane and I) walked for the first time this spring. We were able to figure out who needed to be where. Right after the walk I went home, made breakfast then went straight to the barn to start organizing the gym. Dan was on his way to come remove the batteries on the lift and made it there even before I finished. All of the sports toys are going to be behind a curtain for the wedding. Mark helped roll up the bouncy house and get that on the carts. That is also with those sports toys. It is behind the yellow net.

Mark used the sweeper to sweep the living area and then the gym while I was working on the toys.

Dan was back pretty quickly with the 4 new batteries and got them installed quickly. He found them at Costco and they were much more reasonable than expected.

The lift worked perfectly once they were installed.

An extension cord was run on top of the volleyball net then the big tarps were thrown over the net. That is going to be the start of the area for the actual wedding. He put a hook up above the big garage door and another on the other wall.

A rope with loops was stretched between for the curtain to hide the toys.

I needed to leave around 2:00 pm as Mike wanted to work with the 4 weanlings. Disco and Roseberry were taken out first.

He used the 4 wheeler to lead them around the yard. Disco did perfect, Roseberry had to be reminded to stay behind the 4 wheeler. Then those 2 were loaded into the front of the trailer. Disco walked in without hesitation but Roseberry took a few minutes to figure it out. They were unloaded and loaded twice then given some grain in the trailer before taking them back. Shadow and Dahlia were worked with next. Dahlia remembered being led, I'm not sure Shadow had been led with the 4 wheeler last year but she figured it out pretty quickly. Dahlia walked right into the trailer but Shadow had to be encouraged. Below is a video of both sets, first is Disco and Roseberry and once those two were put away the next two are Shadow and Dahlia. The weanlings are muddy but it is just surface mud after that inch of rain. They don't have any terrible caked on mud and this will all come off with some grooming which didn't happen today.

Rhoda witnessed a horrific accident today. It happened right in front of her in Morton at the intersection of Lakeland and Main. The black car flipped 4 times.

The driver of that car was able to crawl out of a window. She had to help the lady out of the red car. She was hysterical and bleeding and the car was smoking so Rhoda told her she had to get out. Rhoda said she tried calling 911 four times but she couldn't figure it out because she was in so much of a panic. She had Zeke with her but he was in a car seat in the back so probably didn't see the accident. One never knows how the day will go. I'm very thankful no one was seriously hurt.