My First Bad Review

 Our Airbnb guests in the apartment were in no hurry to leave and we have another guest coming. These guests were not at all like I expected. I saw them the first day and tried to say hello but as soon as the husband saw me, he went inside and shut the door. I thought they must be busy. The second time I saw the husband come out we were loading horses. I waved and kind of yelled, "hello, I'm Judy," but he went right back inside. I told Mark they must want privacy. Mark said he saw them but they never made eye contact. So each morning we were very quiet feeding the horses and taking the long way around the back of the barn to feed the cat.  The husband told me when he booked it that his wife was allergic to cats and wanted to make sure there would not be a cat around. I assured him that our cat was a barn cat and they would probably only see her from a distance out hunting. The tomato plants were watered. early. All 3 plants are doing well.

 We had to fix fence today as Mike was bringing 4 of the riding horses home. We were trying very hard not to make noise while working. 

Mark had to use the chain saw to cut down some saplings but by this time it was after 10:00 am. We finished the fence and only one time did I see someone looking out the window but as soon as they saw me looking up at the apartment he or she turned away. I never did meet the winfe. Once the fencing was done I went to the cabin field to bring Bulu and her colt over.

The colt started out walking well but all of a sudden he decided he didn't want to go and started dragging the golf cart backward then sideways.  I was at the main drive struggling with him when David S and a friend came by on their golf cart. I told them you would probably want to go a different way as the colt was fighting every step of the way. I finally got him up to the paddock but he sure didn't want to go in. He broke one lead rope but never got away. I was able to tie him to a breeding stand then got a bucket with grain in it. Once he saw that he and Bulu followed me right into the paddock. Only then did I find out from Mike that this colt had not been trained to lead. Braelyn and Anna arrived to clean the apartment right about the time the guests left and that was around 11:30 am. I went inside with them and saw that they had put something on the futon comforter and that left a brown stain that looked like grease, so that was taken down to the house to pretreat then wash. Mark and I left at 2:30 pm to drive to Middle Grove to pick up the camper. Mike and Berlica had just finished riding Sally and Jewel. They said both horses were perfect. They were tied to the stock trailer while Mike and Berlica went to get Rosalie and Dancer. Joan helped get the camper hooked up. We took it straight to the new barn to empty the tanks. 

Once the tanks were empty we drove it over to Joan's house. I was asked to leave a review for our guests. I gave them 5 stars and wrote they were very quiet guests (since we never got to talk to them).

Later tonight they left a terrible 2 star review for staying here. They wrote in their review that the horses were so bored, they craved human companionship. They complained that this was supposed to be a working horse farm and they never saw us do any work. They also said they had 50 bugs flying around hitting them. I found 4 dead stink bugs so I think that might have been a slight exaggeration. They contacted me yesterday that the internet went out but within a minute sent me another message saying never mind it is back on. I told them it happens. They wrote that in the review that I told them that happens some time. The internet went out once for a few minutes the entire 3 days they were here so I wouldn't think that would be an issue for a review but for this couple it was.  They also left me a long private message on how awful we were for not introducing them to the horses. Oh well, we completely misunderstood their reason for booking and thought we were giving them the privacy they wanted. Funny how we were SO wrong. All these years of hosting airbnb guests and this is my very first bad review. As I was writing this the foaling apartment booked again. They probably didn't read this latest review. 

Enjoyable Sunday

We picked up Rhonda for church this morning as Spark went to the jail but they only held one service so Spark made it before the first service. Caleb Plattner had the morning service on Genesis 39. Click HERE if you would like to watch that. Tim Roecker had the afternoon message on Romans 12 and 13, Click HERE to listen to that. We left right after church as we needed to quick clean up the barn before the Co-op graduation and party for Tim Ricketts. The Airbnb guests left the barn very nice so it didn't take very long. The ribs were heated up in the oven for about a half an hour before putting them in 2 crock pots and loading those in the truck with the other food for supper at Middle Grove. We had a feast then Spark and Rhonda's group came over from their campsite and enjoyed the leftovers.

There was plenty for everyone.

After dinner Diane took us on a pontoon boat ride.

We caught up with the solar coaster which Dan was driving. They fell in behind us to enjoy our wake.

We passed the only other people on the lake not from our family. They had some of their grandchildren out on their deck fishing.

It was a peaceful quiet ride with beautiful scenery. We saw the cows but not the horses.

When we got back to the dock, Rhonda was waiting with the side by side to take us on a tour of the summer and winter pastures. Today we saw the 10 acre lake, the 5 acre lake and the 60 acre lake along with a herd of horses.

Nancy thought the ride was kind of scary but was happy she got to go and pet the horses.

We made it back to the campsite just in time for some delicious s'mores. Dan was playing the guitar and singing songs with and for Nancy. 

Diane was taking a turn to hold the youngest family member.

There were 8 of us siblings camping this weekend only missing Karin, Beth and John.

Joan, Berlica and Braelyn were out on the solar coaster fishing.

Spark had his family out on the pontoon boat for a sunset cruise.

Diane took Rita and Serena for a jeep ride.

Fedi made sure the camp fire was perfect for the group.

Rhoda had her children and Sarah's girls riding Cookie on Saturday and sent back the picture below.

This afternoon Anna sent the 2 pictures below. Taegan's volleyball team won the championship this afternoon.

 Kensley's softball team also won their championship this afternoon. 

There is a big group camping out at Middle Grove tonight but not us. We get to sleep in our OWN bed and I'm really looking forward to that in a few minutes. It really was an enjoyable Sunday.

Middle Grove

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

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

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

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

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

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

She and Mackenson unloaded that.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fixed Fridge

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Another Job Done

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

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

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

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

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

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

Another job done. It was a good evening.