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 and 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.

Big Sunday

 I was up by 5:45 am and after downing one good cup of coffee I started doing the work I should have done on Saturday but was just too tired. The bathroom was cleaned, the kitchen was given a stove job (the stove along with everything else in the kitchen really needed cleaning) and the floors were swept and mopped. It really is good to have company even if that company is family and coming on Sunday. At 8:30 am breakfast was cooked then it was time to get ready for church. Today Joan brought mom to church but then her whole family needed to leave around 10:30 am as Aubry was getting baptized at Summit Church. Joan said there were 50 baptisms there today. Craig Stickling had our morning service on Jonathan, David, King Saul and then Saul who became Paul. Click HERE to watch that. David had the afternoon service on Peter's answer. Click HERE to watch that, I promise you WILL learn something new by watching this message. After church Israel rode with Mark who followed us to mom's house. Joan wasn't yet back so Mark stayed with mom while I drove the Tesla over to the foaling apartment to turn the lights on and make sure there were no Asian beetles or stink bugs on the floor. I was glad the guest wasn't there yet, I found 2 stink bugs dead on the floor and about 8 of the Asian beetles. She is staying for 4 nights so hopefully no more get in while she is here. When I got back to mom's house Joan was just pulling in. Sarah and Nolan had arrived along with David and Stephanie. Israel was glad to show all the girls the car light show. David was here to work on taxes and I went to work on the vegetables. I cut up 8 peppers and 4 onions. As I was cutting the onions Jake Gerst arrived. I explained I wasn't weeping because I was so glad to see him, it was the onions.  Mark did the grilling tonight and I have to say the meal was excellent. Ruth dropped off a big salad from Rebekah. Rebekah and Brian served lunch today in Roanoke and the salad was left from lunch. That went perfect with the chicken and vegetables Mark grilled. Joan dropped off a brand new vegetable tray with two kinds of dip which also went well. We also had plenty of other foods. We had a big group for dinner, every family came plus a couple of other families but we had plenty of food and even had some left over. After dinner we celebrated Braelyn and Eden's birthdays. 

Below are a few pictures taken after dinner.

The gym was well used today as was the game room. 

Joan brought over bags of toys and clothes from Sherry. The kids thought it was Christmas and all who wanted got to choose things to take home. Rhoda and Lee took Nancy home and I left shortly after that. Tomorrow I will worry about cleaning up the barn. The barn was WELL used tonight, it seemed like a hundred kids but prebaby more like 60 people came. I'm tired this evening. 

Time Change

 I went out early this morning to check the rain gauge as I heard it raining during the night. We got a full inch of rain through all of those storms yesterday and during the night.

Mark picked up Mackenson and those two went to the all church cleaning. 

Faith had her first wedding shower this morning in Tremont, IL so Joan needed to leave by 9:00 am. I went over early to hear all about the potluck last night. Mom really enjoyed having company. This morning Israel had his Derby race day. His derby car came in 2nd. 

David sent a video of the actual race but I can't seem to share it here.  Joan came home this afternoon with a big bouquet of flowers from Randy and Kathy. They sent them home with Joan for mom with a nice thankyou card from when they stayed down in mom's condo this winter.

Below Joan is reading the card to her.

When I got home from mom's the sheets I had ordered a couple days ago from Target had arrived. They were washed, dried, folded and taken up to the apartment.

It has been years since I bought new sheets for the foaling apartment and some of those were really wearing out. We have a guest moving in tomorrow for 4 nights but when she moves out some wedding guests are moving right in so we will need the extra sheets to flip the apartment. My next job was to head over to the barn to sweep up any stray lady bugs (Asian beetles) that found their way inside. We have Kensley's end of year basketball celebration at the barn tonight. They ended their 5th grade season 26 wins and 1 loss. It really was an amazing season and her team was such a fun team to watch. As I was sweeping Gertie and Dennis arrived with a couple guests from Taylor, Mo. We had a nice visit. After they left I finished the barn then went home to think about cleaning here at our house but just couldn't make myself do any more work. I just don't have the energy since that long sickness. The 12 chicken breasts were cut up, drizzled with olive oil and covered with parmesan cheese for tomorrow's dinner.

Mark will grill that tomorrow along with the peppers and onions as we are going to have a nice warm Sunday.

Israel bought a bat at one of the second hand stores in Chili, posted it on Facebook market place and sold it for $70.00. He is trying to earn enough money to buy some kind of switch for one of his games and this will really help. Smart kid to know to buy the bat in the first place. It must have been really special. 

As tomorrow is the time change and it is already almost 9:00 pm making it really 10:00 pm we must go to bed now. Hopefully I'll get up early enough to clean up the kitchen it is just too late now and I have no more energy.

Our Inspiration

 Joan needed to leave this morning around 8:15 am for Co-op but when I arrived just after 8:00 am she was still reading to Mackenson and Berlica. Mom was still in bed still sleeping. Mom's house looked amazing. Mom told me later this morning that Joan stayed up until 2:00 am to finish all of the cleaning. Today she is hosting potluck at mom's house and wanted to make sure it was perfect. No wonder mom slept in, if she was still awake waiting for Joan to finish cleaning! The rain started this morning and soon was just pouring down with lightning and thunder. The sky cleared up around noon and the sun almost came out. By 1:00 pm the sun was out so Rachel took mom out on the deck to enjoy the sunshine.

Israel came to help grandpa this afternoon. They trimmed saplings off the dams, Israel cleaned up the lake by pulling trash from the winter out of the lake and throwing it up on the dam for Mark to load unto the golf cart.

I was shocked at how much they were able to get out of the lake.

It filled the golf cart. Most of it was thrown in the dumpster but anything of value, like the life jackets and buckets were taken to the cabinets under mom's deck.

The next job was to move 3 bales in. Evan, Valiant and the middle paddock all needed a bale. Israel kept the weanlings busy at one end while Mark moved the bale into the other shelter.

After the skid steer was put away, Israel drove the golf cart over to Joan's house to plug it in. Mark followed him with his new car and then had the car drive Israel home. Kind of fun having the car do the work. It wasn't long after they left that the next storm arrived. This one dropped the temperature dramatically and the cold icy WET wind was freezing. 

I was so glad all of the outside work that needed to be done was able to be done in the few hours between storms. Kathy sent a VERY nice text about Nancy. She really is our special favorite sister and we aren't the only one that are inspired by her.

The Bradly Epworth church is using the barn again this evening. Today Sarah asked to borrow a cane. They were going to be acting out the book of Esther for the kids Bible study and they needed props to make it more fun for the kids.