Berean

 We were busy this morning at the Berean office. As we were getting ready for the prayer Kathy asked to read a letter to us from a prisoner. 

This way Marvin could pray for the writer of the letter. 

Skip couldn't make it today but had dropped off the mail earlier. Below are some pictures of the morning.

We stopped at the Hanna City post office on the way home to drop off the Bibles and studies going out today. Later Mark and I drove to Sam's club to pick up the water and food for Family Night. We drove from Sam's to the fellowship hall to put the water and perishables in the fridge. Carol and Ron had all the tables set up for us. Tonight was the concert for the Co-op at Bethany. We watched that from home. Diane stayed with mom as both Joan and Ruth had either children or grandchildren in the concert. It was VERY well attended. 

More Horsin Around

 We were all able to walk although Rachel flew out to Gulf Shores today. I think she needs a vacation. Not just us 4 girls walked. Mike brought along Roseberry for the first round.

She got a little spooked at Joan's electrical service box but didn't do anything other than sniff it.

He put her away and on the second round he had out Shadow.

After the walk and after breakfast Mark and I went to work in the popcorn machine. The top was taken off of it so we could check out the wiring.

I was almost 100% sure it was a loose wire. That really was the case.

Of course I had to pop some corn to make sure it really did work.

Mark and I both enjoyed some then the rest was taken over to mom's house. We put the top back on it and I cleaned it up. I'll use it on Friday for the co-op picnic. Rosaleigh and her colt were brought in for their grain. The colt was haltered, tied and his hooves picked up. He is a pro at this now. When I turned him loose he wanted his mama's grain.

I took a video of him getting into her bucket and chowing down.

When they finished the bucket they were turned out to graze in the big field. Rosaleigh wanted to graze but the colt wanted to check everything out first.

They were left loose while I brought in Star Temple and her filly. Star no longer worries about me working with her filly. The filly stood for her haltering but fought when I asked her to lead. She was tied back up and her hooves picked up.

She is a fiesty little filly but is starting to accept the tying and is good for all for of her legs to be handled. They were taken out to the outdoor arena. Mark was busy mowing around the outside of the fields and the horses pretty much just ignored him.

 I took a couple pictures of Star's filly. She has such action when she trots.

My next job was to go get Dahlia from the cabin field, give her a leading lesson then put her in with Missy and Cookie so they can teach her some manners. When I got to the cabin field they were all the way at the bottom. Dahlia saw me first and started coming but Roseberry actually beat her.

I then drove to the DMV in Pekin to renew the license plate sticker for the 2 horse trailer.

Sarah arrived with her three girls and saddled up Cookie for them. The girls did the grooming.

They also fly sprayed her.

Zion rode first.

The other 2 girls got to ride but I needed to check out the batting machine then drop off a hat for Joan to give to Faith as it was left at the barn during the bachelor party. When I got back Zion was ready to walk the trails. We followed with the golf cart.

Mike wanted to go to Middle Grove to pick up Bulu and her colt and I wanted Basilea and Thalia here to start teasing them. We left for Middle grove about 5:30. As soon as we arrived I haltered Oliver the stallion and had Mike tie him to the trailer. He really is a good boy. He stood quietly for haltering and his leading is top notch.

Once Oliver was tied up at the trailer. Basilea and Thalia were haltered and put in the front of the stock trailer. Then Bulu and her colt were put in the back. Mike took Oliver back to the truck to give him a carrot for standing so quietly.

Above is another picture of Oliver and below is Madiera and Harli.

Above is Harli and Dancer, below left to right is Tessa and Sheena.

Above is Oliver going to check out the trailer and below Jury is watching Mike hand out carrots. She got hers first. 

Above is Dancer, Madiera and Harli, below is Aiken.

Above left to right is Sheena, Oliver and Holly. Below is Lily, our first Friesian cross. She is the matriarch and the boss of the entire herd.

Below is Mike giving Oliver a carrot then walking around the trailer to video some of the mares.

We drove home and could see storm clouds coming. When we got back Basilea and Thalia were put in the paddock next to Valiant. Bulu and her colt were driven over to the cabin field. Below is the video of them unloading.

I took a picture of the colt before Mike put him in. He is half Friesian, his sire is Valiant and his dam is a big 16.1 hand Thoroughbred mare Bulu. This colt is going to be another big one. He is also for sale but he needs to be named and registered first.

Below the 3 yearlings are very curious to see who is coming into their paddock.

Below is Rosalie, coming up to greet me as I was leaving for home. She is as kind as she is beautiful. She is a Lily daughter!

I sure did a lot of horsin around again today, I'll be glad when bedtime arrives. Right now we are hearing a lot of thunder but so far not much rain.

Wonderful Day Wonderful Life

 Mike sent a text that he wanted Evan in the pasture so he could clean out the front of his paddock this morning. I thought he meant after church but he wanted to do it this morning before church and had it done in about 20 minutes. Evan loved being out on the pasture and the grass is long enough he was left out. His back gate is left open so he can come or go. We picked up Rhonda for church and arrived a couple minutes after Joan. Randy and Kathy brought Nancy and she was SO wound up and excited. Randy was making more than duck calls this morning, according to Nancy he also sounded like a cow and a few other animals. She was thrilled to go down to Sunday school with Joan. Gabe had the morning message. Today was also the senior breakfast and he had taught them all 4 years so knew them all well. This was officially his first message off the pulpit. If you would like to watch it click HERE. Tim Roecker had the afternoon message click HERE to listen to that. Amy and Ken were in Peoria as Amy is helping at Sarah's wedding shower and the meeting on that was at lunch. Joan needed to stay late for the Jamaica trip meeting so she took Mark's car home from church and we took mom's wheel chair van with mom and Mackenson. We only found out later Mackenson was supposed to go to that meeting as he is also going to Jamaica. I stayed at mom's house until Joan made it back at 2:40 then went over to start cooking the Sunday meal. While I was doing that Rhoda and Lee along with Sarah and Nolan and the 5 grandchildren were here. Rhoda was working with Valerie 

Sarah took the picture above and the video below of the training session.

I'm sending her away for training later so anything Rhoda or I do will only help. She is not a spooky horse but is so big and had not been handled much as she spent most of her time growing up at Middle Grove. I so much appreciate Rhoda being willing to work with her. 

Sarah took her daughters over to the cabin field to visit with the yearlings, Rosalie and Sally. Mike and Diane were there with carrots. They even did some grooming on Roseberry getting some of that winter coat off of her. The pictures are from Sarah.

Above River is grooming Roseberry. Below Eden is coming with the curry to help.

Above Eden is feeding Sally a carrot. Below Zion is feeding 3 of the yearlings carrots.

Above Zion is petting Rosalie, below Zion is giving the yearlings attention.

Diane helped load all the food up on the golf cart. I had to go back for butter and strawberries and when I did saw 2 pairs of geese parents each with 4 goslings heading to the pond pasture. By the time I got the camera out the first pair had made it to the water followed closely by the second pair.

Supper was served at 4:30 at the barn. Amy and Ken arrived after the prayer but made it in plenty of time to join us at the table. We were missing 3 families although Phil and Kensley came later. The evening was beautiful and Joan made a big fire.

Almost all of us migrated to the fire, even mom came out to enjoy the evening.

Rachel was telling us about her experience with an Airbnb guests that pretty matched my experience yesterday and it turned out to be the SAME guest.

Mom was laughing so hard tonight at some of the funny stories.

Andrew and Faith joined us at the fire in time for s'mores.

Above Faith is cooking marshmallows over the glowing coals. The new electronic door latch came today and Mark was able to install that and he put the old lock back on the master bedroom door in the barn. I'm thankful for the wonderful day in church, the delicious meal at dinner and the wonderful fellowship at the campfire. What a wonderful life we live out here.

The Glad Game

 I was ready to leave for Goodfield by 7:10 am and arrived at 7:50. The tables and chairs were unloaded first then all of the supplies. Brian helped me get the popcorn machine over to the table.

I put the first batch of popcorn, oil and salt in the kettle turned everything on then waited. The lights came on, the warmer on the bottom came on, but the kettle did not heat up. I tried a few different options but nothing I tried worked. What a bummer. Nolan carried it back to the car and helped load up everything and I was on my home by 9: 15 but only after stopping at Sarah and Nolan's booth to buy some wash rags from Zion, scrunchies from Elisabet, a cake pop and another scrunchie from Lilly. Next stop was to check out Rebekah and Brian's booth. Jordan was selling rabbits and cages while Rilley and Blair were selling home made chapstick, soap, and burn lotion. Only after driving away did I realized I had walked off without paying Zion for her wash rags. Tomorrow I'll for sure have to pay her for those. I still can't figure out how that happened. I was busy paying for the other girls things and was holding the washrags. She worked very hard on those so I think I'll need to pay double. I was just glad they didn't call me a shoplifter.  I stopped at Sam's club on the way home to pick up some food for tomorrow's meal at the barn and made it home by 10:30 am. After watching the PollyAnna play the co-op put on I knew I needed to play the game and find something I was glad about the popcorn machine breaking and I did. I was glad I made it home in time to help move the airbnb guests out of the barn before the next group arrived. They would not have been out in time. I used Mark's Prius to load everything into that car and bring them over. The foaling apartment had a hole in the door where the new lock will go and that won't be installed until it arrives on Monday so blocked it off for today and tomorrow. I explained to the renters there was no hurry to leave. We had rented the apartment to 3 people last night but this morning when I picked them up there were 5. The two girls were horse lovers so I introduced them to Evan first. He loves attention and especially when they bring fresh picked grass. 

I took these 2 and the taller one's mother. (she was the lady that came to help the actual renter) the yearlings. They liked them but Rosalie was a favorite. Below Rosalie is thoroughly enjoying the attention.

They were taken back to the apartment and I ran over to the barn to get all the laundry and get that started here at the house. I happened to look over at the barn and saw what I thought was Cookie out until I realized, "That's NOT Cookie!" Ruth had ridden her Arabian mare Grace over.

Grace will spend the night here. Ruth also left her saddle and bridle so maybe tomorrow someone can take her on a trail ride. Evan thought she was beautiful.

I needed to be at mom's by 5:00 and when I arrived Faith was busy making spaghetti for supper tonight. It was good! Andrew was having his bachelor party tonight here at the barn. Just after supper, while I was busy cutting up vegetables for tomorrow's meal, Mark arrived to ask me to go back to the foaling apartment explaining there were a whole lot of kids all by the apartment and he was afraid they would not follow the rules and go into a paddock. There really were a lot of them, both boys and girls. I told them the rules but really couldn't understand why they were all here. The airbnb renter had a car problem and I think the entire home schooling group from Springfield came here to wait with her until she could get her car towed which had died in Washington, IL. I had explained to them that there was going to be some shooting in the field. Not only did the shooting go on but I think a few of the guys here for the bachelor party were related to Spark. There were some BOMBS going off. After the first mom and I jumped, after the second I went to the door to see if the barn was still standing. A few more were set off but all was fine. This gives our neighborhood something to talk about. Hmmm just what kind of family is Faith marrying into? I am glad they are all having a good time and I'm glad I could help out a family and really glad that the apartment was left in good shape. Mark ordered a new toggle switch for the camper and a new door lock and handle. Now we just need to get the popcorn machine fixed.