Good To Go

 Ruth, Joan and I walked, Diane is now in Gulf Shores. After the walk the laundry was started first at the farm house but when I went to start the barn laundry I had to remove the stick bug from the door so it wouldn't end up inside the barn. As soon as I tried to pick it up it scurried up to the top of the door then on to the wall.

Once both washing machines were running I went home to make breakfast. After breakfast I drove to Sam's club and bought $200 worth of food and supplies. We were just about out of everything. Mark went to work on repairing the farmhouse downstairs toilet. It had developed a leak from the tank. Yesterday I had emptied the tank of water and then washed it out with bleach but then left for Morton so didn't finish. Today Mark needed my help to get the screws out. He had ordered new hardware and that is supposed to be delivered tomorrow so we can put the toilet back together then and that should fix the leak. I kept both machines running today and worked at both places until 2:00 pm then cleaned up and left for East Peoria Tire with the motorhome. The appointment was at 3:00 pm and I arrived about 15 minutes early. 

This wasn't just for an oil change, I also wanted them to look at front end to make sure everything on the underside was good and the last job was to look at the date codes on the back tires and change them if they were old. When the motorhome came off the first time I was told the underside was all in good shape and the tires all look good but they had not checked out the codes. Unfortunately they had to take it back up on the rack to check the codes. It turned out the 2 front tires were 2023 and 2 of the back tires were 2025 but the back inside tires were 2016 making them the original tires. I bought 2 new tires, they moved the 2023 tires from the front and put them where the 2016 tires were then the new tires were put on the front. That motorhome is now good to go. J Everything is in good shape and everything is working. Just as they were finishing up Dan arrived to pick up a tire. Levi had a flat so Dan dropped the tire off this morning and had just come to pick it up as the motorhome was finished. 

Funny how often I run into siblings.

I didn't get home until 5:40 pm and went straight to work making supper. Tonight we had salad, chicken strips and an egg roll then some ice cream for dessert. 

The puppies are doing well, Rilla is leaving them more often and asking to go outside then back in and back out and back in and back out. She discovered the cat food in the garage so we had to move that up on a shelf so she can't get into it. The mama cat has no problem getting up to the shelf, not sure if the kittens will try. 

The lady buying Harli's colt has scheduled to pick him up on Nov 5th. I will wean him at the same time as Tessa's filly.  Rosaleigh's colt is ready to wean now but I'm waiting one more week so he can be weaned with Star's filly.

Dew Claw Removal

Mark went with me this morning to unhook the stock trailer from the truck then help feed Oliver and Dancer. I clipped a lead rope on Oliver and had Mark hold him so he wouldn't try to follow me out of the round pen while moving in hay for their feeder. Mike and Diane will take them back to Middle Grove after church. We also needed to move a new round bale in for the 3 nursing mares and their foals. The owner of Tessa's filly asked if I would make a video of her for him yesterday but I didn't have time so when I was calling the mares in from the field after moving the bale I took the video below and sent it to him.

 Breakfast was cooked once that was done. After breakfast Mark took his shower while I cleaned up the kitchen. We picked up Berlica and Mackenson at 9:00 am then left for church. Diane drove to Morton to pick Nancy up as Kathy and Randy are out of town and Molly and Gave were serving lunch. Caleb Plattner had the morning message on Genesis 39. To watch that click HERE. Ruth took Nancy for the afternoon service. Gabe Stickling had that message on our Statement of Faith. Click HERE to watch that. Ruth took Nancy home after church as Mike and Diane needed to leave for Gulf Shores this afternoon. Ruth's well still wasn't hooked up so that household still had no water. Steven, Ruth's son asked if he could do laundry at our house and I told him to do it at the barn as that has a brand new washer.  Mark and I went to the farm house right after church, I had blocked it off as we had a couple things we needed to repair. Braelyn was up cleaning the foaling apartment, I went up to collect the garbage from there when Steven walked out. He walked into the foaling apartment with his laundry thinking that was the barn. Braelyn was a little shocked but told me it was ok, she would just take the sheets and towels to her house. I was shocked because I didn't start the sheets and towels from the barn guests as I thought Steven was going to be using those. We were both backed up, All because I didn't explain to Steven he should go to the BIG barn, not the little barn. Ok, maybe we do have too many barns. Mark and I left at 3:50 pm to pick up Nancy from Ruth's house and drive to the La Fiesta Mexican restaurant in Morton where we ate dinner with David, Israel, Elisabet, Ben, Taunya, Jack, Jace, Abe, Ron (Taunya's dad) and Brian (Taunya's brother). I found out Nancy doesn't really like Mexican food. She enjoyed the chips and dip but did not enjoy the fajita. I ordered her chicken strips and fries off the child's menu so she at least got something she liked. Her favorite meal is sketti (spaghetti) but this restaurant didn't serve that. We took Nancy home after supper then made it back to our house by 6:00 pm. Berlica was here waiting for me. We put Rilla and her puppies in a box and drove them to Brian and Rebekah's house where they promptly removed the dew claws from all of the pups. It took about 5 minutes. They are the professionals. Berlica and I had a good time visiting all the way home. We were surprised how quickly the puppies settled down once done. They were quietly nursing all the way home. The view of the sun setting while we were driving home kept us intertained.

Once home I posted the video so Sarah and Nolan could see that the pups are done and fine.

Accident

 We had another storm come through last night and after checking Rilla and her puppies went outside to check the rain gauge. Another half an inch. This is the craziest August. The hay fields are growing well and we should get a decent second cutting if the weather stays hot and dry early September. My first job was to check on Dancer and Oliver. They had dumped their water trough and were out of hay. I do not think anything happened as far as the breeding but Oliver is learning to be gentle and sweet around a crabby mare. The water tank was put back in place and the water started. Only then did I start hauling hay filling the hay feeder plus some extra piles. From there I went to the barn to do last minute cleaning and realized I needed to turn the air conditioning on. Mark got breakfast around 8:30 am. After breakfast the motorhome was moved out of the barn. Mark started working on the outside spraying some kind of solution that dissolves bugs. He left then because according to him it needed to sit a while before brushing it off. When he came back though it worked, next he sprayed a different solution on which removes tar and dust and then left that. At 10:00 am we had a couple come look at it. They will come back for a test drive AFTER we take it to East Peoria Tire on Monday as he thought the front axle needed to be looked at. He had no complaints about anything else. His wife loved the layout. They have been traveling in a very small motorhome and she would like something different. They HIGHLY recommend East Peoria Tire telling me they are honest and do wonderful work. I didn't really tell them that I know the family well, just that I only use them and showed them my famous truck tires that have never caused me to be stuck. At noon Diane and I left for Middle Grove and got the shock of a lifetime. We pulled up and saw the Yanmar excavator on it's side and no one around.

Diane was trying to call Mike but it went straight to voicemail.

Our first thought was Hunter must have called 911 for an ambulance. That machine is so heavy if Mike was stuck under it he would not be alive. Diane didn't have Hunter's phone number but I did so called him and was relieved when he answered quickly and said, "everything is fine." Hunter was the one IN the machine when it fell. We don't know how he didn't get hurt but were so thankful he wasn't. Diane and I drove the truck into the field to where the stock trailer was and got that hooked up just as Hunter and Mike arrived in Mike's truck. We followed him all the way up to where the horses were. Opened the back gate of the trailer, I led Star to the trailer, Hunter and Mike picked up the filly and put her in first then Star quickly followed. I just took a few pictures once they were safely in the trailer.

Above is Roseberry and Thalia, below is Denver, Bulu's 2025 colt now gelded. He is only14 months old and is huge. Of course his dam is 16.2 and so is his sire Valiant. Denver is also for sale.

Below is Lily, the start of it all. She is 24 years old and still looks great.

On the way home we stopped at Bees for peanut butter ice cream. Mike and Hunter got lunch. Mike bought it all and by the time they were done ordering he spent over $69.00

Diane and I were trying to figure out why he was buying so much food. It turned out he hired a guy with a large excavator to come pick up his and was bringing him lunch too. As soon as we got home Star and her filly were put in the far paddock. I was going to clean stalls, really, but ended up visiting with my guests at the farm house for just a little too long. When I got back to the house Taegan and Braelyn were here swimming and wanted to see the puppies.

They are so tiny. These are Cavapoo puppies. Their mom is a purebred miniature Poodle and their dad is a King Charles Caviler Spaniel. They will look like little teddy bears when they grow up. Taegan went with me to Sarah's house to get the big cage, then we set her up in the laundry room. I am keeping it at 77 degrees. Rilla is panting some but it really is important to keep those puppies warm.

 Mark and I left at 4:00 pm for Gils for supper tonight. I've been too busy to shop and there isn't much food in the house. I'm not cooking Sunday dinner tomorrow as so many of our family is gone. We arrived about 4:07 pm the waitress came right away, we ordered and our food came at 4:18 pm. Crazy fast and so delicious. We ordered a cob salad to split.

They are big and plenty for both of us. We had almost finished when Beth and Greg walked in. They joined us and when the waitress came to take their order she asked if we wanted dessert. Mark didn't want dessert he wanted an order of onion rings.

It gave everyone something to munch on while waiting for Beth and Greg's meal. Beth owed Diane $30.00 so she gave that to me. Diane and Mike were gone so we just left that on her counter and drove home. I took the golf cart over to give Dancer and Oliver another wheel barrow load of hay. They were standing together quietly but were glad to see me with the hay. I'm not sure when they ran out but it must not have been that long ago as Oliver decided he would rather hang around me than eat. Funny Boy! I filled another wheel barrow for tomorrow morning before going home. Rilla and her puppies were checked. I am making sure each puppy is latched on. I sure don't want to lose one. I took the video below to share with Sarah. 

We have lowered the temperature a little and moved the heater farther away, she is no longer panting but the puppies are still staying warm. I'll check in a hour to make sure they are holding their temp.

 I had 2 loads of laundry still to finish and the last load just let me know it is done.

Puppies

 We started with our walk. When we reached Joan's house Faline the fawn came running out of the woods to join us. When we reached the dumpster the garbage was getting emptied. The driver could hardly believe his eyes. He got out of the truck and walked over to talk to us. 

Mike and Diane took the truck and trailer to Middle Grove. As they are leaving for Gulf Shores on Sunday Mike took Shadow, Roseberry and Rosalie out with them. Diane had food she wanted to bring back from the cabin there and Mike wanted to bring back Oliver.  Dancer and Sally were brought over from the cabin field and put in the middle paddock. 

Joan is finishing the clean up and needed the small Kubota but before taking it wanted to check the oil.

Mark came to help as it was hard to get the hood up. He had been out weed whacking and went back to that after checking the oil. Diane and Mike showed up with Oliver so Dancer was taken to the breeding stand. She was tied but slipped out of her halter twice, then Joan, Diane and I just held her and Mike brought Oliver up. She was not ready to stand and Oliver was not ready to breed her so they were put in stalls.  My farmhouse guests were supposed to leave by 10:00 am and the new ones check in at 3:00 pm but they weren't leaving. At 10:45 am I took the loaded golf cart down and asked them to leave. They were just young boys, maybe in their 20s and apologized but couldn't leave, they had just loaded the wash machine with all their dirty clothes and put it on the longest setting. I asked them to at least bring down all of the sheets and towels so I could get started on the laundry. They brought down EVERYTHING, every comforter, blanket, sheets and pillow cased as they said they used Everything. It had been rented for 16 days to 6 guys. I told them they would not be able to dry their clean clothes and just load them up in garbage bags and take them to the laundrymat. When I finally got in to clean, they had the dishwasher loaded and running but had used about every dish in the place and every piece of silverware. I guess they spent most of the morning collecting the dishes which had been left all over the house. There were many spills. I had to take the fridge apart to clean that there were so many spills and found used towels in the strangest places. After a solid 4 hours of cleaning I finally walked away. Thankfully the new renters didn't arrive at 3:00 pm. I was glad I had raised the cleaning fee from $90 to $125.00. I have all the sheets and bedding washed but not folded or put away, that was left in the barn draped across tables and chairs. I have a group coming at noon to the barn tomorrow so that must be done early in the morning. By the time I finished I was filthy and tired and went home to take a hot shower, had just gotten dressed when Mike and Diane sent the message they were on the way to help with Dancer and Oliver. I took Dancer out to the round pen then Mike brought Oliver and we introduced them. Dancer gave him a warning kick and he is very respectful but interested.

 Her tail was wrapped but she still wasn't ready to stand.

He would graze next to her.

We brought in a water tank and a hay feeder and soon they were standing together.

I left then as it was 5:15 and we needed to be at Eureka for Senior night for Addyson by 6:15 pm. Mark had been out harvesting wood with Mackenson most of the afternoon and had fallen asleep. I woke him up, he got his shower but was just too tired to go. I gave him the evening off and went by myself. Ben and Taunya walked Addyson on to the football field as each senior had their parents bring them as they were announced. I tried to get a video but wasn't able to.

Below is just one of the cheers her cheerleading team did tonight.

We were sitting in the stands, the evening sky was turning pink out to the East but to the North were dark clouds and lots of lightning.

At halftime I thought I'd better head home and was just walking to the car when Sarah called. One of their guardian dogs had gone into labor today and was not delivering the puppy. They were in Roanoke so I left Eureka and drove the 18 minutes to Roanoke to find that the dog had not been able to deliver as the puppy was breech and stuck. It was a big puppy but once it was safely delivered and nursing Sarah was sent a text then the dog and her pup were loaded into Mark's car and I started the 50 minute drive home. As I was going through a small town I could tell the dog was laboring again so pulled over to check. She was delivering but this time needed no help so off I went again and stopped at Sarah's house to pick up a heater and dog food. Both puppies were nursing at that time as I pulled into the drive she delivered another puppy. I was able to get the sack off of the puppies face and Rilla (the mama dog) went right to work. Mark helped me get Rilla and the 3 puppies inside our bathroom, the heater was hooked up and she had another puppy. Once all 4 puppies were nursing well I went to bed, around 11:30 pm but woke up to check her at 1:30 am and found she had FIVE puppies all nursing well. more pictures will be taken tomorrow but she now has 3 males and 2 females. Four are red and one is white and tan. Below is the only picture I took

The mama is busy chewing off the cord of the new puppy while the other two are nursing.

Introducing Merlin

Amy sent me a message around midnight last night but I didn't really look at it until this morning. I laughed then must have clicked down or something and this video popped up. I have never seen this lady and know nothing about her but watched it all the way through with tears running down my cheeks. God really does love us. The video can't be shared here but if you want to see it is on my Judith Sceggel facebook page. Then we went on the walk. It was filled with stories about the goodness of our God who even cares about switches. The creator of the universe truly cares for each of us. All my life HE has been faithful and and all my life HE has been so so good. Kind of hard to walk away from the sharing of amazing stories. After breakfast I went over to the barn to start the cleaning. The gym was organized when I remembered we have a light up in the game room that got knocked down and needed replacing. Philip was called, he brought one home from the shop. Mark brought the ladder up and together we got it replaced and working.

We worked until about 2:00 pm then quit. I drove the golf cart over to the barn to get some pictures of the motorhome, check the mileage and the generator hours. Once back to the house I posted an ad of Facebook Marketplace. 

It has 34992 miles on it and is due for an oil change.

I know that because Mark has a sticker right on the dash.

Tomorrow I will call East Peoria Tire for an oil change appointment and hopefully can get that done next week. The generator had 3.8 hours on it when we bought it but we used it for every trip all the way down and back to Florida and 2 trips to Alabama and now has 358.5

It fired right up.

Harli's colt now has a name. His new owner named him Merlin. Meet Merlin.

Another job for tomorrow and that is to get his registration paper work out with his new name. Diane sent a message through to all the walkers that Casey's has thin crust large pizza's for sale on Thursdays for just $10.00. Ruth picked up one. I was busy so Joan picked up 2 of them then shared some pieces with Mark and I. She got a supreme and a meat lovers. Both were delicious. Nice not to have to cook after a day of cleaning. I brought some books back from the barn so this evening will read while relaxing. Another Good Day.

More Rain

 On our walk this morning we could hear a mare squealing and a stallion answering, looked over and Harli was finally showing. She probably did not ovulate that 53mm follicle more than likely we have just short cycled her. Mike came over to help get her covered by Evan. 

Her colt was left in the paddock and that actually went better than moving him into the breeding stand paddock. Today was laundry day for me. Now that we have propane I could do wash here at the house. I had so many towels that needed to be washed and dried from the flood in the basement. The machines weren't working well, so once they were washed they were hung all over the deck to mostly dry in the sun then taken in and finished in the dryer. That took almost all day.  Mark was using the Kubota to fill in the holes from the new water pipes.

We also got a broken board replaced in the last paddock. Mike used the big Excavator to clear the trails of all the downed trees and also knocked down any that were hanging over the drive. He needed the big machine as some of the trees that fell over the trails were massive. 

The overflow syphon wasn't working correctly on the lake. Joan decided to check to see if there was a dead muskrat or turtle stuck in like last year. We all know the horror story of when Kitty Berchtold's father drowned while trying to clear an overflow to their pond. I took the golf cart, tied two lead ropes together, tied one to the golf cart and Joan tied the other to the canoe so she would have something to hold on to before checking out the pipe. In the picture below you can see Joan in the water feeling for the pipe.

She was able to put the canoe paddle in but nothing was stuck inside, at least near the entrance. Tomorrow she will try something different to create a syphon by blocking the exit until the pipe fills up with water.  I needed to leave a little after 5:00 pm to pick up Braelyn from volleyball practice at Farmington High School. Took her home then picked up Mark and we left for church.  Gabe had the message tonight on Job 23 and Mathew 28. If you would like to watch that click HERE. After church we joined the group at Culvers. It was raining when we left church. 

Berean Day

 Sarah sent me a text a little after 5:00 am asking for pictures of Star's filly by Valiant. She decided she wanted to start posting her for sale now that Basilea, Dahlia, Rosaleigh's filly and Tessa's filly are sold. She also had some suggestions for the website so I went right to work on that. At 6:50 am I had to quit as I needed to tease Harli. The shot did not work and Harli did not come into season. I moved her and her colt into the pasture with the other mares and foals then headed home a few minutes before our walk. I could only do one round as today is Berean day. I left around 8:00 planning on stopping at Sam's club first but what I didn't know was the exit off 474 to 150 was closed and the traffic was backed up and crawling for at least 5 miles. I made it to the Berean office before 9:00 am but not by much. There was a plenty of mail and I was thankful there were plenty of volunteers. 

Sometimes you really do need to scratch your head at the letters. Vonnie had a good group folding.

Shirl was busy filling studies, Shirley was busy applying the envelopes on the studies. Bruce and Marvin were working on the postage machine.

It is amazing how much gets done each Tuesday morning.

We have an extra job now for the jails in Jackson Michigan. Marvin was explaining what now needs to be done with each of those. 

I didn't get home until noon. We had planned on going to Middle Grove to pick up Star Temple and her filly but the ground is so saturated I really didn't want to get stuck so decided to put that off until Friday when we go to pick up Oliver. Sarah had been here working with Harli while Zion worked with her colt. That colt needs to taste everything. Today Sarah put a saddle on Harli and her colt was tasting and licking each strap. Zion is teaching him how to lead.

I think she really likes him.

This evening Penny was added to the website. She got her own page (so far I only have 3 pictures on it) but she is also on our horse page with a link to hers.  As she is expecting a foal June 24th, 2027 we need a place to post pictures of the baby and of course more pictures of Perfect Penny.  Mark was out digging after supper but was glad to quit when I asked him if he could help move a bale in for the middle paddock. Logan, Karli, their children and Luke were on a walk and were feeding grass to Rosalie and Jewel when we arrived.

I'm pretty sure Quinten was more interested in the tractor than feeding that big horse.

We had sunshine and no chance of rain today. Amazing! Hope the fields grow quickly we will need to think of mowing in 2 to 3 weeks for our second cutting.

Tessa's Filly Sold

 Ruth is now back from Niagara Falls and told us all about her trip on our walk. When we reached Joan's house she showed us all the work her children, their spouses and her grandchildren did on Saturday. It really was impressive. We had to stop 3 times for traffic on our drives. Mike had saddled both Shadow and Roseberry and took them with the 4 wheeler.

Then David stopped by with is truck and trailer hauling a lawn mower but had trash to dump. And last was Mike driving the tractor over to Joan's to pick up the remains of Spark's hot tub trailer and that was put on top of the other scrap.

They had Fedi's dump trailer and my truck loaded with scrap. Fedi went with Joan to take it to the scrap yard and they made over $700.00. I left for the bank to put the check in for Basilea but on the way home my phone rang. It was a buyer for Tessa's filly.

The man was thrilled and told me he would mail the deposit check today, then told me her name was going to be Lucy. I explained that would be ok but purebred Friesian foal's names are supposed to start with G H or I this year. He is going to think about if he wants to change the name or not. Anna went to help Mike and Diane clean their office. Braelyn was up cleaning the foaling apartment. Sarah was here working with Harli when I needed to leave. The shipper for Basilea gave me an eta of around 1:30 pm so when Joan brought the truck back that was hooked up to the stock trailer and Basilea was loaded and taken to the water tower. The trailer was 41 feet long and with the truck it would make the turn into our drive. 

Basilea was a little confused about the ramp but after thinking about it for a few minutes walked in. They have a long trip and are going to do it in 2 days. Today they hope to make it to the far East side of Ohio where they have 2 nice stalls waiting for them. There is another horse on the trailer so I am glad she wasn't traveling herself. Tomorrow is a 12 hour trip to make it to Maine. Hoerr vet clinic called to report Dr. Hoerr would be leaving shortly for our place. I took the golf cart over to get the mares in the stalls when Emma from the clinic called back to say, "just kidding" He isn't coming he got an emergency call in Tremont and then will come. Sarah was here with Berlica and Zion practicing their vaulting. They showed me what they were working on.

About an hour later, after all of my help left, The clinic called again and told me he is just leaving Tremont now. I was able to get 4 of the mares, 3 with their foals and Penny into the stalls. Mike brought Dancer over. Penny was sonagrammed first and we are thrilled to announce she is pregnant. Evan is the sire of this foal She is due June 24th, 2027. We could even see the heart beat.

Next we walked into Rosaleigh's stall. Her colt was fascinated watching what Dr. Hoerr was doing to his mother. Check out his eyes! I think he was shocked to see that long arm of Dr. Hoerr's disappear into his mother's rear end. 

Rosaleigh is also pregnant and is due April 6th, 2027. This foal was so far along we could see the ribcage on the ultrasound.

Next was Tessa's turn. She was bred to Valiant the same day Penny was bred to Evan and we could also see the heart beat of her foal.

She is due the same day as Penny June 24th, 2027

Next we had Dr. Hoerr ultrasound Harli to see where she is. She had a very big 53 cm follicle but did not have any edema or seem to be in season. I teased her to both Valiant and Evan. Dr. Hoerr gave her a shot and we will try tomorrow morning at 7:00 am. She may or may not ovulate, but at least I will know when to start counting for the next cycle. Last was Dancer. She had a clear but older CL but had some developing follicles so was given a shot to short cycle.

We will bring Oliver home on Friday or Saturday, try to breed her then haul them back to Middle Grove together. It is good to have a plan. The REALLY  big news today was the propane company came and hooked up our propane. Now I can cook upstairs and dry clothes in the dryer. Life is good. 

After supper tonight I went back to let the mares into their paddocks then over to the cabin field to check on the hay. This hay had been put up dry but then the bales were rained on by 5 inches of rain. They just didn't look like when we bought them. Mike put one in the cabin field so I checked on that one. They have a good amount eaten out of the middle. There is some stems but most were green and fine.

They will do ok on this hay for the winter but there will be more waste than usual. After the 5 inches of rain in the spring they now have been rained on by 8 inches more. Hopefully most of the rain rolled off the net wrap. Sarah and her girls were out riding Penny and Jury. I met Rachel and David on the road speaking to Spark and Rhonda. Mike was working, using the excavator to put out the small fire they started to burn some debris. 

Diane came out to visit so by the time I got back in the house over 45 minutes had flown by. It really is wonderful living out here with so many family members as neighbors. We sure do enjoy visiting. Rachel and David leave tomorrow for Ireland.