Working the Journal

 I spent the morning typing in AGAIN week two then trying to figure out how to publish that it on a new page. I must be too tired to figure it out. Finally I just added it to this blog but then put a new link on the side. The rest of the day will be published later here. 

WEEK 2

 June 24th, 1989

Up at 5:00 am to see if David wanted to go riding. He didn't so Mark and I went to eat at Marilyns. Came home and saw David and Philip standing by the garage crying hard. I asked them what happened and they told me Holly (Karin's cat) ate Pretty Bird (our parakeet). She knocked over the cage and grabbed him.  David went to rescue him but she had already killed him.  9:45 am Beth came to pick me up for SHARE. We stopped and picked up Diane before getting our food.  I brought all my rabbits back with me. The buck was put in the rabbit hutch while the 4 does were put in the chicken coop. Those chickens didn't know what to think but they are leaving each other alone. Noon I had to be at the jail and cut pies. They had a lot of hep so I only stayed 45 minutes. I came back and Diane and Beth are sitting in one little swimming pool and all 11 kids are playing in the other.  We let them play for a couple hours and then brought out the soap and shampoo and gave everybody a shower outside, even us. We are waiting for Mark to come home so we can go to supper at the jail. Ate supper and used the extra 5 tickets to take home for extra meals. I'll use them tomorrow for the Sunday School picnic. Now I only need to make a dessert.  We took Ben and Rhoda for a walk in the cemetery. They loved it. Rhoda found all kinds of flowers. We came home at 8:00 pm and I started cleaning up. This was an easy day with 2 meals eaten out.  It only took us 35 minutes to clean up the downstairs. The Readers Digest came today.  I can't wait to get to it. 20 eggs.

June 25th, 1989

Sunday. Everyone up and getting ready at 7:30 am.  I got up earlier so I could fix Rhoda's Sunday dress and make a bow to match.  Beth M called at 8:00 am, she wanted us to pick up Kristin and Jackie and take them to church with us.  We left at 8:30 am for Hardees. They were out of hashbrowns so they gave the boys  2 biscuits in their meals.  When we stopped at Beth's at Beth's we took Tommy and Kristin. Jackie decided to go with her dad.  We picked up Eldora and were off to church.  Mike spoke in the morning and Rick in the afternoon. He had an amazing sermon. I really needed a good sermon to get through the week.  Came home and got ready for the Sunday school picnic. I had Mark fix a fan for the chicken coop. It is just so hot, I only got 20 eggs today.  We came home from the picnic at 7:00 pm and it was still 90 degrees so we went to John and Beth's (they have air conditioning) and watched 2 movies. One I would like to copy to show Dad. He would really like it, John sure did.  Came back to kill more flies. Every night we kill 30-50 flies, too many times windows or doors are left open and we are just inviting them in. Grandpa Meister would tell us, "kill one fly and 10 come to the funeral." I saw a window open in the attic and sent the boys to close it.  They came down with a dead snake! God I really didn't want one loose in this house. I need to lecture all of the boy grandkids about bringing snakes inside. 11:20 pm bedtime.

June 26th, 1989

We were awakened at 3:00 am with a phone call from the police department. "we have a car in back of 823 S Baer, would you please go out to meet them?" The boys went back to the car last night to get their soda out and left the door open. The dome light was showing. The white car had the windows down and so did the van. Joan's keys had been left in her car.  Mark explained all was well and we would be a little more careful then brought Joan's keys inside. We leave the keys in the cars just in case someone would need to borrow or move the car but didn't know that the police in the area frown on that.  We got up at 7:00 am for real.  I was 10 minutes late to camp this morning. I gave David some paint to put out in the van. He dropped it on the stoop and I had to clean it up before we left.  Camp was a big success today. We made a big egg breakfast for everyone. The little Indians made tambourines while the big boys made buddy braids and survival kits. We gave diving lessons to the Cheyenne (the tribe name of the older boys). I hit my head on the bottom of the pond demonstrating a steep dive. My neck, head and shoulders still hurt hours later. I'm thankful I didn't break my neck.  We closed camp at 3:00 pm since it looked like rain. The storm blew over and I don't' believe we got even one drop. Drove to Riverview hatchery to pick up bird seed for the feeders tomorrow and also bought rabbit food. Got home at 4:30 pm and let Jenny, Andrew, Chad, David and Philip go to the creek so I could rest. I hope they come back soon. Mark has a job for them. Those poor kids! We have 10 of them shoveling rock out of the solar heating system dad tried into Mark's truck. They will sleep good tonight. 8:20 pm everybody up for showers. They really worked hard.  21 eggs today.

June 27th, 1989

Jenny and I were up by 5:00 am to tack up the horses. We took off at 6:00 am and rode for an hour. Twinkle put on a show for Jenny, just rearing, as I wouldn't let her gallop. Even Blaze was feeling is oats. He almost tried to buck at the gallop with Jenny. Jenny sure enjoyed riding. time for breakfast. I still have a lot to do before camp.  The Cheyenne made and decorated their teepees. Today we also cut down enough trees for all of the other tribes and put up the big teepee. When they were tired of building, I put them to work making bows.  Tomorrow they will make the arrows to go with them and finish their teepees.  David spent the night with Chad and Philip with Andrew so I only took Ben and Rhoda home. That helped as I still needed to clean church. church was very hot.  It wasn't that hot of a day 86-89 degrees. We had a nice thunderstorm last night which kept it cooler.  Maybe now the grass will grow and we will have to mow. I kept the fan on  low in the chicken coop, 21 eggs today. Saber spent the day in Beth M's basement. I think he wants to get away from flies and stay cool. Misty always comes to camp with us. Ben learned to swim today. Rhoda took her tube off and went under while I was cutting wood. Rhonda saw her and Beth saved her.

June 28th, 1989

Sitting eating breakfast when Holly jumped up into the window sill letting us know she is hungry. She punched through the screen. One would think we never feed her. Our cat came up and joined her. I guess I need to leave my breakfast to feed the cats as I can't stand their pathetic crying. I'm surprised how well the 2 cats get along together. I haven't seen them fight each other only the dogs. Saber and Pepper (Beth M's dog) give those cats a wide berth. Kitty attacked Pepper. She jumped right on his head and he took her for ride yelping all the while as he ran home.  I thought someone was killing a dog he was so loud. . I think she is meaner than Holly when it comes to dogs.   Misty is gone this morning. We looked and called for her until it was time to leave for camp. She was here last night when we got home from church. Today I took JR and Tommy to camp. Beth needed a baby sitter. We made our arrows and finished our teepee. The boys then made their totem pole head.  tomorrow we make the loin cloths, then we should be done. The whole group made bird feeders today.  Jeremy was dropped off about 6:30 pm. we brought in 20 eggs and played with the kittens. Then since it had cooled down we went riding. David and I went first and went down the cemetery road. When we got back up a lady was asking if our dog was missing. Misty had followed her down the road at 7:00 am and didn't come back up. I put her on Blaze and I rode Twinkle so she could show me where Misty went but no sign of her.  I came back and gave Jeremy and Rhoda a ride and then Philip.  Philip tried cantering in the field today and was successful. He rides well! Back to the dishes and laundry.

June 29th, 1989

We sure didn't have to worry about oversleeping today. Jeremy had us all up by 6:00 am. He has an abundance of energy. He was still talking at 10:30 pm last night and Mark had to get after him.  He found a whistle in the toy box last night. We sure heard a lot that this morning.  We left for camp about 8:30 am I couldn't ait for the kids to be out of the house. One kid in particular. Today we finished our loin cloths and built a fire to roast marshmallows.  Then came the program and everybody at lunch in their own teepees. After lunch we had teepee and costume judging and a surprise birthday party for Tanya. Then came playtime at the lake. It was a beautiful day. It was only supposed to reach mid 80s today. We came home from camp at 5:30 pm and cooked supper then I had David and Philip clean out the van while I cleaned the shop.  Came home to a full kitchen. They had emptied the van of all camp supplies into the kitchen.  As I was cleaning got a phone call, someone wanting a kitten. Rhonda had put an ad in the Thrifty Nichol. She wanted one now and didn't want to wait until I could get one of Rhonda's here. She brought a friend and they ended up taking TWO of ours. Jeremy wouldn't leave the two ladies alone.  It was really embarrassing. I was going to clean church after the shop but I'd left the keys in the van. Mark's been working on getting another pick up load of rock out to Frye. It looks like we need 4 or 5 more loads there and it should be emptied here by then.  Misty is still lost. We are afraid someone let her inside and decided to keep her.  20 eggs today. I had to put all the rabbits together in the hutch, the does kept getting out while in the chicken coop. Hopefully the buck is too young but I'll find out in 32 days.

June 30th, 1989

Still no Misty.  Jeremy woke everyone up early again today.  I need to clean church and do some grocery shopping today. I also want to disconnect cable. I was ready to go at 9:30 am but Jeremy decided he didn't want to go.  I told him he had to since I was in charge of him.  He ran and hid under the truck. I walked over and told him to get out form under then and get in the van. He said, "NO" then hid behind the bushes by the kitchen. He refused to come out under threat of spanking. I had to get David to guard one side and I ran to the other and pulled him out then spanked him in front of the kids as soon as I caught him.  Can you imagine an 11 year old acting like that!  We cleaned church then came home and worked on the downstairs. Then I decided it was time to mow but couldn't get the mower started. I drove over to Diane's and picked up our battery charger and the hutch so the rabbits could be separated.  I still wasn't able to get the mower started. Mark came home and helped get it started. He was teaching David how to mow when the mower hit a bone, it flew out and hit Mark in the arm. He had a huge knot. It's really going to be sore. David needs to finish mowing the apartments and mow the front yard tomorrow. About 8:30 pm a lady stopped and told me she had seen Misty down off Laramie by Augustina. We will start looking for her down there tomorrow as it is already getting dark today. Jeremy asks to take a bath everyday. Today he took a bath and came down stark naked then wanted me to go up to get his pajamas.  I ignored his state of undress and told him to get them himself. He wouldn't go to bed until after 11:00 pm tonight. I'm wondering if the money they are paying for me to keep him is worth it.  He is one disturbed child. 

Mark's Birthday

 Today is Mark's 76th birthday so as soon as the coffee was done I took a cup down to him. He was already at work in his office in the basement. It was really foggy this morning so much so that we couldn't see our neighbors across the lake. Below is proof.

All of us were here for the walk and we had a good visit. Below Mike is showing Joan the problem with the excavator. He and Spark needed to remove the track to get to the problem. I believe the problem is now fixed and now that 4000 pound track needs to be put back on.

When we turned up the barn drive we saw Berlica coming down on Penny.

A bit later Sarah arrived with Zion, Eden and River. Berlica and Zion took Sally and Penny on the entire 'death' trail. When they came back River rode double with Berlica on Sally while Eden rode Penny for the small loop.

I was cleaning the game room upstairs when I realized the batting machine was not working correctly. The tire inside the machine was flat and would not hold air. Thankfully the last time this happened bought a second tire and tube and it was ready to go. We were able to fix it within a half an hour.

Once that was fixed Mark went right home and ordered 2 more tubes. It really pays to have it ready if we have to change it out quickly. The next big job of the day was to install the cage over the internet stuff. We took a picture of it before we started working to make sure we could put it back together once inside the cage. This job was much more complicated and ended up taking up a couple of hours be we got it done. 

We orginally planned to go to Texas Roadhouse for Mark's birthday dinner but both of us were tired from working out in the heat. We decided to just eat left over hamburgers with one of those vine ripened tomatoes for our supper. After supper we had just enough time to take showers and head to Jacob's park in Farmington to watch Kensley play in the championship game against Canton. We drove through the rain all the way there.  Farmington's 5th grade softball team has been incredible this year and after tonight they finished the season at 19 won and 0 lost. Kensley was the pitcher tonight and we were all impressed. Most innings were 3 batters up and 3 batters striking out. Kensley had the only home run of the night. She slammed it almost out of the park. The video below shows her pitching and at the end her home run.

Their team won 2 medals tonight, the tournament champions and the season champions. 

The game started in the rain but the rain blew over before the game finished. The clouds on the way home were interesting.

Mark wants a rain check tomorrow for his birthday dinner.  I was able to finish typing the second week of our stay at Pleasant Home in June of 1989 but when I thought I posted it, it disappeared. I guess I'll have to do that week over again. I've searched for it but nothing shows up. Guess I must have deleted it by accident. 

Mom WON Again

 Diane and Mike left early this morning to pick up a lift for his new barn. While I was waiting for Ruth to arrive I was marveling at the bird sounds this morning from the annoying ratatatat of the wood pecker  the mournful sound of the dove and the joyful sounds of the songbirds the woods were full of the sounds of God's amazing creation. 

Ruth arrived with her German Shepherd. This is a very well behaved dog but when we turned to go to Joan's both of the fawns were in the front yard. Joan had to call for Berlica to quick call them away while Ruth held the dog. We didn't want them to run as it would be too tempting for the dog to chase. The cat on the other hand believes these deer belong to him. He rubs against them, snuggles down with them even spending the nights with them. The fawns love him right back and give that cat so much attention, so much so Joan was worried about them getting a hairball.

We passed the excavator on our way to the horse. Mike and Spark worked hard on that yesterday but were not able to fix it with the track on so had to take it off. Hopefully it can be fixed and the track put back on soon.

Berlica took Penny out for a ride early this morning before it became too hot. She had just come back as I was cleaning stalls.

Rhoda and Sarah both arrived today to help organize this house. We had many duplicates as mom had a big supply of just about everything. Mark got all of the buildings here and at the farm sprayed with Home Defense to try to keep spiders and ants from coming in to the houses and barns. The girls know how to work together and they got done in record time then went over to the barn to meet Berlica who wanted to try Jewel for vaulting. They used the beginner surcingle on her and that worked well.

Zion was a little unsure to try the double at a walk but was successful at the stand.

We have many grand daughters and great nieces that are anxious to start vaulting so it will be easy to put together a fun team as long as Jewel works out. She is such a kind mare I think it will.

Once they finished they all came swimming to cool off. Rhonda found the journal I wrote when we stayed at Pleasant Home while mom and dad took Ruth, Joan, Dan and Karin on a trip to Alaska for 6 weeks. I started reading it and just had to laugh. My hand writing was SO bad that I decided to type it up. This afternoon I was able to finish just the first week. If you would like to read how crazy our life was back then click HERE but if that doesn't work, look over to the right and under pages click on the link that says Our 6 Week 'Vacation' at Pleasant Home

  Joan came in with a gift of 4 ripe or almost ripe tomatoes from mom's plants. 

MOM beat me again and she isn't even alive to gloat. Each year we plant tomatoes and each year it is a race to see whose ripen first. She won again.  I want people to feel free to help themselves if they need some. My plants are also doing well. No ripe ones yet but they will be soon with all this hot weather. Later I went over to pull Tessa out to tease but noticed Penny was in season big time. Mike was over and helped get her covered by Evan.

We have no history on her as we bought her from an auction but she stood well so probably has been bred before. Rhonda went shopping today and she and Spark brought over more items for the farm house. Below are her unique finds just for this house from her shopping today.

The pictures were all hung. Mark is working on the internet cage but will need some help to install it. He is hoping to get Phil for a few minutes soon. I need to find one more comfortable chair for the rec room then we are good to post it on airbnb. When I got back to the house Braelyn, Taegan and Berlica were enjoying the refreshing water of the lake.

I was tempted but wanted to finish typing week one of the 1989 diary.

It IS Settled

 I was going to bring the mares in before the walk but time got away from me and I was only able to get just Tessa and her filly into the stall and even then Ruth and Diane were waiting.  Cookie was all the way across the pond.  We had a good walk although Rizzy found Joan's ducks and chased them down to the water. At least she came when I whistled. The ducks were fine. Ever since Rizzy is here we have no geese pooping all over the lawn next to the beach. We also don't see many rabbits. She is quick to chase them off. We have Rizzy this week while David and Stephanie's family are in Washington DC. Diane came over to the farm house right after the walk and set up the new TV there.  It is almost ready to post. Mike and Spark were hard at work on the excavator. That machine is huge and by the time they quit they were drenched in sweat.

 I worked over at the barn finishing the gym and the upstairs. Sarah brought the girls out and they worked for a while to get the old driving cart out. Penny was trained to drive. The cart needs the tires repaired but I think they are just bicycle tires so it shouldn't be too hard.  The girls had fun with it as it was.

Zion went to Penny's paddock to bring her over to the barn.

She had to figure out how to bridle her by herself and DID!

Nice to have such a well behaved pony.

Once Penny was tacked up Zion decided to ask her to step up onto the pedestal.

Five year old River really wanted to learn how to ride Penny and today she learned how to keep Penny on the rail, stop her and ask her to go forward.

Once the barn was finished I was so hot I got my suit on and joined Diane and Rhonda in the lake. We floated for what seemed like hours and I did cool down. The water is refreshing.  Yesterday all the towels that had been left over the weekend were washed and taken downstairs. If you lost your towel feel free to check out these, just maybe one of them is yours.

This afternoon Berlica took two of Tara's girls on a trail ride. One rode Jewel and one rode Rosalie. Berlica rode Sally and Zion rode Penny.

While they were riding Tessa's filly was haltered, tied and her leg given a good scrubbing. Today she stood well and let me hold her leg while cleaning it out. She will heal but I sure don't want it to get infected. I used a betadine scrub to clean it. She stood very well.

She wasn't happy when I took her mom into the other stall but Tessa was fine as she was given grain. After the stall was cleaned Tessa was put back in the stall with fresh water and more hay. We left for church at 6:05 pm. Mike Kaisner had the message tonight. We have a big group leaving Saturday morning at 2:00 am for Jamaica. Psalm 100 is the chapter they will be focusing on while there so Mike started with that. If interested in watching that message click HERE. Right after church we left so I could get Tessa and her filly back outside then came back to OUR house (it is settled, we are buying it) but technically until the closing it is still mom's. We had a late supper of left over hamburgers from the Sunday meal. They were still delicious! Airbnb has decided to change it's policy on hosts and guests. As of September 1st all fees will now be taken directly from the hosts.  It comes down to they will no longer be showing THEIR fee they charge the guests. They want the guests to believe the HOSTS receive all money paid. In the past aibnb would take 3% from the host and charge each guest around 15%. Instead they will just take 15.5% from the host. It is very deceptive and was done just to make it look like airbnb is not the greedy company it is becoming. The excuse they are making to hosts is it is too confusing for guests. They see our nightly price but when they go to book the price is higher. They supposedly are now removing the service fee for the guests but it ISN'T removed, they have just moved that fee to hosts! sneaky sneaky.  Right now there really isn't another rental option for me as a host so if I didn't want to lose that 15.5% had to agree. We really can't have long term rentals here, too many times we need every available housing space for family. Speaking of family it is growing again. Ruth is going to be a grandma AGAIN in January and Rachel AGAIN in February. We rejoice with Rebekah and Brian and Jessica and Clayton. I'm pretty sure Ruth's will be great grandchild 97 and Rachel's 98...hmm just two to go to reach 100 on the greats!

The SMART One

 Diane had to leave early for the funeral today so Ruth and I walked over to Joan's she had her church clothes on but was willing to walk as she didn't have to be there until a little later. On the walk we saw that Tessa's filly must have gotten caught climbing between fences and scraped up her leg. Most of it was just some hair off but one place was a little deeper. Tessa and her filly were put in the stall so I could treat it. It is hard to see in the picture but it is the red area on her right hind leg.

That was cleaned off and then sprayed with a betadine solution. They were left in the stall for the day. I sure don't want flies getting into it.  Cookie was also brought in when the sun came out this morning. She is healing well and was really glad for the company in the stalls today. Below is after her lotion was applied. 

She still looks bad but is healing. Cookie has heaves so it isn't good for her to be in the stall but right now it is worse for her to be out in the sun. Once the horses were finished I went down to the house to help Mark with the stove. It is now put together and works perfectly.

I went back to start on our dishes and to get the kitchen cleaned up as I left it a mess last night but walked in and it was done! Someone came while I was gone and cleaned up the entire kitchen. I knew it couldn't have been Mark so sent a marco to the kids. It was SARAH and her girls. What a wonderful boost. Instead of working on my kitchen I went to the barn and started cleaning that one. The fridge was cleaned out, the dishes all put away and half of the floor scrubbed. The sheets were washed and the beds made and all 6 bathrooms were cleaned. Tomorrow I'll need to finish the kitchen floor then work on the gym. We have airbnb guests coming in on Friday. When I finished I went back over to the barn to treat Tessa's filly again but saw Berlica working with Penny. Since we want Penny to learn to canter we worked on that in the round pen. We were just finishing up when Sarah arrived. Of course Berlica needed to show the girls the new trick Penny learned today.

All 3 of Sarah's girls wanted to go on a trail ride today. Mike joined the group and Berlica rode Rosalie with River so we had 5 riders and 4 horses on this ride. The video below was taken before they got on the 'death' trails. 

The phone died just before they got to them. All of the horses were perfect for their riders. Below are a few pictures of the riders and their horses.

Tessa's filly was given a tying lesson so I could clean out her wound better. I had to take the video below. She was SO MAD! She was shaking her head and giving me the evil eye. Tessa was moved into the other stall so I could clean the stall and watch over the filly while she was tied. 

We ended on a good note. Sarah helped with cleaning out her wound. She was exhausted after that and took a nice long nap in the hay.

This evening I was working on the farm house when Spark and Rhonda arrived with a lot of items that were all needed to classy up this joint. Braelyn was working on cleaning the apartment at the same time. I was washing sheets and drying the comforter at the house. Rhonda was putting the different things she bought around the house and Spark figured out how to install the TV that had been delivered today. I ran up to take the comforter up to the apartment and when I got back Spark and Rhonda had the TV up on the wall.

Of course we had to try it out. It is a smart tv and much smarter than I am.

Carolee's Visitation

 Another cooler morning. I went over before 7:30 am to put Cookie back in the stall and was surprised to see Berlica with Penny. I first thought we had a horse out as I could only see her rump and tail from the doorway. It was a relief to see Berlica. By the time Cookie was put away, fed and watered it was time to meet the walkers at the dumpster. Ruth, Diane, I walked over to pick up Joan. We got to Joan's house she was out back feeding the two fawns. Rizzy is spending the week with us and was very curious about those two animals. 

I picked her up so she wouldn't chase them if they ran but they didn't seem a bit afraid of her. Still we don't want Rizzy to scare them so will keep her away from Joan's house. When we got to the farm house drive there was Berlica and Penny.

They had a good ride. Mark and I spent some time removing the TV from the wall at the farm house and hauling that to Joan's. We also hauled 2 other TV's from mom's over to Joan's. She has someone coming to pick them up. We had 5 big 4 gallon water jugs to haul over to the basement along with a few other things. We really are almost finished with the farm house. We have ordered a huge 55 inch smart tv for that house and that is supposed to be delivered tomorrow. Sarah was here with the girls. All of them rode Penny in the outdoor arena then Zion worked with Penny in the round pen teaching her to canter. Driving horses don't really know how to canter very well so it is good Sarah and Zion are working with her.

After breakfast I went over to move in bales. Valiant needed a bale as did the middle paddock. I let the 3 mares in the middle paddock out into the pond pasture so they could graze while the bale was moved in. They enjoyed that.

Mike came over as I was getting ready to move a bale in for Valiant. He offered to clean out the paddock if I moved Valiant so Valiant was taken out, sprayed down with fly spray then moved into the outdoor arena. Mike brought mom's Kubota over to work on his shelter first.

Mark had a doctor appointment up by the Berean office so we made plans for him to drop me off there while he went to his appointment. Skip was at that office and had the mail. I was able to process it completely, fill the new studies going out, the Bible requests for this week and also got 6 of the studies graded before he got back. We stopped at the Hanna City post office to drop off the mail and Bibles. We still have no internet at the Berean office. Hopefully next week. We got home with less than an hour before we would need to leave for Carolee's visitation. Berean is cancelled tomorrow so the volunteers can go to Carolee's funeral. She was a friend to all of them. She was also one of the chaplains at the Peoria County jail. Mike was still working on the paddocks when I got back. He cleaned out Valiant's then mowed that paddock plus a couple others.

Valiant was glad to get back in his own paddock. As soon as he was settled, Cookie was put out. We had a lot of cloud cover and the girls helped me rub a special lotion over all of her bare areas. She is healing quickly. By the time I got back to the house it was time to leave. We got to the funeral home and a lady came out as we were going in saying, "the line is much to long, we are going out to eat first then will come back."  We chose to stay in line and enjoyed visiting with many that were there.  Carolee was one of mom's close friends. They went to Africa on safari together one year. Carolee gave mom a huge geranium plant after the trip and mom has kept that going. We still have red geraniums today out on the deck and if I'm not mistaken they are from offshoots of that first plant. We got home late and had a late dinner. Tomorrow will be cleaning day for both the barn and the apartment. 

Beautiful Ending to a Beautiful Day

 I took the golf cart over at 6:30 am to check on Cookie and feed the cat. While there Cookie's stall was cleaned, her hay feeder filled and 2 clean buckets of water were left before going down to the farm house. Each time I go I bring back a load of things to go through but after this morning there isn't that much left. We picked up  Rhonda for church and since Wednesday night was family night the Bible studies were brought to church. We have quite a few studies that need grading so if anyone is interested they are now at the Peoria church. Rick Kaisner's family were here and it is always a joy to listen to him. He had the morning message and if you are feeling a little old and tired you WILL want to listen to this message. Click HERE for that. Tina and Jozsef served lunch today and had hamburgers and hotdogs. After lunch Tim Funk started the statement of faith study. He just gave the history of how and why we put out this statement. Click HERE if you would like a history lesson. We stopped at Aldi on the way home from church to pick up hamburger and hot dog buns. We had already determined we would be serving hamburgers and brats for our dinner tonight at the barn. We were also going to celebrate Jack, Israel and Jace's birthdays. Supper was very tasty and well attended. The kids were playing in the gym before dinner. 

The video below shows how this 2 on 2 game was going. 

Those boys are talented. Israel had just made a 3 right before this shot by Abe.

After supper came the birthday party.

After supper most of the kids went to play in the lake. Berlica took Zion and Riley over to the barn to start them on vaulting. They used Daryl the barrel for this lesson.

They were glad to come back and jump in the lake to cool off. Joan took Nancy out on the canoe to fish.

She caught a big stick BEFORE she caught any fish. The video shows her catching both but only after getting some of the grandchildren in the lake.

They all started going home around 8:00 pm. Once everyone was gone. Rizzy, Israel dog who is spending the week with us, went over to take care of Cookie. I was surprised to see someone had cleaned her stall and filled her water buckets. Must have been some grand daughters.  Cookie was put outside in a paddock for the night. Her skin is healing quickly. I stopped to check on the two Friesian foals. Tessa's was up playing but Rosaleigh's was taking a nap.

The sun was down by the time I got back to the house but God had painted the clouds pink and that was reflecting in the lake. I couldn't help to admire the beauty.

Independence Day

 We had a storm come through in the middle of the night and when I left the house at 6:00 am to go care for Cookie the air smelled and felt refreshing. I stopped first at the farm house to check the rain gauge. 

That one storm dumped an inch and 3/10ths in a short period of time. We are thankful for the rain, the fields are growing well. Once the stall was cleaned and Cookie fed and given fresh water I went back to the house to fill the microwave box with things that still needed to be brought over. Then once emptied I taped up the top, cut out a hole and made a den for the cat to have a place to have her kittens.

That was placed in the garage under the old desk. The cat came up as I was leaving so Mark gave her a hotdog in the box. David, Israel and Elisabet spent the night last night after the fireworks. They cleaned up the beach and also the downstairs after a good breakfast of pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs. 

The oven needed to be hooked up today. Mark was having trouble and needed a magnifying glass and smaller fingers. He really needed the correct tool and once he had that it went much better.

While he was working on the oven burner I started hanging the pictures Tarah and Molly found.

The big one was hung in the downstairs bedroom, the single horse on was hung in the upstairs bathroom.

The last picture was hung over the desk in the horse bedroom upstairs.

The next job was to put the bookcase headboard together.

Mark helped on the hard part then left to go home to rest. I finished it and put it in place.

Sarah brought her girls out while earlier while it was still cool and gave Zion and Penny some canter work in the round pen then a small jumping lesson in the outdoor arena. Of course Eden and River wanted to try that too.

Diane called to let me know there were horses out. Those were Jewel and Dancer. Dancer is now in season and found a way to get to the stallions. Jewel, her mother, just followed her out to keep her company. Dancer is related to both of the stallions here so Mike and Diane took her to Middle Grove. Diane sent back the video below. 

Dancer was not in a standing heat, in fact she kept her tail clamped when Mike brought Oliver over. We decide she will need to stay out there and hopefully she will be in a standing heat tomorrow. 

As the fireworks at Three Sister's Park was cancelled tonight because of storms. Some of the kids and grandkids (and sisters) went down to the river to watch the fireworks. Below they are enjoying the evening waiting for the fireworks to start.

Meanwhile enjoy the video below from last night. Rachel sent it in. Notice the kids floating on the lake watching them.