Genius

We were living like pioneers this morning. At 6:00 am I was using a bucket to haul water out of the lake so we could flush toilets. I carried one bucket in for the downstairs bathroom but Mark carried the other bucket upstairs for that bathroom. Each bucket allowed us 2 flushes. I left early to take care of the horses in the stalls. On the walk Diane, Ruth and Joan helped move Harli and her colt to the outdoor arena for grazing. No cooking breakfast, we still had no propane and when the man did come to hook up the propane, looked at the pipe and didn't have the correct fittings. He said those will be around $300.00 and had to be ordered. They won't come in until next week some time. I put Harli and her colt in the paddock with Valerie and Basilea. One less stall to clean tomorrow. The guests in the farm house left around 9:30 am. The golf cart was loaded with extra sheets, towels and cleaning supplies. I was pleased at how nice they left the house. It was 3 construction workers so I thought it would be worse but they had collected and bagged all the garbage, loaded the dishwasher and started that and had all of the used towels in the tub. The only thing one of the men did was to bring a comforter from one of the beds upstairs and slept in that. Of course that had to be washed and washed using the bulky load which takes much longer to run. Just then I got a notification from airbnb that the farm house rented again for TODAY! That put me in overdrive. I worked for a solid 3 hours, walked away at 1:00 pm and the new guests arrived at 1:05 pm.  I had the golf cart loaded but saw Sarah and Rhoda's cars up at the stall barns so drove up to see Rhoda riding Basilea and Sarah video taping it. When Rhoda finished Zion rode her. Below is the video from Sarah. 

This was the first time Basilea has been ridden in almost 3 years. She really did well. They took a few pictures too for the website.

I left then to change the washer in the barn where I was continuing to wash all of the sheets and towels from the farm house then went into our house to get something to drink. Sarah sent more pictures and a video of Rhoda working with Harli.

Her colt is really a cutie.

When they were done, Penny was brought out and each one got to ride Penny by themselves. They then came here to find the new kittens. The mama cat had them sequestered under the heavy desk in the garage. We were able to get one kitten out. The kitten is and orange female and was very calm while they all took turns holding her. There is one more kitten but that one wasn't brave enough to come out. Rhoda brought Jury and Penny here so Zion could ride Jury and her friend Lilly could ride Penny on the small loop before putting the horses away. I kept making trips over to the barn to keep the laundry going. At 5:00 pm Mark and I packed our church clothes, a hair brush, razor, tooth brushes and towels and went over to the barn for showers and to get ready for church. We left at 5:30 pm. Dinner tonight was served by Holly & Dean and Jim & Faith. I think Heather helped to. After supper we had a guest minister Brant Rushton, from Gridley,  give his testimony and he had everyone's attention. It really was an amazing testimony how God led him all the way. It is up on AC Central but only as audio. Click HERE if you would like to listen to this message. We are now home and have WATER. Spark and Elijah had just finished hooking everything up and were they ever muddy. We thought Elijah would cancel as it was raining when we left for church. I was moaning to Mark on the way home about not being able to cook eggs for breakfast when he said, "you can, the stove in the basement is electric."  YEAH eggs, bacon, tomatoes and toast tomorrow. We have been living here for a month and a half and I just now found out we have 2 ways to cook. Mom was a genius! 

Busy Day

The house did not blow up last night. We LIVED to see another day. I overslept because at midnight I woke up so thirsty I decided to go downstairs to see if there was any bottled water in the downstairs fridge. Mark thought those were all gone but remembered we had some big 4 gallon jugs of water. I carried down 2 of our biggest mugs but found plenty of water bottles in the fridge so brought up 4 of those. Drank one down quickly, gave Mark one and put the other 2 in the upstairs fridge for later. When I finally did get up it was after 6:30 am. We had some left over coffee but not enough for both of use so went down and filled the 2 quart container, brought that up to make a pot. By the time it was done it was almost time to walk. Diane, Ruth and I went to Joan's, Faline was standing next to Joan for some attention and stuck around to greet all of us.

When we reached the stall barn I slipped in to fill Harli's water bucket. I only did one round so I could get back, clean Harli's stall and fill her feeder with hay then left for Berean. We had a new volunteer, Kristen, Joan's daughter, joined us. Shirley claimed her and put her to work folding the advanced studies. We were thankful for her help. Below are a couple pictures.

Kathy finished the letters so went in to help with wrapping Bibles. In the video she is laughing because right after Shirley told her to include the studies she almost forgot.

We had key lime pie and coffee for our break this morning. A very nice 2 page letter came in. You may need to click on the picture to get it big enough to read.

I stopped at the Hanna City post office to drop off the Bibles and studies going out today. Diane sent a message letting us know she was short 3 batches of party potatoes for the funeral tomorrow. Immediately Joan sent back a text she would make a batch, then Ruth sent a text she would make one and as soon as I got out of the car I sent a text I would make the 3rd batch, then rushed home to change. Dr. Pallen was coming around 12:30 pm to change Tessa's filly's bandages and I needed to bring Basilea and Valerie in so they could get their blood drawn. Tessa and her filly were brought into the stall and the filly's halter put on. Dr. Pallen sent a message that she was on her way but would be here a few minutes later than 12:30 which gave me enough time to get a halter on Harli's colt and give him a tying lesson today. He was NOT happy about that.

He had his ears pinned and was giving me the evil eye. He settled down and figured out that he liked scratches from humans.

Valerie and Basilea were put in the paddock next to the stall barn so when Dr. Pallen arrived we just walked out there for the pictures and blood draw. Both mares were perfect. They were more curious about what she was doing then  worried and stood very well for the pictures and the blood draw. Then came the removal of the bandage on Tessa's filly. The wound looks much better and is starting to close.

Dr. Pallen put some ointment on and they were left in the stall until this evening. When Dr. Pallen left I worked a little bit longer with Harli's colt before taking his halter off. Then it was time to get to the barn to keep working on the laundry. Diane called about then to remind me there was no way I could make the party potatoes as we won't have propane until tomorrow afternoon and the potatoes had to be done in the morning. Hopefully Joan can make 2 batches. I had the washer and dryer going at the barn but the dryer was taking longer. I remembered I couldn't use the washer but took a load of sheets over and stuck them in mom's dryer then went back to work at the barn. After an hour those sheets were not dry. Only after telling Mark the dryer wasn't working did I remember we have no propane! Oh the things we take for granite. I hauled those sheets back over to the barn. I needed to wash all the sheets, all of the towels and all of the throws as I was pretty sure the people staying here used them for blankets and once the last load of those were going I went back to the barn to let Tessa and her filly out in the field. Rosaleigh's colt was SO glad they were back.

Tessa went right over to Evan and he knocked a board down trying to sniff her. I used a lead rope to temporally put it up but will have to ask for help to get it fixed tomorrow. She wasn't in season but may be coming in as it is 21 days since her last cover. If she doesn't show tomorrow I will take her to Dr. Hoerr on Thursday for an ultrasound, hopefully to confirm pregnancy. I was able to get an appointment for Valerie for her second ultra sound Thursday at 8:30 am. I went back to clean Tessa's stall and Harli's then worked with the colt again, handling him, walking out then right back in and handling him again. I did this about 10 times and each time he got better about standing. I got a message from our guest in the farm house that the air conditioner wasn't working. Mark went right over and found it was the capacitor. Philip had one at Meister's so Mark drove there and then was going to go back and put the new one in. The guests knows exactly how to do it and is willing to help Mark with that. Hopefully he found the part. Since I can't cook I think I'll have some ice cream for supper tonight. It sure was a busy day.

Harli's Colt Home

 We had a good walk today with all of us home. We heard how Joan could hardly stay off of the lake, those fish were calling to her. We heard about their very economical trip there and back as they drove Diane's Prius. When we reached Joan's house her flowers were blooming. 

These had no blooms on them when we left 10 days ago. She also has roses blooming.

When we got to the barn Berlica had Jury tacked up and Zion was tacking up Penny. Our guests were just leaving. They spent 8 nights here all for the Ledgestone Disc Tournament. I left right after the walk to get groceries, stopping first at Sam's club and then at Aldi. I got back around 10:30 am, quickly made some breakfast then went over to the barn to take the 2 horse trailer off of the truck and hook up the stock trailer. Rhoda and Zion arrived just as I had finished that job. I still needed to get enough big halters to fit Valerie and Basilea. Then run back to the house to get carrots and my purse. We arrived at Middle Grove around 10:45 am, drove all the way back but no horses in sight. We had a long hike to find them. Basilea came right to us but Valerie saw the halter and decided she was not going to come. Rhoda put a halter and lead on Missy and hopped on leading Basilea back to the truck and trailer while Zion and I walked behind the herd making sure they all followed Rhoda. I had left the back door of the trailer open to make it easy for loading but by the time I got there the trailer was loaded with all of the yearlings. Rhoda had to jump in to get them out.

It took a while but we ended up bringing Valerie, Harli, and her colt in the front of the stock with Basilea in the back. Hoerr Vet clinic was called to schedule Dr. Pallen to come out to draw blood from Basilea and Valerie. Sarah had taken Rhoda's children, Iris and Zeke with her remaining 2 children Eden and River to the barn for vaulting. Jewel was used for this. Sarah sent back the pictures below.

After the vaulting Iris got to ride Penny in the round pen.

We three at Middle Grove were hot and thirsty after walking so far and loading horses. We stopped at Bee's for ice cream cones. 

When we got back all of the grand kids were anxious to see Harli's colt. Rhoda helped put a halter on him and he got his first tying lesson. Then Zion and Iris came in the stall with him.

We took the halter off of him and left them in the stall. I need to work with both Harli and her colt. This was the first time the colt has been handled by any human. He was born at Middle Grove right before I was leaving on vacation and we felt it was better for him to be out there. He is 2 weeks old today! He is a strong stocky colt and looks just like a Fell Pony. He will have all of the mega hair, his dam Harli has that and so does his sire Evan. When I went into the indoor arena to get hay for Harli Zeke and Zion were getting drinks out of the hose.

They were having a blast.

These grandkids think life at Grandma's is the BEST!

It was 2:30 pm by the time I made it back to the house. I drank 2 glasses of water then sat down to relax when the leg cramps hit, both legs and very painful. Mark brought some mustard as I couldn't walk, although I tried but almost passed out. The mustard didn't help. Big things were happening here. The plumbing company arrived to bore the new water line in for the house. About that time Mark discovered the water leak. The boring must have put pressure on the water and it was bubbling out of the ground for the first time since the leak developed months ago.

I needed to go back to give Harli more hay and top off her water buckets so took a few other pictures of the colt's other side.

That star really does look like a candle flame.

The crew here was busy with the water line.

Our water was turned off earlier but we were enjoying watching the progress. I finally went in to cook supper at 7:30 pm and the stove wouldn't light. We had no propane. Evidently when they bored the water line in it hit the propane line. Then Diane sends a text that even though we paid for insurance on mom's house starting the middle of June (when we moved in) that the house really isn't covered. Diane had cancelled the insurance for the house and because it is taking longer than expected to close the house cannot be insured by us. If that propane line explodes we will all lose out. Mark called the emergency line of the propane company but now at 9:00 pm he hasn't heard from them. Hopefully nothing bad will happen tonight and really hope we won't lose all of the propane left in that 1000 gallon tank. Mark wants to sleep in the barn tonight. It might be a good idea since we won't have water or propane.  The farm house booked again. I really am thankful for that. I saw our guests for the first time today and had a good visit. They said they feel right at home, they live in an old farm house on a farm. 

Company Clean-up

 I slept in until 6:00 am then stumbled into the kitchen for coffee. After downing a cup could go out to care for the horses. We didn't have a lot of food left in our house but found 3 eggs, plenty of tomatoes out on the vine, some link sausage and a loaf of left over honey wheat bread from vacation. One of my favorite meals is eggs, sausage and a vine ripened tomato, but the tomato has to be peeled as I don't care for the texture of the skin. We picked up Rhonda for church and made it there by 9:30 am. Kathy and Randy brought Nancy and she was so glad to see us as last Sunday we were gone.  Craig Stickling had the morning message on Daniel. Click HERE if you would like to watch that. Caleb Plattner had the afternoon message on Genesis 38 Click HERE if you would like to watch that. As soon as I got home and changed I went straight to the farm house with replacement sheets and towels. The 2 families that shared it had left it nice but even though I didn't do any of the laundry there it took me almost 3 hours. It is just that every space still needed to be cleaned, the 2 bathroom showers wiped down the tub wiped out, the mirrors all cleaned and so on and so on. Mark helped a bit by running the garbage over to the dumpster and the laundry over to our house. Rhonda brought over a couple of chicken plates to decorate the kitchen and pointed out that the kitchen door needing cleaning both inside and outside. Mark brought the tesla over to charge right after church and planned on picking it up before the next guests arrived but by the time he remembered they were already here. Thankfully they didn't park behind the tesla so he could drive it home without disturbing him. The house was finished just before 3:00 pm and right then the guests arrived. When I got back to our house I decide I was going to have to change the cleaning fee from $90.00 to $125.00 It just took longer than expected with so many extra rooms. I started on the laundry here. Sarah arrived with Zion. They had arranged for Zion to ride with Berlica today. They were pretty pleased when they made it back from the death trails although Berlica reported that Sally fell on the trails at the new culvert creek crossing. 

Phil and Anna brought company today to play sand volleyball outside on the playground. The kids had a good time first playing a game then jumping on the trampolines then back to Volley ball. After a while they all headed down to the lake and swam before dinner. They had pizza, fruit, chips and dessert out on the deck. Berlica came riding on Jewel with a friend on Rosalie right through the group at the lake.

Mark and I joined the group sitting on the chairs.

Joan brought Nancy over, Spark and Rhonda came with some of their grandchildren, Mike and Diane came, Rebekah and Brian, Kari and Brett and just like that the beach was full. We stayed and visited until it was time to take Nancy home to Morton but first had to take her over to Joan's to get her bag and give her her pills. We got home about 8:45 pm and I have been doing laundry ever since stepping in the door. Tomorrow I'll have so much more as both the barn and the foaling apartment guests leave. That is lots of company clean-up work. All three of the airbnb's guests were here for the ledgestone disk tournament. I am thankful they chose to stay with us. 

Home to Work

 We were up at 5:00 am and had 2 pots of coffee going before the rest started waking up. Breakfast was served at 8:00 am and by 9:00 am the house was cleaned and we were all out. The managment company was sent the message to call in the cleaners. Sarah took her girls back to Silver Dollar City one more time but the rest just headed home. Our first stop was in Springfield, Missouri to charge up the car which was just an hour from where we were staying. Those chargers were at the Buc-cee's. 

The place was packed and as soon as we walked inside could smell those delicious brisket sandwiches. I hadn't brought my purse in so let Mark pick out something for us to eat (expecting him to buy brisket) but when we came to the car he had a chicken bacon wrap. It was still early so didn't really expect lunch but took a few bites of that and decided the taste wasn't worth the calories so wrapped my half back up. Our next charge was at a Casey's and this time it was after noon. I sure didn't want pizza but the only other offerings was a hot chicken sandwich with pickles or a cheeseburger. I chose the cheese burger. We ate that while waiting for the car to charge. It was bland and had no crunch at all as there were no onions or pickles. Mark had some then just decided to eat the other half of the wrap from Buc-cee's. About then Dr. Pallen sent the two pictures below stating Tessa's filly's wound looks much better.

All wrapped for at least another 3 days.

She and Molly came twice while I was gone to check the wound and rewrap the leg. Then Mike sent the picture below.

I sent Dr. Pallen the picture with a thank you, telling her I was afraid to see how bad the stalls would be when I get home tonight. She told Mike, doing stalls is relaxing, it helps me think.

Our last stop was at Culvers in East Peoria. We split a fish meal then finished our trip. It took a little over 9 hours. I got all of the unloading done, sat down to finish the book I started this morning when I realized, I have horses in stalls that need to be fed, watered and the stall cleaned. I finished that up at 9:00 pm. The farm house booked for tomorrow. The guests in there now have to be out by 10:00 am but I won't be able to start flipping it until after we get home from church. The people staying in the barn just asked if a few of them could stay another night. Since I'm not cooking dinner tomorrow for the family I told them yes. I forgot how busy things are around here with that very relaxing week off.

Last Day in Branson

 We awoke to an overcast but not raining morning. Rachel sent pictures from home of her beautiful sunrise to our family chat.

Diane quickly sent in a picture of her view of Joan already out fishing on Lake Gerard. They are in New Jersey so an hour ahead of us with the sun up.

We didn't have near the color as we had cloud cover but we could see pink coming over the hills of Branson.

Ben and Taunya's family left for home after breakfast. The rest of the group left for the marina. Those kids could hardly wait to get out on the boat as today is our last day of vacation.

If someone fell River was quick to hold up the flag.

The kids got more and more daring and having fun trying to balance on that bouncy tube.

Below are a few videos. The first video is Elisabet and River getting ready to jump in the water for their turn in the tubes.

They came in for lunch starving. It is amazing the amount of food each meal. That tubing takes lots of energy. Rhoda and Lee took their children to the creation museum.

The rest left for the pool after lunch and spent most of the afternoon there. Mark grilled chicken Parmesan for our supper tonight. While we were eating Tom Meister arrived with Luke and Heath his two boys. They went tubing tonight with David's family and had a blast.

David had to turn the boat back in, Tom helped get the tubes deflated and back in the van. They will go home with us tomorrow.

Sarah and Phil's family went back to Silver Dollar City for the last time this year. David and Tom came back here after dropping off the boat then left to go watch the fireworks and drone show one last time with Tim and his boys. Rhoda and Lee's family left for home after dinner so we had extra tickets.

I think everyone agrees this was the best Sceggel vacation yet.