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. 

More Lake Fun

 After breakfast a group of us went to Silver Dollar City to tour Marvel cave. The other group, the older grandkids, all went tubing on Table Rock Lake. They didn't send any pictures of their fun but we have pictures from the cave. Rhoda took the video below of the bats flying around the entrance of the cave.

The cave is not for anyone with hip, knee, ankle or back problems. There are over 500 steps to climb down and more than 100 to climb back up. It was worth the effort.

After the cave I took River and Zeke back to the house to play so the rest could enjoy the bigger rides. The boaters came back for a late lunch, ate then headed to the pool. Tonight we had our steak dinner and I didn't bring enough steak. They ate everything we cooked and would have eaten more. They all had at least 8 ounces. For dessert we celebrated Elisabet's birthday with cookie cake and ice cream bars. Then the older kids went to Silver Dollar City to enjoy rides and fireworks. The younger kids got their turn to go out on the boat.

Stephanie sent the picture below.

The weather was perfect and the water warm. Rhonda and Spark took some of their grandchildren to Pleasant Home (the house we grew up in). Karik and Molly told their children about John the Ghost who supposedly lived in the dirt room. (the root cellar)

After telling the story Kari and Molly sang the Ghost of John song to them.

One of the favorite games on this vacation is a game with letters in a cage that is shaken up and then the kids have to find words. I'm not sure if it was already here or one of the mom's brought it but I am very impressed with how many words even the littles come up with. They have been playing it every day.

Zeke and River have been spending hours building. 

Below is one of the videos from tonight's tubing. Zion jumps from one tube to the next then Elisabet stands. These kids are getting BRAVE!

This really has been a wonderful family vacation and even the adults were saying this is the best one yet. WE have one more day then Saturday will be heading home. 

Diane, Joan and Ruth have been in New Jersey at Lake Gerard visiting with Aunt Jinnie, Mark and Becky. The first morning there Joan caught lots of fish and then it started raining but yesterday was beautiful for them and they all ended up on the lake.

The pictures brings back so many wonderful memories. We would spend our vacation there every other year (usually the year mom had a new baby) with our grandparents and cousins and all off us LOVED it. Grandpa and Grandma had a cottage that they modified to sleep all of us, there were beds everywhere, built into the walls and even in the downstairs workrooms. It was pretty primitive, having an outhouse and a pump to bring water in from the lake for washing dishes, an old wood burning stove in the main room for heat. They would take trips to the well and had a large metal container with a dipper for drinking water.