Basilea's PPE

 We had storm after storm come through during the night. The lightning actually woke us up, the constant bright flashes. There was no walk this morning as Joan and Diane went to the Cameron lane garage sales. Berlica stopped in to grab the advanced vaulting surcingle and just about the time they were ready to start the heavens opened and the rain poured down hitting the tin roof with a resounding thunder like ROAR.

Poor River had to hold her ears.  I was amazed at how well Jewel did with the noise. There has been so much rain the last 2 days that water started flowing into the indoor arena. The rain slowed down and stopped for just enough time for a fun trail ride. This ride ALL 3 of Sarah's girls got to go. Berlica led the ride on Jury, 8 year old Zion rode Basilea, 7 year old Eden rode Jewel and 5 year old River rode Penny. They found huge trees down on the trails. The horses had to find a way through them and did pretty well. Mike tried working on some of them but it was just too muddy today. You can see the trees down on the video below of the trail ride.

They got back before the rain but Sarah wanted Zion to have a chance to practice the rising trot in the round pen and they got rained on.

As soon as they took the saddle off of Basilea she was loaded into the stock trailer and I was on my way to Hoerr Vet Clinic for her pre purchase exam. The clinic was swamped, so busy that we didn't get our turn until close to 1:00 pm. Below Dr. Hoerr is checking her over.

All that went fine until it was time for the flexion test. He looked over at me and I could see the doubt in his eyes when he asked, "can you run?"  I started laughing, when ever Joan runs in front of Diane or me we call her a show-off. There wasn't anyone else so run I did.  I got back from after the first leg and Dr. Hoerr says, "ok do it again and this time I'll watch the horse."  That was a joke as I was obviously lame! By the 4th leg my replacement hips were feeling it. I don't think I will choose to run again for awhile. I had to stop for gas on the way home as the truck was running on empty. 

Well not quite I think the tank must be a little larger than 30 gallons. Around 4:00 pm Mark came with me to help move a new bale in for the last paddock. From there we drove into Bartonville for supper at the diner. He had soup and salad, I had liver and onions. We got home and checked the rain gauge. It was the same as yesterday.

Another almost 2 inches and now at 8:40 pm it is raining again and more storms are predicted. The fields are saturated, the paddocks are muddy but there is nothing to be done but thank God for this life giving liquid.

Basilea passed her ppe and her new owner is flying in tomorrow morning from Maine to meet her. She has already scheduled transport for Monday.

Harli's Colt SOLD

 On the first round of our walk today, Faline came running out of the woods at Joan's house.

Her grandson's Joshua and William had just finished feeding her the bottle. On the second round Joan stopped us to see what is in the picture below.

It looks like just a pump and a shed but look closer at the side of the shed. 

The spider web was actually attached to a branch off the tree and suspended in mid air with a couple of strands going to the ground. That poor little spider must have worked all night on such a big web and the storm that arrived a couple hours later completely destroyed it. 

We stopped at Mike's to watch him use the leaf blower on Roseberry and Shadow. He had saddled Roseberry, then took them out first on the 4 wheeler.

Berlica and Sarah were getting ready for a big trail ride. This time they were going to take 7 horses. 

They rode, pictured from left to right, Sally, Missy, Jewel, Jury, Basilea, Penny and Rosalie. Mike led the group on Sally and Berlica was last to make sure all of the children would be safe. The kids that rode from left to right were Joshua, Eden, Zion, Lilly, and William and all of them came back safe and sound. I'm so thankful for quiet horses. After their ride they had a vaulting session. Lilly got a chance to vault.

Just as everyone was finishing up, the thunder started booming and the wind started blowing and soon the rain came down hard so hard and so fast the mechanical room started flooding. Mark came running up for help. He need towels and something to stuff around a pipe. The video shows first the flooding then where it was coming from and finally the almost fix.

He used some tire plugs to stuff around the pipe. The water was also coming in through the basement door. The patio was flooded and seeping inside.

By the time the rain stopped we had an inch and 3/4ths.

More is expected tonight so Mark dumped the rain gauge out.  When things dried up, Joan took Joshua and William out to teach them how to sail.

They were loving that and didn't want to stop. Below is a video of just some of their fun.

They would have stayed out longer but Joan needed to get on the mowers. Mackenson used the push behind, Berlica used a riding mower and so did Joan. I think they got all of the mowing done before supper time. They left then to clean the shop. Sarah arrived with the new child English stirrup leathers so Zion could practice the rising trot on Penny. She is getting it.

While they were there we brought Harli and her colt out. It was a good time to teach Zion how to left the colt's legs and to teach the colt how to lift his leg. Zion is going to be a horse trainer when she grows up. She is 8 years old now but already has a big start helping grandma train the foals.

The lady that bought one of Lily's colt's by Valiant 10 years ago made the decision to buy Harli's colt and mailed the deposit check today. Now comes the hard part for her, she needs to come up with a name for him. 

He looks so cuddly Zion can't help but give him a hug. I think his new owner is going to love him but he won't leave until weaning in November. Sarah sent the message that they will need to start using the professional vaulting surcingle now that the girls are doing the doubles and triples. I had it in a dresser drawer but we needed a tub to store it in at the barn. Mark found one but it was too small. Sarah brought the perfect size.

It not only fits the surcingle and the girth, it also fits the two thick pads for the girth.

We will haul that out to the barn tomorrow. Tomorrow morning I need to fill the gas tank to the truck, hook up the stock and haul Basilea in for her pre purchase examine. Her buyer is flying into town on Saturday and Dr. Hoerr agreed to do the ppe if I could bring her to their office tomorrow at 10:00 am. The buyer knows she is 18 years old, she just wants to know as much as she can about her before hauling her to their home in Maine. 

Horse Fun

 I was sitting on my chair that faces the front yard reading when I glanced out the window to see a man with a gun run past. I opened the front door to see if he was yelling something like, "the British are coming" but all was quiet. After walking around the house I see the man standing at the lake staring into the bank with the gun pointed and figured out pretty quickly it must be David going after a muskrat.  I went over to the barn early as Berlica and Sarah were getting 4 horses ready for a trail ride. Today Berlica was taking out Joshua, Zion and Eden. Below they are getting ready to tack up.

Berlica rode Basilea, Joshua rode Missy, Eden rode Jewel and Zion rode Penny. Diane and I walked over to Joan's, she was just getting a bottle ready. She steps outside and calls then Faline comes out of the woods at a run.

Joan has an ear tag on her in hopes it will stop a hunter from shooting her this fall. If Faline survives it will be really neat to be able to identify her from all the other does that we see wandering the trails.As we were walking Mike arrived with his 4 wheeler taking Roseberry and Shadow around the farm.

Of course they stopped to say hello to Tessa and her filly.

The trail ride was a success. Sarah sent back the video.

After the trail ride Sarah gave them all some pointers on riding.

Zion got a lesson on Basilea.

We could see the storm coming from the West. The horses were put away and we all made it into the cars before the rain. The video below is of the clouds scurrying across the sky before the storm arrived.

This storm dumped an inch of rain in a couple hours. We had a little break but soon it started sprinkling and that kept up most of the day. We were really glad for the rain EXCEPT..the propane man came to hook up the propane and it was too muddy. Now we have to wait another week before we get propane.  Since it was raining I got all 3 books read that Iris gave me on Sunday. We left for church at 6:00 pm. Gregg Rumbold had the message on 1st John 2 click HERE if you would like to watch that.  After church we joined the group at Culvers for a late supper. Now it is time to sleep.

Berean Day

 I woke up and thought, "today is Berean day" and had to smile. We really enjoy enjoy going and working with the best of the best! Ruth and Fedi are still out camping in their new truck camper and enjoying Niagara Falls so is not here to walk with us. She IS sending back pictures and videos.

Diane, Joan and I walked and on our way to the barn ran into Berlica riding Basilea and Zion riding Penny.

They were heading down to the trails.

It is wonderful that Sarah and Nolan live so close to us. Sarah is bringing Zion out to ride before the day gets too hot to do anything. I only walked one round so I could leave by 8:00 am for the Berean office.  Sarah sent the picture below of them coming across the field to the barn after the trails.

We had a decent amount of mail today and was glad for everyone that came. Kristen came again but we were most thankful that Bruce came. He is the best at the postage machine. We had studies come back from Jackson, MI for more postage. Marvin weighed them on his scale and the were all right at 1ounce but when he put them on the postage machine scale each was slightly over 1 ounce and I mean very slightly.  It was Sharon that came up with the best idea.

If you guessed cut some of the paper off on the studies, you guessed right. Why didn't the rest of us think of that. We all had to laugh.

Marvin has a paper cutter so he brought that out and all going to Jackson, MI got the sides trimmed, just a tiny bit but that put it under the ounce. All of those got sent back plus all going out today to that prison got trimmed. We were busy today. Skip had to leave for Sam's to buy more paper and more envelopes. Amazing how often that happens. He got back in plenty of time to help with the Bibles.  I left there and went straight to Meisters to drop off studies for grading then to the Hanna City post office to drop off all the mail going out today. When I got home it was really hot and humid. Too hot to work outside so instead I read a book finishing that around 4:30 pm. Sarah sent back pictures of her working with Harli. Her colt learned what fly spray, lead ropes and plastic bags taste like, and what his mom looks like when carrying a tarp.

The tarp didn't bother him at all. The video below shows the fly spray taste.

 Last night Mike brought Missy and 3 weanlings home from Middle Grove so moved Jewel, Rosalie and Missy here. When Sarah got here Rosalie and Jewel were out grazing and Sarah reported all of the gates were shut. Those 2 mares know where the break in the fence is in the pond pasture and we don't. They are sneaky and only get out when no one is around so this afternoon. They were put in with Penny in the shelter next to Valiant. They are the bosses of the herd and Penny needs to learn she is NOT a boss so hopefully those 2 mares will teach her to submit. Penny has all the other mares here scared of her.  Mark came to help move in 4 bales. The middle paddock got a bale, Rosaleigh and Tessa's paddock got a bale, The short shelter paddock got a bale and Evan's paddock got a bale. 

By the time the last bale was moved in we were both really hot and sweaty. It was 89 degrees out and very humid. We were hoping for rain but each storm seems to pass us by. Maybe tonight we will get a good shower. Spark and Rhonda came by for a visit. I gave him a really nice letter that came in for the Berean board. It really was a good day.

Horse-In-Around

Almost the entire day was spent with the horses. Diane shocked us by showing up for the walk. Their trip to Gulf Shores didn't happen. The plane was delayed and then delayed again so they just canceled. When we got close to the barn we had to slow down to let Berlica riding Sally and Joshua riding Jewel go in front. They were taking these 2 horses over to join Jury and Penny. 

William ended riding Jewel, Joshua rode Penny and Zion rode Jury on that trail ride. Joshua told us later it was a blast. When they got back, Rhoda had arrived with Iris and Zeke. She worked with Berlica and Basilea in the outdoor arena while the kids all took turns on the other horses.

Next she worked with Zion on Jury and had her canter her in both directions.

After that was the second trail ride of the day. We were short a pony for Eden so Eden got to go on this ride with Rhoda on Jury, Berlica riding Basilea, Zion riding Jewel and Iris riding Penny.

After the ride, Sarah wanted to try an English saddle on Penny. We need to buy a shorter girth but the saddle fits Penny and Zion.

The horses were all hosed off then the girls got into their vaulting uniforms for a vaulting practice.

They STILL weren't done, Harli and her colt were taken out. Sarah has been working with Harli in the mornings and some of the video below is of Harli's colt playing with the plastic bag and tarp as Sarah was trying to work with his mom. After vaulting, Rhoda got Harli out while Zion, Iris and Berlica worked with her colt in the round pen. AT the end of the video below he really enjoyed his shower even drinking from the hose.

Rhoda wanted to stick Harli before putting her away. She sticks right at 14.2 hands.

While that was happening her colt had to go check out Zeke.

Finally all the horses were put away and everyone went swimming. We adults kind of crashed sitting in chairs with our feet in the water watching the kids play. It really was a fun and very productive day with all the training happening. We have a lady flying in from Maine on Saturday morning to look at Basilea. We will pick her up at the airport, she will fly out Sunday afternoon. Right after that lady bought her ticket another buyer said he could come tomorrow with the cash but since she had already bought her ticket he will need to wait until after Saturday and if Basilea is still available then he can come. 

Hot August Sunday

 Another easy Sunday morning. I found out a couple days ago that we didn't need to haul our dishes over to the barn to wash and take our clothes over so we could have hot showers. MOM'S house has an electric water heater. I can wash dishes here and take showers here. I can even use the washing machine, just not the dryer as that is gas. I sure would have saved a lot of work if I'd figured that out earlier. Mark accidently found it out by touching a hot pipe then realizing it was to the water heater. I still have to haul food downstairs to cook but this morning brought it back upstairs to eat so it wasn't that much to carry up and down the stairs. We picked up Rhonda for church.  Mike Kaisner had the morning message on Psalm 90, you know the one that tells us 3 score and 10. Well Friday on our walk we had been talking about that passage. I think somehow those ministers are spying on us here at the lake. If you would like to watch this message click HERE. Roger and Melanie served the lunch. David had the afternoon message on the statement of faith. Click HERE to watch that. We took Nancy home after church. Sarah was here working with Harli and her colt.

She took the video below.

Our Sunday dinner tonight was steak, we had T-bone, sirloin and porterhouse. There was more than enough for all to eat as much as they wanted. The reason for that was when I served steak on our family vacation I way underestimated how much those hungry grandchildren eat so tonight we made up for that. After supper Mike and Diane went home to pack, they were leaving in an hour for their flight to Gulf Shores. I needed to find out how to turn the water on in their basement so the horses in the cabin field can be watered while they are gone. When I got back to the barn almost everyone had gone over to the beach. It was really hot and the lake felt wonderful on this hot August evening. 

They stayed until the sun went down. Zeke was the last one to use the diving board as the sun was hanging low just barely over the treeline but he is at the very end of the video below.

What a wonderful Sunday. So many first and second cousins got to swim and play together today and so much visiting from everyone. We sure do enjoy being together. Rhoda and Lee took Nancy home tonight and I was thankful. That is such a nice gift for Mark and I.

Trail Rides

 We had a good night going to bed early and sleeping in until 5:45 am. Amazing how wonderful that feels. I had plans to work on cleaning this house and actually started on it when our guests at the barn sent the message they were on their way out. I loaded up the laundry detergent, beach, all of our laundry on to the golf cart and drove that to the barn. The guests this time was a boy scout troop that had been doing service projects all week and this was their last stop. They LOVED the barn. They left such a nice thank you note signed by all of them and had everything cleaned up. I started collecting all of the sheets and towels and got the first load started then ran a load up to the foaling apartment so I could use 2 machines. One of the guests from the farm house came driving up to ask if we had found his hitch, a triple one with the 3 different sizes of balls. He lost it off of his truck. I took him around on the golf cart searching for it but it was no where in sight. He thinks it may have been stolen when he was in Peoria. I finally gave him the hitch off of my truck and got my other nicer triple hitch Joan had borrowed when one of the camper rental people forgot theirs. I think we may want to order another one, those are really handy. Mark was moving the extra black painted 16 foot boards from the outdoor arena into the indoor arena.  Rhoda and Iris showed up first today but not much later Sarah arrived with Zion, Eden and River. Rhoda had Jury and Penny tacked up ready to go to the outdoor. 

 Mark was loading the boards on the golf cart. I had him wait just in case that strange sight would scare the horses. 

I was using my golf cart to run back and forth from the apartment to the barn each time the laundry needed changing.

Sarah brought Harli out to work with and discovered a big abscess on her cheek. We were all shocked, it wasn't there yesterday.  We were able to pop it and clean it out then hydrogen peroxide was squirted in it to help clean out the infection and keep it open.

Once that was cleaned out she was feeling better and was taken out to the outdoor where Rhoda and Sarah worked with her. Meanwhile Iris and Zion were taking turns with Penny. When they were done they posed for a picture as they were dressed alike with their pink shirts and their cowboy boots.

Rhoda put a bridle on Harli and both Rhoda and Sarah were teaching her to bend and back up then Rhoda got on Jury and led Harli around. The colt just followed the entire time.

When Rhoda was done Harli and her colt were taken into a stall so the colt could take a nap. 

Next Rhoda wanted to take Basilea on a trail ride. Zion rode Penny and followed. We took a few pictures for the website. Basilea poses naturally, she has such presence! 

Basilea was great on the creek crossings. She marched right in and was happy to walk in the water.

She really is a nice mare, I can't believe we are selling her.

Berlica is at the Reinhard family camp with her family but when she gets home she will have another mare to ride. Berlica is getting all of the horses beginner ready on trails!

Sarah took the video below of the trail ride.

When we got back Harli's colt was still sleeping.

He needed to have the halter taken off, but Zion walked in right then. The colt was tied up so she could handle him.

He is 19 days old today and it is very good for him to be handled and tied. Below is a video showing how quiet and well behaved he is with both being handled and tied.

After Rhoda hosed Basilea down they decided to stick her so we could have an accurate number. 

She is just shy of 16.2 hands tall.

Once everyone left for home I was able to finish the laundry, finish cleaning all 6 bathrooms, straightening the gym and even finished our laundry and all by 4:00 pm. I came home and had a very late lunch. Mark had already helped himself but then wanted supper at 7:30 pm. We had left over chicken and potato salad and he was happy with that. I worked on rendering the videos and getting them posted on the website. Now I'm ready to head to bed.