Cleaning Day

Today was cleaning day at the barn, getting it ready for the guests coming in tomorrow. Mark had used his floor scrubber on the living area and the gym but that doesn't get close to the walls or in the corners. All of the bathrooms were restocked and cleaned. Mark decided to post his adjustable Jim Boon hoist for sale so I posted it on Facebook market place.

He bought it to put up Joan's solar system and that was the only time he used it so it really is like brand new. It has been stored inside the barn. Once it was posted I had to keep going back to the house to talk to Mark so I could answer the many questions people kept asking. The guests this weekend are coming for an end of life celebration and want to use the big television to play a slide show. I know we did that with mom and Dan had a video playing for Sophia's wedding so I'm sure it can be done.  Joan came over to try and we thought we figured it out. I went to Diane's to pick up the jump drive the mortuary gave us of mom's slide show but couldn't get that to play so now I'm back to square one. Lots of the mowing got done today including the stallion pasture. I'm not sure if the mare pasture was mowed. We needed to leave by 4:00 pm. Israel and Crew's baseball team was playing at Limestone Walters.

It was a beautiful evening for a ball game. In one Inning we saw Israel tag someone out at 3rd base, Crew catch a fly ball that was close to being a home run and then Israel scoop up a ball near 3rd base, throw it like a bullet all the way to 1st base to get out the batter. Their team didn't win but there were some awesome plays. When we got home we noticed the ghost was back on the lake. That ghost had taken the red canoe from Joan's beach and floating in the middle of the lake.

A booking came in for 5 days at the farm house. The repairs are done, now I just need to clean up the mess from the repairs. I'm thankful it is booking. We made the first big payment on Mom's house and next week hope to make the second. I'm hopeful to have it paid for in a year. 

2nd Cutting

 Mark was up at 4:00 am and started the coffee.  I could smell it in my dreams, thought it must be time to get up but when I walked into the kitchen for coffee and saw the time I turned right around and went back to bed for another hour. This morning we had arranged to finish the repair on the farm house toilet and then fix the bi-fold closet doors. Mark went over with the tools but I first went to move bales. The middle paddock was out of hay. As I didn't have any help, the 3 mares in there were moved to the breeding shed paddock. That has a lot of grass, a round bale but didn't have a water tank. Once Jewel, Sally and Missy were moved over I took the tractor over to Mike's to get the 2 bales he brought home. Those were both taken to the middle paddock and put under the pavilion. The water tank was moved from the round pen and brought down to the breeding shed paddock and the water turned on to fill that tank. While it was filling I decided to bring Star and her filly into a stall, put a halter on the filly and give her some tying practice. That did not go as planned. The filly would not follow her mother into the barn. 

She would stand at the door but not step inside. Star was put in a stall and I left the filly to finish the water. That is Sally, Jewel and Missy were inside the barn eating on the hay.

By the time I got back Star was frantically calling while the filly was prancing back and forth but not going in.

The Farmer showed up to cut the hay fields while I was out working with the horses.

Star was taken to the round pen and of course the filly followed then. I took the video below.

I also took a few pictures for the website.

After the video was taken, I wouldn't let the filly nurse instead walked Star right into the stall barn and this time the filly walked right in behind her. She wasn't terrible for haltering and remembered being tied. She stood like a pro for that.

By the time I finished with the horses Mark had the toilet together and was working on the closet door. He needed help with that.

That wasn't easy as we needed to keep taking the door off to adjust the height.

I drove back up to the horses and only then happened to look over at Valiant and Penny's paddock. Penny had pulled the plug on the automatic waterer probably yesterday. The plug was found put back in and Penny moved to the middle paddock.

When that was finished I went back to the house. Mark needed a hair cut before church. I took the golf cart over to check the fields. 

NO rain is predicted so we should get this up dry. It won't be as much as as the first cutting but every bale will be really nutritious and the horses will love it.

We left for church at 6:00 am. Craig Stickling had the message. This was a sad message and lots of us had tears in our eyes before the service was over. Click HERE to watch that. WE went to Culvers with the group for a late supper. Braelyn was here studying her Chemistry when we got home.

Valerie's training

 Valerie was taken for training to Western Hearts. Anna K is doing a wonderful job with her. Below she is training Valerie with her baby in the sling and her toddler playing in the corner of the arena. A true horsewoman always finds a way! IF you click on the picture it will play the video.

Rilla was more than ready to go outside at 5:00 am. While she was out I took the video below of her plump puppies.

These are Cavapoo puppies and owned by Sarah and Nolan of Gardner Lane Puppies. If interested in learning more about them click HERE. 

I left for the Berean office at 7:55 am, stopped at Casey's to pick up a dozen donuts before heading to the Berean office. We didn't have a lot of mail this morning, almost more Bible requests than studies. Once the studies were opened Shirl, Vonnie and Shirley went in the other room to fold studies.

Kathy was answering letters

and Skip had gone to Walmart, picked up alcohol and swabs and was cleaning the rollers on the printer. 

We were finished early and that was a good thing. I drove the outgoing mail to the Hanna City, post office then checked in at home. Rilla had somehow pushed her crate up against the laundry room door and could not get in to nurse her puppies. I'm not sure when it happened, the puppies didn't seem real hungry and after nursing a few minutes Rilla left them to go outside. The puppies formed a pile to stay warm.

The two I make sure have the back nipples are the white and tan puppy and the one with the head on the white and tan puppy. Both of these puppies were smaller than the other 3 when born so I make sure they are the first to nurse. They have plump bellies so I know they are getting enough. I needed to drop off a check at Meisters and on the way home picked up another dog bed so the one they are on could be washed. When I washed it though I didn't realize there was a hole on one side and a lot of stuffing came out. That was gathered up and stuffed back inside. Tomorrow once it is dry I'll sew it shut so that doesn't happen again. We had corn on the cob for our supper tonight along with some fish, salad and half of a peach each. This was our first corn of the fall, it was good but not as good as if we had picked it this morning. This evening we drove the 4 miles to Sarah and Nolan's house to move Bentley and Fiona over into a different run and check on the feeders and waterers. Bentley is the stud dog and he is so handsome. He couldn't wait to greet me.

Fiona, the miniature poodle also in the picture is the next due for puppies. I think she is due early September. Sarah and Nolan have a wonderful set up for their dogs. They also have a lovely home.

It has 3 bedrooms on the main floor an open floor plan, a huge 3 stall garage and a full basement of which half is finished. The house is all brick and very well built. They have 6 acres and a pond too. I'm so thrilled that they live just 4 miles away from us. Someday Zion wants to have her pony at their house.

So someday they will need to build a barn. Right now though it is much easier to just drive the 4 miles and enjoy the horses here. 

Good To Go

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

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

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

Funny how often I run into siblings.

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

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

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

Dew Claw Removal

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

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

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

Accident

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Puppies

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

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

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

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

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

He would graze next to her.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Introducing Merlin

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

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

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

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

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

It fired right up.

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

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