Joan's Miracle

Whisky, the outside mare was checked early this morning to see if she was still in. She wasn't and let Evan know with a scream and a kick when he asked.  A couple pictures were taken of her neck (more on that below) and she was put back in the field. Below she is at the far end grazing. 

I left after our walk for my dentist appointment which had been put off for 3 years. The first year I wasn't able to get the antibiotics needed for the dental work after open heart surgery. The next year and a half was the pandemic problem. Even after 3 years there were no cavities or gum disease. I'm thankful for good teeth. From Dr. Stoller's office in Pekin I drove to the Peoria post office to pick up the Berean mail. I had a call in to Hoerr vet for  an antihistamine shot for the outside mare. On Sunday she came up with what looked like hives. This morning they were much better. Her owner was sent a picture both last night and this morning and she decided she wanted me to have it ready in case it happens again.  After picking up the Berean mail I drove out to Morton, IL to pick up the shot from Hoerr vet clinic. I had just gotten home when Joan arrived to tell me the license plate was missing from the Keystone trailer which had come back from a 2 week vacation for a family of 8 and was leaving today with another family. I had to drive to the bank, get the title out of the safety deposit box but the dmv is closed on Monday. The renter for the Keystone understood and we gave him a temporary plate for his trip. Hopefully I can get a new plate tomorrow.  Poor Joan, the family of 8 did quite a lot of damage on the Keystone. Besides losing the license plate, the worst was they broke a valve for the toilet plus stuffed paper towel in the sewage tank through the toilet. I think they had fun seeing what they could flush down. The 6 children were left in the back of the trailer unsupervised while the parents rode in the truck. They also broke a red ink pen and got red ink on the cushions of the dinette. Later their 2 year old got locked in the trailer so they sent another child up through the storage which can be accessed from under the bunk but when the older child climbed up, he broke the bunk.  The outside shower door lock was broken. Joan had to find the valve, buy lumber, buy washers, find a lock and was able to get everything done before the next people arrived.  It really was a miracle. She was able to get the red ink out of the cushion. The first place she stopped for the toilet valve (this is hard to find and takes weeks to arrive when ordered on line) they first said they were out then found 1. The lumber and washers were easy to find but the lock set was too large, luckily she found exactly what she needed in her garage for that. They were supposed to arrive at 10:45 am but thankfully got delayed and she had everything done by 11:15 am. Mark came home late from work. After supper we went out to the construction site to see the progress on the barn. They had started on the roof and got about a 4th of it covered. 

Mark worked on cleaning up any garbage. 

Below he is heading home to get on his swimming suit for his evening swim in the lake. 

I walked over to visit with mom. Diane, Ruth and Joan came over for games and we visited and played until after 8:00 pm.  I still needed to tease Jewel and got that done before dark. She was still in and covered by Evan at dusk. It was much cooler at that time making it easier to get the job done. The paddocks were checked, they have enough hay for tonight and probably for tomorrow but by evening I will need to move in bales. 

Blessed Funday Sunday.

 Another Sunday. These summer weeks are just flying by. We got up at 5:00 am had a couple cups of coffee then got to work on food prep for tonight's dinner. 7 pounds of chicken breasts were cut up into squares, dribbled with olive oil and sprinkled with parmesan cheese then covered and refridgerated. Next was the cutting up of the green, yellow, red and orange peppers. The peppers got the same treatment as the chicken.  Breakfast was made before heading  out to tease. Whisky is now out.  Joan picked up Mark for church and they went to the early singing. I picked up mom and we got there about 9:40 am.  Mike Kaisner had the first service. Dale and Cindy Endress provided a very nice lunch. Tim Roecker had the second.  David and Stephanie were in Leo church and David had the morning service there. 

 After church the rest of the meal prep started with the roasting of the new potatoes in some garlic, pepper, season salt and olive oil. That was roasted for 30 minutes at 400 degrees then put in the crock pot. The onions were cut up and prepared the same way as the chicken and peppers. Mark was going to start grilling the chicken but ended up working on the Keystone trailer. The people that brought it back yesterday had done some damage and the trailer is going out tomorrow. Instead of waiting for him to grill I just stir fried the chicken and when Mark got back he grilled the vegetables. We had 2 families missing tonight for dinner but still had a house full with Ben and Taunya's family,  Rhoda and Lee's family, Sarah and Nolan's family and Taunya's dad. Dinner turned out very good. We all headed over to the playground after dinner for swimming and volley ball. It was still pretty hot outside and the kids stayed swimming for hours.

The volley ball teams were well matched and fun to watch.

They got so sweaty and sandy by diving for the ball. After the game Samantha was trying to scrape the sand off Tyler with her snow scraper.

The brush part actually worked better.

Faith and two friends came zooming up on the 4 wheeler while eating popsicles to go swimming too.

They joined the group in the lake.

It was getting dark when the kids were called out of the water.

Everyone had a blessed Funday Sunday.

Ripper's new owner send the video below of Ripper's first trail ride with her and his spa day getting his hooves nicely trimmed up.

Really HOT

 Even early this morning we could feel the heat in the air.  I had promised the owner of Madiera's colt a video so went out early to try to beat the heat. Mark was already hard at work weed whacking on the arena.

It wasn't easy to ask the horses to move and take the video but I think his owner will be happy with what was taken. He has really good movement.

Below are a few pictures taken for the website:

They were hosed down and put away.  I quickly made the video and sent it along. Phil dropped off our new airconditioner to be installed later. Braelyn, Taegan and Kensley were with him and they were telling me that Anna fell and broke her head open so deep they could see her brains.  Gertie told me the rest of the story. It was bad but maybe not quite that bad. She was playing outside with Kensley, slipped on the gravel and hit her head on a door knob so hard that there was quite a cut. She went to a prompt care, they sent her to the emergency room where she had a cat scan to make sure the sinus' weren't damaged, glued her shut and sent her home. She is going to have quite a head ache. I left for Aldi in Pekin stopping first at Stock and Field to pick up a bag of cat food. Once home and the groceries put away I headed back out to the barn. Karin was there hosing down Indy and her filly. Below are a few pictures of the filly playing with the tarp. She is so curious.

They were hosed off again before putting back out. By this time it was over 90 degrees. Next out was Rosaleigh and her colt by Evan.

This colt was very curious about the bag and picked it up to show his mama.

IF you would like to see the rest of the foal pictures from today click HERE.

I headed back to the house to get the laundry started. Later this afternoon Indy needed to be hosed off again. She really suffers in this heat.  Jewel and her colt were brought out, teased then Jewel was covered by Evan. They were left in the breeding shed paddock as I needed to finish the potatoes and head over to mom's for dinner. She had invited us, Joan, Faith, Rodney, Ava, Hannah, Jacob and Sarah. Mom served ham, fresh picked green beans, garden salad and zucchini bread. Joan brought newly picked corn on the cob, I brought new potatoes and Sarah brought home baked cake pops for dessert which mom served with ice cream. I took a picture of the meal with my phone but the phone isn't willing to share. After dessert mom was seen with a can of Red Bull. I did not take this picture and not sure how this got shared but if we didn't have the picture would we really have the proof that mom drinks?

The rest of the story is Joan found the can on her counter, asked mom to smell it so it would look like she was drinking. Kind of reminds us what they did to her in Gulf Shores. They found a full bottle of whiskey, when mom was taking a nap in the sand slipped the bottle under her hand and snapped a picture of it.  Those siblings of mine are mean. Why I would never do something like that! A storm moved in while we were visiting with lightning, thunder and rain. That helped cool the air down for the evening. On the way home from mom's Mark was dropped off at the corner then Jewel and her colt were put back with the other mares and foals.  I think Whisky, the outside mare, is now out of season. She is not spending as much time next to Evan. I'll need to make sure of that though tomorrow morning. 

Hadassah's Filly

 We had a good walk this morning with mom doing my place, Diane's and Rachel's before turning around and finishing at her house. Anna and I left at 9:00 am for Nolan's grandfather's visitation. We arrived even before the starting time. I needed to be back before 10:30 am as Ripper was getting picked up today. We made it home before 10:30. Our guests had left so Anna changed then started cleaning. Karin was here and hosing down Indy and her filly before taking them outside. The hosing is because it is so hot out this helps keep them cool. I grabbed the camera to get some updated pictures for her owner. Her owner named her Paloma which means Dove which signifies Christ.

If you would like to see the rest of the pictures of this filly click HERE. About the time Karin finished with her the truck and trailer were here for Ripper. He was hosed down and his mane braided to help him keep cool before loading for the long trip to South Carolina.

He hesitated going in the trailer but Mike showed up about then, walked in the trailer and Ripper jumped in after him.

I headed over to mom's house where Joan had company. They were all enjoying the lake.

I was visiting with mom and Rhonda when my phone went off. It was someone from Alaska wanting to book the barn apartment for 4 days in September. That meant I needed to go home, get on the computer, then on airbnb site and block off those days on the airbnb calendar. They knew about the place from coming out and seeing it a couple years ago. Their grandmother is going to be celebrating her 98th birthday and the family is getting together for that big event.  Hadassah and her filly were taken out, hosed down good then a video and pictures made for the website. Hadassah's foals ALWAYS have great movement and this one does too.

I didn't have anyone to help so the video is short. I took them in the round pen for a few still shots. Check out how high off the ground all 4 hooves are in the picture below. She has springs for legs.

She should end up pitch black, most of her siblings ended up that way with the exception of one. The video and pictures were sent to the South Dakota lady but if she doesn't take her, this 75% Friesian filly is for sale for $5000.00 OR buy her with Hadassah PLUS Hadassah is bred back to Evan confirmed in foal due May 15th, 2022 all for only $7500.00. I'm not nuts, just getting tired and that is the ONLY reason I'm offering a 3/1 package. The outside mare Whisky was covered by Evan.

She won't need to be checked again until Sunday. Jewel is probably in season. She was hanging around Valiant this afternoon and I would have covered her except I have to use Evan with her as Valiant is her half brother and Evan HAD to be used on the outside mare. The builders got a lot done on the barn today.

It is starting to look like a building, not just a building site. Our airbnb guests coming in today sent a message that they will be arriving late so I ran up to the apartment and turned all the lights on for them. The sun is that red ball in the sky again like a couple nights ago.

Mom said it was because of the fires out West. I didn't even know there were fires burning.

Only a Number

 Mom had visitors early this morning making themselves at home on the lily pad swim raft and they weren't human. 

They are welcome to use it BUT some of the geese leave goose poop. This family must have been toilet trained as they didn't leave any this morning. We had a good walk this morning. Mom was able to do one round, Ruth had to quit after the first round as she had to go to work.  Diane, Joan and I did the second, then stopped at the barn to pull Whisky, the outside mare out. The owner told me she doesn't tie so I asked Joan and Diane to help. Joan held Whisky while I brought Evan up. After the cover Diane held Evan and let him graze while Whisky was put away.

We walked Joan home then walked home ourselves.  I was able to finish the paper work for 5 registrations. The pictures of each foal were emailed in then I took the batch to Diane's office for a big envelope, stuck the check in for $345.00.  Each year the cost of registering these foals goes higher and higher. We have not raised our prices on the foals but may need to. I'm just waiting on owners to give me the names so I can send in the next batch. While at Diane's she suggested we balance the check book BUT I had left that at home after writing the check out for the registry. That meant I had to drive home then back. The good news about that is she found I had forgotten to record a deposit so we had an extra $1000.00 that I didn't count on. When I got back the men working on the new barn were hard at work putting up the last of the trusses. The pictures below were after they had left for the day.

Karin and Jackie arranged to meet at mom's at 3:30 pm for a visit and games. Mom was pretty tired after quilting and grocery shopping today but it was still good to be together. After supper Mark went out to the old barn to move our 2 x 10 x 12s out to the building site. These were my dividers for the stalls but I haven't used them for at least 8 years so decided to save money and used them on the new barn up in the attic. The men need something to walk on. Mark moved 16 of them, there are still around 10 left which will be moved over later. Ripper will be leaving us tomorrow afternoon and his Coggins and health papers were on line today so those were printed off, a transfer paper from the IALHA registry was also printed off and the paper work signed. I have everything ready for the owner.  I didn't do a lot of physical labor today but am still tired. Must be my age, although I've been told that is only a number.

2 More in Foal

 Mom couldn't walk this morning, she had a phone virtual doctor visit scheduled for 7:45 am and the doctor called a little early, even before her hair was brushed. Actually she had brushed it but asked Ruth to fix it only Ruth had to leave for school so Ruth asked me and I didn't think it was fixable so took her bun down and was in the process of putting it up when the doctor called. Yep, I was in the dog house for that one. Karin arrived early to clean mom's rugs and couch then take mom to her eye doctor appointment but when they got to the eye center mom found out her appointment was in August not July so instead she visited the glasses department so got an eye exam then ordered some of those really fancy trifocals that get dark when the sun is shining. Between her new glasses, her new hearing aids and her implants (that is dental implants NOT the other kind) she is spending all of our inheritance. We are teasing her about that telling her to go for it as she shouldn't be saving her money for her old age, after all she IS 89. A big crane arrived this morning to start setting the new barn trusses. 

The workers arrived early today to get ready for that and the first one was set after our walk.
 Dr. Hoerr was scheduled to come this morning and I was pleasantly surprised that he was actually GOING to arrive this morning. The vet clinic sent a text at 9:02 am that he was on his way while I was actually getting Indy covered by Evan. As soon as Evan was put away I started bringing in the mares and got them all in only to get the message that he was no longer on the way. Instead of putting them back out I decided to work with the foals. I was working with Madiera's colt when he walked in. We decided to do Hadassah's coggins first then start on the sonnagrams. 

She was checked in foal 3 weeks ago but the buyer wanted to make sure she was still pregnant. She was.

Next was Rosaleigh, she was covered by Evan on June  26th and June 28th.

She was also confirmed in foal and is due June 7th, 2022

My last mare to check was Madiera. She was covered by Valiant the same days as Rosaleigh was covered by Evan. Her colt was very curious about what Dr. Hoerr was doing to his mama.

She also conceived and is also due June 7th, 2022.

We still needed to sonogram Whisky the outside mare to see where she was in her cycle. She had a little edema and a decent size follicle. Just to make sure she actually ovulates this follicle she was given a shot of prostaglandin. She will be ready to cover tomorrow morning. Dr. Hoerr drove his van over to the cabin field to draw blood on Ripper for his coggins. Daniel and Daniella had spent the night at Diane's with their 4 boys and were just loading up getting ready to leave for home after a month long trip visiting friends and relatives. They will be so glad to be home and only have a 7.5 hour trip today. After Dr. Hoerr left I stopped to take a video of one of the trusses going up on the new barn.

I went inside to update the website and a little more paper work. Mark got home early and worked from home until supper which was bbq ribs and salad. We picked up mom for church. David Obergfel had the message tonight. We all stayed extra long visiting and didn't get home until after 9:00 pm.