The Final Day

The big news this morning was the granite counter top was delivered and installed. Now we need to hook up the sink and dishwasher but that must wait for 24 hours. The counter top has a sealer on it and shouldn’t be touched for that length of time.
We had great help today, both with the Bible program and then with the house cleaning. Josh Ginzel came with his grandma, Eva Jean to help with the Bible program. We were able to take hundreds of Bibles to the post office. The rates went up again for them it is now $3.23 to mail out each Bible. Josh had already put the 3 dollar stamps on, we just had to go buy 20 cent stamps and 3 cent stamps. When we showed up at the post office, they were thinking we would be there for hours stamping each Bible but with the great help and organization we were done in 30 minutes and headed back to Meister’s to meet the lunch crowd. Anna and Braelyn joined us at Denny’s. Poor Braelyn had just visited the health department and got all of her shots. She was kind of in a daze the entire lunch. After lunch we drove up to Pleasant home to finish the cleaning job before the big move in date for the Waibels tomorrow and again were shocked to find the Waibels with a big group of people cleaning the house from top to bottom. What a great, no actually wonderful surprise. Mark and I are getting pretty old to keep heading back every night cleaning, for this huge undertaking to be done by so many willing workers we are so very grateful.
We headed to Sams for dog food then Lippmans to look at a sleeper couch. They are the only distributor in the area of this special couch Mark wanted to try out. I must admit it was very comfortable. We did not make a decision on that though, the couches are pretty pricey. Diane gave us some ideas to look at tomorrow. Once back at the office we had a quick cold dinner, no cooking can be done until tomorrow afternoon. We had plans to meet Phil and Anna back at Pleasant Home to do the final finish but Phil called to cancel. He drove to Pleasant Home to find the work crew had grown and the Waibels were almost finished. He drove out here instead and worked on setting up the computers, printers and the phone IF we EVER get cable. I’ll try to call Sue tomorrow to see about at least signing a contract for the farm house. Mark worked on the other closet organizer, now the winter coats can be hung up. He is now working on installing the medicine cabinet. Mike came to help get Eliza covered, SUCCESS! Molly, Kim’s mare is also still in season. I’ll try her tomorrow morning. None of the other mares on the place are in.
Mike and Diane left for Middle Grove to try to get the trailer out. It is stuck in the mud. The tractor tire went flat and everything is now buried in mud. If he does get the trailer out, they are bringing back Sally and Bunni for Karin’s youth group. We will need to take one more load out and bring back Jewel and Mika.

Poor Darcy

Last night it was getting dark by the time I arrived back at the farm. Eliza did not get covered, Mike will help with that this morning. We started to settle in for the night when I realized Darcy was not in the apartment. After searching inside and calling outside, finally went outside to start searching, there she was lying by Rhoda's car patiently waiting for her owner to come. She was ignoring the calls, she WANTS TO GO HOME. She wants to be with her owner. This is just so hard on that big old dog. Today we will try to take her on our walk.

Eliza

Kim's mare was covered again this morning then Raven taken over to tease the others. Eliza is now in season and will be covered tonight. Mom came in to Peoria with me this morning and helped clean the kitchen. We had to leave by 10:45am as the people wanting to see Sanna thought they would arrive by 11:00am. I barely made it back before they pulled up. Funny how long it takes to talk Friesian with people. Once they left it was time to unload the very packed car. Mark headed over to mom's to start her mowing and almost ran her mower into the lake. He came over to grab his mower to help pull it up the hill but before he was back with it, David Sauder had it already up. David started mowing the lower part while Mark worked on the playground area and between the 2 they had it looking very nice in less than 2 hours. Rhoda pulled up with some old friends, Amanda and Kim. They decided to help get Eliza under saddle. Rhoda worked with her a bit but Eliza was a bit worried so they started by ponying her. But soon Kim climbed on and off they went doing the death trails, going through the creeks and cantering. Eliza and Kim did wonderful. Below is Kim Calhoun on Eliza and Amanda Short on Jenis.

I asked them to pose for some pictures.


Aren't they beautiful~and I don't just mean the horses. And off they go.

Eliza was hosed off but Jenis and Cindy wanted to go swimming, the girls could tell so Ylse was also pulled out and out they went into the lake. Below is Kim on Jenis.

Rhoda is on Cindy and Amanda is on Ylse below, they really had fun, it was hot and the water cool. The horses enjoyed this immensely.

We still are not finished at Pleasant Home and it was off to Peoria this evening to bring back 2 more loads, one in Rhoda's car and one in our car. We stopped at McDonalds for dinner as we still have no counter tops, then I took off for Meister Brothers so the pictures could be uploaded and I could check email. At the farm we are pretty isolated, no paper, no television, no Internet. Sure makes us pray we get cable soon!

Neigh

At Pleasant Home if we heard a horse neigh right outside our window we knew a horse was out. This morning just before 5:00am someone neighs loudly, I hurl myself out of bed and rush to the door. Every horse is exactly where he or she belongs. I'm going to HAVE to get use to horses living right outside my window! This day will be quite long, our kids are all meeting at Norris Lake (the Herman's private lake)at 10:00am and I would love to be there but this is just not going to happen. Besides trying to finish up in Peoria, I must be back here at 11:00am to show Sanna and her filly to a couple from Decatur, IL. Hopefully we can finish at home, show her quickly then head out and only be a few hours late. If the day is as nice as the morning is promising it should be a wonderful day of swimming, food, fun, fishing, fellowship, and volley ball.

Peoria Church Blessed

Peoria was truly blessed today. Michelle did a wonderful job leading the singing in the morning, we heard all 4 part harmony and sometimes it seemed like 5 or 6. Tim Funk and David were willing to help her. Bill Schick was our speaker for the morning service. What heartache he has had and still is going through. He shared quite a bit in the service. Willis Ehnley had the afternoon service, he is wonderful to listen to, so much insight in his 80 plus years. Mom took Nancy home from church and was gracious enough to let our dogs out of the office while we stopped in at Pleasant Home to load the car up again. When I drove in at the farm the dogs came running to greet me, when the car door was opened, Darcy threw herself into the car telling me she was READY TO GO HOME! Poor girl, she will figure out this IS her home soon. Mark took off for Lowes for some needed items and also stopped at walmart for a few groceries. Somehow we will figure out how to cook and then clean up with no sink. The barn hydrant actually works pretty well.
Mom came along when it was time to take Nancy back to Morton, IL. We stopped in at the old home place and quickly cleaned out the fridge and freezer loading it into the car.
While feeding Raven this evening I noticed Sanna's filly on the wrong side of the fence. She likes to be with Wynne's filly and somehow these 2 fillies always end up in the same pasture. Jenis was put in the middle paddock and the gate opened between the 2 new pastures. Tomorrow Ribbon and Ylse will also be moved into the middle paddock. We will just keep the 2 mares with foals on one pasture until the other rebounds.
Mark is now working on closet organizers and as soon as possible all the clothes on the bed will be hung up. Hopefully his Sunday suit pants will show up.

First Night at the Farm

Once back we settled the dogs in the second bedroom, made our bed, tried to find a few clothes for the morning and crashed. Later, much later although we don't know the time, we forgot to have any of our phones handy and had no clocks set. Our front door opened and Emma starts to bark. Who ever was coming in to see the place left so quickly they forgot to shut the door and it stayed wide open until we got up at 4:45am. The easiest thing about the morning was walking out the door to feed instead of driving 12 miles. The hardest thing about this morning is trying to find Sunday clothes. The closet organizers are not set up yet and we have no where to hang anything. We also do not have our counter top or sink so no cooking. At least a pot of coffee was started and mom (thank goodness for moms) brought over some cinnamon rolls yesterday. Mark took the first shower, he reported it NEEDS some adjusting. It started out warm then got very cold and finally warmed up a bit. We went with the instantaneous water heater instead of a tank and will need to learn how to use it correctly. It is our turn to pick up Nancy, we will stop for some breakfast on our way over to Morton.
Working with this very slow internet makes us realize we must keep calling the cable company.

What a DAY

Obviously this day started early, by 9:00am the trucks and trailers were here with such a great bunch of helpers. My kids are the BEST! I had to leave at 9:30am to make the 10:00am appointment with Plattner Orthopedic for Raven's knee. Barb and Tony Plattner came out bringing the orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Driessnack with them. He brought along his wife and daughter. Below they are consulting on the best way to help Raven.

If you do not know the story of Raven's knee, he was stepped on by his dam at only 2 days old. This damaged the growth plate causing his leg to bow out and his knee looks terrible.
Raven was wonderful for the appointment standing very still while the negative cast was applied.
. Once this was hardened, Mr. Plattner carefully cut one side then took it off to take back to the office where he will work on building a special knee brace just for Raven. How special is THAT!
The day got even better from there. The kids pulled up with 3 trailer loads and started unloading, placing each piece of furniture where we thought it would fit. Funny but Stephanie came in, rearranged the 2 chairs and now it looks MUCH better. We stopped for Casey's pizza, then the kids went back to the house for more. Karin and mom also headed in to start with the cleaning of the house. Mark helped move 2 round bales in just in time. The people coming from Missouri pulled up with their 3 mares all booked to Raven just about the time the Ohio people pulled in for Dalia. A desperate call to Karin was made, "COME HELP!" she made it within 15 minutes and took care completely of the 2 ladies looking at Dalia. One of the three mares is in season now and was covered. With all the moving mess ALMOST forgot to write down their names.
Mom made a delicious dinner and we were all so tired we sat at the dinner table for over an hour afterward just visiting. Mark and I still needed to make one more trip back to pick up the DOGS and do this updating. We don't yet have cable internet. Sure hope we get hooked up soon, the computers will be moved tomorrow.
GOOD NIGHT ALL!

Get UP?

Do we really need to be up so early? The dogs think we must, of course once they have been outside and back in, they go back to bed. I feel we need another 5 hours of deep sleep to face THIS day and it isn't going to happen. The coffee is almost ready, except when time came to pour a cup I realize the dishwasher was filled last night but we forgot to run it and there are NO CLEAN CUPS. Taunya and Stephanie stopped in with all three grand-babies. Work was stopped to help play with them, always a joy. Rhoda also came over to help, glad to see her, her room needed attention. I wasn't sure what she wanted to save or keep. She has thrown away all of her winnings, all of her ribbons and awards. Sure thought she would keep a few for the memories.

Heathcliff Gone

Heathcliff's new owner left Kansas at 3:00am and made it to the farm by noon. Three guys came and they wanted to see all of the horses. They were most impressed with Raven but aren't we all. The really didn't have the money to buy Dr. Hoerr's filly and Heathcliff, they were impressed with what Raven throws. They own some quarter horse mares and are going to check with their vet on insemination charges. They loaded up Frannie and Heathcliff and left for the long trip home.
This morning on our walk we see Dalia very heavy in season backing into the boy's gate teasing them. Right in front of us, Valiant rears up, hits the electric fence with his hoof and knocks it off and comes very close to being able to cover her through the gate. We yell, Dalia moves away and Valiant tries to jump the gate clearing his front end and hanging his back end up the top of the gate. Mike has to physically lift first one back leg over the gate and then the final leg. Adrenalin is an amazing tool. Dalia was moved into the middle paddock so she cannot tease them. Izadora was also moved into the middle paddock, when we put Heathcliff into the stall she had a fit and wouldn't stop running and calling. Paris is in season and kept bothering Raven and she also was moved into the middle paddock.
Mark took off work and together we started boxing things up for the big move tomorrow. Once the truck was full we stopped boxing and drove to the farm to unload then to mom's for dinner. She fixed a wonderful stew with many good vegetables and tender beef served with a delicious salad and home baked bread. We were given a raspberry dessert left over from her sewing club. Before leaving for home I still needed to find a place for Dr. Hoerr's filly for the night. She was put in the pasture with Wynne and Sanna and the first thing Wynne does is chase her right into Raven's paddock. Poor little thing jumped the fence trying hard to stay away from her. Raven was curious but left her alone until I could get her out. She was then put in a paddock by herself but wasn't happy. Izadora wasn't happy either still looking for her boy, Mark helped move her in with the filly. We watched them for sometime and all is well. Both are glad for the company.
We have Plattner Orthopedic coming tomorrow morning around 10:00am. They are going to scan Raven's knee and see if there is anyway he can wear a brace. I'll need to be sure to take time from the moving to be there to hold Raven still.

Moving Horses & Pictures

Last night all of the family pictures were packed up. The study desk and cupboards were emptied. We are leaving the Waibels a lot of books, books we really enjoyed and are great reading but now have no room for. I will miss our library even though I've read the books some numerous times what will I do when I'm bored? We took a trip to the farm with Mark's truck packed pretty full. I'm always amazed at the difference in opinion on what we each feel we want to take. The pictures are about the only thing we agreed on, that and the kid's baby books. This morning right after the walk the truck will be hooked up to the stock trailer and a trip over to Morton will be done. The man coming today to pick up Heathcliff, Mr. Lara, also wants to look at Dr. Hoerr's black filly. Dr. Hoerr hasn't had time to get her registered so that paper work needs to be printed now and taken along for his signature. Not sure what the buyer's thoughts are, is he just looking or did he want to combine the 8 hour trip and buy both today? Dr. Hoerr will need to send along the paper work for traveling just in case. Mr. Lara, left from Kansas this morning around 3:00am and should be here around noon.
Saturday, that is tomorrow, is the big move, our last day at Pleasant Home! Along with the moving a lady from Ohio is coming to try out Dalia. It is a 6 hour trip for her and she wants to get here early afternoon. Hope Rhoda is off work in time to ride her and just perhaps Karin will come from the camping at Middle Grove to help with a small trail ride.

Groan

It was a cold pouring rain when I arrived at the farm. Dalia was sopping wet out in the field. Rebekah helped move Dalia into the indoor arena while Jenis was locked in a stall to hopefully dry out before the people came that wanted to try out Dalia. We worked a bit on Dalia standing quietly at the mounting block as Rebekah explained Dalia was not good with that yesterday. She is a good mare picking up what was expected pretty quickly. Then it was wait and wait and wait. The customers arrived shortly before noon and by that time Dalia was more than ready to head back with the herd. She needed some convincing that not only was she not going back it was time to work. Well this did NOT go well. The lady is a dressage rider and wanted to take up contact, Karin has Dalia going in a straight bit with no contact. Every time the lady would take up contact Dalia would stop and start to back up. It only got worse from there. We brought Jenis into the arena and tacked her up, then off Rebekah went on Jenis but Dalia wouldn't follow. By this time the rider was nervous and Dalia was feeding off those nerves getting such mixed signals that she refused to go forward. I felt bad about them driving down from Chicago on my recommendation that Dalia was really doing well. It was a waste of over 4 hours for them and a waste of 3 hours for Rebekah and I. We were cold and miserable by the time they left.

Bladder Control

Both dogs were let out last night before we headed upstairs for bed around 9:30pm. Right at 3:00am for the SECOND night in a row Emma asks to go outside. Yesterday Darcy came with us at that time in the morning but today Darcy didn't get out of bed and I thought, "let the old dog sleep, it's so hard for her to do the stairs." That was a mistake. Emma was pretty desperate to go out, ran down the stairs and waited at the door. I'm trying to figure out why she is needing to go outside when I remembered, she is 28 days along, I bet those puppies are pushing on her bladder. Now 28 days doesn't sound like much but the entire gestation is ONLY 63 days and Emma is already showing, either that or she is putting on weight. She can't figure out either why she has no bladder control and needs to get up during the night. Having 5 kids, how well I remember those nights. Emma comes running back in and up the stairs we go. Bed felt so warm, soft and comfortable when Darcy comes in asking to go out. That was 2 trips down the stairs between 3:00am and 3:30am. The second time back in bed snuggling up to Mark's warm body with my frozen feet caused him to wake and he wants to start talking moving strategies. By 4:15am coffee was calling, that or Aleve, not sure what was needed more. Yesterday Philip came over for lunch and reminded us that after Saturday all the moving stress will be over. Ground beef was thrown in a pan for browning for a quick taco lunch, when done the grease drained into a cup. This morning the cup was placed in the microwave to warm the grease up to pour some on the dog's food as a special treat. The next thing we heard was "BANG" the microwave caused the grease to explode. So instead of sitting with the Good Book enjoying a nice cup of coffee in the quietness of the morning I'm trying to clean the inside of a grease covered microwave.

Wednesday Night Church

Amy Koch's birthday is today and I was pleased when she stopped in. We were visiting in the playroom when huge storm rolled in, the wind was beating against the windows ferociously with lashing rain, leaves, stems and other debris. We moved into the living room away from the windows when we heard a crash upstairs. Both of us ran up the stairs to see what had happened. Rhoda's window was open and the wind knocked a big mirror off her wall. Thankfully it did not break. Amy left so I could get ready to go to church, I usually leave right at 6:30pm but tonight I was a few minutes late. The phone rang at 6:34pm, the decision was made to ignore the call, because for sure I would be late if the phone was answered. The drive went quickly, hitting almost all the lights green I pulled in at the church parking lot at 6:48pm and people are driving AWAY. Mark Kieser let me know the church lost all of it's electricity and church was cancelled. Next time I will take the TIME to answer the phone.

Heavy Rains

The rain started early by 7:00am it was still very dark with rain coming down in sheets so thick one could hardly see the barn from the windows. This meant no walk today, no hurry to get out the door. The morning was spent emptying the bedding wall closets in the upstairs hallway. There are 3 electric blankets and 1 electric mattress pad that are being washed today and will move with us. There were also sheets that can be used to cover furniture stored in the garage area of the barn until the farm house is ready for us. The other items I am washing are the baby quilts and blankets. They were made for my boys when they were born and have been in storage for 30 plus years. One quilt was hand stitched by Emma Lehman 33 years ago.
The snow cone machine and all of the syrup was delivered to Pleasant Hill School. They are going to give each student a free snow cone tomorrow.
Mark helped load the bulky machine into the car. He needs some credit card applications to be run which meant a trip down to Meisters after the trip to Pleasant Hill.
Becky Schaer is in town from California and is coming for lunch today. Taco meat is now simmering on the stove and all the supplies to build them are ready to go.
Now someone made a very disparaging remark about Lily, they commented in her big belly. Lily is our miracle mare. She came down with EPM when she was only 8 months old and had to spend 10 days in the hospital at UofI. Her prognosis was terrible, she could hardly walk without stumbling. Amazingly she recovered completely from EPM. Then just 3 short weeks after giving birth to Ciera Lily colicked and had to have colic surgery again at UofI. Then she became allergic to the stitches in her abdominal wall causing a hernia. She was pregnant with Ayanna and the vets at UofI were sure she would lose the pregnancy due to the stress of the surgery. When it was obvious she kept the pregnancy we were concerned with her giving birth with a hernia. WELL, Ayanna was born with no problem and so fantastic Lily was bred back to RAVEN where she conceived again on only one cover and delivered another fantastic filly this year. Lily has now had 3 boys and 3 girls, she is our best brood mare and actually a decent riding mare also. She is used for youth groups and camps. After one youth group riding session the little girl on Lily asked for a lock of her mane. Above Lily is pictured with Ayanna when Ayanna was just one day old.

Stormy Work

Phil and Anna dropped off Braelyn for me to play with while they worked on cleaning up the shop. Mark took a load of chairs out to the farm. Steven and Mike are working on electrifying the boy's paddock. A storm blew in scaring Eliza and Airiah, they ran through their paddock gate bending the eye hook completely out of the wood and off they ran. Steven had to round them up, they are now in with Cindy in the middle paddock. He thinks the wind blowing the tin roof scared the poor mares. The others are all hunkered down with their tails tucked rear ends to the wind. I sure appreciate all the hard work Mike and Steven are doing, putting in 2 new pastures and making sure the boys have a paddock they cannot escape from.
It was a busy productive, great day and bed will feel wonderful!

Wynne In Foal

After work it was rush home for the truck, rush to the farm to hook up the trailer and load Frannie for a new coggins, Heathcliff for health papers and Wynne and her filly for the sonagram to confirm pregnancy. We are so pleased that she was confirmed in foal. She is leaving for her new home on June 10th. Izadora was so upset to see her colt leave. Heathcliff has been weaned for at least a month, but once he was taken out to Middle Grove Izadora started mothering him again, she just won't let him out of her sight. The entire time we were at the vet clinic she must have run and called. She was dripping wet when we arrived.
The flooring did get delivered just as they said but when Greg Reed started installing it, he found at least 3 boxes that must go back, it looks like they were dropped and the corners are all smashed in. Hope Lowe's has enough in stock to replace the damaged boxes. About half of the main area is now done.

Critters

The new pasture did not have the 6 horses in it when Steven left last night, there were 10 in there this morning. Somehow Wynne and her filly found a way in the new pasture and both boys. The back gate was opened and all 10 horses came running into the boy's paddocks. It was not too hard of a job to put them all back where they belonged. Izadora may be coming into season. She was the only mare that allowed the boys to get near her, the rest were not nice to them. That is actually a great tool for teaching young stallions manners.
The boys are now locked together in a stall and when I left Mike was working on cleaning the paddocks. He is hoping by tonight all the electric will be finished.
Our talk this morning was kind of funny, we were talking about critters how Rachel's camper had no mice damage at all and Diane's shed had something big rustling around, so big she didn't WANT to know what was in there. We were teasing Rachel that no mice came in her camper because they thought they were probably more protected outside than in her bargain camper.
We were just finishing the last loop when Rhonda drove by and told Diane about the dumpster diving. She saw chairs in the dumpster and asked Spark to get them. Diane had not actually thrown them away, just placed them near the dumpster in case anyone would want them. Someone else came by and put them in the dumpster. Rhonda saw them, wanted them and made Spark get them, a first for him!

Lily and her Daughters

This morning all of the good china and crystal goblets were carefully packed up into boxes. Philip came home for lunch and helped carry the very heavy boxes out to the car. They are now out at the farm in the office.
We needed to take a trip out to Middle Grove to pick up Dalia and Heathcliff. Lily came running up to the gate with all 3 of her daughters. Steven wanted a family picture taken so below is Lily and her 3 daughters.

Once Steven took Lily's halter off, she took off running down the hill and jumps into the lake taking the entire herd with her. We snapped some pictures of the Bonnie the driving pony for the website. Frannie needed to come back to the Hanna City farm, the man buying Heathcliff wants to look at her also. Dalia also needed to come because a lady is coming to see her on Thursday. Izadora has put on enough weight she can now be bred to Raven so she and Heathcliff were loaded up also.
Once back a few pictures were snapped of Frannie as we have none of her. She is almost all the way shed out and has also put on weight.
Grocery shopping had to be done if anyone in the house wanted dinner tonight. Aldi's was visited and when trying to load the groceries into the car a huge fight broke out between some young women perhaps in their late 20s. They used the most horrendous language. One of the other customers ran inside to tell the security guard. Shame on them!!! to use such language and there were children present. What is this world coming to?
Mark has a home board meeting tonight and they always feed the board members so it is a night with no cooking for me, hooray. He came home with GREAT news. The flooring is going to be at the Horsemeister office tomorrow and Greg Reed will be on hand to start laying it. This move IS going to happen we were just hoping it would happen AFTER the floor was laid.

Samantha's 2011 Filly by RAVEN

Kathy, Samantha's owner sent these pictures of her adorable new filly born May 20th, 2011. We so much appreciate pictures of Raven's offspring. Keep them coming people!


Samantha is 22 years old, she is in amazing shape and is an amazing mother. Her filly is just a perfect purebred Friesian filly.

Free Horse

This was an email from Pam:
My neighbor, Jenny Gallup, just called. Her daughter has decided she is too busy with other activities to keep her horse. They are looking for someone to give this horse to...free. They do have some tack for sale also.
Jumper is a 19 y/o thoroughbred gelding. He is a hunter/jumper by training. She said he is a great jumper and knows his job well. He was used as a trail horse at the Rocking C also, and leased by Pony Club people. He is 16.2 hands, and boards in rural Princeville. Contact Jenny Gallup 309-253-3386. Please forward to anyone you think may be interested. Thanks!

Jumping Jenis

I arrive at the farm to see Jenis in with Raven. Why she wanted in with him is a mystery. She was taken out and put back in the pasture and Airiah was brought over to tease, before she was even around the corner Jenis had jumped back in with Raven. Now Rhoda thought Jenis couldn't jump, she is showing us when she wants to she can, so we may as well get her going over cross rails. Jenis was removed again and put in with Cindy. Mike helped move in a round bale for them.
Airiah and Eliza were moved back into the paddock and also given a round bale. They are bonded with each other even though they came from 2 different farms they traveled together making them best friends. This makes it hard to get one out of the pasture without the other one trying to come to. Today moving Eliza out, Airiah came bursting through the gate determined not to be left in the pasture with Ribbon, Ylse and Paris. The movement on her was jaw dropping. I've GOT to get a video made of both of these mares. When I saw how high Airiah got off the ground and the seconds that went by with each foot fall I knew we had something special.
We had another uplifting walk talking over the blessed day we had in church yesterday and remarking again on Tim's sermon.
Dr. Hoerr's office was called to schedule a sonagram for Wynne, they want her at their office in Morton, IL at 2:00pm, very doable. If we bring in Heathcliff and Dalia today, Heathcliff can go along for his health papers tomorrow.
One other thing that should be done today is to drop off the ruined trailer tire at Riekers and bring back a new one. Now how to fit that in?

Lists of Trips

The man buying Heathcliff, Izadora's 2010 colt called, they are coming Saturday to pick him up. There is a lady that is coming on Thursday to try out Dalia, both of these horses must be brought in from Middle Grove. Rebekah has offered to ride Dalia first for her then take the couple coming on a trail ride meaning Bunnie should be brought back also.
Wynne is due for a sonagram, Hoerr vet clinic will be called today to schedule, this works out well as Heathcliff needs traveling papers. We can get both done with one trip.
The dining room cabinets will be emptied and packed up today. All of my good china, crystal goblets and serving dishes need to be protected before the move.
The bedding left at the horsemeister office was all brought in for washing.
So looking over the lists I must get done today makes me feel like heading back to bed.

Wonderful Sunday

We arrived by 9:23am and already the room was filling with people all ready to Worship our Lord through singing. Tim Funk helped Michelle lead the songs. Craig Stickling had the morning service, he shared a bit from last night, honestly we all felt he sat down to quickly but the morning service wasn't over by a long shot. The group that sang at the jail this morning blessed us with 3 songs, the harmony was beautiful, but... the best was yet to come. If you weren't in Peoria for the 2nd service you REALLY MISSED a blessing!
The afternoon started with singing, the church was full of beautiful voices raised in worship. Nothing can compare with voices singing in beautiful harmony and volume praising the Lord. When All Hail the Power was sung the sound FILLED the church to the rafters. Tim Funk had the afternoon service. I strongly URGE everyone who missed this message to get on line and LISTEN to it as soon as it is uploaded. He opened to Numbers where Korah would not submit to Moses and Aaron and how God told Moses to GET OUT OF THE WAY so He could destroy them. Moses fell on his face pleading with God not to do this. So how does God feel about us not submitting to our Elder? Kind of scary to realize how angry God was, He put Moses in charge and Korah felt Moses had no right to tell him what to do.
After church David, Stef, and Rhoda helped Mark and I move everything out of the Horsemeister office to prepare for the flooring which is to come in on Tuesday. The afternoon was hot and muggy, thankfully the job took less than an hour and it was over to moms to wait for the enough family to show up to play volleyball. While waiting we heard of Spark's (or should we say Rocky) incident at the jail last Sunday. Before the church service started 2 of the inmates started fighting, Spark went over, got between them and told them to stop as THIS IS CHURCH! They didn't, he put his arms around both and took them to the floor and somehow Spark ended up on top. He hand got stomped and he ended up with a few bruises from the fight before the guards came running in to stop it. Then to top it all off, Wednesday he was walking at the car auction and got hit by a car while talking on his phone. He said 2 Mexican men were yelling at him but in Spanish and he didn't know they were warning him about the driver of the car not able to see Spark. It hit him in the back of the legs knocking him onto the car and in all of this he didn't lose his phone. Finally enough family showed up to play volley ball. The second game got rained out leaving time for dinner to be purchased from Gills and brought to mom's. We had hot fried chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, green beans and corn fritters, all delicious.

Another Purebred Filly by RAVEN

Judy you will never believe what Don found Thurs. morning as he was getting in his truck to go to work. A brand new baby Filly staring at him through the gate.
Evidently Don and I missed the due date by a month. We thought Zephyr was due at the end of June.
She is a good mom, very willing to nurse the baby, but I think she was so engorged with milk, every time the little one would get close to her side, Zephyr turned on the continuous steady stream of milk and Poor little one got a dose of it everywhere and just gave up. It was a few hours before she ate, as Daddy Don had to milk Zephyr and we bottle fed the baby every 2 hours for the first 24 hours. Baby is doing fine now, blood work was over 800 in the IGA?s and she is now running around in the front when we let them out. She is unbelievably cute. And soo friendly nothing like what Buddy was and Mom is super friendly also, don’t care if you pet the baby or anything.
Thank you for Ravens part.
Come by and see her when you can
Pat and Don.
Thanks for the update Pat, I'll find the time to come see her and BRING my camera!

Glorious

What a glorious morning. The rain moved in early before 5:00am and what a delight to lie in bed listening to the wind and raindrops spattering on the window. By 6:30am the sun was out making everything sparkle like diamonds.
At the farm the mares are all standing in the shade by Raven's paddock and of course he is a close to them as he can be. Sanna and Wynne were grained and fly sprayed. Mike was fixing one of the downed boards on the breeding shed paddock.
The girls have left for the jail, it is wonderful to see them willing to give up their precious sleep to give back to those less fortunate.
There is nothing better than Sunday morning. The anticipation of church is about as wonderful as going and today will be better than usual. We are starting a praise and worship down in the Sunday school at 9:30am. Michelle, Beth's daughter has agreed to lead the singing.
Mark was going through his file cabinets getting ready for the big move next weekend and found this picture of dad reading the Christmas story taken years ago. Spark has taken over that job for the family since dad died. Interesting how the Bible is bathed in light.

I'm heading up to take one of the few remaining showers with our GREAT water pressure here at Pleasant Home. Truly this will be probably the most missed part of leaving here. The water pressure of the farm is not good. Each morning another part of the reality of moving hits.
Now for some levity, Ben took this and posted it.

I laughed SO hard.

The Attic

Mark and I tackled the attic this morning starting early before the house heated up in the predicted 80 degree weather. We are filthy and tired but pleased with our effort. We moved 4 truckloads out, some to the South Side Mission, some to the dumpster and some to the farm. There is still all the boy's snowboarding equipment and a few things the girls need to go through. We found some treasures and some of the why is this up here stuff. We found a hand built wooden tricycle from when mom was a 2 year old, 2 bags full of halloween costumes were hauled out to let the nieces go through for kids and my SKIS and poles I purchased with my own money when I was sixteen. The ski boots shattered into thousands of pieces. We will wait to move the furniture when we have help but what a great start was made today.
TSC was next on the list, Mike bought 5 farm gates, the expensive big red ones so we can finish the pasture. Mark and I picked up 4 bags of grain, hauled 2 bags to the cabin, fed Sanna and Wynne, and fly sprayed them down well. Both babies stood well for the fly spray. Sanna was still in and covered. When Sanna was walking back to the cabin a HUGE black snake was lying across the road with her head up watching us. I didn't want Sanna to step on her and had to take the long way to the field. Sanna was more concerned about her filly which had been left in the cabin field with Kenzie and was fine with that. The 2 new mares were taken out one at a time and led over to Raven but neither are interested. Both of them were also fly sprayed down.
Steven Marchal showed up to help Mike hang gates and moved Raven into the pasture for some grazing time. Raven loves to be out on pasture.

Cindy's Joy

Cindy's filly by RAVEN was named Joy by Ruth and Rebekah and a true Joy she was. Joy was sold to a very nice lady on the east coast who renamed her Apelles. She put Apelles into training with a young man and this is what he states: We cannot express to you enough how WONDERFUL this young mare is! She is the COMPLETE PACKAGE! You will be hard pressed to find a kinder eye, sweeter disposition or willing learner anywhere! Apelles is very well started...she is solid w/t/c with leads and some lateral movements, is soft and responsive to aids, just being easily started o/f and is very willing. Excellent ground manners, is not marish and likes attention! Truly a barn favorite to have around! Apelles will excel at hunter/jumper, dressage, pony club or driving for CDE! She is as sound as they come and has good solid dark hooves with great bone structure. Stands at 14 hh and 1/2" tall so just shy of 14.1hh and cards as a large pony.
Her video is below:

It is SO wonderful for updates on Raven sons or daughters. Cindy has been bred back to RAVEN and will be sonagramed at a later day to confirm pregnancy. The foal only will be for sale, after looking at the video of the FULL sister to this expected foal, I can hardly wait to see this baby next spring.

Morning with the Mares

Anxiously I arrive hoping both new mares have figured out the automatic waterer and both are looking well. They were both introduced to Raven today but neither are interested. Cindy was covered but is probably going out. It took her a while to show and she didn't stand well at the end. The morning was a bit hectic, now it's time to start cleaning the house, Jack and Addyson are coming. YEAH!
Then to make the day EVEN better, Kathy, the lady that bought Samantha from us emailed her good news:
Judy,
Samantha brought a nice little filly into the world at 12:36 am this morning. Both are doing well. I will get some photos to you when the weather clears. It's pouring rain right now. The weather here has been warm but real wet.
Kathy
We can't wait to see pictures of this little purebred Friesian filly. Samantha has just perfect conformation and is blue black, this filly will be spectacular!
The video of the Horsemeister herd at Middle Grove was reworked to make it a bit easier to watch, not so jerky. The old one will be removed.

Sarah Koch Hooley's Blaze Story

My Blaze Story...
By the time I got to ride Blaze, he was an old pony. The old babysitter pony is what my mom called him. He was a free range pony out at the lake and he loved to swim. All horse crazy girls like to swim with their ponies or any pony they can coax into the water. You didn't have to coax Blaze at all. We always hopped on bareback in our swimsuits and he would willing walk into the water. There is nothing like the sensation of feeling your pony's hooves leave the sandy bottom and start to swim. Sometimes Blaze would swim and sometimes he would just keep walking. As the water crept higher and higher, he would squeeze his nostrils shut tightly, then his eyes and walk until you could just see his ears and the top of his head. Such a crazy pony!

Thank you Sarah for sending along your Blaze story. This pony lives on in our memories and we love hearing about Blaze.

Made it

Below is our new purebred Friesian mare Elizabeth. She is FHANA registered, 10 years old, 16.1 hands very black and very baroque! She has never been bred and is only green broke to ride. She and Raven will be a WONDERFUL match. TALL, DARK and SO BEAUTIFUL!
We will get better pictures later, she is not butt high like this picture shows.
The mare below is ONLY 3 years old. She sticks at 15.2 and a half at only 3 meaning she will mature to well above 16 hands. She is ready to be trained under saddle, has a mega thick long tail, feather starting at the back of the knee, has a wonderful disposition and she also will be bred to RAVEN as soon as she comes in season.

We are so blessed to ad both of these mares to our Horsemeister herd.
Now for the rest of the day. We actually made it to Rochester, MN just a few minutes after noon. Elizabeth was loaded first then Airiah and off we started. Steven called around 3:00pm that when he reached the farm he found the mares all in the pastures together but Valiant half in and half out waiting patiently to be rescued. Steven was able to rescue him but Evan broke 2 boards and ran in with the mares. Steven was kicked in the arm during the process of removing him, not good as he was the only one around. Steven called to report he did not think it was broken but bruised pretty well. The electric fence was not working on the boys paddock and Steven put the boys in the stalls to work on that. When he was ready to bring the boys back, he found that Evan had destroyed one of the door panels. That really isn't a big deal, we will just remove the bent one and put on another but we were thankful Evan didn't get hurt. STALLIONS! Always causing trouble one way or another.
The trip was going along smoothly, we had pulled off the 74 interstate at the Brimfield exit only 7 minutes from the farm and had a blow out on the back left trailer tire. I jumped out all prepared to change the tire with the spare except the tire iron did not fit one of the lugnuts holding the spare in place. The truck was torn apart looking for a tool to help with this but we just didn't have anything that fit. EVERYbody and I mean everybody in the family nearby was called and NO ONE WAS HOME. Mark was out walking the dog, Rachel in Champaign, Mike and Diane in St. Louis, Spark didn't answer, Rhonda's phone was off, Fedi is in Romania but finally mom answered. Mark got back to the house, called to ask again where we were when Ryan and Nolan Streitmatter drove up and changed the tire for us.
When I asked their names and they told us, I asked,"are you AC?" YEP what a small world and how thankful Rhoda and I were to be able to finish this long day with some great help. Ryan and Nolan are from Eureka, their dad is Wayne, I'll have to see if we are related.
We finally arrived back at the farm and unloaded our 2 new beauties. We were too tired to introduce them to Raven and just settled them in for the night. THANK YOU FATHER FOR KEEPING US SAFE!

Cash

Yesterday cash was removed from the bank for the purchase of the 2 mares we are driving up to Rochester, MN to pick up today. Not a little bit of cash we are talking more cash than I've seen in a long time. It was hidden in my purse and my purse kept close all day. Then last night the purse was taken up into our bedroom and hidden under an end table just in case. Of course this morning I forgot where it was and a bit of panic crept in.
What this taught me is: I never want my treasure to be in cash, the worry about where is it and is someone trying to take it bothered me. Our treasure should be in heaven where no thief can steal and rust and moth cannot corrupt.
The phone numbers are in hand the address is printed along with the directions, a GPS is in the truck ready, the only thing left is to wake my 2 travel companions, Rhoda & Darcy and head out.

Travel Preparations

Work went great, Bibles were delivered to the AC home along with all the supplies to wrap them and the wrapped Bibles were brought back to the warehouse. The new study requests were all typed in and the Bible requests put in order for entering on Friday. The last job down at the warehouse was to type up the certificate of completion group of which there were over 60 that have finished all 50 lessons.
Steven picked me up right after lunch for the trip to Middle Grove. We stuffed 7 horses in the 4 horse trailer for this trip. Mike and Diane showed up before we pulled away and noticed a low trailer tire. All the tires were then checked and filled. The video below was taken out at the farm. The horses were having such a great time galloping around it was hard to focus on any group. The video is NOT very good but shows how nicely the horses are looking. We have 17 horses out there right now.

We left Raven in one of the new pastures and he loved being in the knee deep lush grass for the 2 hours we were gone.

Once back at the farm, Sanna was covered, then she and Wynne put in the new pasture behind Raven's paddock while Jenis and Ylse were put in the pasture behind the boys paddock. They were so happy to get back out on the grass.
The trailer was taken back to Bridlewood and cleaned out for our trip tomorrow. Rhoda and I are going to Rochester, MN to pick up 2 Friesian mares. We are leaving at 6:00am and will be praying for good roads and good weather.

Repaired Car

This morning Emma and Darcy were able to come to the farm, the car is FIXED! What a privilege to be able to drive my own car again. The repair is actually kind of funny. Mark bought a bunch of bungee cords to bungee the loose parts together. I felt that duct tape would be a better look driving down the highway except the only duct tape on hand was bright blue and our car is gray. Before we had a chance to buy gray duct tape, Gary Byerline called to say he was back in town and would be glad to take a look at the car. He sewed all the parts together with some of those little plastic ties then took it out for a spin and the sound of thump thump thump was just as bad as before. Back to the shop he starts going over the tires and finds the lug nuts on one of the tires were all loose except one. The guy that took the snow tires off and put on the regular tires got interrupted and forgot he hadn't finished the job. The best part about all of this is the car got sewn back together and I don't have to drive a car all bungee corded together to church. I thought that might look kind of funny. Gary gave us a bill for $7.80. Mark paid that plus a pretty good tip!
At the farm the mares were all in the new pasture and it looks wonderful. Cindy is still in and covered. It has been 19 days for Lily today and she was not interested meaning she is probably pregnant. I hate to waste money on an ultrasound for her, she is so very fertile.
We had a very uplifting walk today.

New Pastures

Tyler Joos came today and trimmed Raven, Ylse, Jenis, Sanna, Wynne and pulled the shoes off Mindy and Bonnie. Steven and Mike finished the pasture behind Raven's paddock. Steven let Raven have first go, he was so glad for the good green grass. He then let Lily, Sangra, Wynne and their foals out on the new pasture for the night. Sanna was covered tonight and was marked down.
Rhoda took out DaMita again today and a bit more video was taken, then rendered and placed on youtube. Don't yell at her for not having a helmet, her's has disappeared! She told me when she was going to jump for the video, "hey, I'm willing to take the chance!" As a mom, I guess I'm not, we'd better start looking to purchase another helmet if she is going to be showing this mare.

Fighting Friesian Stallions

The boys were playing today, really showing off for the girls in the next field. Of course the girls could care less about them, they were just glad for the good green grass.
Sanna was brought back from the cabin but not covered. She is still in but Frannie was going out and needed to be covered before her trip to Middle Grove. She stood until the end but kicked out when he was done so she will be considered done.
Sanna hopefully will be covered this afternoon. Raven has been so busy lately.
Time to head down to work.

Mindy

Above is the little 2 year old paint pony named Mindy we purchased on Saturday. She is technically not even 2 years old and we wanted to see just how well trained she was before taking her to Middle Grove to grow up. We were shocked at how well this pony did. She trots right off away from the other horses and actually never put a foot wrong. This afternoon Tyler Joos our farrier is coming to pull her shoes. We do not feel a youngster her age should be wearing shoes OR working. She really is a cute little thing right at 12 hands at 2, when grown she should end up near 13 hands and be a perfect replacement for Duke.
When we were getting ready to leave for the evening, Rhoda was in the car, Mark standing next to her car and Sanna comes over for a visit.
I had to take a few pictures of her filly. She is really beautiful and loves to show off.

Sanna will be covered this morning and if Frannie is still in she will be covered tonight.

Cindy IN

Cindy was in tonight when we arrived at the farm to try the 2 ponies out for the first time. While Rhoda hooked up the bay pony, Cindy was taken over to Raven and covered. The bay pony's name on the coggins is Bonnie. We have already had a Bonnie and would like to change her name. She is a very flashy driving machine with great knee action. A video was made actually TWICE and both times youtube disabled the audio. Finally got this one to work.

Rhoda had tied the little paint pony to the trailer while we were taping. She was brought out for pictures than a video taken of her. She was also wonderful at driving. She is young though so will be taken out to Middle Grove to grow up a bit. Both Rhoda and I were very pleased. Her video was also uploaded then taken back off as the audio was disabled on hers also. What a pain! Her second video was just done without music, at least we can show how nicely she drives. It will be uploaded tomorrow morning.
At least we got some still shots of her. She is such a pretty pony.


Steven showed up to help Mike work on fencing while we were playing with the ponies. So thankful to have good help!

Email from Kim

Hello Judy!
Sorry it's been so long since I've contacted you. I have been meaning to send pictures of Java; but, I've been waiting for her to shed out complete before doing that and we've been so busy. She is so sweet! I won't put her out with any of our butt-heads. She has been with our 2 year old as long as they're not in a small area....then I just put her in with our donkey. They stand there and eat hay cheek to cheek...it's so cute!
I can haul my 3 mares over to your place to be bred on the 28th of May. All of the mares are coming into heat at the very end/very beginning of the month. I have to tell you how excited I am about this. If the babies from these mares have half the personality, logic and kindness that Java does I will be very happy! I can't believe I have dealt with any other breed before this!
Java is Walker Sally's last year filly pictured below. I'd love to see new pictures of this pretty filly. Her full sister turned out magnificent.

Isn't it so nice to hear how every body that has a Raven foal ends up thinking Why did we put up with any other breed?

Night of Worshiop

Short videos of the Night of Worship at the Old School Center in Farmington, IL on May 15th, 2011. Please forgive the extreme background noise. Next N.O.W. we will be better prepared for crowd control. Below is Rachel Sauder and her daughter Jessica singing a duet.

Below is a short excerpt of the speaker that night.

The video below is of the love skit performed.

The final video was of David and Caleb Sauder's band performing one of their numbers.

Sanna Dilemma

After the talk last night I was determined to do as the speaker said and get up a lot earlier go to a secret (quiet) place and spend time with the Lord. The dogs made sure I was up early, but they didn't hit the target of 4:30am instead of 5:00am just a bit late. The problem with this is more time must be spent in prayer than reading as the eyes are too blurry to focus until after the first cup of coffee is consumed and by that time the household starts to wake. Perhaps a better way would be still get up at 5:00am but instead of starting business, go straight to the secret place.
Sanna is looking great, she is keeping her weight up even nursing her big filly and the swelling on her leg is gone now Mike wants to keep her. The problem with having partners that get attached to the inventory is it makes it hard to run the business profitably. He is right in the fact she can easily have another foal. Her current filly is exquisite and easily worth $8000.00, why should we sell her in foal with the filly by her side for $12,000.00? The reason I feel she should be sold is she should have more individual attention next winter. Not turned out with a herd and not put in a boarding situation unless the boarder knows she will get enough to eat. Sanna will not fight for food. She must be given time by her self to eat. The best place for Sanna would be with hay in front of her at all times, like a good quality round bale and only 1 companion. Sanna actually enjoys coming into the stall when the sun is hot. So it comes down to we will be very picky about who buys her, if we feel it is not the right place she will stay with us. Steven told us last year, Sanna is going to be a Horsemeister lifer. He may be right.
I'm going to ask Rhoda to help with a new video of Sanna and her filly and get some better pictures on Friday, Rhoda's next day off.

N. O. W.

The N stood for night the O stood for of and the W. stood for worship and what an evening it was. The Old School Center was a popular place tonight in Farmington, IL where this first night of worship was held. The talent was way better than expected, hmmmm I wonder if the Spirit had something to do with that? The speaker great, he had everyone's attention and kept it, forcing the audience to think and participate.
The popcorn machine was in constant use, almost not able to keep up with the demand. Rachel supplied the bottled water soda and tea and by the end of the evening most of the water was gone, all of the tea and about half of the soda. There was plenty of candy and snacks and more than enough hot dogs for who ever needed a bit more substance. Mark had to put more chairs out so the crowd was larger than expected. What a great evening. I felt the high light was Dusty Funk playing the piano and singing. I've never heard a better tenor voice and his accompaniment with the piano was awe inspiring. That boy is better than pro and really should put out a CD, I know I would buy one.

Blessed Fellowship

How thankful we can be to hear the Truth and for the fellowship of our church family. Today we had a Paul Messner from MN come speak to our graduates for the morning service. He was filled with the Spirit and spoke the truth.
At lunch today I tried hard to keep my eyes from searching for the missing. It is just too hard on the heart, keeping my eyes wet with tears. Dave Obergfel had the afternoon service and read from 2 Timothy chapter 2 starting at verse 4. Who will have ALL men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for ALL, to be testified in due time. Dave spoke of our Lord who so loves everyone that He left the riches and wonders of heaven to sacrifice His perfect blood for our sins. God doesn't want any to be lost and yet those whose hearts are hardened, will not repent and be converted, will be lost to eternal damnation. Dave asked us to stand and sing Holy Holy Holy and the second reading he read from Revelations 4 explaining how the song came directly from that chapter. It seemed way too soon when he stepped down.
Time to leave for the night of worship at the Old School Center.

Worship and Praise

Tonight is the Night of Worship at the Old School Center from 6:00pm to 10:00pm. EVERYBODY is invited.
For those who have a heart for WORSHIP & want to hear some great local bands/individuals perform & join together to sing praises to JESUS!
Invite your friends & families, ALL are welcome!
(This is a FREE event w/FREE CONCESSIONS, however a FREE will offering will be accepted at the door to cover the costs of all the free stuff;) Hope to see you there!
Mark and I will be there helping with concessions. This is actually a great way to hear some of the Christian bands and singers in our area. I heard from Rachel that she has a really nice line up of groups to sing and an amazing speaker. One who speaks from the heart.
This is the first time the Old School Center has held this Night of Worship and the organizers are praying it will be the first of MANY. Emails were sent out to all who said they were coming to pray that it will not be the singers and players who are glorified but ALL Praise and ALL Glory would go to Jesus the Lamb who was slain, the Lion of Judah, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the Son of God, the King of kings, Lord of lords He is Everything, the second Person in the trinity, the Messiah, Jehovah, The GREAT I AM, seed of Abraham the King of Kings.

Amish Auction

We pulled away from Bridlewood right at 6:00am. Mike was driving but was so excited about going he didn't sleep last night and had a tough time staying awake. We made it to Arthur IL in time to eat breakfast before the auction started. We bought $100.00 worth of halters, lead ropes, canvas hay bags and other miscellaneous articles.
The ponies always start right after the tack and that's why we drove 2 and a half hours. We thought we had a beautiful nice sized black pony mare well broke to ride and drive and when all was said and done we didn't win. We were pretty shocked, thinking we were the high bidder but it wasn't meant to be. We actually bid higher than planned making the loss a blessing in disguise. A very pretty 2 year old paint pony came through and this time we made SURE we were the high bidder. The other pony we purchased was announced as a 5 year old Welsh pony mare. She looked like a section B and also trained to ride and drive. After buying her found out she didn't come with papers and her coggins stated she was only 4 years old. That was a bit disappointing we would prefer to have registration papers but the Amish don't always care about that with ponies, just the Standardbreds.
When those started going through the ring we were surprised at the prices. There is no recession with the Amish. They don't buy much gas, don't spend money on electricity and grow their own grains. The horses were going for $3500.00-$5000.00. We headed home before too many went through the ring and the closer we got to Peoria the more rain we drove through. It started raining last night and didn't stop all day. Once the ponies were at the Horsemeister farm they were just thrown in with Cindy, both were glad to get out of the trailer and in front of the hay. Better pictures will be taken when the weather clears.

Sanna was covered then taken back to the cabin field but Lily, Wynne and Sangria along with their foals were moved to the breeding shed.
Mark helped box up the Breyer horses and barns and those were hauled out to the farm. Funny that of all the things we are leaving I just didn't want to leave the Breyers for hopefully someday my grandchildren will play with them.

Potluck at Rhonda's

Mark and I arrived at the farm just before Beth and her husband got there. Grace was taken over to Raven to show them how she says "NO" then loaded up. We drove over to mom's to clean up before heading over to Spark and Rhonda's for potluck, just didn't want to show up without clean hands. It was such a nice cool evening, very enjoyable visiting with good friends before dinner then sitting down to break much more than bread although bread was on the menu. Rhonda had prepared a chicken dish that was delicious. Marilyn Bauer supplied gourmet carrots cooked in a very tasty orange sauce. Mom brought a very colorful tasty jello. The brown rice with a mushroom topping was the perfect compliment to the chicken, along with the cole slaw and the 2 kinds of home baked bread with butter.

It was hard to save room for dessert but we did. That was a very fluffy raspberry dish on top of angel food cake served with heavy whipped whipping cream and 2 fresh raspberries on top, hmmm delicious!
Tara and Jay along with their 3 girls showed up just as we were finishing up. Of course mom had to hold baby Jane.
Jane is such a content baby.
After dinner we took a short tour of the farm to show off the babies with 4 legs then said our farewells and took off for home. We are leaving at 6:00am for the Amish auction in Arthur, IL to look for a pony for Addyson and I'm tired.

Blogging Service

The service was down last night and this morning. This is a free service and yet how many complaints must have been issued, even I got phone calls about not having it available. We really do thank this service knowing they work hard at keeping it running.
Yesterday Sanna was covered which should have been uneventful except Steven took Raven over to the cabin field and then both boys found a way through the new pasture not quite done and had to come over also and Steven ended up with 3 screaming stallions, 4 screaming mares and 4 very confused foals.
The cable guy showed up just as Mike and Diane were heading back to their office. Rhonda was coming up the drive so Mike and Diane turned into the farm driveway to swing around her and saw the mediacom truck. They were able to explain exactly what we can do for them if they are willing to supply the materials. Mike explained that Spark has Meister Electric and has all the equipment to lay the cable. We have plenty of workers to help and then tells him "and I'm an attorney and can do the easements for free" and gave the man a pen with all of his information on it. The mediacom man drove over to Pences (Joan's renter), to check out that house, the Sauders saw him driving back, Rachel quick stops her vehicle in front of his truck and tells Dave "jump in the mediacom truck so they can't drive away." Rachel finds out Mike gave him a pen and says, "here, you can have my sunglasses, I don't have anything else of value with me." Of course he just laughs. Rachel asked him what it was going to take to get the neighborhood hooked up and was told the company wants a 4 year payback. Well we think if they allow us to do all the trenching and labor and they only supply the materials they could easily have less than a 2 year payback. We think there should be no excuse now.
This morning the first thing I see at the farm is the fire engine missing. Spark took it in to the shop for a job. He kind of complained about the dust on it and is looking for a church holding a $5.00 car wash to run it through (not fair). After the walk Sangria was covered, the cupboards for the office came, the stove, dishwasher, and microwave have all been delivered. The paper work for Grace's pickup is now sitting in the office and I am home to relax before heading back for potluck at Rhonda and Sparks.
Rhoda and Sarah had a ball shopping for our new little Jack. They went a bit crazy, who knew there would be such cute little boy clothes.
Now how will they get them to Bloomington?

Sanna Covered

What a morning. Drove up a bit late and see Mike and Steven Marchal already working on the fence line.
It is so impressive to see how quickly this pasture is getting fenced. On the walk Rachel points out a flower in the woods, mom knows what kind it is and told us but I can't remember the name right now.
I head home to get some house work done before heading down to the shop to pay bills. Steven calls that he has the side fences done with a temporary fence and let the boys out to graze while he walked Raven over to tease Sanna. The boys knew something was up and found a way through the temporary fence and ran over to the cabin where they promptly fell in love with Sangria who is now in her foal heat. Steven had 3 stallions, 4 mares and 4 foals all screaming over the fence line. Raven was tied and the boys taken back and locked up. This was way harder than the one short sentence reporting that action. Use your imagination on how loud and chaotic this actually was. When all was finally settled down, Sanna was the mare picked for cover and stood well. We do not know how much longer she will be in and Sangria is just in her foal heat. We will check Sangria tomorrow.
Grace will be picked up tomorrow evening, we are to be at Spark and Rhonda's for potluck tomorrow, hopefully the times will work out.

Rejoice

Steven Marchal arrived at Middle Grove just as the wind started blowing the lightning flashing. The herd heard the truck and trailer pulling up and came running at a gallop to see who was joining them. Steven unloaded the 3 horses and headed back to the farm in a hurry so as not to get caught in the thunderstorm. The fence posts had been delivered and Mike had a great crew helping before the rain hit Hanna City. Anni, Ryan and Steven Davidovics along with Steven Marchal worked well together.
Mark and I left for church. drove just up Baer and the car started making noises going thump thump thump. Mark pulled over got out of the car, checked the tires and as all looked good off we went again. Not too far up the road again thump thump thump. Mark pulls over gets out goes to the front of the car and start putting the pieces back where they belong. Our car is slowly losing it's body, not a good thing, Mark thinks it is because the dogs knocked off important pieces of it. He thinks the offending part is in place and off we go getting as far as the golf course when thump thump thump. This time he just turned around and home we drove leaving the car and taking the truck to church we weren't even very late. Mike Rieker had the service opening to Daniel and reading chapters 1 and 2. Daniel is actually my favorite book of the Bible so tonight was great but Tim Funk got up at the end and made it even better. He announced that Rich Hodel has started repenting. Rich is Marvin, Rosemary, Jeanette, Roma, Rhoda, Ethel, Edith, Barb, Irv and Dort Hodel's brother. We rejoice so much for their family! How wonderful for Peoria to hear good news. Church was full of rejoicing people all wanting to talk to Rich.