Show Camping

On our walk this morning we stopped at Diane's to admire the whale Rebekah made out of pallets.

This will be taken down to Gulf Shores for Diane's condo. Rebekah is my talented and artistic niece who can build or make a project out of pennies. If interested in her blog check it out by clicking on this link: Rebekah's DYI blog She sometimes sells her creations so you may get lucky.
Karin left right after mom cooked breakfast for the campers with 5 horses in our 4 horse trailer. This trailer is so big she could have fit the 6th in probably without even collapsing the tack area.

 Above she already has Sally and Bunni loaded, is loading Star while Emily waits to load Missy and Cookie. They drove to Moraine View State Park and were joined by Ruth's family and Rachel's family. It didn't take them long to set up then head out on the trails. Rachel sent the three pictures below of the horses and riders.

I drove in to the shop to pay the first of the month bills one day early then to Walmart to pick up oil for the other truck. Emily took Killian and George to the PRC show this evening with that truck and the stock trailer. If we owned a 3rd trailer that would have been used tonight to take Mika back to Middle Grove, instead we took Sheena and her colt Whistler over to the cabin field to join Mika so he wasn't alone. Emma still has not had any pups. She was at 63 days yesterday. This afternoon she seemed to be in labor but again no pups. The picture below was taken this evening. She really isn't very big compared to last time.

She has milk in her teats which are very swollen but no sign of going into labor. If she is pregnant there won't be very many pups. This evening Whitney and Hadassah and the 2 fillies were turned out with a partial round bale. Since the camera is still in Michigan the phone was used for the next couple pictures of Hadassah and her filly by Evan.

She really is exquisite. She has perfect conformation and even at 5 days old is quite the show-off. She was dancing around Hadassah this evening until Mark brought the skid steer out to start scraping paddocks. Then she was standing alert watching every move he made while he was cleaning out Killian's paddock.

He just piled the manure up at the back of the paddock. It will be loaded and spread this fall on the fields. Once Killian's was done he started on the Middle Paddock. 

Emily is going to be surprised when she makes it back from the show tonight but she probably won't even see it until tomorrow. She signed up for many classes and will probably be there until midnight. This is only the 3rd show of the year for PRC. The rest have been rained out. 

Lila, Rhoda and Lee's dog is still missing. Rhoda called Peoria county dog pound today but they have not had a dog brought in matching Lila's description. She also called a rescue on Pinkerton road and left a message. Someone must have picked her up thinking she was lost. Please help get the word out about Lila.

Thankful So very Thankful

We had a really wonderful day at Berean. Not a lot of volunteers but those who came knew what to do and went right to work. We had a surprisingly big mail day for a Thursday. By the time Diane and I were done entering the 405 Bible request and a full mail box of studies we were more than ready to quit.
Our volunteers were Eva Jean, Edie, Roma, Diane R, Diane H, Rachel, Jessica, Maria, Megan, Justin, Timothy and Shirley. The camera is not yet back, officially vacation doesn't end until Saturday so that's the day the camera will be put back in use. Sorry no pictures today from Berean today. The people from Rainbow Riders posted some pictures of Ribbon and her filly I can borrow and post.

Ribbon and her filly went to college, well really they went to Monmouth college all-sports camp where 16 riders learned to vault and canter on Ribbon. Her filly was a star, the campers and instructors couldn't believe how sweet and gentle she is. Rainbow Riders borrowed them on Monday and let Karin bring them back this afternoon.
I didn't come straight home from Berean, instead started going to neighbors to ask them about Rhoda and Lee's dog. Most of them have seen the sign and all of them said they would call if they spot her. How could a small 12 pound dog disappear in minutes?
Mark had a service man here to try to repair our air conditioner but he wasn't able to fix it. So funny we own a heating and air conditioning business and yet our air conditioner is broke. It probably happened during the last storms. The electricity kept going off. We hit 90 degrees today, the barn was nice and cool, the central air in there works great. Mark brought home a window air and that is going full blast.
Mark brought the big truck home and Emily helped me hook it up to the big trailer. Karin is taking that tomorrow morning for a horse camping trip and Emily is taking the other truck and stock trailer to the PRC show tomorrow evening.
Whitney, her filly, Haddasah and her filly were let out for the night. We spent some time just watching those fillies buck and run around. Both fillies are spectacular in their movement, looks and disposition. I really do have the best job in the world. Once the stalls were cleaned and ready for the morning Mark and I got the whelping box out of the barn and into the house. Emma is due, restless and acting like she is going to have puppies, she has teats heavy with milk and yet is thin. Could this be a false pregnancy? Soon we will know one way or other, if she is pregnant there must not be many pups. The last time she was huge.
Emily borrowed the truck and trailer today to take her goat over to Gary's and bring her cow home. This cow is due in a couple weeks but the neat thing is this cow was born here a couple years ago. She also brought George (Megan's horse) over since he will be going to the show tomorrow with Killian. Prissy was teased and she is now out. We will start counting the days.
The evening is pleasant, the arena lights are on and Emily is working Killian to prepare him for the show tomorrow. The place looks great, Emily has all the yards mowed, the paddocks weed whacked, the fences all repaired, new electric fence on Killian's paddock, the grain bins are full, and the arena looks wonderful all raked and weeded. What a blessing she has been for us. We come back from vacation and things don't look neglected.
I am thankful.

No Card No Pictures

We had a very beautiful sunrise this morning, there were clouds just waiting to be used as a canvas as the sun came to paint. The swans showed up as I waiting for the sun but didn't stick around for the grand arrival.

 Phil, Anna, Braelyn, Ben, Jack, David and I went out early while the lake was smooth as glass for wake boarding.  Below are a few pictures.

We made it back for our last breakfast then Mark and I loaded  up for our trip home. The camera was left with Anna, she was in charge of taking the last 3 days of the vacation pictures. Except when I got home I found the camera card with ME. There will be no more vacation pictures. The kids are staying until Saturday. Mark and I made it home around 2:30 pm and were followed into the driveway by Karin who had come from the Rainbow Rider Sports camp with 3 of the volunteers for a trail ride then a swim. Below they are heading out on the trails with 4 of the riders.

 Anni was here, we were visiting with her while bringing in the luggage from the trip going in and out each time followed by 4 dogs, Emma, Darcy, Lila and Studly. Anni got ready to leave and Lila, Rhoda's dog followed her out to the car then was so distressed that Anni was leaving her followed the car out to the road only I didn't know that. I thought Lila went up to the apartment, jumped on the golf cart to see if Emily had let her in the apartment but she wasn't there. I still wasn't worried, figuring she will come back to be let inside out of the heat so stopped in to see the new foals.  Below is Hadassah's filly by Evan. She is gorgeous, pitch black, and will have the mega hair. This filly is 75% Friesian but looks 100%. She is for sale for $4000.00.

 In the next stall over is Whitney's giant baby. She really looks huge when comparing her to Hadassah's filly and is one day younger.

She is a typical Valiant daughter, sweet, loves people and loves scratches. By this time I was getting worried when Lila wasn't back and started searching. After 2 hours of searching Mom made a big Missing Puppy sign and we put it out by the road. I jumped in the shower around 6:00 pm and by 6:15 pm we were on our way to church with a full car load. Willis had the service. I must confess though I was not paying as much attention as I should have thinking about where Lila could be. I was praying Lila was waiting at the door when we arrived home but she wasn't. Tomorrow I'll head out looking again. poor puppy

Day 4 at Diamond Lake

We awoke to another beautiful sunrise but the picture I took today looks just like the picture I took yesterday morning. I may as well saved the trip out to take this one.

 Philip went first wake boarding this morning.

Rhoda was going to go next but today just struggled and ended up with a faceplant.

We moved the rope when it was David's turn and he was easily able to jump the wake with the new positioning.

He decided to try the front flip.

After breakfast we took the pontoon boat out, David decided to do a flip off the side as the pontoon was going full speed. We were quite far from the sand bar but David wanted to swim there for exercise so Lee kept a look out for him.

Nolan was our driver today taking us safely to the sand bar.

Phil and Anna went wake boarding off the jet ski then brought the jet ski over to the pontoon boat.

Jace was too tired and slept on the pontoon while the rest were swimming.

Jack was enjoying the boat ride and the swim.

Braelyn and Addyson climbed on board the jet ski.

David and Stef took Israel for a ride too.

On the way back we took a scenic tour around the island, the ferry was returning from the island after dropping off a couple cars.

We came in for lunch then started up the bag games.

Mark took out the jet ski for a tour around the lake.

 

Phil and Anna were usually the winners at the bag game and winners have to kiss.

Addyson, Taegan and Braelyn were having a tea party on the balcony this afternoon. No boys were allowed.

David and Stephanie lost at bags so David had to carry Stephanie to the water to throw her in but he didn't finish the job.

Lee and Rhoda made our dinner tonight. This was another 5 star meal. They served us crock pot chicken fajitas with sauteed onions, sweet red, yellow, green, and orange peppers along with chips, and all the toppings. It really was delicious and once we were done not much left.

After supper we went for a walk into town to a small ice cream shop. We were all hot and sweaty and by the time we made the 3.2 mile trip there and back. The kids are playing board games out on the porch. Emily called with an update on the animals at home. She put Hadassa,  Whitney and their fillies out in the paddock for a couple hours this evening while cleaning their stalls. She sent the picture below by email taken with her phone.

She also wrote that she doesn't think Emma is pregnant. She is just not showing like she should be showing as she is due in 2 days.