Too Hot to Swim

We had another hot day today. Thankfully all the horse stuff was done early morning. The mares were teased around 6:30 am. Jenis was still in and covered by Evan. Sangria is now out. When Karin arrived we teased Lily, she showed and was covered by Valiant. Karin and Kayla took Sangria and Jenis out on the trails but this was just a walk ride as even early this morning it was hot and humid.

Mark left with the truck to pick up 3 sheets of foam insulation then stopped and cleaned the shop area up. He was dripping wet by the time he got back.  After Karin and Kayla left for the ride I cleaned the barn then worked on Roxanne's mane, getting the tangles out and getting her all  ready for pictures once her foal comes. She is due in about 3 weeks.  She was also hosed down well to help cool her off.  When the riders came back Jenis and Sangria were also hosed down, and fly sprayed.  We had a high of just 93 degrees but the real feel was 108 pretty much all day.  It was even too hot to swim. No one wanted to work outside.  Fedi and Spark worked on putting mom's new sliding glass door in. It was so hot they put up a canvas to try to keep the air conditioning inside after they took the old door out and were working on putting the new one in. The canvas worked pretty well until Fedi accidentally put a big hole in the canvas.  Joan, Sarah, Rhonda, mom and I played games for the evening inside. Fedi and Spark finished installing the door about the time we were almost finished with the game. Rhonda and Joan were neck and neck through out the entire game changing leads almost each time but the last hand Rhonda lost by over a hundred points. She still came in second though. Mom came in 3rd, Sarah 4th and I was last by a LOT almost breaking 500.
Mark got the mowing done around the arena this evening.  Hard to believe today is the last day of June. Time is flying by. Rhoda and Lee took Iris home today from the hospital. Rhoda sent the picture below.  We just had to laugh. This needs a caption like..."my parents have no idea what I just did in my diaper!"

Excessive Heat Warning

We had another fun walk today, thankful we walk in the morning before the heat got too bad. The picture below was actually taken yesterday.  We stopped at the apartment and everyone had to look into the bedroom window. It kind of looked like a lot of peeping toms but thankfully no one was IN the apartment at the time.

The walkers were actually checking out the mirror in the apartment bedroom.  Right after the walk I drove to Sam's Club to pick up groceries for the meal on Sunday and also picked up food to make on Monday for the meal for Rhoda and Lee. They are getting home from the hospital tomorrow. The Borks are going to bring them a meal on Sunday so I get Monday.
Anna and Sarah brought the girls and came out to swim around 10:30 am. It was already oppressively hot and the only way to stay cool was to stay inside or in a lake. Rebekah brought her 2 and joined them at Rachel's beach.

 Faith, Berlica and Mackenson also came.

Anna also brought Hux out to swim.

Cheryl Grassi brought a couple of ladies from Bluffton, Indiana out to the Goose Ranch. Pat Wahl and  Melanie Gerber went to Gulf Shores and stayed at Diane's place a couple months ago. Beth gave them the tour of the Goose Ranch, gave them a boat ride then brought them to Diane's house. Diane made lunch for them and invited mom, Beth, Rhonda, Joan and me too . We all enjoyed lunch in her air conditioned house. After the lunch we took a golf cart tour over to the farm and introduced them to all the horses.  From there Pat and Melanie were taken to mom's house.

Mom and I left around 3:15 pm to drive to Bloomington to see Rhoda and Lee's new baby girl Iris. Below mom is holding her 68th great grand child.

There are 2 more still due that we know of this year. Rebekah and Tara are expecting. Iris Hope is doing very well. Rhoda and Lee are so happy and relieved that she is here and in perfect health. We had a good visit then left after 5:00 pm. It was still terribly hot even that late with 93 degrees and a heat index of 108. It is much too hot to work outside. Tomorrow there is another excessive heat warning with temperatures expected to reach mid to high 90s with a real feel of 110 degrees. Tomorrow all horse work will need to be done early morning.

Introducing Iris Hope Bork

Lee sent this text this morning:  31 hours after our arrival at the hospital we are thrilled to announce the birth of Iris Hope Bork at 6:51 AM.  Baby and mom are doing great. Pictures, weight and length coming soon.

WE learned she weighed in at 7 pounds 12 ounces and was 20 inches long.  She latched right on and has been nursing well.  We are so thrilled and thankful that Iris is here and can't wait to introduce her to the rest of the family.  CONGRATULATIONS RHODA AND LEE!
Horse news today was Karin and I took Jenis and Sangria out on the 'death trails' this morning. Believe it or not this was the first time I've ever gone on the entire trail and was kind of shocked at how steep the hills, narrow the trails, how big the ditch was to jump and how deep the second creek crossing was. Some of the hills are so steep and long the horses need to get into a gallop to make them up. Sangria carried me safely, even going down muddy slippery steep hills and the narrow turns without tripping or running my leg into a tree. I'm amazed at how sure footed the horses are, mostly from living at Middle Grove.  Karin let me lead when we got to where I recognized the trail and knew where I was going.  Just as we started cantering into the next field Studley flushed out a turkey which caused Jenis to swerve and Sangria to bolt. I was really thrilled to know even if she bolts within 2 strides she was back under control. What good horses we have.
The next trail ride happened at noon. Joan's company was leaving and the kids wanted to get in one more ride before their long road trip.  Sangria and Jenis were needed for the second trail ride and Karin pulled out Lily, Star, Bunni, Sally, and Cookie to make sure each rider had his or her own horse. Below is the first creek crossing.

 Lily's colt had fun jumping in. 

 They all had a good gallop in the big field. 

 Below they are heading back to the barn. 

Thankful to have so many well behaved horses here for guests.  This afternoon it was too hot to do much other than hose down horses and clean the barn.  As soon as Mark got home we drove to Bloomington to visit our brand new grand daughter Iris Hope.
Sarah and Nolan left before us and told us Interstate 74 was backed up for miles so we took route 9. Slower and through small towns but still made it there in an hour. On the way home from the hospital we took the Interstate as it was not backed up going west. Going east was still backed up for miles with crawling or stopped traffic.
A nice update came in from Jamie Stone the owner of Legacy,  a coming 2 year old Valiant daughter out of their mare Dakota. She sent the picture below:

Wow is the word that comes to mind. What a beautiful filly! 

Evan Today

As the morning was sunny but not yet hot I thought it would be a good time to get new pictures of Evan and have them put on canvas then hung in the apartment. Rachel gave me advice such as bathe him first as every little imperfection will show up and take the shots in bright sunshine with a high shutter speed. I followed her advice, Evan got a bath then I took him into the field where I was sure he would show off except the very first thing he did was ROLL in the mud. I took them anyway and hoped for the best.

If you would like to see the rest of Evan's pictures from today click HERE. Karin arrived not too much later and needed to wire the bottom of her car back up. Her car is a hybrid and has 280,000 miles on it and is held together with cheap wire from Dollar Tree. 

As soon as Karin finished with her car we took Jenis out for some pictures for the website. 

Karin had a trail ride scheduled using Sally, Bunni, Cookie, Jenis, Sangria and Star. Now Sangria hadn't been ridden for a while so Hannah was put on her.

 Ellie rode Jenis, Eric rode Sally with Berlica behind him. 

 Heather rode Bunni

 Joey rode Cookie and Karin rode Star. 

To see the rest of the trail ride pictures click HERE.  Hannah was thrilled with Sangria, she couldn't believe how smooth her canter is.  Sangria didn't put a foot wrong crossing the creeks, climbing the hills and galloping without bucking. She is such a fun mare I'm glad she is back here and back on the starting line up of trail horses.  I had 2 loads of sand ordered from Kickapoo Sand and Gravel for the outdoor arena and both of those loads came today. That will need to be spread later, today was just too busy.  I also ordered 24 fly swatters off Amazon. We can NEVER have enough fly swatters around here. The apartment, the barn, the camper and the house could all use some. I may have a few left to share if anyone is desperate.  When Mark got home this evening he brought home an antenna for the television at the apartment.  That will be hooked up tomorrow so the next airbnb guests who are coming in next week will have a way to watch television. He also got the mirror hung in the bedroom. We are almost ready for the next guests.  Mom rode with Joan to church tonight but came home with us.  Tim Funk had the message and truly the sanctuary was filled with the Spirit bursting out of Tim's mouth.  Hopefully we will have very exciting news to share tomorrow morning. It isn't mine to share right now but I'm sleeping with the phone next to the bed tonight in order to get the news as soon as the big event happens.