They LEAVE US

Yesterday by the time we awoke the first of the group in Meisterville had left us. Mike and Diane took mom and Sarah down to Gulf Shores leaving at 5:30 am and arriving there at 7:30 pm. The drive consistently takes 14 hours although traveling at night one can make it in 13 and a half.
They are going to enjoy at least a few days of nice sunny weather with highs in the upper 60s and low 70s.  Beth and Greg, Rachel and David and their family, Bill and Bethany, along with Joan and Hannah will be joining them today or in a few days.  John, Beth, Jackie and Karin left for Florida for 2 weeks, Ruth and Fedi are still at Methodist and will be for a few more days. It will be very quiet around here. Mark and I are in charge this year of keeping the home fires burning (literally as we had a fire going all day yesterday) and taking care of all the animals.  Although Mike hired Matt Ricketts to handle the Middle Grove work. I only have 7 weanlings, 2 stallions and 1 mare left here, the rest of the herd is at Middle Grove.
Mark and I took a long walk in the morning, the wind was blowing hard, it was damp and 32 degrees. That sounds mild for this time of year but felt chilling.  He had a short day at work, everything slows way down just before Christmas and is almost nonexistence between Christmas and New Years although this year they are replacing furnaces at Light House which will take about 3 days. We are actually busier at Meister Heating this year because of incentives from Ameren. Some of these incentives will continue into 2019 so if you are needing a new heating and cooling system this might be a really good time to check into it by calling Meisters 309-697-5810.

The owner of Foxy and her filly sent a final payment to the law office. The mail has been so slow it probably won't arrive here for almost a week as it is coming from Kansas. I'll need to get Foxy home and reintroduce her to her filly so they can travel together. The filly has been weaned since October 6th.  She is quite bossy to the other weanlings, it will be interesting to see how she is with her mother and if Foxy will remember her.

The USPS has been really slow this year. Aunt Jinnie sent her Christmas card from New Jersey and it took 9 days to get here. I paid for priority 2 day shipping that took 4 days and when I complained the post office lady told me, "yes you paid for 2 day but there are no guarantees." Next time I'll choose UPS or FedX.