Middle Grove Trip

 More rain today, imagine that! This has been the wettest June on record. Karin arrived and instead of riding taught 2 girls how to round pen Valiant. After finishing with him we backed the truck and trailer into the indoor to get out of the rain, loaded up 3 mares and 3 foals and took them to Middle Grove. It was pouring earlier but when we arrived just sprinkling. We just let them go at the gate and took off. No pictures because of the rain.  When I got back I teased Rosaleigh and when she said no, moved her into the pond pasture with Madiera and her colt. Madiera needed to be teased but she was across the dam on the far side of the pond pasture. I started walking over but there was so much rain and mud it was really slippery on the dam. I decided not to chance a fall as my arm is still very sore. Madiera didn't get teased or covered today. Hopefully she is already out. The weather report sounds really good. The rain is supposed to be over tonight and no rain is predicted for the next full week. That will be such a nice break. I will need to bring a few horses back from Middle Grove. Both Mayberry and Jewel's 2020 filly need to come back and of course I need to bring Indy back. Indy is our last mare due for 2021. She was bred to Evan and her foals by Evan are always spectacular. Below is a video of the full sibling to the expected foal.

Mark drove mom and I to church tonight. Tim Roecker had the message. It was good to be there.

More Storms

 We were able to walk almost one round before the rain started up. By the time we were turning the corner at Diane's the rain started and we were rushing mom home arriving before we all got soaked. We decided to take Joan home on the golf cart and that was done in the rain. I went in to change and get ready for Berean when I heard the weirdest thunder I'd ever heard. It was a series of Crack Crack Crack about 10-15 cracks each less than a second apart then a huge BOOM. It turned out not to be thunder, another branch fell off the tree. 

It fell over the corner of the paddock and broke both sides of the fence but didn't do as much damage as expected.

Mark was sent a text with the picture that another limb fell and his response was, "I think I'm going to outlast that tree." Mom was picked up around 8:15 for our trip to the Berean office. If you would like to read about our morning there click HERE. We dropped off the Bibles at the Bartonville post office on the way home. The sun was shining and it was terribly hot and humid, 87 actual degrees but with a real feel in the 90s. A good day to work inside for a bit. Anna came to swim with the girls but a big storm came rolling in so they all needed to leave. Dr. Hoerr was scheduled for this afternoon and Anna offered to help with this appointment as my arm is still pretty sore. When Dr. Hoerr called to report he was on his way, Anna was called and she came right over to help. Oksana and Jewel were brought in first then Lola and Soul. Those two foals had a ball running around while their mom's were being led into a stall and they didn't really want to follow their mom's but after a while each joined their mom and the doors were shut. Dr. Hoerr sonagrammed Oksana first and sure enough she was open and worse had just ovulated. Oksana had been bred in April, confirmed in foal April 28th then sonagrammed again May 20th and was still pregnant and the embryo growing well. Yesterday she couldn't walk past a stallion without showing and today she is out. I may want to short cycle her. Jewel was next and she IS confirmed in foal BUT looks to be carrying twins, one in each horn. We are going to wait a week just to make sure one isn't a cyst then remove one. Soul was next. Soul was bred May 6th and I forgot to have her sonagrammed last week. She is confirmed in foal. When Dr. Hoerr was going to show me the embryo on the ultrasound machine Soul came right over to look too. Soul is due April 16th, 2022.

Lola was last and she is also confirmed in foal due May 29th, 2022, the same day Jewel is due.

Dr. Hoerr loaded up and left, Anna and I tried to cover Oksana but no go so Anna took her back to the cabin field while I put Jewel and her colt away. Soul and Lola were taken to the far paddock as I thought that would be the easiest way to get their foals to follow but that didn't happen. Instead they both took off running around the yard with their tails flagging having a ball. We ended up tying both mares to posts in the paddock and leaving the gate open then had to work together to encourage them both to go to their mamas. Anna came in to re-wrap my arm for the night before heading home. Mark worked on cutting up some of the big downed branch tonight but had to quit as the rain started back up. We had lasagna for dinner tonight. I had frozen it from an earlier meal and it tasted really good tonight. Of course we were both hungry. 

ER Visit

 Right after cooking breakfast for Mark I went out to tease mares before the heat. Rosaleigh is still in and covered by Evan and Madiera was also still in and covered by Valiant. It started raining as I was driving the golf cart over to mom's for the walk but had stopped by walking time. After the walk I left to drive in to Peoria for the Berean mail. Anna was here cleaning the apartment while the girls were over swimming until low booms of thunder started up. Anna took the girls home and we had more rain. At 12:30 pm I went over to mom's. Karin and Jackie were there so we enjoyed visiting and playing together for an hour. The sun came out so I left to get pictures of foals for their owners. Rosaleigh and her colt were taken in the indoor arena first to get a hosing off. Her colt was so funny with the hose but even more funny when I took them outside. He was using his mom as a scratching post. 

 I took a few pictures for his owner.

He is such a personable colt. If you would like to see the rest of his pictures click HERE.

They were put away and I debated if I should do Soul's filly next or Madiera's colt. Soul and her filly were up at the gate so they were chosen to go next.  They were taken out to the round pen and the tarp was put up on the rail. Soul's filly came right up to check it out.

I put it on the ground and she checked it out then picked part of it up.

She ended up walking all over it.

I finally asked Soul to move so could get a few action shots.

She is a beautiful filly.

I was going to put them back and bring Madiera out but when I opened the gate to the round pen Soul was coming out first, the filly didn't want to be left and quickly forced herself between her mom and the gate and unfortunately my arm was holding the gate and got smashed. It swelled up so quickly I thought it may be broken so put those 2 away and went to the house. Mark was home so I took a few pictures of the arm then asked him to take me to the ER for an x-ray. 

We were at the emergency room for about 4 and a half hours. The good news is the x-ray showed no break, just a bad hematoma. While there our next guests coming in tonight called to report they had a tire blow and would be coming in around midnight. Since the apartment wasn't booked for tomorrow night I told them feel free to sleep in and even stay an extra night if needed. 

A very nice update came in from the owner of Madiera's 2020 colt named Kyro. She writes: Kyro is becoming such a strong, healthy, beautiful, and wonderfully big yearling. He is focusing on making new friends in his new home. Here he is with a 17-hand Thoroughbred x Arabian  cross.

No Rain

 Today we had no rain. Most unusual as rain was predicted. I got up early and started the Sunday meal prep around 5:30 The oven was turned on to preheat while getting 2 pans of brownies ready for that. 14 eggs were put on the stove to boil then I started cutting up chicken breasts then drizzling olive oil on the pieces and then covered the pieces in parmesan cheese. Next came the green, red, yellow and orange peppers also cut up and drizzled with olive oil then covered in parmesan cheese. The water melon was cut up and placed in the fridge in two different containers. When the eggs had boiled for 10 minutes they were cooled down in the sink, peeled and made into 28 deviled eggs also put in 2 containers and put in the fridge. After all that breakfast was made for the both of us. After breakfast Mark took the garbage over while I cleaned up the kitchen and bathroom. He set up the small table for the kids and swept the living room floor and THEN we got ready for church. I'm so thankful for the time we get to spend in that building with our church family. During the lunch hour I noticed a bunch of facebook messages all of people wanting to come today to see the trailer posted yesterday. I didn't answer any of them until after the afternoon service. We drove home, changed and then moved the trailer next to the barn so it could be plugged in, the fridge and air conditioner turned on.  One couple was coming at 2:00 pm and the other wanted to come around 6:00 pm to see it and the 3rd didn't set a time. I sent Joan a text just to make sure it wasn't posted on RV Share before selling it and the answer came back pretty quickly, "DON'T SELL, it is renting like crazy.  I had to call and cancel the 2:00 pm people right away and then sent messages to the other 2 and was able to let them all know not to come. The ad was removed. The kids came after church. Israel showed up before the 3:30 ride time so got to go on the trail ride with the group. He got to ride Cookie. 

Shaeya rode Missy.

Isaiah and Magda's dad came and rode Mika.

 Isaiah was giving his dad instructions on how to ask Mika to turn by showing him how he does it with Ripper. Below is the group heading toward the trails.

Below is a picture Stephanie posted of Israel taking Cookie back to the cabin field after the ride. 

David and Leah were out fishing by mom's and David caught a whopper.

He let it go to grow some more.  Mark got the grill going around 4:00 pm and finished grilling all the vegetables and chicken by 5:00 pm. Supper was delicious. After supper we celebrated Iris' 3rd birthday.

She loved getting presents. After the birthday party we all headed to the playground for the evening fun. 

Madiera In

 Finally Madiera is showing and was covered BUT because I needed Evan for Rosaleigh, Valiant was used. I really like what Madiera produces when bred to Evan but I loved the movement and height she threw on her foals when bred to Valiant so it really wasn't too hard to make that decision

Above is her first foal, a filly we named Isla by Valiant and below is Isla at age 2.

Then we bred her to Evan and she produced a gorgeous black colt we named Joshua. 

Above and below are Joshua:

Her next was bay colt by Evan named Kyro.

And this year she had another colt by Evan born May 30th, 2021

She stood well this morning. We had a lot of rain during the night and rain off and on today but during one of the breaks Mark loaded the older Huskavarna mower on the flatbed trailer and delivered it to Berea Baptist church. Their mower broke and they weren't able to get a new one yet. I moved a new bale in the last paddock for Jewel and Madiera then when Mark got back we took the flat bed trailer off the truck and hooked up the 2 horse trailer then loaded Lily and her filly for the trip to Middle Grove. It wasn't raining when we left so we planned on picking up Indy after dropping off Lily but when we got to Trivoli it started pouring down rain. Nope we weren't going to hike up to find Indy in the rain. When we reached Farmington the pavement was dry and the sun came out so yes we were going to pick up Indy but when we reached Middle Grove it was pouring again. We unloaded Lily and her filly in the rain then got back in the truck and headed for home. I had promised to buy Mark lunch at Bs but when we got there the place was packed and there was no parking. It was 1:30 pm so we were really surprised it was so crowded but then it was still raining and there isn't much else to do but congregate at Bs. We stopped at Casey's in Hanna City and Mark went in to buy some food while I filled the tank. He ended up with a wrap which we shared and it was really good. Diane called a bit later to see if we would like to come over to mom's for games. Ruth and Fedi joined us. Diane was very distracted by phone calls. Her renter at Gulf Shores arrived and the cleaners had not been there to clean. They showed up, changed the sheets and left. The renters complained that they didn't clean so they came back stayed for 15 minutes and left again. Right about that time Diane got the notice that she had been charged the $140.00 cleaning fee on her credit card. Diane had already told the renters she would refund them the cleaning fee so called the cleaning company and they told her they did a good job, just the renters were unreasonable. No wonder she couldn't focus on the game. She quit and went home. We finished the game without her. After the game Rosaleigh was called in and covered by Evan then they were put away. 

New Puppies

 Rosaleigh is in her foal heat and was covered this morning after making breakfast for Mark. She and her colt were turned out in the pasture next to Evan to graze then I left for the walk. This morning was cool and not raining, the rain came later.  We had new guests coming for the barn apartment so the barn was cleaned and the cookies pulled out of the freezer for them.  Jamie sent a picture of her Valiant daughter Legacy that needs to be posted here. She is just gorgeous. 

Karin took out a group of riders today but I wasn't around to see which horses went and which stayed back. We have had so much rain yesterday and last night that the paddocks are muddy and each time I come inside I need a dry pair of socks. Should have worn boots. Rhoda's miniature Poodle Hazel had 3 puppies, two female and 1 male and we are thrilled for Rhoda. Hazel is pictured below. She is a whopping 8 pounds soaking wet. 

Last time Hazel had puppies Dr. Hoerr had to do an emergency C section in the middle of the night and this time Hazel went into labor and had no problem delivering them. These are Cavapoo puppies and they are all spoken for. Check out Gardner Lane Puppies for pictures by clicking HERE. Pictures will be posted later.  In the picture below Rosie belongs to Taunya and Ben's family, Ruby and Hazel belong to Rhoda and Lee's family and Arrie and Ivy belong to Sarah and Nolan's family. 

It is always so much fun when the puppies come. 

More branches were down at the playground from the storm last night. When the trail ride was over Karin worked on cleaning up the yard. The recycle man came again tonight and took more junk. Mark helped load with the skid steer. A big storm came through this evening with lots of lightning, thunder and big drops of rain. The weather report is 3 to 4 inches of rain in the next few days. Sure glad we are on higher ground. The good news is from all this rain is that the fields are growing fast. We will get a good second cutting. 

4 For 4

 Rain was threatening but didn't start until after our walk. We did one round with mom, who made it half way to Joan's all of mine and all of Diane's before heading inside. The second round was to take Joan home. By the time I got home Taunya and Abe were here. As today is Taunya's birthday Abe and I went to Dollar General so Abe could pick out a birthday gift for his mom. First though we looked at cards and Abe found the perfect card. It had a dog on the front and he said his mom likes dogs so he thought we should buy 2 of them. I talked him into just the 1 card then started looking for the 'gift'. BTW the card was for a man, inside it made some kind of reference to the what a swell GUY he was.  Abe saw some tiny little cups and right away said, "my mom NEEDS these." and the next thing he found were cheeto's he wanted to buy 2 bags of those as he was sure that they were his mom's favorites. We finished out the shopping with some party favors then went home to wrap the presents. As soon as Taunya took a break Abe brought her the gifts.  We had to laugh. Below Abe is playing with the tiny cups he was sure his mom needed.

Dr. Hoerr was scheduled for morning but ended up coming around noon. It was pouring down rain by that time so I got pretty wet bringing in the mares.  Jury was sonagrammed first and we are thrilled to announce she is pregnant due May 11th, 2022.

The sire of this foal is Valiant. Hadassah was sonagrammed next and she too was declared pregnant. 

Hadassah was bred to Evan and is due May 15th, 2022. Tatiana was the next mare. She too is pregnant. and the sire is Valiant.

I saved the best for last. Our amazing Lily at 19 years old also settled and is actually due on her 20th birthday May 4th, 2022

BUT I can just about guarantee that this foal will be born in April as she always delivers early. The sire of this foal is Valiant. Dr. Hoerr left and I went back to the house to try to wait out the rain and get the laundry done. With so much rain and mud we are using a lot of clothes. I made myself some lunch and started cutting off pieces for Emma. A habit from the last 18 years of having a dog.  Around 1:00 pm I decide to load the mares and foals up to take to Middle Grove. The rain had slowed way down. The 4 horse trailer was parked in the indoor arena and Hadassah and her filly loaded first. I was pleased her filly jumped right in behind her. Tatiana and her filly were next and again the filly was great at following and climbing in the trailer. Jury's colt on the other hand decided he was going to run back to Soul and Lola's fillies instead of climbing in with his mom. I had to back Jury out, shut the side door to the barn to stop him from escaping then try again. The second time he still didn't get in so Jury was tied inside the trailer and I went out to encourage the colt to get in. He ran around the arena for a few minutes while Jury called frantically and finally got close to the back of the trailer. I pushed, he jumped and he made it. The doors were shut and right then and there I decided to just put Lily and her filly back outside instead of opening those doors again. I drove to Middle Grove, took one mare and one foal out each time until all 6 were out of the trailer and into the field. They were thrilled to be out on that lush grass and all dropped their heads and started grazing.

I snapped the picture above with my phone as they started heading up to find the rest of the herd. The rain started back up before I got back inside the truck. This is a nice gentle soaking rain and the fields are exploding with growth. This evening Mark and I worked on pulling old equipment out of the back garage for the scrapper. He arrived just as Pam, Mike, and Diane brought over a 91 year old man for a tour of the horses. I explained about the horses while Mark helped load equipment on to the scrapper's trailer.

He is actually going to come back tomorrow evening for more so we are doing well at getting rid of 'stuff'. After he left we came inside, I was finishing up the laundry and dropped a hanger and Mark remarked, "that sounded like Emma."  It is going to take a few days to realize she isn't here. 2 more bookings came in for the apartment, both in July. 

Saying Goodbye

 We lost Emma today. We had rain during the night, she got up and out the dog door by herself but then couldn't seem to get back inside and Mark found her out in the rain all wet. She was losing ground quickly and at 4:48 pm went to sleep and didn't wake up. I'm thankful the end was peaceful. She was a good dog and we will miss her.  Taunya came today with Abe so Abe came with me to Stock & Field to buy grain for the horses. That 4 year old boy is strong. 

He helped push 400 pounds of grain to the check out. 

When we got home he also helped unload the grain. Well he held the door to the shed opened and then smoothed down the grain when it was full and helped put the lids on.  After that we fed horses. He was a big help today.  Anna dropped off Addyson, Jack and Jace after VBS was done and we went on a long golf cart ride stopping at our neighbor's house to check out his covered bridge.

They had a fishing boy under the bell so they posed next to that.

They also stopped at the rock, check out the beautiful lantern by Addyson's face.

After the golf cart ride Taunya took the kids over to mom's beach where Anna's girls joined them. I stayed with Emma as she was needing constant care at this time.  David Jacob and Leah arrived to replace our kitchen sink faucet. I was thankful to have that job done. This evening Mark stayed home to bury Emma while I took mom, Diane and Joan to church. David had the message on the end time series. That was downloaded and made into a video for others. Sorry about the picture, it was after 10:00 pm and I loved the part in the study of Willis eating meat.   

 After church Joan, Sarah, Diane, mom and I went to Culvers with Jeanette, Roma, Nancy, Mark, Cathy and Karl. We enjoyed the meal almost as much as the fellowship. As soon as I dropped everyone off at their houses I drove up to the barn and put Rosaleigh and her colt in the indoor. NOW I'm ready for bed. The house is silent, no more loud snoring from Emma or the padding of her paws following us from room to room. 

Emma Update

 Well Emma made it through the night but didn't want to move this morning. She was given water, offered food and I tried to get her up to go to the bathroom but she just was too tired. She may have actually gone on her own though as she was laying in the family room by the dog door. I went out at 6:45 am to meet the airbnb guests who were in the stall barn admiring Rosaleigh's 5 day old colt. I introduced them to the horses, took them over to the cabin to meet the riding horses then gave them the golf cart and left for the walk.  Joan made it to the dumpster before the rest of us could get there. Mom did one round then once she was back in the house Ruth, Diane and I walked Joan home. I picked up mom a little early as we wanted to stop at Casey's for donuts again for Berean. We didn't end up buying any in Hanna City but if you would like to find out where we bought them you will have to read the Berean blog by clicking HERE. After dropping the Bibles off at the Bartonville post office we headed home making it home before noon. I was hoping Emma was still alive and she was but in the very same position and place when I left her this morning. She was given water, drank and then I called Hoerr Vet clinic to find out if there was something I could give her and was told I could give her 1.8 cc's of Banimine IM so that was given at 12:30 pm. Taunya and Abe were here. Taunya was working so once Emma was resting comfortably Abe and I took a golf cart ride. We saw an Eagle first then a big deer jumped out of the woods very close to the golf cart and took off across the field in front of us. No picture but Abe was very impressed. We got back in time before Taunya needed to leave to pick up the other kids.  Emma was given another shot at 2:30 pm then I headed over to mom's and spent some time with Karin, Jackie, Ruth and mom. Karin had a big group here trail riding earlier and sent this picture of Jared with Ripper. 

Amy arrived and arranged with Karin a trail ride for Jamie's 2 daughters. She came home with me and helped lift Emma up. Once up Emma was able to walk outside and relieve herself. After Amy left I got a bucket of warm soapy water and washed her down as good as possible. Rhoda arrived to work on Mark's shop so instead of cleaning stalls I went out to help her. Rhoda organized the shelving area and helped with the debate on what needed to be thrown out and what should be kept. When Mark got home Rhoda took us both to dinner at Gil's for dad's father's day gift. She couldn't be here Sunday and wanted to spend time with him. When we got home Emma was in the family room. We got her up and outside but she didn't have to go which made me believe she had already gone on her own. Rhoda gave her 1.8 cc's of Banimine IM and about 5 minutes later she got up on her own and went back outside and had a bowel movement. Maybe just maybe she is going to make it through this. 

It was kind of funny when I went to take the picture above Emma looked back as if to say, "a little privacy please."  She was hungry and given a few bites of chicken and more water.  At 9:00 pm the rain started up. I wasn't aware it was supposed to rain and Rosaleigh and her colt were still outside. The golf cart was taken to her paddock where they were waiting at the gate and put in the indoor arena for the night. The colt is still a little young to be out in the rain.