Productive Monday

 Monday morning and I didn't have to rush up to clean anything. When it got light enough to see I noticed Pickles the cat was sleeping right outside our door and just then a rabbit moved. She intently stared at it.

She whirled around to get a better look.

She did not catch the rabbit but she may have kept it from the garden. I checked on the mares right after the walk. Jury is just not progressing but she sure looks fat. 

Joan was with mom this morning and mom's new fridge was delivered. Mom gave it a thumbs up.

Thanks to Diane for finding it, ordering it and having it delivered. I left to help Anna today in the barn. She started by putting together a toy area for kids and told me that the girls were donating books and toys for the box.

While she was putting that together I took her van to her house and picked up the 6 big boxes of chairs that needed to be put together. As soon as I had them all in the barn I started unpacking and had legs to two of the chairs when Anna started helping with these.

I unpacked while she used the power drill to put them together.

Once they were done it was time to flip the table top to install the legs. This is made out of a slab of walnut.

Once the legs were on we flip it back upright and carried it in and put the 12 chairs around it.

Below is the toy box and the new rug. Anna thinks we may need a bigger rug but this one will do for the Messner reunion.

The king size bed was made, we still need to get 4 more pillow protectors so the 2 pictured at the end of the bed will obviously not stay there.

The empty boxes were loaded into Anna's van. They will burn them with the rest of the boxes. The next job was to move the sideboard in and start putting that together.

The video below shows just some of her work today.

NO she does not hire out. I left as Mark was due home. I made BLT's for supper tonight. After supper we went to the playground where the Monday night girls volley ball was going on.  Below is a short video of the volleyball games. Even Taunya played.

Jack, Jace and Abe were watching the game waiting patiently to go over to our house to play with Pickles the cat.

They were really happy to meet Pickles.

She really is a nice cat. She didn't even mind when Abe carried her around.

We decided to go out to the field to catch the sunset so the boys got to ride on top of the golf cart all the way to the edge of the field then posed for pictures.

The last picture taken was of the last glow.

The last volley ball game was almost done by the time we got back. I left to download the pictures and videos from the day. Diane is picking up Aunt Jinnie tonight. This was a productive Monday. There were two new sermon's by Jeff Waibel who was visiting the Detroit church. No video but I going to try to share the audio. Both were thought provoking and well worth the time to listen to. I listened to the afternoon message first Click HERE if you would like to listen to that. The morning message was on Job and very interesting.  Click HERE if you would like to listen to that.

Beautiful

 I'm always thankful to wake up and realize it is Sunday. I had plenty of time to work on the Sunday dinner before getting ready for church. Tonight we were having grilled chicken parmesan. The 6.5 pounds of chicken breast were cut up drizzled with olive oil, covered with parmsan cheese and put in the fridge.  The peppers were next. Below they have been washed, cut and drizzled in olive oil. 

The next step was to sprinkle parmesan cheese all over, mixing them to make sure each piece was well covered. They were then bagged and put then in the fridge next to chicken until grilling time. The last vegetable to be given the same treatment were the 2 big onions.  We had plenty of time to listen to hymns while reading and praying before it was time to leave for church.  Craig Stickling had the morning message, click HERE to watch his message on Psalm 96 and Revelation 22. Tim Funk had the afternoon message, click HERE to watch his message on Acts 17. Joan brought mom but then left at noon to go to a wedding in Tremont so Ruth took mom home. I wanted to practice getting mom in the new wheel chair van as I am now healed from the hip surgery and found it easy enough that mom can now come with me again to Berean. We have really missed having her there. Aunt Jinnie arrives tomorrow evening and if she isn't too tired on Tuesday I will plan on bringing both Aunt Jinnie and mom.  Rhoda and Lee were here dropping off the Wildwood trailer they used for camping.  They found one of the stabilizers was damaged. It came down fine for them when they set the trailer up but when it came time to leave, the stabilizer  was very hard to get it up. It was obvious that it had been dragged and bent.  Mark brought out his tools to take it off and try to straighten it out. While he was working on the camper I made a double batch of brownies for our dessert tonight.

It isn't easy to tell by the picture but it was quite twisted.

He took it back to his shop and worked on it. Below he is putting it back on the trailer.

I'm very thankful when family uses the campers then figures out what needs repair before we send them back out for a rental.  Sarah and Nolan used the Salem and that also needs some minor attention before we can send that one out. Even with the problems everyone enjoyed the camping trip. Mark started grilling at 4:00 pm and was finished shortly after everyone that was coming had arrived. The meal was not just delicious, it was very colorful too.

After supper we all went to the playground for the volleyball games. 

Israel, Elisabet, Taegan and Kensley decided they would rather swim.

They were using a little net, diving down to see if they could catch a fish and they did!

I left at 6:00 pm to take Nancy home and made it back to the playground at 7:00 pm. The last volley ball game had just ended but people were still visiting so I stayed to visit until the last person left. Joan needed some rice and after dropping that off I noticed the sun was breaking through the clouds as it was going down leaving a golden lining around the entire cloud.

The heavens really do declare the Glory of the Lord. It was a beautiful ending to a beautiful day.

Full Day Camping

We had a storm last night actually 2 different storms that dropped 3/4 of a very welcomed inch of rain. It knocked down branches but no real damage. I was up early, the guests moved out of the apartment before 6:00 am and and I was able to get that cleaned for the guests coming in this afternoon before David picked me up at 7:30 am. We drove to Hillsdale, IL to join the other campers at the Sunset resort. They had had a big storm also and anyone tenting had to leave their tents and sleep in the rec center. The tents were all blown down and scattered all over the campground.

We played all day, first some games Rhoda taught them, then a rousing game of softball while it was still cool.

The littles played on the ground tramp next to the softball field. As soon as it started getting  hot we made our way to the swimming pool.

The water in the pool was cool and refreshing, perfect for a hot day. There were activities during the day for the kids outside and inside.

For supper the kids cooked hotdogs over the fire but the adults all ordered from a Thai restaurant about 15 minutes from the campground.

Rhoda and I picked that up and brought it back to the campground. The food was good but unusual for camping. For dessert the s'more stuff was brought out. Gaga ball, pingpong and more swimming this evening. David, Israel, Elisabet and I left for home about 7:30 pm. The video below is a lot of our softball game and just a few of the other activities. Such a fun day!

Most Likely Bred

 Today was another really hot day. On our walk we saw Pickles the cat up near the rafters on Sheena's shelter. There was a robin nest in there and the robins were having a fit.

We called her and she came right down. It was my turn to be at mom's but needed to also run to Sam's club for groceries so asked Diane if she could stay with mom  until I could get back. While there I picked up 4 rotisserie chickens, one for Diane, one for Joan, one for Karin and one for our house.   When I got to mom's house they were on a really cool virtual tour of the most famous structures in the world. We watched that until lunch. As it was much to hot to go outside after lunch we put on a documentary of the salmon. The amount of salmon heading up into the rivers was so impressive.

What I didn't know is the redder they become the stronger the fish.

I left for home just after 2:00 pm. Dr. Hoerr was scheduled to come out today to ultrasound the mares but it was so hot and they have not come back in season we just decided they needed to go to Middle Grove where it is much cooler so we called and cancelled Dr. Hoerr. Mike decided to move them this evening when it was a little cooler. The chicken was cool enough to debone and 3 kinds of chicken salad were made. One with celery, pecans and crasins, one with onions, celery and dill pickle and one with hard boiled eggs, celery, onions and dill pickle.  David, Israel and Elisabet came out to swim and play in the gym. Mark and I had gone over to sweep up some of the construction mess. No pictures but it is really coming together well. At 7:00 pm Mike and Diane showed up, backed the stock trailer into the indoor arena. I brought the mares in from the back door of the arena and shut the doors once they were in. Loading was easy. I also pulled hair from both colts to send in with their registration papers. Those will be sent in as soon as Sheena delivers so all 3 can be sent in at once. Below they are loaded up and heading out.

I took the video as they were leaving.

We are reasonably sure they are pregnant so may not even have then sonagrammed. Madiera was bred to Valiant and would be due June 5th, 2024 while Jewel was bred to Evan and would be due June 10th, 2024.  The other mare we never got sonagrammed was Blueberry. Mike still may go pick her up from Middle Grove, take her right to the vet clinic in Morton and once sonagrammed haul her straight back out to Middle Grove.  Blueberry was bred to Valiant and if she settled she would be due May 28th, 2024.

Blueberry stands a solid 16.3 hands so her foal by Valiant will be HUGE and if a filly not for sale. I went to update the website and found I had forgotten to post Blueberry on our Horsemeister website. That took a while as I needed to find pictures of her on the blog first.  Hope I did it correctly, it has been a while since we posted a new mare. 

David is picking me up at 8:00 am tomorrow, we will drive up to Hillsdale, IL to join the campers for the day. The cooler was brought downstairs and packed tomorrow morning with chicken salad, GoGurts, hotdogs, ice, water, cherries, blueberries and watermelon. The guests coming in today are in a kayak fishing competition tomorrow and reported they would be leaving by 6:00 am. If they really do I might have time to clean it for the guests coming in tomorrow but if not Joan said she would do it.  Even though the sun is now down and it is 8:30 pm it is still 90 degrees outside. Thankfully tomorrow will be cooler. 

Hatched

 Today was another hot humid almost too hot to be outside day. Diane checked while we were walking at 7:45 am it was already 80 degrees with a real feel of 97. By the time I was moving a bale it was 94 degrees with a real feel of 109. I needed to put a new bale in the middle paddock and since the mares were down in the woods trying to keep cool I could do it by myself. The hog panel to wrap the bale was put outside the barn, the bale put over the hog panel then I got off the tractor to cut the net wrap off, lower the bale and then wrap the hog panel around it. That all took about 15 minutes. It was only after climbing back on the tractor and sitting down that the trouble came. It was like sitting on a hot radiator, so hot I had to jump right back up and find something to put down on the seat before moving the bale. Good thing I jumped up before getting blisters on my bum. 

After throwing the net wrap away in the dumpster I stopped at the barn to check out the bedroom. It is close to getting done. I'm thinking if there is room we may need a desk in there so a lap top could be plugged in.

 Braelyn and Berlica came to clean the apartment and once done came down to the house to cool off. Anna came to check their job then take the motorhome to her house to start packing for the camping trip. Nolan arrived to pick up the Salem camper to take to their house to pack. I took the golf cart over to Joan's to help him hook up.

He stopped at the dumpster to take a phone call. 

 Meanwhile the motor home popped a breaker at Phil and Anna's. Joan drove over to see what the problem was and that turned out to be the adapter. Thankfully Mark had another adapter. It would be miserable to try to camp in this weather without air-conditioning. When Phil arrived he and Anna came over to grab the truck, load up the bikes and fire wood then drove to Joan's to hook up the wildwood for Rhoda and Lee's family.  Phil drove that up to our house and left it ready to go for Rhoda tomorrow.

I stayed at Joan's to check out the baby wrens.  Remember the nest I found in barn's garage?

I couldn't leave the nest there, the 2 cats living in the barn would have eaten that mama bird. Both cats are experienced and very good hunters. I gave the nest to Joan, she put the eggs in the incubator and yesterday 3 of the 4 eggs hatched.  Faith is feeding them and they are all doing well so far.

Joan showed me the tubs she is making up for the campers for when family members use them. Each tub has dishes, pans for cooking, hot pads, utensils and other needed camping items.

It was getting dark when I did the final check on the mares. It has cooled down to 88 degrees now that the sun is almost down.

The campers will be leaving tomorrow morning for Sunset Lakes camp ground in Hillsdale, IL. The best part about that campground during this heat spell is the swimming pool.

They also have a very nice air-conditioned recreation room with lots of different games.