Trick Or Treat

It rained during the night and we had an inch of rain in the gauge this morning. I'm not sure when it started but it was a soft much needed rain and all of it soaked in. 

Mark went over to feed the cats and dog at Joan's house when Joan called needing me to get the keys to the storage facility in Hanna City and meet a man to open his units. One of them had an extra key but the other had only one. The man took both and is going to make a copy and give the originals back to Joan. I made it home before Mark did from his walk and had breakfast waiting when he walked in. Today we needed to clean up the cement machine which meant taking it apart, giving it a good clean then putting it back together. It really did take both of us but by the time it was finished we were happy with the job. 

Mark took the boards away from the cement job and it looks good.

Mark paid deposits on 2 of the pallets and also had 12 bags of cement left over. He called the store and they were willing to take those back and give him his deposit back on the pallets. We were loading them on the truck when David arrived to pick up the hay rack.

He hooked that up while Mark was loading the left over cement.

Once the pallet was on he left. I went back in the house to finish laundry. We really went through a lot of clothes this week and don't have enough clothes to go a whole week without doing laundry. Even if we had the clothes we don't have any extra space to put them. We share a closet that is 31 inches wide. He gets the top rack and I have the bottom. David decorated that hay wagon and Rachel and David brought a lot of their family over for the usual trick or treat. The pictures below were all taken by Rachel. I took some but hers are so much better I'm using hers.

The sun came out this afternoon but the wind was fierce and the temperature dropped into the 50s. She had plenty of blankets on the wagon.

Below is a short video of them going over to see if Karin had candy.

I just made it home and was putting away the last load of laundry when someone knocked on the door. This time it was Braelyn, Taegan and Kensley.

So much fun to see how creative everyone is. The motorhome was filled with fresh water today, the renters are picking that up tomorrow morning and I wanted to go over everything that I need to tell them so spent some time searching for the electrical cords, sewer hoses, fresh water hose and the gauges so I can show them what needs to be done. Another productive day.

No More Cement

 We got going early with the cement mixer and only had a few problems during the entire time. We ended up using 67 bags of cement on this half and each bag weighs 60 pounds. That is over 2 tons of cement and each bag was picked up and dumped in the mixer and spread. Mark did most of the spreading while I did most of the dumping. Below he is bring out the first pallet of cement bags at the start of today's work.

We just kept going and going and going. The pile below was not all of the bags.

I would dump them in and then just throw the empty bags on the ground. We had a brisk wind which kept most of the dust off of our faces but the wind caused some of the bags to go flying into the paddocks. Below Mark is taking the tractor to get the last of the bags.

We decided after this job we are done with cement. Mark did the clean up once the slab was poured and screeded. I needed to get 4 pictures the motorhome as that is going out this weekend. The lady renting it wants the fresh water tank filled so the motorhome was brought over here for that job. She is going to pick it up Friday morning. RV Share has a rule that before each time the motorhome goes out pictures must be sent in.

Spark and Rhonda arrived as we were cleaning up and helped with that. I had supper cooking which was good since we didn't have a lot of time to eat and get ready for church. Mike Kaisner had the message tonight on Psalm 52 and St.John 13. To watch that click HERE,  We had a wonderful review come in from our last airbnb guest.

HER Review: Spent 4 perfect fall days in the lovely and peaceful setting of Judith’s Working horse farm. The accommodations were comfortable and immaculately clean, with a great kitchen outfitted with whatever you might need. We were literally surrounded by Gently rolling hills, ponds, creeks, pastures, deer in the fields, geese flying overhead and owls calling to each other nightly from deep in the woods. For me, best of all were the friendly, affectionate and spectacularly beautiful equine ambassadors that are the centerpiece of Horsemeister Farm. Every morning a magnificent 17 hand Friesian Stallion (Evan) called to me as I stepped out the door, I can’t think of a better way to start the day. Dark, handsome, gentle and well mannered, he is a charmer. This place is perfect for peaceful relaxation and renewing your spirit. Looking forward to returning again soon and spending a little more time with my new friend Evan. He had me at Hello…

 Privately  she sent: Judith, time at your farm was exactly what I needed after the very difficult weeks following my husband’s illness. It was beautiful, peaceful relaxing and I felt so welcomed there. It was delightful meeting your family on my farm tour, and it was so thoughtful of you to invite me to breakfast as well. I have really missed being around horses and horse people, it was truly a treat to spend time with Jamie and Ralph. Your kindness during my visit was so much appreciated, looking forward to coming back soon! Besides, I have fallen in love with Evan, can’t wait to visit him again 😍 Many thanks! Danni

Big News Big News

We got an email this morning that the pallet load of concrete was to be delivered between 6:00 am and 8:00 pm today. Not long after reading that email Mark's phone went off at 6:30 am from an unknown number. He decided since he didn't recognize the number not to answer it. I had to remind him about the concrete coming so he called back and sure enough it was the truck driver bringing the concrete. He was on his way and the eta was 7:00 am. Mark gave him directions then took the golf cart up to make sure there was nothing in the way. The concrete was delivered, unloaded and the truck back on it's way in about a half hour. I had breakfast ready for him when he came back down to the house. I left for the Berean office at 8:00 am with 2 pecan pies. We had a good group of volunteers today and they were needed. We had 29 Bible requests and had to wrap more Bibles to get them filled. Below these 3 ladies had just come into this room as it was time for the prayer. 

Skip had the prayer and as soon as he finished Kathy read us a thank you letter that echoed some of what Skip prayed about. 

The timing was perfect. We had one pretty funny letter come in today. He didn't ask for a Bible, he wanted us to give the included information to a single lady. This inmate, in the letter wrote he was a Habitual Armed Felon and included couple pictures of  himself with no shirt on, is looking for a relationship. He also sent a copy of his GED and a couple other copies of certificates to show a lady that he was no dummy, although I'm not sure he knew what a Habitual Armed Felon meant as I can't imagine a single lady would find that desirable. 

Below we have almost finished the work although the Shirley at the right of the picture is working on filling the intermediate studies. 

Below is a short video.

The pies turned out well. We had to try both of them just to make sure the second pie was as good as the first. Mark was glad I brought home the leftovers.  He was not yet ready to pour cement and had more work to do before we could pour. We know how long it will take so decided to start the job tomorrow morning so we can be done in the daylight. That gave me some extra time to work Valeria and Thalia. Valerie was taken out first. Today she was led between the 2 buildings which the horses find scary. She stopped a couple times but was brave enough to stay with me until we made it to the round pen. We did some round pen reasoning and she did amazing. These Friesians are so easy to train. She is huge for a 2 year old and on track to be at least as tall if not taller than her dam Lily and her sister Rosalie. They both stand a solid 17 hands. Below are a few pictures of Valerie.

The whip with the plastic bag was placed on top of the mounting block. She was so curious she had to come check that out.

Then she had to taste it.

Valerie was put back and Thalia taken out.

She too needed to check out that bag.

She was put back. Both Oliver and Madiera's colt were given a little attention before I headed back to the house.

Valerie just towers over the others.

The red oak tree leaves near the house are fast changing colors.  I took a picture of those leaves.

The mini mums Mark dug up and transplanted from mom's yard a few years ago are also blooming with color.

The big news here in Hanna City was someone drove their car into the Dollar General and for some reason they closed the store.

The closing of the store news went flying out quickly by social media and word of mouth.
Just because there was no door is no reason to close the store. It happens to be our only store that carries some groceries and other necessities. Everyone that uses that store breathed a sigh of relief when it opened back up after a few hours. Big news big news. 

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Going LIVE

 It was another chilly morning, yesterday my bare feet got so cold while cooking breakfast that today as soon as I got out of bed the insulated slippers were pulled out of the closet and put on. With Fedi still in the hospital there was no walk again. The picture below was sent yesterday but somehow I missed it so am posting it today. This is mom and Aunt Jinnie sitting on the swing on the porch of Lani Kai enjoying the view of the Gulf while Aunt Jinnie is reading to guest book to mom. 

Right after breakfast Evan was moved back into his paddock as the one he was in is now out of hay. Next I went to the barn to start the clean up from the weekend. Mark brought the tractor over with 10 bags of cement then came in to help with the floors. When we finished that we started on his next cement job. He is building two slabs at the new barn, one for each of the grills. I helped him get the cement mixer on the skid steer as that is the easiest way to transport that.

We brought a couple extra bags of cement over on the golf cart just in case we needed them.

We finished the first one, emptied out the mixer then drove the golf cart over to the other barn to pick up more cement bags. Below is a video of Mark using the sawzall without the blade to vibrate the cement. This distributes the cement into the corners and along the sides. Below he is finishing up the last slab.

While I was working with him I got an email from Gaetano. He finished his part on the website and that was ready for me to finish my part. He said it is scheduled to go LIVE on Friday.  I left Mark at the barn to do all the clean up and went home to finish my part of the website getting that done in less than an hour.  My next job was to bake 2 pies for Berean. The plan was to bake pumpkin pies but I noticed I still had pecans left and really needed to adjust the baking time for pecan pies so decided to bake two of those. Last week the pecan pies got too brown on top but one of them was not quite set in the middle. This afternoon I lowered the baking temperature to 350 instead of 375 and put aluminum foil loosely on top and popped them in the oven for 40 minutes. I knew they wouldn't be done but wanted to make sure the crust wasn't getting too brown. The aluminum foil was removed and it was baked for 10 more minutes then the foil put back on and baked for another 10 minutes. By that time it was close but still a little runny. I gave it 6 more minutes then turned the oven off and left them in the oven for another 10 minutes.

They seem to be fine but I won't know until we try them tomorrow at the Berean office. I'm sure they are baked enough just hoping they are not too done. 

Rhoda posted a couple really cute pictures of Zeke, our youngest grandchild.

I also saw two pictures from Stephanie of Zion, Eden and Elisabet taken last weekend for their daddy daughter dance.

Each girl gets to make her own stuffed animal at this function. My grand daughters love doing crafts so they all had a wonderful time.

David sent the picture below just now. 

We saw the video of them cleaning out and carving these pumpkins so it is nice to see the finished project. Behold Israel and Elisabet's jack-O-lanterns.

The work today was really physical and we are both tired. We will sleep good tonight.

Fantastic Sunday

 Mark got up at 3:00 am as we went to bed really early last night after working so hard yesterday. I didn't get up until 4:15 am as the pot roast needed to be in the crock pot by 4:30 am. I was glad Mark had the coffee already started. We took it easy this morning spending a lot of time reading. The potatoes and carrots were added at 8:00 am. We had 3 full crockpots of meat, potatoes and carrots and ended up needing all 3. We needed to leave for church by 8:50 am so we could pick up Rhonda then drive to the Berean office to pick up 2 boxes of Bibles. Rhonda told us they needed Bibles for the jail. Randy and Kathy brought Nancy to church. She was so glad to see us when we walked in as we were a few minutes after 9:30 am. Nancy was so funny this morning, she was anxious to go to Sunday school and when the singing was over I took her up to go with Patty her teacher but I kept her bag. She brought a huge full heavy bag with her today. She reached the door to go downstairs, turned around and very loudly looked at me and said, You'l give it RIGHT BACK?"  I had to assure her that I would give it back after Sunday school and then she willingly went with Patty. Caleb Plattner had the morning message on the tower of Babel but started the message on how buildings could be built for God (Like Solomon's temple) or for the wrong reason.  If you want to watch this message click HERE. After the service I went down to her Sunday school room to pick her up for lunch. She was so pleased with her paper she colored and made a blanket for the baby in the basket AND she knew that baby's name, she was excited to tell me, "It's baby Moses!"  The second service was the reading of the Fall Memorandum. Click HERE if you would like to watch that. That didn't last as long as a regular sermon so we actually made it home by 1:30 pm. As the meal was cooking in crockpots and there wasn't anything needing to be done I listened to Jeff Waibel give a message in Leo on Habakkuk 3. I highly recommend this message. I know I'll need to listen again. It was on fear, the response to fear. Click HERE to watch that. Joan sent some really special pictures from Gulf Shores this afternoon. Joan, Sarah, Ivan and Jacob were able to get mom up the stairs to her Lani Kai condo so she could enjoy the swing on the front porch AND check out the remodel job of that condo.

She is standing in the picture below checking out the sink.

Below she is reading the guest book. This is the book that she and dad put in the condo when they first bought it and guests that stay write what they enjoy. She hasn't been able to see the book for at least 3 years.

While looking at the pictures and the videos of them getting mom up those stairs my eyes started leaking and right then Ruth sent a text "those pictures are making me tear up." We just know how much it meant to mom to be there. 

I hauled all the food over to the barn at 3:30 pm and there were already a couple families there playing. We ate at 4:30 pm and had 29 people for dinner then celebrated the October birthdays. 

Below are few pictures after the supper and party.

See those 3 crockpots in the picture below? There was very little left in them by the time supper was finished.

The weather was pretty cool this afternoon and evening so most of the fun was inside today. The bouncy house was well used.

Below is a short video of some of the volleyball games.

Rhoda and Lee took Nancy home. I took Mark home on the golf cart to get his car and he left for Home Depot to buy another pallet of concrete bags plus he bought 6 of the 2 by 6 by 16 foot boards. We like to keep those on hand for fence repairs. They will deliver the boards when they deliver the concrete. I got home from the barn just before he made it home. Truly a fantastic Sunday.