Middle Grove Winter Prep

 Ruth sent a picture early this morning as she and mom were enjoying the sunrise in Gulf Shores.

With the cold going to hit tonight Mark and I worked together this morning bringing lots of wood inside.

It was 16 degrees when we finished but had warmed up to 21 degrees by the time I left for Middle Grove. My first job there was to check the bales. We have 6 left from Jay

The other farmer had brought over 14 which were larger bales and the farmer we usually get our bales from but he was in the hospital and couldn't get them to us in time.

Mike is coming back from Gulf Shores to help him move more of these bales over. We usually buy 80 from him. The next job was to find out if there was enough hay set out until Saturday. 

There were a few horses down eating on the bales and just 2 left. Oliver heard one of the mares neigh and took off running to join the rest of the herd.

Mike needed the tractor plugged in so that was done.

I followed the horses going to join the rest of the herd to check on everyone. They all seemed content to graze.

I wanted to check on all of the foals and was pleased to not only find them all but also was able to handle each one. 

Below is Roseberry and Dalhia.

Below is Disco

Below is Dreamer.

Below is Bulu's colt who still needs to be named.

I didn't get a good picture of Shadow but she too is looking good. All of the foals are very fuzzy, exactly what is needed for the coming cold. Lily and Jury had gone quite a ways from the herd over by a tree. I walked over followed by Rosalie, Valerie, Tessa and Thalia. Lily was busy breaking ice from a large puddle then drinking the water under it. I didn't remember to check the bubbler on the way to the field so was worried maybe it wasn't working. Thankfully I found it working well, Lily was just too lazy to walk all the way back to the lake and knows how to find water easier.

If you would like to see the rest of the pictures from Middle Grove click HERE.

By the time I was back in the car I was really cold and glad the heater works well in my Prius. Once home Mark had Mackenson come help stock up the porch with wood.

They would bring it to the porch and I would stack it. By the time we quit the rack was full.

They also took wood over to Joan's house as now that mom is in Gulf Shores she is living back at her house and burning wood in both of her wood burners. We have kept that wood burner going all day and now it is full of red hot coals.

Winter Prep

The foaling apartment booked for tomorrow so right after breakfast I went up there to make sure all the mess was cleaned up from moving the ladders and step stools in and the changing of the lightbulbs. Once that was done the cleaning supplies were taken over to the barn and the living room, kitchen, halls and bathrooms were cleaned from the Sunday company. Mark left for Princeville to pick up the garage door he had ordered from EB Buildings. He was able to fit it in his car but had to drive with the back opened and froze on the way home. 

We have extreme cold moving in tomorrow so today we wanted to put a heater in the water pit then cover it well with a tarp. We had everything we needed, got up to the pit and opened it to find it was full of water. We obviously had a frozen pipe on that last cold spell that started pouring water out once the temperature rose above freezing. Mark went to find his sump pump but it wasn't where he thought he put it. We spent some time looking for it but finally called Mike to see if we could borrow one. He told me there was one down at the creek so the golf cart was taken down there to get it. The sump pump we had could fit in that black pipe in front of the hydrant but this one could not.

It had a rigid pipe coming off the bottom as it is used for a creek. Mark had to hold it while I held the pipe.

We got it drained enough to see where the water was coming from.

Then called Tim Meister. He agreed to come right after work. I went down the basement to turn the water off. While we were waiting for Tim, Mark got a bale moved into Evan's paddock.

I cleaned out his automatic waterer then we put a tarp around his to help keep the cold out. I probably will not put him back in there until I leave for Gulf Shores but wanted it ready before the cold hits, as we don't like to run the heavy equipment when it is below zero.

While working there I noticed the two trees Mark has down and cut up. Both were dead and both should make good firewood next year.

When Tim arrived he finished pumping out the pit.

I went back to the house to turn the water back on just for a bit for him to see it was only one broken valve. Below he is removing the broken one and putting on the new one.

It took about 20 minutes from start to finish. This is the broken valve.

Once Tim left we put in the heater, covered the pit well then put a tarp around that. We had enough time to unload the garage door from Mark's car before we needed to get ready for church.

Gregg Rumbold had the message tonight on Colossians 3 click HERE if you would like to watch that. We decided not to go out to eat tonight. Joan beat us home but when we pulled in we could see her car on the main drive and both Joan and Mackenson outside in front of the car. The wind knocked down a tree and they were moving it off the drive. We are having wind guests in the 40-50 mph range so Mark will need to check the drives tomorrow morning. I'm planning on a quick trip to Middle Grove to make sure there is plenty of hay out before the extreme cold hits.

Game Time

 We had a cold morning, so cold that Evan's automatic waterer froze. Mark discovered that when I was at the Berean office. He hauled buckets of water over to him until I could get home. We had a very good morning at the Berean office. Kathy read us a letter that came in.

We had 3 different treats for our break. Sharon left her chex mix and we also had 2 kinds of cinnamon rolls.

Shirl was taking Vonnie's place today getting studies ready for stuffing into Bibles.

Below Shirley is working on the advanced lessons.

Skip and Marvin are working on the computers while Kathy reads and answers lessons.

We finished with plenty of time to enjoy our coffee break before heading to the Hanna City post office before they closed for lunch. After the Bibles and Studies were dropped off as soon as I got home Evan was moved into the middle paddock where that waterer is working well.

He was more interested in smelling around to see if any mares had left any wonderful smelling manure. Mark had to go to two different stores to get the light bulbs he needed for the apartment. When he got home we went right to work in the apartment changing out lightbulbs. He replaced the first bulb in the lights to the left of him and realized it was much brighter. The other 2 were left in that light fixture and he will order 2 more for that one plus 3 more for the other ceiling light.

The ceiling fans in the second bedroom and the living room lights were all changed out and now are much brighter.

Each one had 3 bulbs that were burning but weren't very bright.

Above is the fan light in that sectional couch room and below is the fan light in the master bedroom.

The bathroom light bulbs were also changed. The last job was to change the filter in the furnace.

We finished in the apartment and left for Farmington school to watch Taegan play in a volley ball game.

She has an awesome serve. 

We left there after that game to take Kensley to her basketball game at the Elmwood school. Phil was needed to pick up Braelyn from her scholastic bowl at Peoria Christian and Anna was needed to coach the 5th grade Farmington volley ball team. Kensley and her team did very well in their basketball game. Kensley made the first point then lots of other points and rebounds and they won the game.

I don't have a video editing program right now so can't put the video's together but below is more of her game. 

Both games were fun to watch. 

Precious Memories

Today is Joan's birthday Ruth sent a family text with a video from mom wishing Joan a happy birthday. We all needed to chime in. Joan commented that she is on the 6th level where as mom is heading toward the 10th. That sounds much better than turning 60. We awoke to 2 degrees and wind this morning. The wind chill was well below zero. Mark checked on the barn propane and found the tank was down to just 15%. Last week we burned a LOT. He called the propane company to order. If only we had topped off the barn last fall when we filled up the house tank The barn tank was at 55% then. The cost then was $1.89 per gallon and today it is $2.09 a gallon but for some reason Mark just didn't want to do that. It is now on order and we will fill the apartment tank also as that is 35%. After breakfast Mark turned on AC Central to listen to Jeff Waibel speak on Neco and we both enjoyed listening to that message again. The link is posted on yesterday's blog post. If you have the time it is am amazing message. Now that Sarah and Nolan have moved out, Sarah spent the morning at the apartment getting it ready for guests. I'm kind of sad they left but have opened up the blocked dates starting on Wednesday as Mark still needs to replace the furnace filter and buy a few lightbulbs. This afternoon I went to the barn to straighten up the game room and bring all of the leftover food home from last nights meal. Dan and Susan came to the barn this afternoon to make notes for Sophia's wedding. It is always good to see them. In 2025 we lost both Mika and Sangria. Mika was born here, on this farm in 2000. He didn't just give rides to birds.

He was on our starting line-up for our trail rides. He was very athletic and even last year never showed his age. His dam was our 16.1 hand Thoroughbred mare Grace and his sire was a 16.2 hand palomino stallion. He ended up a chestnut and 16.2 hands. He could jump, ride dressage, and trail ride. He really was extraordinary and we loved him. 

We acquired Sangria as a 2 year old. She truly had amazing movement.

She too ended up being on our starting line-up. She had an amazing canter and had the Andalusian winging on her trot which made even that very smooth. At 2 years of age she looked almost black but over the years turned to a flea bitten gray.

I took her down to Eminence on the cross country trail ride and we enjoyed crossing those brooks, climbing the mountains  and camping with the rest of our group, which included Mike riding Mika, Diane riding Sally, Karin riding Lily and Amy riding Nora.  Of those horses just Lily and Sally are left. Lily was born in 2002 and Sally in 2001. 

So many precious memories.

Party Time

 The potatoes were peeled and placed in salt water this morning before breakfast. This 5 pound bag from Aldi only had one not so good potato and all of the rest were great. 

We left for church a little after 9:00 am. Randy and Kathy brought Nancy. Berlica took her up to the front to sing but since I didn't see Anni and Joan was gone she just stayed with me for the first service instead of going to Sunday school. Tim Roecker had the morning message on King Josiah. Click HERE to listen to that message. I remember listening to a message about Josiah going to fight against Neco in a message from Jeff Waibel in Leo. Thanks to that amazing I T guy at the Peoria church you can click HERE to listen. You will hear HISTORY like you have never heard it before. The history lesson starts at 18:10 and I HIGHLY recommend listening to this.  This was posted March 10th, 2024 Sunday morning in Leo. I am very thankful we have this service.  At lunch pictures came in of Ruth's surprise birthday party down in Gulf Shores. The sisters surprised her with a Luau.

Ruth turned 65 today and tomorrow is Joan's 60th, birthday.  Her family was all getting together this afternoon at her house for a party for her. . There wasn't enough room at the tables to eat so these 3 sisters ate their lunch in the alcove.

Faith and Drew were going through their registry list, she saw a wine bottle opener on that list.

Faith said "we don't need that, I've never ever even used one of those." Sarah quipped right back, "That's because you are only 18 years old."

Hannah brought her new baby boy to church and had him wrapped up tight. 

Mike Kaisner had the afternoon message on Isaiah 38 when King Hezekiah was told by Isaiah that he was going to die and when he prayed and wept God granted him 15 more years. Click HERE to watch that. After church Nancy came home with us and 'helped' me with cooking tonight's dinner. We had the food all cooked and loaded into Mark's car by 4:00 pm and drove that over to the barn. We had a feast tonight. Those crock pots were full when we started, the picture below was after the first group went through.

By the time everyone had eaten they were all almost empty. Then came the birthday party for Zeke.

Nancy really got into the singing.

All those little boys were pretty interested in his gifts.

After the party the Bears game was turned on. We heard lots of cheers and lots of groans from those watching. Those not were playing games.

Rhoda offered to take Nancy home, she also took Iris, Zeke, Zion, Eden and River as there is no school tomorrow they were having a sleep over.

I left shortly after that. Most stayed to finish watching the game which went into overtime but the Bears lost. 

 

3rd In a Row

 It was a cold 12 degrees this morning. Mark got the wood burner going. Rizzy knows how to get comfortable by laying next to that heat. 

I left the house at 7:35 am for Sam's club to buy the ingredients for Sunday supper. I was out of there and at the Bartonville Dollar General (they open at 8:00 am) by 8:50 am, picked out a birthday card for our youngest grandson then drove to Aldi and had to wait 2 minutes in the car for that store to open as Aldi opens at 9:00 am. Mark had been over at the barn exercising and was already walking back when I pulled in but near the house so he helped unload. There were a lot of bags. We are expecting around 50 for dinner Sunday so I bought 20 pounds of boneless pork loin, ingredients to make stuffing, 5 pounds of potatoes to make the mashed potatoes, 2 big bags of broccoli, 2 kinds of lettuce, 6 pounds of fresh strawberries, 4 jars of pineapple chunks, 3 pounds of grapes, a 3 pound bag of cuties a gallon and a quart of vanilla ice cream and 32 Hawaiian rolls. Rhoda and Lee will provide the cake and cupcakes for our dessert as we will be celebrating Zeke's 4th birthday after the dinner. It had been cloudy but the sun broke through on the way to and from the shopping trip. It didn't stay out long and soon there were snow squalls to go with the cold cloudy weather. I made the stuffing this afternoon and got that simmering in the crock pot. We left the house around 4:30 pm to run and errand in East Peoria. The picture below is going over the Cedar Street Bridge. By this time it 15 degrees out.

We stopped at Long John Silvers for a fish and shrimp platter. I ate the fish and Mark ate the shrimp. We just shared that one meal for around $15.00 then headed home. It was snowing again on the way home, not hard but swirling around dancing in the wind. For the 3rd day in a row I had a call about someone wanting to buy a Friesian. The problem is they all want one already trained to ride and we only sell babies. I'm not really interested in selling our riding horses but told her about Valerie. I found the blog post of the little work we have done with her and talked her through how to find that blog post written July 10th, 2025 with Mike line driving her. 

Yesterday I took a call from a family interested in Valerie's foal if it is a colt so not in a big hurry to sell her. She is probably more valuable as a brood mare to me. The stuffing is now outside cooling and will be put in the fridge then warmed back up in a crock pot tomorrow for the meal. The dishes are now done and we are settling down to read. I gave Mark the book Reunion by Dan Walsh. It was good read and he is enjoying it. I have just finished a book about the civil war. The prisoners on both sides were treated horribly. How can supposedly Christian people treat other Christian people so badly?