6 Round Bales

Work today was hectic but fun. Not only did the studies get out, over 300 of them, but we also mailed out over 100 of the individual Bibles to prisoners in 22 states. Berean Prison Ministry have sent out Bibles and studies to 47 of the 50 states, which is amazing when we think of how this all started at the Peoria County Jail and how the entire operation is run out of Meister Brothers with basically 2 unpaid volunteers for the processing and hundreds for the grading of studies and wrapping of Bibles.
After dinner tonight Mark and I went back out to the farm to feed Caden, Paris' colt. Once there Mark needed to be shown Spark's new fire truck, it truly is impressive! Our neighbor got up his hay dry a few days ago and offered us 6 round bales at $50.00 a bale, so Mike drove the John Deere over taking 3 trips 2 bales at a time. Raven got a new bale and so did Evan and Valiant. Their shed area needed cleaning before the new bale was put in and Mike used the yanmar for that. While working on the shelter, Duke got out and took off running for the cabin. We just left him, he'll be back waiting to be let in. On the way home we were talking about the rain and how it just doesn't seem to quit.
Once home, Mark went over to check on his black, red and yellow raspberries. He has been out there for a half hour, me thinks he may have found some.

Tate

Tate went to Middle Grove to help his grandpa with the drive way. The horses all have to come up to see what's happening.

Spark's Surprise

After dinner we took a trip to Middle Grove to pick up Paris and her colt. The herd came running up but Paris somehow knew she was going on this trip and headed to the back 40. Mike jumped on Mika with just a halter and lead and thought he could head her off at the pass but this set the entire herd in a gallop, Sangria came running up next to Mika and let out a kick and caught Mike right in the shin. He will end up with quite a bruised leg. It was pretty cool watching this herd of quality horses galloping over the land. Jewel was spectacular, huge extended trot, balanced canter then the gallop. Diane asked Mike if he would take $12,000.00 for her right now and Mike could not say yes. The other filly that was impressive was Chloe, she is maturing into a beautiful girl. Paris eventually gave up but before she was even brought up to the trailer, Wynne jumped in hoping for a ride. Ciera and Chloe were also trying to get into the trailer and had to be waved away. Once Paris was loaded, her colt jumped right in so off we went with a quick stop at Bees for an ice cream cone.
Just as we are pulling into the farm we see this: My first thought is OH NO, Ralph must have had a heart attack! Mike thinks Ralph must have started something on fire. We look a little closer and see the fire truck is from Streator, IL and then I KNEW it was Sparks. He asked for a ride today to Streator and Dan said he would go. Spark was called and he came over to show it off.
Spark had to show us how high the ladder went and Mike was the first to start up the ladder. Of course Diane felt she wanted to go all the way to the top and look at the view. Below the camera is zoomed all the way in.Then David Sauder started up the ladder.
and then he reaches the top! Spark told us when he pulled up with it he let Rachel know he was bringing her a firetruck for her photography business as a back drop. Of course Rachel replied, "wow Spark, I must be your favorite sister!"
Diane decided as long as Joan's family will be here we need to get a family picture on the truck for mom for a Christmas card. Afterall the truck is RED, we just need some greens to finish the decorating.

Addyson & Emma

Darcy, Emma and I got to the farm just before 7:00am, grained Raven, checked over Jenis & Autumn and put them out. Jenis just doesn't look as big as she should, she is either carrying this pregnancy well or just fat. I may have Dr. Hoerr check her also on the 17th when he comes to ultrasound the other 4. Raven and the 2 mares with foals by their sides were square baled. At 7:25 Diane and Rachel were met for the walk which was accomplished in record time. Mike put a round bale in for the 2 mares, Velvet and Big Sally, then decided as long as the skid steer is already muddy he may as well work more on Raven's paddock. Yesterday he used the Yanmar to dig a drainage ditch and placed in drainage tile. Saturday another 3 inches of rain has made Raven's paddock along with the rest of the paddocks just about unbearable. Last year there was so much rain we never really finished cleaning them and now this year is just as bad or worse. Once Mike quit and parked the skid steer, the power washer was brought out to clean the machine. I see why Mark comes back covered with mud when he cleans it, I hosed off my clothes before getting in the car for the drive home. Then it was straight up to the shower.

Sunday June 6th, 2010 we had a wonderful time taking care of our grand daughter Addyson. After church she helped grandpa mow, then Addyson started playing with Emma. We had a beautiful clear day, highs in the low 80s. Just a perfect Sunday afternoon! Emma is now 8 months old and in dog school. She is the star of the class. Diane is taking Ebby to the same class and Ebby is the second best. We're talking over 30 dogs in the class. We think no one else practices, usually Mastiffs are pretty dumb but Emma is trying hard to obey each instruction. Once Addyson and Emma were brought back into the house she continued her playing until she decided to crawl up onto a pillow and take a nap.

Karin's Update

hey all - thought i'd let you guys know that we made it down here, tanzania, africa.... flights were ok, but long, i finally was so sick of sitting, i just layed on the airport floor to stretch out... they are feeding us well, and we are staying in a nice hotel before we go into the bush.. i woke up this morning to allah ackbar.. i guess some of the muslims here use a microphone for their prayers.. yep.. i'm going to die.. but there is a nice christian church right around the corner and the muslims are 2 miles away i hear. so far so good.. well thought i'd get on e-mail while i have it.. sorry about the no capital letters, i can't find the stinkin' shift button on this keyboard.
see you , hopefully
karin

Sophie

The lady that had put a deposit down on Sophie emailed that she needs to default and could she apply her deposit to a stud fee on Raven. So Sophie is now back for sale. Sophie is a 3 year old registered Tennessee Walker and currently at Emily Ricketts for training doing very well. Emily just took her on a 3 mile trail ride by herself and Sophie did wonderful. Sophie is also confirmed in foal to Raven due March 26th, 2011. She is a beautiful buckskin with an extremely thick long mane and tail.

The Tree

Rachel called to let tell me that her husband fixed the stall door Heather's mare Jackie slammed into and broke. While on the phone she also let us know that her husband David and 2 sons were coming to take down the dead tree at the apartment. Before adding anymore brush, the burn pile needed to be set on fire. It is raining, has been raining for hours and everything is drenched, what could be a better time for burning. Tara's husband Jay came to help, he is a lumberjack along with being a teacher, so he helped get the pile burning.

The umbrella was grabbed along with the camera but by the time I walked over, the tree was just coming down.
This is a LOT of fire wood.
We had 3 chain saws going continually, David Sauder, Jay and Mark while David and Caleb worked on cleanup. We were just about done by noon so took a break for gondolas from Avantis. Then back to finish the job.

Duke

Pulling into the farm this morning before 7:00am there is Duke standing in the middle of the circle drive just waiting to be put away. There is a board down in his paddock so he is put into the front shed paddock. It is small and muddy but has a round bale in it so he should be fine. Over to grain Raven and out of the corner of my eye, there goes Duke, he takes 2 trot steps and jumps the paddock fence. This is the problem with ponies, they are just too smart, he looked at the fence, considered the height, and popped over it. We need to bring him into Bridlewood and have Rhoda train him for PonyClub. He easily clears 4 foot fences. Autumn was up at the gate which made it very convenient to check her udder but no sign of filling up yet. She is not due until the end of this month. While she was being checked over Jenis came up to see why Autumn was getting attention so both mares were let out to graze with Duke. As Diane, Rachel and I were on the second barn loop of the walk, the 3 came walking out of the field to greet us. The mares were put back and Duke was locked up with the boys, I'm sure it won't take long for him to figure out how to get out of that paddock but it may hold him for a day until the fence can be repaired in his. The hay is now so tall it is falling over, we only had one opportunity to cut, just 3 short days of sunshine last week but the farmer worked on his fields instead of ours. Now there is rain predicted each day. It is very tempting to fence in the 17 acre hay field as we don't have our own haying equipment.

Not Before 5:00

My rule used to be that no one was allowed to wake me up before 6:00am. Over the years it keeps getting earlier and earlier. This morning the dogs came running into our room at 4:30am. They were told sharply to "go lay down" and they did but unfortunately Mark was awakened by my tone of voice and decided we may as well visit. All I wanted to do was sleep is that so much to desire? Oh well, it was down the stairs to let the dogs out right on the dot of 5:00am then over to the coffee pot where a big cup of day old coffee was just calling my name.
Mom and Karin leave this morning for Tanzania Africa for 2 weeks. They are not taking some old lady trip, staying in the grand hotels, no no they are roughing it and taking a tenting safari with a balloon trip over the Serengeti. We decided it was Karin's job to go with mom on this one. Karin is the youngest of the 11 kids in our family, she is only 35 perhaps she can keep up with our 78 year old mother. So if an elephant starts to charge the tent or a lion is on the prowl we are expecting Karin to protect mom. Is that too much to ask of her?

Laundry Day

To the farm by 7:00am, grain Raven and the boys, check Autumn & Jenis and start to worry about Jenis, until I again realize God is in control. Jenis is just not as big as I feel she should be, she is due in 2 months. Isn't it funny how when things go well, we FIND things in our mind to worry about? The bills are paid, there is a little money in the account, most of the horses are on pasture and the ones still at the farm have hay, I should be rejoicing and at peace.
Once home the laundry that has needed folding and putting away was finally finished including mating over 50 pairs of socks.
Rachel called to update on the sale of Shadow, his new owner picked him up this morning so Shadow is now off to Nebraska! The new owner was very impressed with his attitude and looks. The last time I saw Shadow, I could not tell the difference between him and our purebred colts. Amazing how Raven throws HIS looks.
Then down to Meister's to run more credit apps. Mark is so very busy selling it is hard to keep up with all the people wanting to buy furnaces and air conditioners on credit.

Farrier

After our morning walk it was off to the grocery store for much needed supplies. We will have chicken fajitas for dinner tonight. The first of the month bills were paid on the second of the month and thankfully enough money came in to pay them all, even the gravel bill. Next month we have the truck repair bill hitting on our Discover card. Tyler Joos our farrier was due around 1:00pm at the farm and all of the horses that needed to be trimmed also needed to have the mud washed off of their hooves and feathers after the 2+inches of rain we received during the night. Tyler was prompt and finished by 2:00pm. The eggs were dropped off at mom's before heading back to Peoria. Hoerr Vet clinic was called to schedule ultrasounds for 4 mares. They are down for June 17th, 9:00am but if Velvet or Big Sally come in season before that date we will cancel those 2 and just do Samantha and Sanna. They could have been done a week from tomorrow but the clinic is pretty busy and as long as they were putting it off until the next week we may as well wait 2 days and have the other 2 done at the same time.

Evening Work

After dinner Mark wanted to work on the fence line so we drove the truck out now that the 4 wheel drive is fixed and hooked up the dump trailer. He had cut down quite a few trees earlier, and wanted to use the skid steer to load them into the dump trailer. Mark drove the skid steer and I drove the truck and trailer. The camera was taken out to take some pictures and I just had to get this one of the barns.
I cannot help him with the loading, the wood is riddled with poison ivy so once the trailer was in place, I walked over to the cabin to check over the Friesian mares in the cabin field, then let Raven graze for an hour. It was such a beautiful night.

Rachel's Pictures

Rachel Sauder of momentscapturedbyrachel.com emailed me some pictures today of Samantha's filly playing peek-a-boo with her mom's tail and Raven's eye! I've placed the rest of the pictures on the website on the photogallery but had to put these 2 up here.

Middle Grove Trip

Steven arrived at the farm before 1:00pm, got Sanna covered by Raven then moved Sanna and Ylse into the cabin field with Samantha. By the time I pulled up he had just started moving the ponies. Sangria, Wynne and Knight were all loaded into the front of the stock trailer as the motorcycle was in the back and off to Middle Grove we went. We were sure we were going to have to walk in with the 3 horses plus a battery but the drive looked good so we took a chance. Mike had been there on Sunday morning before church and worked on the drive and either Middle Grove did not get the 3 inches of rain Hanna City did or the driveway was built up enough it was a breeze to get through. All the horses were waiting for us at the gate and glad to see the ones we brought. As they headed down into the valley I started taking pictures. The place is a horse paradise! Below is right after Sangria and Wynne were put in with the herd. Notice how all the mares are looking at them and Sangria is not quite sure if she wants to be there. They start to head down the valley with Sangria leading the herd.


There are 17 horses in the picture above. Some of the foals are hard to see as they are running close to their dam. We love that our horses are herd socialized and yet when they hear us driving up they come running.


And once the run is over they all settle down grazing.

The Fog

The fog this morning was pea soup thick. We could not see the red Bridlewood barn from our playroom window. Heading out to the farm at 6:30am the patchy fog made some roads completely covered but driving just a little farther and it is perfectly clear. We are in for a scorcher today, already hot at 8:20am.
Samantha was covered this morning and Sanna teased. Sanna is still in and will need to be covered this afternoon as this is her 9th day in. We know Sanna's history and know she is usually in for 10 days. Hers is one of the longer seasons. Autumn we know is only in for 3 days tops. It is good to know the history of each mare.
On our walk today we rehashed the FUN weekend at Norris Lake. The volley ball was fantastic, the rope swing fun with just a big of danger thrown in. The water slide exhilarating, the kids came back last night exhausted and sore. We had dinner at Lone Star Steak House and David was so tired, Stephanie had to drive on the way home. We need to give Beth and Greg a HUGE thankyou for hosting.

Samantha and Filly Sold!

A very nice family came out to the farm today and bought Samantha and her filly. The horses won't leave our farm until mid July which will give Raven time to get her bred and sonagram her in foal. They will be letting me know the name they chose for the filly. We are sorry to see then go but thrilled they are getting a great home.

New Colt

Holly Hinton just called, her paint mare just delivered a colt. He is a solid color with a little chrome, but she says he has a beautiful dished face, almost like an Arabian and is big boned. She is pleased and so are we. Holly is going to get pictures for us. I'm losing the boy girl count with the foals coming fast but I think the fillies still out number the colts.

Baking Soda

Yesterday was very hot and humid, on my way up the stairs after church to change I realize I am STILL smelling puppy pee from March, when we went on vacation and left Emma with a dog sitter that didn't know about puppies and their need to be locked up then let out regular. I've tried different products to rid the landing of the smell but on a hot humid day the smell starts wafting up into our nostrils. So an entire box of baking soda was sprinkled all over the landing. The first to notice was Rhoda and I hear a shout "WHAT HAPPENED on the stairs?", then it was Mark's turn. I think it is working and am going to leave it on the landing until later today.
So this morning at 4:45am we are awakened by Emma whining at the top of the stairs. I grab my robe, open the door and she RUNS to the front door desperate to get out. How pleased I am to see her running into the yard to go to relieve herself. Don't mind at all getting up early for that. Almost afraid to write this because I don't want to be jinxed but we have had NO accidents in the house for so long, I forgot when the last one was. So very nice to be out of the puppy stage.

Samantha

We had 2 awesome sermons today in church. It was such a pleasure to be back. We missed last Sunday when we were camping.
A message came while we were in church that the people coming to see Samantha and her filly were going to be late and would I call them. This was done during lunch and we made out to meet tomorrow which left us free for Norris. The farm was the first stop so Samantha could be covered and that was one weird cover. Raven was taken over to the cabin field, Samantha came running up to the fence very interested so Raven was tied, Samantha brought out and tied and Raven brought over. She tried to kill him, started mule kicking. Raven is great about getting out of the way and didn't even get clipped. Samantha was put back in the field and again Raven brought over and again she was showing big time. This time I tied Raven, tied her up in the cabin field, had Jamie hold the filly and brought Raven up and no showing, no sign of being in. As soon as Raven was out of the field and she was again let loose she came right over to the fence again showing. I don't know if I was brave or stupid but this time she was left loose in the cabin field and the gate opened for Raven, she not only let him mount she stood quietly. Never had that happen before. The sun was so bright that when the horses were in the trees the shadows made them look all spotted. It was unusual enough a picture needed to be snapped.
Once Raven was put back and fed it was over to mom's to cook hamburger. Ben and Taunya joined us for dinner. Addyson can now say 'doggie and horsey' She said doggie very clearly.
We headed to the Herman Lake in Norris, IL for competitive volley ball by 6:00pm. There were at least 4 teams rotating in and out. Winner to keep playing but what was interesting the teams were pretty equal as each team would win, stay in for the next then lose. There was a HUGE group of people at the Herman Lake. We were the first to pull out, wanted to be home by dark!

Norris Lake

Once Wanda was delivered this morning we headed for home to eat some lunch. Mark headed back out to the farm while I started loading the car with the cotton candy machine and snow cone machine plus all the supplies to make both. Mike and Diane took the ponies. Just as I got to the top of the hill, I see Knight and Duke, the 2 ponies grazing in the middle of the field in front of Norris Lake. This was very confusing, there are no trees and I'm sure they are not staked out. Karin is standing by the drive with a bunch of little kids around her and she yells the ponies are loose and won't be caught. Naughty boys! We had a lot of help rounding them up, Mike took a quick trip to the Farm King in Canton for a pony girth and 2 pony halters and as soon as the ponies were tacked up they were in demand. It is easily in the 90s so the snow cone machine was put into use during the heat of the day.
The rest of the evening was a lot of fun. We swam in the lake, some fished, some played volley ball, Ruth brought a big blow up water slide that the kids loved, and mom even went down it. Beth made everyone dinner of bbq pork chops, potatoes, salads, chips, and baked beans. There was birthday cake along with ice cream for dessert. Cotton candy was abundantly available after dinner, then it was back to the pony rides.