Jace is 8

 Another early morning start but with this heat it was necessary. As soon as it was light enough to see AND 2 strong cups of coffee Lola was covered by Valiant, then the golf cart taken over to the playground for the campers. I walked back to start breakfast. The campers all piled on the golf cart and drove over here for that. Rebekah helped with the cooking while Sarah took care of baby River. After breakfast Rebekah and her 3 left for home. Nolan gave me a ride over to mom's house on the golf cart so I could brush her hair but when I walked in her hair was already brushed. She did it HERSELF and it looked good. Her shoulder is finally healing up. When I got back Jewel was up flirting with Valiant. She was taken out and covered by Evan. Sure hope she settles on her foal heat, I really want to get these mares back out to the grass at Middle Grove. That is so much better for them. Our airbnb guests have a 9 year old son who is horse crazy. He helped grain the stallions last night and again today. Below he is picking grass for the mares and foals. Lola's colt and Soul's filly came right up for attention. 

Love these friendly foals!

Mark cleaned up the area then went to work on the Summerland camper but soon came to pick me up as he needed an extra set of hands. I worked with him until 1:00 pm but then had to leave for Jace's 8th birthday party. Ben and Taunya rented a huge blow up slide. This thing weighed 500 pounds and is as tall as a house. 

The cotton candy was a big hit. Below are the happy birthday guests.

Jace was pretty pleased.

Just as I was cleaning up the table Mark sent a text "It's Happening!" with the picture below.

I was not sure if we would get the hay up dry for the last couple days rain fell around us but not here and today there was a good chance of rain this afternoon BUT by the time I got home the weather was clearing up, the farmer had finished our field and was over working on Joan's field. I got home around 4:00 pm but the skid steer key was missing so I had to hike back down to the house to get the spare set then take the bucket off and put on the bale spear so didn't actually get started moving bales until around 4:20 pm. Mark came out at 6:00 pm and started helping to move the bales and by 8:00 pm we had all 51 bales safe in the barn. I needed to move a bale in for Galena and Rosaleigh so before putting the skid steer away moved that in and finally went in to take a shower. I was so filthy that it took 3 washings to get the hay debris out of my hair. I am SO thankful to have hay in the barn and the job done. I'm sure going to sleep good tonight.

Last Day of Indian Camp for 2021

 It was hard to crawl out of bed this morning but the breakfast for 35 hungry Indians needed to be made. The oven was turned on at 6:00 am and I started cooking, finishing the meal at 7:28 am, just in time to get the food over to the playground by the 7:30 am start time. We had 6 dozen scrambled eggs, 100 sausage links, 48 biscuits, 60 cinnamon rolls, grapes, cherries, strawberries, and 3 gallons of fresh squeezed orange juice. Well I didn't squeeze it, but the label said not from concentrate so it must have been fresh squeezed. Everyone had their fill and we even had some left over which came in real handy when Spark and Josiah showed up for lunch AFTER lunch. Taunya and Stephanie made walking taco's for the camp lunch and that was pretty much all eaten. Spark and Josiah were working on the new electrical service box

for the new barn so of course they were fed. This morning at 9:30 was the painting of the ponies. 

 They also made beaded necklaces for the younger Indians and the older Indians worked on totem poles. They hiked, checked snares, had an archery contest, canoe races, cleaned up the campsite then got to swim. Below is a video of just a few of the activities today. In the 3 days these campers really improved their archery skills, their fishing skills and canoeing skills. They also learned about not wasting food, where to find food in the wild, patience with each other and how to work together. 

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

Once the Indians were picked up I moved the campers over to the playground.

Sarah and Nolan's family will be spending the night in the FSX while Rebekah and her 3 will be spending the night in the Summerland. Rebekah's husband Brian is volunteering at junior high boys camp.  

Indian Camp Day 3

 During the night last night some of the snares went off and the Indian's could hear lots of commotion but by the time they got to them the snares were empty. Day 2 of the 4 to 12 year olds Indian camp was another very hot day. The campers walked over to the playground even before breakfast arrived. Julie brought a wonderful breakfast of sausage and egg casserole, fruit, donuts and juice boxes. After breakfast they headed back to the meadow to work on their arrows. Today they made sand candles over on Joan's beach, they had face painting, had horse back riding, swimming, hunting, picking mint, digging up sassafras roots for tea, they caught 6 big bull frogs, cleaned the 12 legs for the dinner tonight along with the fish they caught, they picked lambsquarter for their cooked greens tonight, canoe races, and archery contests. Below are a few pictures.

To see the rest of the pictures click HERE.

Below is a video of some of the activities:

I had a busy day also, as we had guests coming in for the apartment and the barn needed to be cleaned, then ran to Sam's club to pick up fruit for tomorrow's breakfast along with a few things Taunya needed for tomorrow's lunch. When I got back the Indian's were just getting ready to head out trail riding.  Diane had some guests over and they came to mom's to watch the canoe races.

It was really good to see Mary, Jan, Pam, Myrna and Carol.

Later in the afternoon a storm started building in the West. We could hear the rumble of thunder. I snapped the picture below before I started praying for the storm to go South and it did.

The hay was cut yesterday and the horses are going to need nutritious hay this winter. I was very thankful when the rain passed us by. 

Indian Camp Day 2

 The campers started arriving before 9:00 am. I was not there for the first part as I was working on cleaning the stalls, trailers and the camping trailers.  Round bales also needed to be moved into 2 of the paddocks. Valiant got a new bale as did Lola and Soul's paddock. When doing that without help the horses either have to be moved or locked out of the paddock so it takes extra long.  Karin arrived to mix up fly spray and went to work spraying down all the shelters of the paddocks along with spraying down the horses. Magda and Isaiah arrived so we took the golf cart over to the cabin field to pick up 3 horses.  Isaiah chose to ride Ripper (his favorite) Magda chose to ride Oksana (her favorite) and Karin chose Sangria.

I took a couple trips to the meadow to drop off campers that came in a little later and by the time we got there they were busy building their housing for the next 3 days. They were also gathering firewood.

Once the teepees and wigwam were up they worked on their outfits and painted faces.

My next job was to take the Wolf Pup over to Joan's for the person renting it this weekend. The Indian's were all over there learning about bees.

I asked Anna to come with me to help hook up the camper to the skid steer and when we got over there with the trailer, the Indian's had moved on to their next activity which was to learn how to make snares and traps. After lunch they went on a hike to set the snares and traps in hope of catching meat for their meal on Thursday. The canoes were brought over for their paddling and canoeing lesson. They will have the canoe races on Friday.

They all enjoyed a swimming break. It was very hot today and the lake is refreshing plus it gets everyone clean.

They were called in for a snack about 3:00 pm. The video below shows a tiny bit of the tarps used for the teepees before the calling out of the water for a snack.

The afternoon each Indian needed to make a fishing pole to use for tonight and bows for their hunting trips. The arrows were also worked on.

I drove over to pick up mom for church and they were just starting to serve dinner. Anna, Taunya and Rebekah were dishing out plates to hungry Indians.

This evening after supper they fished with their own fishing poles and picked berries,  then had stories around the campfire of different Indian tribes. It was an exhausting day with 88 degrees and all outdoor activities. The farmer arrived to cut the hay late this afternoon.

He was busy earlier mowing 50 acres of his own, plus round baling the 80 acres that were cut a few days ago. They really mow fast. Below is a short video of how quickly they mow.

While taking the video above I noticed Madiera and her colt so snapped a few pictures of him for the website. It was much to hot to ask them to run so they are just still shots.

Tim Funk had the message tonight on the Queen of Sheba and Solomon.  A nice message came today that Skye had a beautiful all black colt by Evan early this morning. Below are the pictures of this fine looking strong colt.

They are very pleased, he will have the mega hair of his sire Evan but the height from his grandsire Raven and his uncle Valiant.