Flat Tire

 I stopped in at mom's this morning and was put right to work. Rhonda had breakfast for anyone that wanted to come so Ruth and I stayed back and got mom up for her breakfast.

When the rest came back from Rhonda's I left as today was weaning day for Hadassah's filly. Hadassah was brought into a stall then slipped out and taken over to the cabin field. She was calling but not frantic. The halter was put on the filly, she was de-wormed with Quest Plus then she and Tatiana's filly were loaded into the horse trailer for their trip to Hoerr Vet clinic for their blood draw for the Coggins test.  All of this horse stuff was done without any help and I was probably just a little too proud of myself. On 474 at the top of the hill getting close to Morton, IL the drivers side front trailer tire blew out with such force that it sheared the bolt to the fender. Not only did I have a flat tire but the racket the fender was making was awful. At first I thought it might be the truck coming up behind me until I looked back and saw tire pieces flapping. I pulled off as far as possible. The trailer spare had been left in the barn. I tried calling Mark 3 times then called Anna but she was in Chilicothe helping Stephanie paint. The 4th time Mark answered his phone but by the time he left Meisters and drove to the barn picked up the tire then came to help change the tire it just made more sense to call Riekers and have them rescue me. 

I was stuck on the side of that highway for an hour and a half which gave me lots of time to think of my pride. I KNOW I had help today, just not from people. I really do depend heavily on my Heavenly Father and He helps tremendously. Why even the flat tire was a blessing today. Tomorrow I'm leaving for Chicago to deliver 2 foals and it would have been so much worse having the flat then. Now I'm prepared, I have the spare tire for the trailer and the jack in the truck. I finally made it to Hoerr Vet clinic and both fillies were excellent for their blood draw. They were even good for the pictures posing perfectly. I was holding them so didn't get any pictures.  When I got back to the barn I parked the trailer inside and led both fillies together back into the stall.  They both led like pros. My next job was to bring Prince(Irish's colt) and King (Jury's colt) in the indoor to practice trailer loading. I brought their grain inside the trailer, Prince of course follows me right inside. King took a few minutes until he realized Prince was getting all the grain then hopped in. I like this way of teaching trailer loading, they are not at all afraid of the trailer and were left inside with the trailer open for the rest of the evening and tonight. When I got back to the house I remembered mom's house needed toilet paper and soap, found both of those items and took it over on the golf cart. Ruth was just getting ready to put mom in the wheel chair and take her out on the deck. We worked together with the hoyer lift. Below are mom and Aunt Jinnie enjoying the sunshine on the deck.

Maria Graham brought her mom out to visit with mom so they sat out on the deck too.

Spark, Rhonda, Amy and Diane arrived and we were visiting out by mom's garage when Hadassah came walking up the road. She had gotten out of the cabin field and was searching for her filly.  She was taken back to my place and put in with the other weanlings. She has been calling and the filly has been answering from inside the barn but it is getting less and less. I am pleased that her filly is drinking and eating.  She and Tatiana's filly were born 1 day apart and grew up together as best buddies. They are so glad to be together for this traumatic experience of losing their moms. Their coggins tests should both be back by Thursday of next week, just in time for their trips to the new homes.  About then I got a notice that the apartment rented for tonight. As Anna was still helping Stephanie I ran up with some cookies and got it ready. They have a dog and asked permission to walk the dog in the back and won't get in until after dark so the outdoor arena lights were left on for them. When Mark got home I asked if he could work on the fender tonight. I really don't want to head up to Chicago with a loose fender. We spent most of the evening fixing it.

The paper work for the colts were put in the truck, the colts were untied. The foals in the stalls were all fed and watered for the night. Anna was called to see if she could help with my phone. It was a little more complicated than talking could fix so I ran over to Phil and Anna's house. Phil got it up and running, I'm home and finally finally  am ready to rest.

A LOT of Rain

 It wasn't raining too hard when I took the golf cart up to the barn this morning to take care of the weanlings but while feeding and watering the rain started pounding down hard on the metal roof. I got stuck in the barn for about a half an hour but used the time wisely by working with each of the weanlings in the barn. All 3 of them were taking grain out of the bucket if I would hold it up to them. Tatiana's filly is now eating and drinking out of the buckets without my help. The other two are drinking but only eating the grain if I hold the bucket.  All 3 are eating hay. All 3 also got a tying lesson and some short leading and backing up lessons. Below is Tatiana's filly.

Above she is taking a drink out of the bucket and below she is looking over at Madiera's colt.

Below she is chowing down on her grain.

The rain slowed down a bit so the golf cart was parked in the garage and I took the car over to mom's. Mom was tired today, she didn't sleep well and was more than likely exhausted from her big day yesterday.  The hospice nurse came today and explained all the medicines to us, checked mom over and told us this was pretty normal to have up days then down days. Below mom is getting a ride in the sling with the hoyer lift from the chair back to the bed.

I left there to bring in King for his de-worming.

He is leaving on Saturday for his new home.

Onyx and Kincade were also de-wormed with Quest Plus today. All of them stood well for that. The sun came out this afternoon so a round bale was taken over to the cabin field and another put in the far paddock shelter.   Mark was using the skid steer in the new barn and as he was working I could hear the constant rumble of far off thunder. There was a storm in the East and obvious rain in the West so I took a few pictures of the clouds before the rain hit us.

We got a lot of rain today but morning and late afternoon. This evening Spark and Mike came over to work on the trailer lights and we moved everything in the indoor arena out of the rain.

They have all the lights working EXCEPT the right blinker and right brake light. I'll have to make an appointment to take the truck and trailer in to Zanes to have them look at it. This trailer is used to much to not have all the lights working. 

3 Successful Trips

 Ruth came early to relieve me and Mark was glad when I walked into the house at 6:00 am.  As soon as it was light outside I hooked up the trailer to the truck and Mark helped me first bring Morgana (Soul's filly by Evan) inside to be with Tatiana's filly then helped get Tatiana out of the stall without letting her filly come with her. Tatiana was loaded and I was on my way to Middle Grove for the first trip of the day.  Rain was predicted by this afternoon and I wanted to get 3 trips in before the rain. When I arrived I just parked right inside the gate as there was fresh manure by that area and I thought the horses may just be at the top of the hill. Tatiana was let loose and took off calling.

It was pretty overcast but no rain yet. I hiked to the top, the horses were more to the south but Madiera and her colt were the first I came to.

Madiera was haltered and we started that long hike back down to the trailer with her colt following. The colt took off back up the hill but Madiera was loaded up and I drove to the back area and just let her call. Her colt was busy playing with Rosaleigh's colt up on the hillside.

Madiera called a few more times before both colts came galloping down to the trailer. They both had to check out Madiera standing inside. 

I wasn't exactly sure which was Madiera's colt until he stepped in and started nursing. 

I waited to see if the other colt would step inside but instead he took off galloping around the trailer.

I waited to make sure Madiera was content with the colt next to her before heading back. The second trip of the day was to bring back Lily and her filly. This time I parked in the south field and started hiking. Lily was at the top, she came to me was haltered and her filly followed her all the way down to the trailer. I thought this one was going to be easy but the filly took off and ran back up the hill. Lily was loaded and I really expected her filly to call and come running but all was quiet. I waited about 20 minutes then started hiking up the hill to find her. She was standing content next to her sister Rosalie and Missy. Who needs a mom when one has a big sister.

I had to hike back down to the truck to grab the big halter, hike back up again to bring Rosalie down too.  She followed Rosalie down to the trailer, saw her mom inside and jumped in. The halter was removed from Rosalie and she took off at a gallop back to the top of the hill.  When I got home there was a road construction machine parked in the driveway. I had to wait for them to back up before I could drive up our drive and back to the barns. Lily and the filly were brought inside, put in a stall then Lily loaded back up for the 3rd trip to Middle Grove to drop off Lily and bring back Hadassah and her filly. The road construction machine was parked back in our drive.

They explained they were waiting for their flaggers so just decided to have lunch in the drive. They moved the machine again to let me out. On the 3rd trip I didn't haul the camera up with me, just hiked up the hill, found Hadassah and took her down to the trailer and this filly didn't even hesitate, she jumped right inside so the 3rd trip was a charm. Hadassah is sold and will be leaving her on Sunday morning, her filly is also sold and will be leaving in about 10 days. It started raining as I was driving home. IF you would like to see the rest of the pictures from today click HERE.  Meanwhile at mom's house a miracle was happening.  Mom was dramatically better morning and day. Ruth sent this: She has had the most amazing morning and Aunt Jinny was the biggest help this morning. She asked 3 times to sit on the side of the bed so Aunt Jinny helped me.  she sat for 13 minutes and said she enjoyed the back rub. Said it felt wonderful.   She did five leg kicks and counted accurately. She chuckled when I said see you can still do math.  Mom has had a dramatic change for the better today. She wanted to get out of bed she's tired of laying in bed. She wanted to do things her self like drink out of a cup. She's cracking jokes and trying to smack Spark when he's being ornery Her Bible study group were meeting at Rhonda's house so they came over to visit.

Even Aunt Bernie came today.

When I got back instead of heading to the house I got to work cleaning stalls and working with the foals brought in today. Each was haltered and tied. Anna came to work on the apartment door thresholds. 

This is needed to keep the spiders out. She was willing to help move each foal into their own stall. The problem with keeping them together was they were trying to nurse off each other and Madiera's colt was threatening to kick Tatiana's filly. I tried Lily's filly in with Tatiana's filly but she was also intolerant when the filly kept sticking her nose under her back flank. 

Above is Lily's filly and below is Madiera's colt.

So tomorrow I will have 3 stalls to clean. I was supposed to be back at mom's house by 5:00 so I quit working around 4:15 pm ran inside to take a LONG shower and didn't get over to mom's until 4:50 pm. Rhonda was busy making dinner. Barb and Tony have arrived from Cleveland, OH, Mike and Janet Dreste were there dropping off more food. I offered mom some water and she asked for food. She wanted what ever Rhonda was cooking. Rhonda had picked one of mom's eggplants and had breaded and roasted it and served it with some of Janet Dreste's spaghetti sauce. Mom asked for seconds, then asked for some applesauce Amy brought. Mike and Diane joined the rest of the group for dinner and when Beth arrived to take the night shift I was free to go. I got home in time to watch Peoria's Family Night on Facebook live. I still need to head up to the barn to feed and water the 3 weanlings before heading to bed.

Lessons

 As Tatiana and her filly are stalled I needed to be up there early feeding, watering and cleaning the stall. The stallions were also fed before heading over to mom's. Joan was just leaving as we were arriving and told us about the night. Mom was up quite a bit restless. Ruth had already arrived to stay with her. Diane and I just did one round as today is Berean day and I needed to pick up Aunt Jinnie at 8:15 am.  IF you would like to read about our morning there click HERE. While there Skip told us about the service at the Peoria County Jail. I video taped just a bit about the story but there is a warning on the story it does have one bad word in it. 

After our morning there we drove to the Hanna City post office. Aunt Jinnie opened both of the doors going into the building each time I carried in a box and I carried in 4 full boxes of Bibles plus a handful of letters. I was thankful for her help. Aunt Jinnie was dropped off and I went in as Spark and Karin were also there eating lunch. Karin and  Ruth had used the Hoyer lift to put mom in the chair today.  Ruth had to leave to take Fedi to his doctor appointment and Amy arrived to help Karin.  I left to go put a halter on Tatiana's filly so she and Tatiana could be de-wormed. Tatiana with Panacur and her filly with Quest plus. She then got a tying lesson and a leading lesson. She did not remember her tying lessons from before she left here so it took longer than usual. Below are a few pictures AFTER finishing those lessons.

I went back to mom's as the aide arrived and I wanted to help her with mom. After she left and mom was sound asleep Mark got home so I asked him to help move a couple bales in. Valiant needed a new bale as did the middle paddock. The 5 weanlings were in the pond pasture and called up for their grain. They are doing well with eating the grain. Lola's colt needs to be de-wormed again. I think he may have spit his out when I was doing the others. He just doesn't look as good as the other 4. Before heading inside to make dinner Tatiana's filly was handled again and tied up again and this time she remembers. She is coming forward when I ask and also backing when asked but all of this is being done in the stall. Mark and Mackenson were working in the new barn smoothing out the ground. When they came in shrimp stir fry was cooked for supper. After supper Mark's new pants needed mending. The cuffs on both pairs were coming down. When those were done I ran back up to the barn to do the nightly feed and again handled the filly. She is doing so well. I need to head over to mom's soon as tonight is my night to stay. 

The Hoyer Arrives

  I headed over to relieve Ruth at 7:00 am, I don't think we walked, if we did I sure don't remember doing it. Ruth came back at 10:00 am so I could drive down to the Peoria post office to pick up the Berean mail then  I needed to take Indy out to Middle Grove and it had to be done today. The picture below is why.

That is NOT her filly nursing it is Rosalie's filly. Indy's filly is standing behind her. BUT that wasn't the worst. When I walked in to get Indy, their were 3 others were also taking turns nursing, Soul's filly, Jury's colt and Lola's colt and Indy was letting them.  She and her filly were loaded up and I snapped the picture below of the 5 weanlings all calling for their second mom.

Indy was glad to get back out to Middle Grove, she was let loose and started calling.

The abundant grass is thick, long and still very green under the older growth. 

The horses all are doing well. Mika was having a good roll when I got there. Today Tatiana was haltered and taken down to the trailer with her filly following. Unfortunately when we arrived the herd came galloping down and the filly just ran right back up with them away from the trailer. Tatiana was loaded up anyway and we waited for the filly to realize her mama wasn't with her. Tatiana would call and the filly would answer but didn't come. I finally drove the truck and trailer very carefully through the field to get close enough to the herd and started walking. They had gone all the way to the lake and 4 of the horses were already in the lake. That is Onyx, Lily, Rosalie and Mika.

I took a short video but they stopped splashing when the camera came out.

I found the filly had attached herself to Indy. 

Indy was haltered and both her filly and Tatiana's filly followed back to the trailer Madiera's colt also came along and he was a good help. He was very curious about the trailer and because he was so brave, Tatiana's filly also walked right up to the trailer, realized that was her mom inside and jumped in. IF you would like to see the rest of the pictures from Middle Grove click HERE.  I started the long slow drive back to the road then made it home by 1:30 pm. Tatiana and her filly were put in a stall then I headed back over to mom's to relieve Ruth. When I walked in mom was sitting in the chair. Karin had arrived so Ruth and Karin did the 2 man (woman) lift. Ruth left for home for a few hours when Joan arrive, about that time mom wanted back in the bed so Ruth came back and the 3 of us did the 3 man (woman) lift and were able to get mom back in bed comfortable. Then came the big news of the day,  the Hoyer Lift arrived.

This will help us move mom from the bed to the chair and back much easier. This evening we had a family meeting to work out the schedule for a couple weeks. Rhonda made us all dinner using some of the foods people had donated.

After leaving mom's a trip up to the barn was in order to take care of Tatiana and her filly Sofia. Those two need to be dewormed before putting in the paddock and I just didn't get the chance to do that today. It was a good productive evening.

A Different Kind of Sunday

Mom did not have a good night, she just couldn't get comfortable but we found out why after I left. I repositioned her a few times during the night, gave her ice chips and early morning she was able to drink about 4 ounces of water one sip at a time with a spoon. Mark sent a text that he may need to go into the ER. He had a wound open up on his face, googled it and believes it was staph. I got home at 6:30 am from mom's checked it out and agreed, if it was staph he had better go in.  He left and I rested.  I couldn't sleep though, my mind wouldn't turn off so I got up, got the chili in the crock pot and made a couple desserts for our Sunday dinner, did a load of laundry then just did a general clean up while waiting for church to pop up on Facebook. I got it up and was listening to Brad Bauer when Facebook went dead, quick grabbed my phone while working on the desktop to bring it back up. Got it back up but couldn't get any sound, had to restart things to get it back but at least could see and hear on the phone until it was back on. While this was going on at my house Ruth and Karin were busy at work at mom's. Just look at what they got accomplished:

They did the 2 person lift and got her in her favorite chair. She stayed in that for a few hours and was good for her to be able to sit instead of sleep. I heard from Mark that they did a CT Scan on his head then put in an iv to give him antibiotics through that and were going to send him home with a prescription of more antibiotics. Probably a good thing he went in.  The doctor told him he could just stick a band aid on and go to work when they were done. (I think they forgot it was Sunday)

Aunt Jinnie came to our place for the chili dinner even though Spark's family were also serving chili.  We were missing David and Stephanie's family and Lee and Rhoda's family so had plenty of room. After supper we headed over to the playground. Of course the kids wanted to run in and see great grandma. Eden had picked her some flowers and Zion gave them to her.

Dan brought his guitar and was showing us some fancy picking. IF you look through the window you can see the volleyball games were already going on.

The kids went out to play on the tramps.

The games, both the big and little kids were fun to watch.

When it got dark Rachel brought her guitar out on the porch and those who wanted to sing sang. Mom's window was open and she commented, "good harmony". Ruth's grands came in to visit with great grandma.

It was really a different kind of Sunday.

A Good Day

Joan and Diane spent the night and Ruth showed up early.  Mom had a good night so it was determined we would just use one person for overnight's starting tonight.  Mom had such a big day. She got the real spa treatment with Diane and Ruth each working on a hand and Rachel giving her a foot rub.

Whiskey's owner was supposed to arrive around 10:00 am but ended up being a little late. As the rain was starting up Whiskey was put in the indoor arena to keep dry.  Mark was working on the new barn but having trouble starting the compactor. John came walking over and gave Mark a hand.

It started right up with the two of them working. The surface area of the new barn is pretty large and that compactor is pretty little. Mark bought it for potholes in the drives but today he wanted to compact the inside where we had put in the foam boards. Even though it is small it worked. Whiskey's owner arrived about then so I took the golf cart over to the other barns to help load. When I got back from there Ruth and Karin were hoping to help mom sit upright and mom was agreeable to try so with a group effort that got accomplished and mom got a good backrub from Diane.

She said she really enjoyed that. Diane has talents none of us knew about. Diane arrived with Nancy and as Spark was there of course they needed to play the chair game. 

Since there was a lot of help at mom's I left for Aldi to get food for our Sunday dinner and when there decided to make a big pot of chili so those were the ingredients purchased. As soon as I got home that was started then I left for the fellowship hall for the annual picnic. I had to drive through some heavy rain but when I got near Kickapoo the sun came out shining through the rain causing a beautiful bright rainbow. What a gift! After the dinner Maddie shared about her journey for the last 2 years. 

The singing before and after Maddie's talk was wonderful. Nancy LOVED the singing and joined in with great enthusiasm singing loudly, a little off key but the Bible says make a joyful noise and did she ever.  Nancy and I didn't stay for the desserts afterwards as it was already after 8:00 pm by the time the singing was over. I took her home to Morton then headed home to quickly put the chili in the fridge and head over to mom's for the night. 

Poor Indy

 We are keeping a notebook of this time with mom and each that stay write. Last night's diary was really funny. Ruth woke up and came over at 3:00 am then asked mom if she wanted food. Joan had to explain that it is ONLY 3:00 am and they were sleeping. Diane woke up and came over at 4:00 am and took Molly home with her as Molly kept trying to jump up on mom's bed and when she wasn't allowed kept barking. Well Molly was to upset to settled down in Diane's house and even when they put her on their bed was shaking and  panting. Diane finally brought her back to mom's and Joan worked with her teaching her to stay on the chair instead of jumping on the bed. Ruth was making food and Joan was pretending to sleep on the couch. Mom slept ok but Joan, Ruth and Diane did not.  Some of Beth's kids and grandkids came over last night and Nate, Beth's second son posted the video below of the kids singing Heirlooms. Each year at Christmas mom would ask for this song and each year she would bawl and yep it happened again.

Angie the aid arrive around 11:00 am to give mom a bath and wash her hair. A lot of us were there to learn how and Angie gave us some really good tips on making things easier. The Social worker arrived about the time mom was getting her hair washed so I didn't get to see how they did that as Joan and I answered questions.  Mom had a lot of visitors again today. Jeanie and Linda brought over another huge meal for dinner, enough for anyone that wanted to eat.  Ruth took some home for Fedi, I called Mark to come help eat, Spark and Rhonda were there to help eat some and Diane came after work.  On the horse front Mike and John worked on the 2 horse trailer plug, they got running lights, a left blinker and left brake light but could not get the right blinker to work. We will have to order an new plug but at least I can use the trailer to get to Middle Grove and back. Tomorrow Whiskey get's picked up and as soon as that happens I need to haul Indy and her filly out to Middle Grove. I just discovered those weanlings she is in with are sneaking milk from her. Poor Indy has 6 babies.

She is so kind they are totally taking advantage of her. That isn't fair to any mare. As long as I'm hauling out I will bring back a mare and foal for weaning, IF it isn't too muddy, we had a storm come through with rain this evening.  Jury's colt was worked with this afternoon. He was haltered and tied then led around some.  I left a lead rope hanging on him. All the other foals come right to me and allow me to halter with no problem, he thinks he should run and would prefer not to be petted yet. Hopefully he realizes soon people are good. At least he loves his grain.