Dishwasher UP and Running

 A neat picture came in from one of our past customers. She is so thrilled with her Lily x Valiant boy, she just needed to share. He is now under saddle and doing great. 

Diane and I walked this cold 17 degree morning but Diane said it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. There was no wind this morning. We stopped in at mom's after one round. After breakfast I drove to the Hanna City bank to make a deposit then to CEFCU for another deposit. I thought of stopping at Aldi on my way home but it was too cold to want to buy groceries. Diane was with mom this morning but at 2:00 pm I went over to help Karin with the new puzzle. This one is a hard one, lots the same color and lots of pieces. We almost got the perimeter done.

Karin put on a work out video so mom and I tried working out. It was a lot of stretching. I was home by 4:15 pm and Tim was here installing the new dishwasher. I'm SO thankful for that. Like Mark says, it is life changing. Probably because without a dishwasher I am on strike and wasn't willing to cook. He has been making due with taking soup out of the freezer and heating that up for the last 2 days.  We left at 5:30 pm for church. Tonight was family night. Lois and Alyssa were serving supper which was chicken soup. It was good but I had to laugh at the soup.  Hannah and Jacob came with Chelise and her hair was done so cute people couldn't help but feel those sticking straight up ponytails.

Kesli was fascinated with them too. 

Tonight instead of a minister giving a message, Lisa gave us her testimony and shared her life story with us. When we got home from church Mark loaded the new dishwasher. It takes 3 and a half hours to run one load which is surprising but seems to run quietly. 

Mileage

 Ruth was happy to come to Berean this morning with us and we really needed her help as we had 2 full weeks of Bible requests and a lot of mail. We left from mom's house at 8:25 am but had to stop for gas at Casey's as the wheel chair van was almost out of gas. It took 20 gallons to fill the tank.

I'm not sure how big her gas tank is but I know it wasn't completely on empty so maybe we could have made it there. It was a cold morning but the roads were clear. When mom and Ruth sat down Sharon noticed mom's sweater and we all had to laugh. She was wearing the queen sweater again.

It wasn't long though there was much work to do and everyone settled in to get it done.

Skip has been on the job to find a Bible replacement as the Bibles we were sending out are no longer in print. He found 2 that he thought would work. 

The one above is giant print but kind of expensive, the one below would be cheaper to mail out as it weighs much less but the words are not giant print.

When he went to order them the thin Bible was all sold out so that made the decision pretty easy. He ordered the Giant Print and just in time. Joan N stopped in to get some studies for grading and showed us a couple of gifts she was given. This first gift looks like a piece of kale she is holding in her hand. 

That is actually a special material called Jinkies to clean glasses. Her husband got one that looked like a piece of sand paper. Evidently they do a great job. If interested in checking them out click HERE. The second gift I was really interested in. It is a hand warmer with a rechargeable battery.

It fits inside a pocket or even a mitten. Click HERE if interested in having warm hands this winter.

We had a BIG request day and mailed out almost every Bible in the building leaving only 5 left. Hopefully we get some in before next Tuesday.

We dropped the Bibles off at the Bartonville post office as they have a loading dock. On the way home it almost looked like we were going toward a tornado with the steam coming off of the power plant by the river.

After dropping off mom and Ruth I went to work on the computer. Today I needed to write down the mileage for the year.  I do that by reading through the blog for the year and writing down each trip to the vet, Middle Grove, trailering horses, picking up horses or hay or bedding and so on. Mark was glad when I finished that job. This evening I listened to a podcast done by Wesley Huff. 

Diane and Mike thought they would be home tonight around 5:30 pm so we will walk tomorrow. 

Working Day

 There was no walk today, Ruth isn't feeling well, Diane is in Gulf Shores and Joan was almost to Gulf Shores. Joan was heading down to do a deep cleaning on Island Royale and will just be there for 3 days. She left yesterday after church. I had plenty to do today and started that with starting the laundry then washing dishes. As soon as the dishes were done I left for the barn. That needed a lot of work. We had a huge group Friday and Saturday. This was an extended family from quite a few different states. They not only rented the barn they also rented Diane's Waterview Walkout and our foaling apartment. There was a LOT of laundry. Today I did 2 loads at the barn 7 loads here at the house and Braelyn had 2 loads at the apartment. I'm really thankful for 3 sets of machines. The gym was organized and I found we were missing a lot of pickleball balls. One of the water dispensers was missing the lid.

That gave me the excuse to organize all the closets and drawers while searching for the lid. I never found the lid. On one of the trips to the house to wash bedding I took a break got on Amazon and ordered more pickleballs and 2 replacement lids. The balls were really reasonable, I bought 24 for $17.00

It took a while to find the lids but these were the exact size needed 5 and a half inches across and came in a 2 pack for $11.00.

Back at the barn all of the soap dispensers needed to be refilled and that took almost all of my stock of soft soap so back to Amazon to order 6 more. These ended up costing $3.67 for each.

These are mango coconut and smell nice.

I never did get to the cleaning of the bathrooms but got everything organized and restocked, all the laundry done ( I had to wash comforters along with sheets today) and beds made. I quit at 4:00 pm to start cooking as Mark and I were bringing dinner over for Karin and mom today. I went out at 5:00 pm to start putting the food in the car and saw a fox pouncing on something in the field. It was getting dark and I was not close to get a good shot.

He saw me and took off with what ever he caught. I think it is a rabbit.

He looks well fed. We are pleased that the foxes are coming back. They will help keep the rabbit population down.

The door to mom's basement got accidently locked. Karin tried every key in the house but none of them worked. She sent out a text asking for help so when we arrived Mark went down and was able to get the door unlocked. We enjoyed the dinner tonight of bbq ribs, cheesy macaroni, salad, berry muffins and for dessert caramel covered cinnamon rolls with mint tea. Today was a lot of work but all work that needed to be done. 

Busted Blair

 A couple days ago the storm Blair was predicted to drop 9-12 inches of snow in our area. The church trustees felt that it was looking bad enough that we would only hold morning church then let everyone get home safe before the roads became unpassable. Well Blair was a bust here and we are thankful. The storm moved South of us and we were on the edge so instead of a lot of snow now we may get 2 inches.  As lunch and afternoon church was cancelled we took a 15 minute break after the first service then came back into the sanctuary for a singing. Craig read Psalm 100 then gave a short talk, had a prayer and we were dismissed. Mike Kaisner had the morning message reading Nehemiah 13 and then Matthew 7. This message on how Nehemiah made mistakes really hit me hard. We all have things we regret but we can't change the past. If you would like to watch this message click HERE. After we left we drove to Sam's club to pick up some food, buying 2 chickens, one for mom's house and one for us. We took mom's chicken straight to her house then stopped at the barn to check out what would need to be done and unlock doors. When we got home, guess what we had for lunch? If you guess chicken you would be right. We haven't had that for a while so it was a good treat. After eating and changing out of our Sunday clothes. I drove the golf cart over to the barn and put that in the gym to warm up. Tomorrow morning that will be plugged in and charged. I walked over to the indoor arena then and drove the motorhome over putting that in the gym too. Tomorrow we will winterize it before moving it back to the indoor arena. I'm so thankful for my 50 cent down filled barn coat mom found at a garage sale years ago. That coat was needed today with all the walking back and forth between barns as they are quite a distance from each other. The snow arrived around 5:00 pm. The picture below was taken off my phone of the security camera at the barn. 

I stepped outside and took the video below. The snow is still pretty light but is starting to cover the ground.

I was putting the video on Facebook when the picture below popped up.

That is my niece Sarah assisting in surgery. St. Francis posted the picture on Facebook. 

I'm sure missing that warm sunshine we left in Florida. It is hard coming home to the reality that this is my life here. Before I was in Florida I was pretty content. It may have been better not to have gone at all. I was glad to be back in church though so I'm sure I will get used to this life again and maybe by Wednesday I might even have a working dishwasher. Tim Meister has agreed to stop in then.

Home

 We took off last night at 7:30 pm with Anna taking the first shift. We have 4 drivers but only 3 were needed on this trip home. All of us except the driver went straight to bed with 3 sleeping in the bunk above the driver's seat, 2 on the dinette and 2 on the back bed. The kids all slept until morning and even us adults got some nice sleep while we were not driving. The motorhome worked out perfect for the trip. Yes it takes a lot of gas but it took 8 of us and we were comfortable. Our last stop was at 10:30 am and we grabbed some breakfast at the little restaurant at the LOVES gas station.

We pulled in at 2:32 pm. unloaded at Phil and Anna's then I took the motorhome back here. Mark helped unload here. I took it to the gas station and filled it up for the last time as we like to leave it full. Tomorrow we will park it inside the gym and give it a good cleaning and winterize it before moving it back in with the other campers. I'm thankful for a safe and amazing trip but it is good to be home.

Last Day

 We had a beautiful warm sunny day for our last day here in Naples, Florida. David took his two to the beach for some shelling before sunrise.

I was up at 4:30 to get the coffee started and MY laundry done. Breakfast also needed to be started early as Amy was picking me up for breakfast at 8:00 am. She was right on time and the kids had all been fed. We went first to her house in Bonita Springs, FL. Amy and Ken share this house with Curt and Kathy. It had been Amy's mom's house but had pretty much been destroyed from old age and hurricanes.  Well these two couples went to work and it turned out gorgeous. The house now has 4 bedrooms, 2 on each side, 2 bathrooms, one large kitchen and living room area  right in the middle. When you step out the back door of the house you step into a 10 x 40 screened in Lanai. Below Amy is sitting on one of the very comfortable chairs. Looking to her right is a table and chairs and right outside that door is a porch swing.

Looking to her left there is a laundry room (that little jut out area.

Her back yard is very private and backs up to 4 acres of woods. Curt and Kathy arrived back from their walk before we left for breakfast. They went straight out to enjoy the view of that back yard and their newly painted remodeled shed. Well really they were looking at each other. They have been married for a LONG time and still look at each other with love.

I asked them to turn around. They really are a wonderful couple.

Amy, Ken and I ate breakfast at a restaurant called Skillets. I decided to live dangerously and ordered a gingerbread pancake. I love gingerbread but putting it in a pancake probably wasn't the best option. It came with 2 eggs, sausage and fresh fruit. It really was delicious and I brought home at least half of the gingerbread pancake so the grandkids could try it but none of them thought it was a good idea. It really wasn't bad, just not suitable for breakfast.

The kids played on the playground in the morning and had some fun basketball games.

While they were having fun there Amy and I sat outside visiting until we became too hot then went inside to keep talking. We just don't get enough visiting time.  The kids got back and went straight out to the hot tub and the pool. 

After lunch they all went to the beach. After the beach it was more pool time. We sat out and enjoyed the hot sun while watching them swim before going to work on cleaning and packing. We have ordered pizza for dinner and will be leaving for home right after we eat. Mark called to report the weather report for Saturday night and Sunday morning are not good so we will be leaving a little earlier than we expected for this long 20 hour trip home. 

Thursday at Naples

 It was colder last night in the motorhome. I did not need to have the air conditioner on at all. David stopped in last night with more paper plates. We needed those desperately as we had run out and there is not enough table service for all 13 of us. This morning he stopped in on his morning walk to ask if Taegan and Kensely would like to join them for WeeTee golf this afternoon. Nolan needed to go to Walmart to pick up some needed food items and bought 2 WhoDunnit books for me. Of course I had to read them both today both were by the same author and both had twists at the end which I did not figure out. Phil stopped in and bought another by a different author. I think, after the complaint of noise last night they are trying to keep me quiet by keeping me occupied with books. We had a nice day with temps in the 70s and a mix of clouds and sun. The morning was spent at the park playing basketball for Phil and Anna's family. The others played in the pool and hot tub most of the morning. They all left for the beach after lunch. 

David and Stephanie picked up Taegan and Kensley and took them to their house for supper then they all went to a play golf.

While at the park the kids saw a bunny and between the 4 of them caught it.

They let it go then went to an ice cream shop for a special treat.

Tonight the men did the babysitting while all of us ladies went out to eat. We drove to River Walk which is a lot of shops and restaurants and ate at a restaurant called Pinchers. Our table looked out on the river and we were able to see boats coming and going while we were eating. We all ordered fresh fish or shrimp.

After our meal we wandered though the shops. A couple of us bought sweat shirts with Naples on them but otherwise it was all window shopping or browsing. I confess to being shocked at the prices. Amy and Ken made it down here and stopped in but it happened to be while us ladies were out. Amy sent a text that we should stop in when done but we didn't get the message until it was already late. We made plans for tomorrow morning. Tomorrow is our last day here. Mark sent the picture below with the message, "back to serious burning."

 

It has turned COLD at home, below freezing and only going tor get worse. He thinks we should leave early as the weather is supposed to get really bad with snow and ice. We are discussing this but a little hard to imagine as tomorrow here in Naples it is predicted to be sunny and seventy. 

Everglades

 We left right after breakfast for the Everglades. Sarah arranged tickets for us all to a hike through the everglades on a boardwalk, take an airboat ride through the Everglades, then a visit to an alligator farm where each one got to hold an alligator and see some tigers and lots of alligators this morning. The airboat ride was the favorite. We needed 3 boats but we all went out at the same time and even at one point raced.

We saw a huge alligator basking in the sunshine.

Another alligator came very close to our boat.

On the way back a porpoise dove right in front of us. No pictures of that. The alligator farm was our second favorite. We got to watch a man handle a huge alligator and then hold one ourselves.

We had packed lunch so ate that on the way to Marco Island where we stayed until 4:00 pm. That was interesting as we had to walk across what seemed to be a wide river to get to the beach.

When we got back to the house I stayed with the 9 kids while the other adults went out to eat at a nice restaurant. We had fun playing in the hot tub and pool and evidently got a little too loud as the neighbors complained but only after we had all come in for the night. We had our supper outside by the pool.

Nolan sent back a picture of his meal, he ordered stone crab claws.

We took lots of pictures and videos of our day and if you would like to see them click HERE. We had perfect weather of 80 degrees and sunny but it has been a long day and even though it isn't quite 9:00 pm I'm heading to bed.