Day of Games

 Ruth sent the picture below just as I was leaving the house to run over to the barn. I will say she USUALLY isn't known for her cooking but this morning she cooked mom a delicious breakfast.

It was already 70 degrees at breakfast time down there. After breakfast mom and Ruth took a walk down to the public beach.

Mom really is in her happy place right now. I just needed to do a few things at the barn then Mark and I left for Louisville Slugger to watch Braelyn play in a volleyball tournament.

She is playing on the sophomore league even though she is just a freshman. They won the first two games.

We had to wait for a couple hours before the next 3 games were played as they needed to play the winner. They won 3 of the games but lost the last game. Braelyn was happy with the outcome, she had a lot of fun and played hard. We took Braelyn home then I left Mark and drove to Canton, YMCA where Kensley was playing 2 games of basketball. The first game started at 3:30 pm. That was a really fun game to watch. The girls were pretty well matched but they still ended up winning. Kensley had 20 points in that game. The second game was a bit of a runnaway so she didn't play as much. She had either 19 or 21 points, I kind of lost tract and had 15 rebounds. They also won that game.

It was hard to get still shots that were clear.

Below is a video of some of the action.

My phone battery was running low so I took it to the car to charge it but when I went out of the building was surprised at all the snow coming down.

I left right after the game was over and made it home safely. Today was a day of games and no work. The guests at the barn are just one family but it is a large family. There must be 20 cars, vans and trucks parked around the barn. I think most of them are from Princeville, hope the roads are cleared for their trip home.

Downsize

 The wind was blowing and howling last night and this morning but calmed down around 8:00 am. Mark went out walking to check on downed trees or limbs but came back with an all clear. Nothing was over any of the drives just limbs down at the playground.  Joan sent a message that she has a new grandchild. Once the parents announce I can announce it here but we were thrilled for a safe delivery and a healthy baby.  The barn needed to have the finishing touches done before the guests arrive tomorrow. The balls in the gym needed to be straightened up from Sunday but we were missing almost all of the dodge balls. After searching the gym, the boys and girls bathrooms upstairs behind the couch, all 3 of the bedrooms upstairs there was only one other place to search. The bouncy house fans were turned on and as soon as it was up sure enough there were the missing balls.

There wasn't any grandchildren around so I climbed in and started crawling around gathering them up and trying to throw them out the entrance but most bounced right back at me with only a couple making it through. They were all rolled to the entrance and pushed through one at a time scattering all over the gym. I used the rolling volleyball holder to collect them.

That was filled rolled over to the ball storage and filled that up.

Once the building was finished and ready for guests I came home to start on this house. I spent a couple hours working before taking a break and starting on a new book. Around 4:45 pm Mark asked if I would like to go to the diner for dinner. That sounded wonderful, I was glad to take a break from cooking and was ready to leave in 2 minutes. The sun was just starting to set when we set out for the diner.

We arrived at 5:00 pm to find just one booth open and all of the rest of the tables full. We split the senior special of walleye, salad, baked potato, green beans and rolls with butter. 

The bill came to $13.00 plus we left a $5.00 tip. A lot of delicious food for that price.

There was quite a line of people waiting to eat by the time we left at 5:40 pm. Taunya's aunt was there tonight.

We stopped to say hello before leaving. The picture below was taken on the drive home.

Tonight I was going through the videos of Middle Grove and decided to share the one below. We were moving the herd from the 76 acre pasture over to the winter pasture. Emily was leading the way on Sally while Mike was following on Mika. Matt was using the 4 wheeler and Andrew was using his drone to take the video.

I think we had around 30-35 horses at that time and today we have 32. It is not easy to downsize.

Crazy Cure

 The leg cramps hit right around midnight and I could hardly hobble to the fridge to grab the mustard. That was squirted on my tongue and instantly the muscles relaxed. What a crazy cure but it really works. This morning the bathrooms and bedrooms were finished in the barn and the game room straightened up. I wasn't quite finished but needed to quit by 10:40 as I needed to leave to pick up Sarah's van at 11:00 am to use to pick up Zion, Eden and River. Last night I had forgotten to take the Bible studies out of the car and into church so those were dropped off at church before picking up the girls. I also had time to run through McDonalds to pick them up lunch before picking them up. We waited to until we got home to eat then worked on homework.  Sarah sent a message that she was quitting for the day as she had finished 4 rooms then sent the pictures. 

Above in one of the bathrooms now finished and below is Eden and River's room.

Above is Zion's room and Below is Sarah and Nolan's room.

This house is getting done! Rachel invited the family over for dinner tonight in Gulf Shores serving grilled kabobs.

Mom is thoroughly enjoying being down with her family in Gulf Shores. We siblings stuck up North may or may not be just a little envious but someone needs to keep things going here at home right. We are getting a lot of rain today but very mild temperatures. Thankful for another warm day in January. 

Family Night

 Two mornings in a row we were up before the coffee maker went off. I'm tired enough tonight that hopefully we will both sleep in. Mark woke me at 4:00 am telling me he thought there was a bug on his leg caught in his leg hair. He pulled it off then decided it must be gum and for some reason thought I must have been chewing gum when I fell asleep. I DONT chew gum at night! I turned the light on and it turned out to be a cough drop. Yep he is the one that keeps cough drops on the head board and he is the one that might fall asleep with one in his mouth. I was VERY thankful it wasn't a bug!  I didn't get started on the food for tonight until 9:30 am. I had to borrow Joan's crock pot and mom's then lined those up with my 7 and started lining each of them with the crock pot liners.

These make it much easier to clean them up. I bought them off Amazon a box of 60 for $16.99.

This is the second time I have ordered these. They are large enough to fit even my largest crockpot.

I had 20 pounds of ground beef defrosted and used 10 pounds mixed in with the spaghetti sauce in each of the big Farberware pans. I love these pans, I got one for our wedding 48 years ago and Eunice gave me the second one for the barn.

I'm very grateful for both. I ended up needing to defrost another 10 pounds of hamburger to fill all 9 crock pots. While working in the barn kitchen I couldn't help but admire Evan. With this warm weather he was out grazing again.

Once all 9 were full and plugged in,  I had time to run to Aldi to pick up 2 boxes of spring mix, 2 pounds of grated colby jack for the salad and a few other items. At 3:00 pm I was back at the house, took a shower to get ready for tonight and then just rested until 4:00 pm. We needed both cars to fit all the food in for family night at the church. We started loading at 4:00 pm and made it to the church by 5:00 pm. Family night went well. We had plenty of food, Joan, Mackenson, Faith and Berlica came early to help with the set up then stayed late along with some others (thanks Joanna, Jill, Bob, Joan S and Rhoda H) to help with the clean up. David had the family night message. Click HERE If you would like to watch this. We had help loading the cars after the service and most of that is still in the cars now that we are home. Only the leftovers were brought inside. Below are the pictures of the new coat hooks Mark and Mackenson installed yesterday.

Welcomed Gift

 I left at 7:50 am so I could stop at Kroger to pick up a treat for the Berean volunteers before going to the Berean office. They had just brought out pecan sticky rolls and I was able to snatch them right off the cart even before they were taken to the shelf. Shirley and Ray had arrived at the office before I got there and had unlocked the door. We had a lot of mail. A big stack of letters plus a bunch of studies had come in. We were grateful for everyone that was able to come. Marvin was working on a couple return studies and got a brand new rule.

Check out this crazy highlighted rule in the picture below.

Each week there is another reason why the jail or prison will reject the study. It is discouraging and expensive when mail gets rejected. Below Sharon is doing mom's job as she is now in Gulf Shores, Ray is applying labels and Shirley (almost pictured at the far right) is running the postage machine as Bruce and Leila are in Arizona.

Before the prayer Kathy read a very nice letter from an inmate that asked for a Bible. We had a lot of Bible requests and ended up with 5 full boxes.

Those were taken to the Bartonville post office as by the time I left the Berean office it was 12:30 pm and the Hanna City post office closes for lunch.

I stopped at Meisters to drop off studies for Crystal's mom to grade then to the post office. They had Kickapoo Creek road closed as the bridge over the creek is in the process of coming down. They let me through as I was driving my Prius that has Meister's on the door but later I found out they turned all the other workers away and made them go the long way around.

My next big job was to drive to Sam's club to pick up all the ingredients for tomorrows meal then over to the barn to drop off everything. I'll cook over at the barn and start in the morning.

Mark and Mackenson were busy hanging the coat hooks up in the coat closet. I didn't have my phone with me but tomorrow will get a picture of that. Now we need a sign on that door so guests know where to hang coats. Ruth sent the picture below of mom's meal tonight. Rachel brought it.

Ruth isn't known for her cooking and is grateful for all the family down in Gulf Shores right now helping to feed her, Fedi and mom!
Logan sent some cool pictures of a squirrel on his garage roof a couple weeks ago. I've never seen a squirrel with that kind of coat.

Mike sent a picture of one of the trail cameras from Middle Grove.

Nice to see plenty of hay out but none of the horses eating on the hay. We have 30 out there so not all the horses can be seen in the picture. It was a pleasant day with mild temperatures. I think we hit 46 degrees today. Any January day above freezing is a welcomed GIFT!

Sunset

 This morning Joan and I left for the Peoria airport at 8:30 am to buy our tickets to fly to Gulf Shores. She will drive to the Belleville airport leave her car then fly down to Gulf Shores Jan 30th and stay until Feb 9th. Ruth and Fedi will fly from Gulf Shores to Belleville on Jan 30th, take the car Joan left and drive home. I will drive to Belleville airport leave my car and fly to Gulf Shores on Feb 9th to take over for Joan. She will fly back on Feb 9th to Belleville take my car and drive home. Ruth will drive to Belleville on Feb 13th, leave a car then fly to Gulf Shores then I will fly back from Gulf Shores to Belleville on Feb 13th. and take that car home. That way we each just pay for 1 day of parking at the Belleville airport. We were both able to get our tickets after waiting in line for almost 2 hours. We arrived at the Peoria airport at 8:45am and didn't get out of there until 10:30 am but it saved us each $44.00 for the round trip tickets by buying them there direct. I got home just in time to drive to Sarah and Nolan's new house, pick up their van and drive to Zion, Eden and River's school to pick them up at noon. We drove to Sam's club and bought a rotisserie chicken for our lunch along with supplies for the barn. We drove straight to the barn to unload those supplies. Taegan and 2 of her volleyball team mates were practicing in the gym when we arrived. They were only here for a short time as they needed to leave for a game. We ate our lunch then went to work. Today we were taking down the Christmas decorations. The girls worked on the tree while I put away the manger scene. Below they are removing all of the ornaments.

When the ornaments were all off and in the box, the girls removed the lights and gave each string of lights to me to roll up and place in a bag for next year. The next job was to take down the tree. They were wonderful helpers with that and would hand each branch to me to put in the box. 

We had just finished closing up the tree box when Mark and Mackenson arrived ready to scrub the gym floor. They used the golf cart to haul the tree back over to the back garage then came back to the barn to start the floor scrubber. Once the gym floor was finished they brought the scrubber in the living area and did most of that too. The girls and I came over to the house and worked on homework. Nolan arrived just as Eden was finishing up the last of her homework so they went back to the new house to keep working. Joan came over before supper to drop off some paper work just as she was leaving I noticed the sun was turning the sky a beautiful red. I used the golf cart to drive behind the foaling apartment so I could see the sunset. 

When we were growing up and the sky was those beautiful colors mom and dad would start singing and of course we all joined in singing the song

  Sunset 

 

When shadows grow long in the evening and birds wing their way back home, I get a heavenly feeling it's sunset and I'm going home.

God paints the clouds in the evening sky, to show me the way to the palace on high, and stars mark the pathway lest my feet should roam, it's sunset and I'm going home!

The burdens I've carried were heavy, I've prayed in the garden alone, but there'll be no crosses up yonder, it's sunset and I'm going home.

God paints the clouds in the evening sky, to show me the way to the palace on high, and stars mark the pathway lest my feet should roam, it's sunset and I'm going home!

The harvest is over and gathered, the summer is ended and gone, the laborer longs for HIS coming, it's sunset and I'm going home.

God paints the clouds in the evening sky, to show me the way to the palace on high, and stars mark the pathway lest my feet should roam, it's sunset and I'm going home!

Uncontrolled

 I needed to be up early as the beef ribs needed to be prepared for dinner tonight. The membrane was pulled off, they were braised then wrapped in aluminum foal and put in the oven at 225 degrees all before 7:00 am. We were not in a hurry this morning. Ruth sent the picture below of mom enjoying the sunrise at Gulf Shores.

We pulled in to the church parking lot about the same time as Randy and Kathy. They brought Nancy to church and she was glad to see us. She went up front to sing with Joan when all of a sudden she didn't look right. I was sitting next to Joan Schick and she mentioned something was wrong with Nancy. At first I thought she was pouting because she didn't get a paper but within seconds Joan realized she was starting to faint. Jacob saw she was struggling to walk and took her other arm and between the two of them they were able to get her to the first alcove on the bench. Berlica ran to get a bottle of water for her. Hannah went to get the nurses bag to take her blood pressure. I went to sit with her so Joan could go back in as she teaches Sunday school. Nancy's blood pressure was very low and that was what was causing the problem.

Hannah also checked her oxygen level and blood sugar but those were both normal. Sarah came up to check on her, Nancy grabbed her and wouldn't let go.

She was telling her that she didn't feel well. We spent the morning service on the bench. She had to lay down a couple of times but after finishing the bottle of water she started to feel a little better. By lunch time she seemed fine and was anxious for lunch. Craig Stickling had the morning message on Luke 21. I missed most of it so will need to watch it tomorrow. If you would like to watch that message click HERE. Mike Kaisner had the afternoon message on 2 Samuel 23 and 1 Corinthians 13Click HERE to watch that. After church the phone was checked and there was the picture of all the family in Gulf Shores enjoying the sunshine at Beth's pool. Mom was being spoiled getting her feet rubbed by one of the great grands. 

After church we stopped at Aldi to pick up a few things for the supper tonight. We had a good group for supper. As Ruth is gone Rebekah and Brian's family joined us as did Kari and Brett's family. I took the picture below once most of them went through the line.

We had a few come in later and by the end of the evening pretty much all of the food was gone. We had barbeque beef short ribs, fresh green beans, mashed potatoes, salad with lots of toppings, Hawaiian  rolls with butter and cake and ice cream for dessert. When Anna arrived she told us about a fire near Joan's house. They could see the glow from Hanna City Glasford road on their way in.

I took the golf cart over to make sure it wasn't near any houses. It was a HUGE fire stretching more than a half a mile. I took the video below following it for a good 3 minutes and never got to the end. 

There was nobody around watching it and I wasn't sure if anyone even knew it was burning so called 911 to let them know. They had already been informed and told me it was being watched. 

There was an abundance of children tonight and the game room was busy.

When the bouncy house fans were turned on the kids came running.

The volley ball games were going strong too.

I am so grateful for this barn. It really was wonderful seeing and hearing all of the cousins and second cousins playing together. So many times these words are said, "wouldn't dad just love this!"

Pretty Quiet

 Ruth sent a message to the sibling chat that mom awoke at 3:30 am chipper and ready for the day to begin. All of the siblings down in Gulf Shores were chiming in. Spark and Rhonda, Diane and Mike, Beth and Greg and Rachel and David. It made me wonder why instead of coming home I didn't just fly straight to Gulf Shores. I really am needed here. We have guests that moved in today and more coming next weekend. Ruth sent the picture below of sunrise over the Gulf from mom's balcony. 

I went over early to the barn to turn the heat up and the lights on. The water heater was also put on high demand mode. It is just one extended family staying but there were 6 car loads that came and if they all want showers that water heater needs to recover quickly. Mark worked on the middle paddock waterer. That turned out to just be the gfi popped. Why we don't know but I won't move any horses in there until we find out. 

I had a very restful day. After getting the barn ready for company I brought back some books to read. With everyone gone around here things are pretty quiet.

Website Work

 It was wonderful to sleep in our own bed last night and hard to get out of bed this morning. Vacation is now over and work awaits. I took the golf cart over to check on Evan and Valiant. Mike moved Evan back into his own paddock as that waterer did not freeze up. He also moved a new bale in for him so all was well with both. Evan was enjoying having his pastures back again even though everything is frozen. At 9:45 am I drove over to mom's house. Ruth already had Joan's van running and was getting ready to load and head for Belleville, IL to catch a flight for Gulf Shores, Alabama. She, mom and Fedi were ready to leave so I barely had time to say good-by! Below they are pulling out. Mom is in the front passenger side and she waved as they left. 

I went to the barn to get ready for the guests coming in tomorrow. I did a lot of refilling supplies.  I'll stop in tomorrow morning to turn the heat and lights on. While there I took the beef short ribs out of the freezer and brought those to the house. I decided to make those for Sunday dinner. They were put in the fridge to defrost. David sent the two pictures below. They are still in Florida staying at a place in Bonita Springs on the water so he took Israel and Elisabet fishing. They both pulled in fish.

A dolphin came by and was slapping the water with it's tail right in front of them. David got a video and sent it to us but it must be posted as private as I can't share it here. Ruth sent the picture below of mom on the plane before it took off for Gulf Shores.

She was not able to get the front seat. Ruth said it wasn't easy for the two guys that helped but they got the job done. Mom plans on staying down for 7 weeks. Her 96 year old sister, our Aunt Jinnie will be joining her then will fly back to Peoria with mom. That's the plan if the creek don't rise and the Lord agrees. This afternoon I worked on the website. Ralph and Jamie decided they did not want to sell Legacy so she was removed from the for sale page. We just have 6 on our forsale page now. I had forgotten to add Dreamer, Madiera's 2025 filly by Valiant so ended up making a new page for her. She is such a sassy filly. She thinks she is the boss. 

We will need to bring her in for weaning in February with Bulu's colt. 

She really will be a nice mare. She will be really tall as her sire is Valiant and even though she was born dark bay she looks black under that foal coat. She is just 2 months old in the pictures. 

She is registered and dna'd in the Warlander book of the Friesian Heritage Horse registry. 

We just got the update from Diane. Mom made it to Gulf Shores , the flight was 20 minutes late. Rhonda had supper ready for them when they got there a little after 6:00 pm. Mom is all settled in and got a foot rub from Diane while Ruth went to get groceries.  From Ruth:  It was a good trip and wonderful help. Rhonda and Diane fed us and unpacked everything! A welcome update! 

Home

We never heard Sarah and Nolan's family leave this morning but found out later they pulled out at 1:30 am. They had started the coffee maker so by 5:00 am we just had to heat it up in the microwave. I let our host know we would be out of the house by 8:00 am but we ended up leaving for the airport at 7:30 driving to a Waffle House near the airport and enjoyed breakfast there. We arrived at the airport the recommended 2 hours early and saw Mindy and Marie from Congerville come in after us. The seating was short as this was a completely full flight so we made room and invited them to come sit with us. 

It took a bit to get everyone seated on the plane which meant we did not take off early. This time Mark and I sat with Zeke while Iris sat with her parents. Zeke played for a while then fell asleep and didn't wake until we landed in Peoria. That is when the delay came. The passengers were up getting their bags from the compartments above when the announcement came that everyone had to put their bags away, sit back down and put on their seatbelts. The offloading ramp was not working and they couldn't get it up to the plane. The plane needed to be towed to a new place to unload. We were finally off the plane just after 1:30 pm, an hour later than when we arrived. We were not at all upset, instead of the 19 hour drive home from the time we left the Naples house until we walked into our house was 6 and a half hour, although we gained an hour coming home so travel time was really 7 and a half hours.. Mark had the house thermostat set at 55 so even before unpacking wood was brought in from the porch and a fire started. Once that was going well I took the golf cart over to visit with mom and Joan. Joan is leaving at 3:30 am to go to the Ark Encounter with her family, Ruth is moving in with mom tonight and she and mom will be leaving around 10:00 am for the Belleville airport to fly down to Gulf Shores. Mom was looking well. The bandage is now off her nose and she is more than ready to leave. I spent the evening finishing the book I started reading on the plane while enjoying the heat from the wood burner.

 Sarah and Nolan's family pulled in at 7:00 pm. We were thankful they made it home safely. Mark went to bed early. I think he just wanted to crawl in to warm up. He had the electric blanket set on high. 

The review from our host came in and it needs to be posted here so Rhoda and Sarah can read how pleased our host was with our stay: What fantastic guests! Communication was excellent, and they left our home in wonderful condition. It was truly a pleasure to host them, and we hope to welcome them back next year when they return to beautiful Naples, Florida.