3:00 am

At 3:00am I wake up to the sound of a horse walking through the barn. After looking at the alarm clock and letting that time register in my mind, trying to process what my ears are hearing with the clip clop noise, I rationalize it must be Sanna and her filly, thinking somehow the gate must have come back open in their paddock. Sanna always comes straight to her stall. This means I do not have to get up to check and gratefully go back to sleep.
When it is time to get up and feed shockingly Sanna is not in the barn but even worse neither is Jenis and her colt. Last night after we were already in bed I remembered Jenis hadn't had her water buckets filled since we left at 6:00pm. How wonderful to just slip out into the barn from the apartment, fill the water buckets then climb back into bed except her stall door must not have been latched in my brain sleepy state. At 3:00am Jenis figured that out and went exploring. So at 6:30am I'm driving the golf cart around looking for her. She was down in the field very glad to be out for the first time in weeks.


They were put in the breeding shed paddock while Sanna and her filly were put in the pasture behind the boys. Jenis will be covered tonight, the boys need another round bale but their shelter needs to be cleaned out a bit first.

Dr. Hoerr's Visit

The picture below was snapped in the early sunrise today of Ribbon and her 5 day old filly.

Sanna's filly was caught in the act of a good shake.

Dr. Hoerr arrived shortly after 1:30pm, Ylse is now out of season so Bunni was brought over from the cabin field to use as a jump mare for the collection.
Mom did come over and spent much of the time killing flies as she didn't have to muzzle or twitch the "colt", we really needed her a bit later.
Once that was finished it was time to ultrasound Breyer. She IS coming into season, she had a 35 follicle on each ovary and should be ready to breed in a couple of days. So glad we didn't miss her cycle.
Jenis has a 43 and we will breed her tomorrow.
Then it was time for the collection, now we really needed a third person for this job as Bunni is not in season. Mom was asked to hold the twitch on Bunni's nose. My 79 year old mother is always willing and was able to hold Bunni still with ONE hand. She is AMAZINGLY strong for her age. No pictures, I was busy holding Raven while Dr. Hoerr had the AV. All went well and Dr. Hoerr took off to inseminate the mare at his clinic. He will extend the semen and inseminate her each day until she ovulates. He can easily get 4 or 5 doses out of that one collection.
We are meeting for the carpool to church at 6:00pm tonight, Diane made a fruit basket to take to Barb Schaefer and we want to drop it off on the way.

Don't Judge Me

I'm known as very frugal, but perhaps the true description is tight. When Dr. Hoerr called to schedule a collection of Raven this afternoon, he was asked to bring his x-ray machine, not for a horse but for my hip. Poor Dr. Hoerr, what could he say but "I'm not trained for humans." Do you think that would matter in my case, of course not, vets are MUCH more reasonable than human doctors and he is coming HERE. What doctor today makes house calls.
As soon as the farm was reached, I ran out to the barn to start sweeping the aisle way and making sure the stalls were cleaned until I remembered, wait a minute I'm not having my hip x-rayed in the barn, the office better get cleaned up.
Now this is how rumors fly, the cotton candy machine and snow cone machine were dropped off at the Skyline Home THIS MORNING, Leon Kaisner was there dropping off some furniture and asked me, "is it true you hired a vet to do your hip surgery?"
Of course that got the attention of everyone standing around and when it was explained the vet was only doing the hip x-rays they still all just shook their heads. Mom offered to come hold my hand and make sure my mouth is muzzled so the vet is not bitten.
Dr. Hoerr was asked to bring his ultrasound machine for Jenis who is at 15 days and to find out where Breyer is in her cycle as she has not come in. Hmmm wonder what he can see on me with that? Ribbon's filly also needs a foal shot the vet office needs to be called to make sure he has the shots on his truck.

Not Enough

The rain was just not enough. It dampened the driveways and sidewalks but didn't soak into the ground much. Mom still ended up watering her gardens. Mark is going to trench a line from the pond into the big barn for watering the arena and one at the garden for next year. These 2 hydrants must be labeled lake water, of course thats once the pond is done. He looked into burying tanks and using roof water but the pond was a better idea. The spring keeps that pond full even during a drought.
Last night Breyer was teased, still no sign of her coming into season. Her owner will be called to see about scheduling an ultrasound, she should have come in by now. Ylse will need to be checked this morning as she was not covered last night.
A trip to Quincy, IL needs to be scheduled to pick up Lily, her filly is now weaned and she is ready to come home.
Yesterday Eva Jean brought in 2 fresh baked peach pies, one was shared at the office and one brought home to share with mom. These pies were delicious. We even had a piece for breakfast with our coffee. What could be better for a person than fruit and coffee.

RAIN... the Crops are SAVED!

On our walk mom found a perfect goose feather, we put it in her hair and she forgot about it. Mom was heading in to Bible study and we thought it would be funny if she went with the feather in her hair, after all, that IS the current fashion but she found it and took it out.

The surprise lilies are blooming everywhere this year, coming up unexpectedly but so pretty. These came up in one of mom's flower gardens.

Now she never knew the name of these flowers, grandpa Meister (my grandfather) used to call them naked ladies as they grow with no leaves, just a long tall stalk with blooms on the top. We found out the real name is surprise lilies.
We are now puppy-less, at least temporarily. Jane left for a trial with a lady in Chillicothe. She wanted a laid back puppy and we all laughed. Has anyone every known a Mastiff to not be laid back? Jane was loaded into the car this morning and driven to Rhoda's work where her new owner will pick her up. Truly we are sad to see Jane go, she was a delight to be around.
Phil brought Braelyn in to work today. She was smiling until the picture was snapped. She joined us, helping open some of the letters. Don't tell her mom, but she actually got one study stuffed in her mouth before we realized what she was doing. That prisoner is going to wonder what kind of machine do we run these studies through. Braelyn had it pretty crumpled up and wet but hey it kept her happy.

A storm came through while we were working with RAIN!!! We got almost a half inch and it is SO needed. The fields and pastures are so dry, the alfalfa at Middle Grove may have burned up. It will be nice to see the pastures turn green again.
After lunch a run had to be made to Sams club for that all important dog food and dog biscuits, of course milk and bread were also picked up along with some steaks and lots of fruit. Another smaller storm came through also giving us rain but now the sun is shining brightly. Things always look better after a good rain.

Square Bales

We ran out of square bales a while ago and have been pulling hay off the round bales for poor stalled Jenis. Yesterday Mike picked up 15 really good quality squares, some for his Colorado trip and some for Jenis. It was so easy feeding this morning! Just grab a couple of flakes and throw it in. We also moved in another round bale in the breeding shed for Ribbon. This morning while feeding Raven I see the gate to the breeding shed wide open. It took a few seconds for my brain to realize we had horses in that paddock and they would need to be found. They were standing quietly over by the house and came with the enticement of grain, the problem was that Jane came too, wanting to see what was so exciting in there that Ribbon would just go right in. The grain bucket was dropped and Jane scooped up quickly.
Ylse got covered again last night, she didn't show well so maybe going out. The best time to cover a mare is on the last day she shows, so if she shows again today we won't take the chance and breed her again. Kay Johnson called yesterday to see about bringing in an Oldenburg mare in for breeding, I had to turn her down for now, the paddocks are all full. What a year Raven is having. Hopefully by Friday there will be an opening. Breyer was also teased yesterday but she is still not interested. If she doesn't come in season after she has been here 18 days we will ask the owner if we can schedule an ultrasound on her.
Mark returned the rental pump yesterday and this morning the pond has more water in it than yesterday, meaning the spring is still running.

For Karin

Well Karin, you stated you have been very disappointed in the blog since we moved out to the farm, not near enough stories to go with the pictures. Of course it took hours to download the pictures from this very slow internet. Oh the sacrifices that must be made to keep family happy!
Emma and Jane were playing together, they both get tired and flop down, Emma rolls onto her back.

Jane looks up and sees..... the food bar....mmmm this is really good.

ouch those teeth are sharp.

And yes, Jane is STILL for sale. She was 8 weeks old Friday night, perfect time to go to her new home, just ask EMMA!
Rachel Sauder of momentscapturedbyrachel took the pictures below of our 2 Friesian colts when they were about 18 months old playing in the snow.

These boys are now 2 years old and TALL. Valiant doesn't have much mane left, Evan rears up and pulls it out but Valiant gets back at Evan by pulling his tail.

Today after breakfast the grain elevator in Glasford, IL was on the list to visit. Cheryl Grassi's family now owns it and I wanted to check the elevator out. Mark will be happy, there were jars of honey for sale on the counter from a bee keeper in Mapleton, I bought a quart jar for him and it was only $8.00. Honey has gotten very expensive in the store since the colony collapse syndrome with honeybees in America, even Aldi's prices are out of line. A quart should last us a long time.

Darcy

Early this morning Darcy was chasing a toad and slammed into the building and actually falling. She was pretty embarrassed, got up quickly and ran to the door. Mark felt the building shake either that or just heard the impact and thought he felt the building shake. Toads are not that fast, Darcy saw it jump under the downspout and thought she would grab it forgetting her head is quite a bit bigger than the toad. Jenis' hay was placed in the stall Ribbon had been in, that one was clean and hers is a disaster. Later today hers will be cleaned up then she and her colt can move over.
Janie was let into the apartment and given a small dog treat. She was so excited, couldn't wag her tail quick enough, once that was gone she started sniffing all over looking for more. She is such an affectionate puppy and yet very laid back. She enjoys someone holding her on their lap and will lay quietly for as long as they want to hold her. Once down on the floor she finds a toy and lays on the rug by the door. Did we mention how well potty training is going for her? This puppy is going to be an amazing family mastiff.

Thank Goodness for the Day of REST

Mark helped move Ribbon and her filly into the breeding shed and out of the stall. That will be one less stall to clean each day. He even helped mop up all the mud on the floor this morning, of course he dragged in all the mud from the pond work. We met over at mom's at 9:00am, she rode with us to church while the Canada guests followed in their van as they were leaving at noon for home.
Church was awesome, awe-inspiring, amazing and these few words just don't say it ALL, there seem to be no human words to describe how thankful we are to be with our loving church family. Craig Stickling had the morning service, this statement will stick with me a long time: "We judge others on their actions and deeds but we expect to be judged on our intentions." Just think about that statement a bit, so true.
We had just gotten home when Gwen, the lady coming to ride Dalia called that they were here and waiting at the cabin. Gwen rode Dalia last night by herself and wanted another ride today. While Gwen was riding, her mom Marta helped get Ylse covered by Raven. Dalia didn't put a foot wrong yesterday and today, we thought Gwen would take her and when she told us she wanted to think about it a bit, I was kind of shocked. What is there to think about, the mare is quality, sound, rides, and is pregnant with a Raven foal AND we are ONLY asking $4000.00. I gave her 2 days, if she doesn't call within 2 days, a lady named Elizabeth is interested and then the Emily that bought Super from Ruth is also interested.
Karin was kind enough to drive in and take Gwen on a trail ride, then she grilled the hamburgers for dinner. There was a big group for volleyball tonight. We enjoyed visiting while watching the games.
After dark we still needed to load the post hole auger into the back of my truck. David Sauder will haul it in to SunBelt rentals tomorrow morning. We used the skid steer with a chain to lift it into the truck bed, what a handy tool that skid steer is.

3 Year Old Raven Son SOLD!

This boy now has a new home!
Judy,
I thank you for your offer to sell my little big boy. Rudy is a real good boy, he is very trusting, sensible loves attention. He loves any and everything you do with him and if the is a treat in it for him it's even better.
He can move like a dream , is up to date on all shots and worming, stands well for the farrier and gets along well with my other horse who can get a bit bossy at times.
I have done some work with Rudy, he leads good and has had a saddle on his back. This does not upset or disturb him one bit. As he is a big boy and I am no spring chicken I have not gotten on his back though. This past spring when the vet was out he made the statement that the bones are at a development stage where riding was not a going to impact him at all.
Rudy gets in my trailer good and rides quietly. I am sending you some pic's of Rudy.
Thank you again for your help
Best regards,
Chris Lant
309-253-4139

Chris contacted me about her 3 year old gelding by Raven. Chris has lost her job in this terrible economy and needs to sell her beloved Raven son whom she named Rudy. She is willing to take $3000.00 for him. He is registered. He has the potential to go right up the levels with dressage, he also has the potential to make a wonderful hunter or jumper with his balanced big gaits. This boy is WAY under priced, hopefully someone that wants to show will snatch him up.
Buyers always dream of finding a quality horse in someone's back yard well THIS IS THAT HORSE! He has the disposition to make anyone's dream come true.

Update from Emily

Hi Judy,
Jewel and I have really connected. I think she has accepted me as her "herd." When I groom her she grooms me (gently) and she is always elated to see me calling immediately and running to the gate if she's in the pasture. She is such a blast to ride. I can tell she has Thoroughbred in her though because she has the tendency to jump around a little more than average. Not exactly spook, but when she sees something she's never seen before she has to stop on a dime to look at it. Even when she acts up she's never been out of control or even close. Her mouth is soft and responsive and as long as you can hold her attention with exciting things (her attention span isn't very long) she goes like a pro. The capabilities she has are enormous so I can see why the owner of her full sister wanted her and also why you didn't want to sell her. I don't think she will be for anything but a fairly experienced rider for a long time because of her "Thoroughbredness" but she has never been out of control. I love, love, love her because we've really connected like "reading each others' minds" and I know she loves me too. Thanks so much for this awesome opportunity of working with such an amazing horse. Tell Mike thanks too and he's going to love riding her.
Thanks a bunch. Emily

We sure love updates like the one above. Thanks Emily for keeping us informed. Now if only she would send us pictures!
The lady that was suppose to be here at 5:30pm didn't make it until close to 8:00pm. Her flights were delayed, then delayed again. She had a nice ride on Dalia in the pasture behind the boys in the dark. The volley ball lights were on and the guys were playing, the boys were running around their paddock and yet Dalia was calm. She paid attention to her rider, of course it helped that her rider was experienced. They were a good fit. She is coming back out tomorrow after church for another ride on her, this time hopefully someone can take her on the trails.
While we were watching her ride the mosquitoes were having a field day with us. Next time we go out to ride in the pasture at dusk we must have on mosquito spray.
The stalls were cleaned, the mares fed and watered one more time. Both mares are ready to get out, even Ribbon feels like one day in a stall is enough.

Arena Work Day

The very first job to do this morning was check on Ribbon and her brand new filly. She was checked at 3:00am and nursing well. We had to get some pictures and they needed to be taken outside. She is almost 8 hours old in the picture below. A few more were taken and placed on Ribbon's page on the website.

After the photo shoot, I took a trip to mom's this morning, on the way back I noticed the boys standing over by the gate, then I realized Valiant was stuck. He tried to mount Ylse over the gate knocked down the electric fence, got half way over the gate, and got caught with his front feet on one side of the gate and his back feet on the other side.

Mike had to drive in from Hanna City where he was working on his office fence, get the yanmar and take the gate off the hinge.

The picture below was taken once Valiant had been rescued.

No harm done.
Ylse was moved! As long as she was flirting Raven was glad to do his job and she was covered and will be marked down.
Mark and Jozef started working on digging the holes shortly after 8:00am. That skid steer is amazing. Seventy holes dug in about an hour. Of course it helped that Jozef was finishing up each hole.

After a late breakfast the 5 guys staying with mom came over to help set the 70 fence posts. It was wonderful to have such willing hard workers. We finished up by 12:30pm. Amazing we thought this job would take all day and with so much help we finished in time for lunch!




Ruth picked up pizzas from Caseys and we all went to moms to scarf it down. After lunch mom took her group to the Herman Lake at Norris, IL while Mark worked on moving more manure before the predicted rain starts. He dumped a couple of big loads then power washed the skid steer.
Mark kept the pump going and the pond is about half drained. We think by Sunday night it should be empty, that is if it doesn't rain much and the spring feeding the pond is dried up.
By the time we were ready to head in for a break, there is Jane waiting at the door so lonely. She was let in, quietly laid down on the rug and wagged her tail so fast the camera couldn't keep up.

This baby needs a home where she can be an inside dog. She wants to be with people!
The lady coming to try Dalia was delayed, Karin had to leave, Rhoda is going to the singing, that leaves Mike to take her on a trail ride but... she may get here after dark, the arena is filled with construction supplies and cannot be ridden in. Don't know how this one is going to work.

Sanna's Filly Swimming

Raven's New Daughter

We had a lady from New Mexico ask if Sanna's filly has ever gone swimming. No we didn't think so. As Rhoda was here baby sitting Addyson, she jumped on Sanna and into Diane's lake the filly followed. The video was uploaded on to the website on Sanna's page. We all jumped in the golf cart for the ride over to mom's, Darcy and Emma came so they could jump in the lake and cool off, the weather is hot well in the 90s.

We left Addyson at mom's where she immediately goes to the chair that just fits HER.

Mark showed up around 3:00pm ready to help unhook the trailer and drive down to SunBelt Rental for a nine inch auger attachment for the skid steer for the 70 holes that we need to dig if the arena is to be done. We really should have taken down one of the Meister Brother trailers, Mark also picked up a huge pump to assist on draining the pond. The stuff barely fit in the back of the truck.

After dinner we marked out where to dig tomorrow. Then it was time for the horsemeister work. DaMita is now out of season, Breyer is not yet in season and Ylse is in and covered before heading over to mom's to meet the visitors. The company from Canada wanted to go horseback riding so Rhoda and Sarah took the 5 guests on the death trails. Driving the golf cart over to the barn we see Ribbon laying down, Rachel is running for the paddock and sure enough she is in the process of delivering her brand new Raven daughter.

Below is a picture of her hoof, the other hoof is still in the birthing sack. When a foal is born the hoof is very soft and rubbery. This is God's way of making sure the foal does not hurt the mom in-utero and during delivery.

And below is her very first stand.

The filly has a small moon shaped white spot on her forehead. She is nursing well and trotting around her stall. She is very strong and quite opinionated. Do we have another princess on our hands?
A very busy day!

Janie is Still For SALE

My phone went missing so after the walk I started calling it and Mark answered, he took my phone into work by accident. Tex was getting picked up at 9:00am leaving just enough time to drive in to Peoria, pick up the phone, drive down to TSC for another 33 pound bag of puppy food and get back in time. Really didn't know if there would be enough time but it took exactly 4 minutes at TSC. Made it home in time to get more pictures of Jane, now back for sale. Isn't she the most adorable puppy EVER?

Jane also loves to give kisses.



Jane is now the ONLY pup left and she is LONELY! She is our biggest female pup and actually the first one sold but the owners never showed up and did not put down a deposit. Janie comes with her full registration papers, health papers and her puppy food. Please someone give this little lonely puppy a home, she only cost $800.00.
Janie is a very laid back type puppy that enjoys playing with children and will make some family a wonderful protector. She is 8 weeks old TODAY and weighs in at almost 17 pounds.
Jenis' stall was stripped this morning and 4 new bags of equine fresh pellets were put down. She just trashes her stall each night, dumping the water buckets and walking all over her hay. The colt is doing so well and looks so good it is hard to believe he must stay inside. The air conditioner had to be turned back on, today is going to be another scorcher.
There are 5 young men coming from Canada this morning to stay at mom's for a couple of days. We are trying to arrange a trail ride for them but everyone is either back to school or back to work today, hope it will work out for them tomorrow.

Ribbon

The new camera came! It was already getting dark by the time the battery was charged up enough to use it. Below is Ribbon weighing in at the most she will ever weigh. Weighing in at 11 months and 11 days pregnant.

Ribbon is due today, no baby but she is getting closer. She was put in the far paddock by herself just in case she delivers tonight. Mike, Diane and Rhoda decided to work the horses in the field behind the barn. Mika was going so fast the camera could not focus quick enough.

Rhoda was asked to ride Dalia, there is a lady coming on Saturday to see her and Dalia was a bit spooky trying to go around a very noisy engine sputtering in the back of Mark's truck. At least she got better once on the trails and hills. Dalia always goes through the creeks fine.

Diane took Bunni for a good run, Bunni is such a fun ride and is one of the horses going to Colorado so Mike wants her worked everyday to get in shape.

It really was too dark to take any of these pictures but we have been waiting for the camera and wanted to try it out.
Illini the puppy left today for his new home. There are only 2 puppies here for Emma to care for. Tex leaves tomorrow morning. His owner will be here around 9:00am to meet his new little boy. That leaves Jane, now the story of Jane is this: the people wanting her called the Sunday before last for SURE wanting her. They would be here on Friday, then they didn't show up on Friday but called to say they would be here the next Friday except they did not put down a deposit. Then they called today asking again "how much is Jane and how do we pay?" They were told cash or credit card only, said they would call back in a few minutes and no call back, nothing... so Jane may still be for sale. I don't want to sell her out from under them but if they don't show up tomorrow, she will be posted back for sale.
Jenis' colt is getting so good about haltering and taking his by mouth medicines. He really is spectacular, we NEED to get pictures of him. Dr. Hoerr was so impressed with his conformation, he told me on the phone this one is a stallion candidate and should NOT BE GELDED. Not that we didn't know that but it is nice to hear it from an unbiased person. Of course we tend to think all of ours are special.
The other foal that we need to get pictures of is Sanna's filly. She is filling out and growing like a weed.

Hard

I won't lie, today was just plain hard both physically and emotionally.Really appreciated Rebekah and Anni Davidovics today, they rode their 2 horses over and gave trail rides to 2 of our guests, the third guest was a very happy 9 year old down syndrome girl and she was given lesson's on Paris while the other 4 were riding. She had the whoa and go down pat by the time the lesson was over. We finished up at the playground. While her dad was playing with her waiting for her 2 siblings to finish up, I started leading Paris back when I heard a big truck and had to take off running. Menards was here with the roofing and arena supplies but instead of driving it back to the barn to unload they were caught unloading in the drive way of the house. Thank goodness for good ears, that would have been quite a mess in the drive.
The golf cart was taken over to the playground where our guests were informed they could stay as long as they liked but I needed to get Jenis and her colt to the vet. They came over to play with the puppies one last time and watch the loading. Jenis walked right in as usual but her colt went the wrong way and started running around the truck and trailer looking for his mom. He saw Hanna, the 11 year old, ran right up to her and stood quietly in front of her asking her to please take him to his momma.
The horses were just dropped off at the vet clinic while I headed to Peoria to get some work done. Dr. Hoerr called around 3:00 with the findings on the colt. He does have an infection and we are to stop the gentamyacin (not sure of the spelling of that antibiotic)and start him on Exceed, keep him on the sulfa, plus another medicine and the worst of the worst, stall rest for 60 days. I think Dr. Hoerr must be mad at us or something, to order stall rest! That is going to be torture to leave Jenis in a stall for 60 days.
Diane called around 5:30 to see if we wanted to join them at Gil's for dinner but dinner had already been cooked so we turned it down. Wednesdays special at Gils is Fried Chicken and the place is usually packed. Mom, Mark and I met Mike and Diane at Mike's law office in Hanna City so we could car pool to church. Turns out President Obama was suppose to eat at Gils tonight also. He didn't end up eating there, probably couldn't get reservations. Who is he to think he can come on Fried Chicken night and get a seat, the president or something?
Church was emotionally heart wrenching. "Who here among us has not been broken, who here among us is without hurt or pain." Craig Stickling had the service, the tears flowed both during and after. When someone leaves it hurts. We are a body and when a part of that body is ripped away we bleed.
We didn't get home until after 9:00pm and Jenis' stall still needed to be cleaned, the horses fed, puppies fed and finally we are ready for bed.

Late Night Pick-Up

James' owner didn't arrive until well after 11:00pm and finally left with him near midnight. Of course one doesn't just go to bed nope the stalled must be cared for and the arena lights turned off before crashing into bed. Around 3:00am Jenis starts insisting she wants OUT! We did our best to ignore her until 5:00am she was banging the boards, sounded like she was playing kick the can with her water buckets and taking the stall apart, in reality she was just slamming them against the wall. Did we mention how she HATES to be stalled? Good strong coffee is brewing, the day won't seem so hard once af few cups are down.

Eliza Pregnant

REJOICE with us, Eliza is in foal! Dr. Hoerr didn't arrive until 5:30pm but with the good news of Eliza's pregnancy it's FINE he was late. French Fry is also pregnant, her owner was emailed, hopefully they will schedule a pickup soon as the paddock will be needed in about 10 days. The not so good news is that Jenis' colt off banimine is back running a fever of 102.6. Dr. Hoerr feels he must go back in to the vet clinic tomorrow to try to find out what in the world is going on. I will need to leave here by 8:15am as we have our banker bringing his children out tomorrow morning at 9:30am. Tonight he was given his meds plus the banimine.
DaMita is coming into season which works out well, we need a jump mare for a collection Dr. Hoerr will be doing later this week.
We had a very busy evening here, 3 sets of families came out to play with the puppies. Right now they are exhausted, even too tired to eat. Newman has left for his new home in Ohio, Eleanor has left, James is leaving tonight, there will only be 3 puppies to take care of tomorrow but 2 more leave on Thursday, Illini and Tex and Jane leaves on Friday.
For those of you waiting for pictures, the new camera has not yet come in, it was bought and paid for and supposedly shipped out but just has not arrived yet. Philip has also ordered an external hard drive, we will be able to get back to making and uploading videos again. They must be made on this computer as the video camera is very high definition but we don't have a way to watch or upload videos here in Hanna City because of the slow internet. Once the outdoor arena is finished, Sangria and her filly will be brought back to be the first video taped.

Tooth Picks?

We locked our doors last night, just in case the people coming for James actually did show up, at least they wouldn't be able to walk right in. It was after 10:30pm by the time we crashed, around 1:00am the hip pain during the night was uncomfortable enough it was time for Aleve. Stumbling around in the dark to the kitchen cupboard where that magic drug was kept, opening the cupboard, feeling around for the bottle and somehow the toothpick container ended up crashing onto the counter and spilling thousands of toothpicks all over the counter, floor, dishwasher, and sink. That was bad but was worst was the Aleve bottle was not in the cupboard, not in ANY cupboard, not on the counter, not on the table, in fact that bottle has disappeared! I'm not compulsive or anything but this was not the time to give up when drugs are wanted and they are wanted NOW. The bathroom was searched with no luck when I remembered a small bottle in our travel bag somewhere in the bedroom. Trying hard to be polite and not awaken Mark by turning on the lights caused the knocking of things off the shelf onto the sleeping dogs while trying to reach the travel bag discretely. It actually turned into a circus even awakening the puppies in the stall area, when they started crying loudly Emma was put out to quiet them, Darcy was told to "lay back down" 2 of those small blue Aleve pills finally found their way into my mouth, Emma let back in and then I was able to slip back into bed. Since Mark never reacted I had to reach over and check that he was still breathing, I didn't think even the dead could sleep through that chaos but he found a way. This morning the toothpicks picked up, the colt's meds given and temperature taken 100.3, Jenis fed, Raven fed, Jenis and her colt turned out, puppies fed and finally a cup of good strong coffee!
James was placed BACK for SALE on our website, he is the last male puppy and would like a home where he can lay on someone's lap being fed many many treats and getting lots of attention.