Never Again

 A cold 23 degrees this morning and more frozen waterers.  The far paddock was one I was sure would work but was frozen solid.  The 2 weanlings in Ribbon's old paddock were moved into the middle paddock with Sally and Sterling as that waterer is still working then I left for the walk. Even before we made it one round Mark sent a text that we had a loose horse. Joan and I took the golf cart over to find Rockaway (Lola's colt) had jumped out of the paddock. It was obvious that Sally chased him out. Joan fixed the fence while I put Rockaway away then found a halter for Sally and took her over to the cabin field to join Dancer and Sheena. Sally was glad to be back but Sheena is now attached to Dancer so didn't really want anything to do with her. All three were doing well when I left.  Evan will need a new bale soon. Thankful his waterer is working. I have to string an extension cord over from the breeding shed to Valiant's to get that to work and the far paddock the breaker is popped again so not sure why that won't stay on. The cold sure makes things hard.  I picked up Aunt Jinnie for Berean. We had a very productive morning there and if you would like to read about our morning there click HERE.  This afternoon I listed to Jeff Waibel on AC Central on Isaiah 11 just to get into that Christmas spirit even though I should have been getting organized for Thanksgiving.  This talk was really thought provoking and I highly recommend listening to it so posted it below.

Mark got home too late to work on wood today. This evening Ruth, Rachel, Karin and I played games at mom's while Aunt Jinnie read to mom finishing the book Joan started earlier about the Holocaust. Listening to this true story it is so hard to believe humans could treat other humans so inhumane. People now use the saying, "never again" but I'm not so sure it won't happen again. It is a slippery slope when one set of people are considered inferior. 

Relaxing Heat

 Today was a typical Monday only it started with a cold walk. Hopefully this cold snap won't last too long. We stopped at my house to pick up the 10 pound bag of potatoes for Ruth. She is making the mashed potatoes this year.   My airbnb guests wanted to meet the horses so before heading to Peoria I took the time to give them a tour and have the girls help feed the horses.  They really enjoyed that and posed for a picture next to Sterling.

They left a VERY nice review: 

IF you are considering Judith's barn, do not hesitate and book it now! It's super clean, comfortable and well appointed with everything you might need.  Judith personally took us around to meet the horses and we got to feed them, pet them and just enjoy their majestic, gentle natures, especially Evan and all the babies. My granddaughters 7 and 3, want to live there.  Privately they wrote:  "Judith-thank you so , so much for such an awesome stay!  We all had a great time, especially the littler girls. I'm so glad we got to meet you, and hopefully we will visit again soon.  Your place is a beautiful respite in God's country with some of His special creatures. I hope you are blessed as much as you are a blessing to others!"                                           I picked up the Berean mail, then drove to Sam's to pick up coffee and coffee cups for that office. They had French Silk pie so took that to mom's for our lunch. That was delicious and we decided it was good enough to serve at Thanksgiving dinner so will pick up a couple more. Joan has both turkeys defrosting in her fridge.  I'll pick up the one I'm cooking tomorrow as I finally have room in my fridge.  The 3rd turkey was taken to her freezer. With only around 40 people coming for Thanksgiving this year we just don't need 3 turkeys. 

Mark got home around 3:00 pm and went right out to work splitting wood with Mackenson. They worked until dark. We are getting quite a pile. If the winter really is extra cold we have enough to keep both wood burners burning brightly. We kept the one going in the rec room all day. The free heat not only warms us the heat and beauty of the fire makes us drowsy and relaxed.

Coming Cold

 We had an easy morning leaving for church around 9:15 am. Tim Roecker had the morning message then came a special lunch. Tina and Carol served an amazing chicken soup so thick with so much chicken it was more like a stew. That was served with  meats, cheeses crackers, and all kinds of goodies. It really was like a Thanksgiving brunch for lunch. That was a first for Peoria. Tim Funk and Craig read the memorandum for the afternoon service. Mom started coughing today and may have picked up a cold although she says she feels fine.  She stayed the entire day.  I had guests book the apartment for tonight and was so thankful when Anna sent the text that she would be able to flip it (preparing for the next guests) so when Mark and I got home we worked on waterers. We found that Valliant's automatic waterer has no power to it. No wonder it froze even though it was plugged in. Tomorrow morning I'll call Meister Electric to see if I can get a service man out. Mark thinks a mower hit a wire and cut it.  The far paddock wasn't working because we have two plugs in that one, one was disconnected when we put the new plug in and Mike had it plugged in the wrong plug. Once I switched the plugs it worked. The middle paddock is working but is running over.  Evan's is working and the only one I'm not sure of is Ribbon's old paddock. Right now I have weanlings in there but if it freezes I'll move them into the middle paddock with Sally and Sterling. We had a beautiful day it was almost 60 degrees and sunny but that soon changed. The wind started blowing hard from the north and our nice day turned really cold and windy. It is going to get very cold for the next few days with highs in the low 30s. We will surely be using the wood burners.

Mark used the skid steer to bury 3 deer carcass while I worked on supper. Tonight we just had Phil and Anna's family and Nolan and Sarah's family. They all left to head to the Hanna City gym when it was time for volleyball. I took the car over to mom's. Faith, Berlica and Mackenson were there too.  Mom was really tired so decided to read in bed at 7:30 pm. Once she was comfortable I left. Karin is in charge for the night and we are so very grateful for her help. 

WaterPark in November

 Ruth stayed with mom today which left me free to drive with David up to meet the rest of the family at a waterpark near Chicago. We all had a great time. Below is a video of some of the action.

Phil and Anna came a little later pretty much after the camera had been put away so I could help with baby River. Below are some of the pictures taken before Phil and Anna arrived.

Above is waiting for the water to fall and below is once the water fell.

If you would like to see the rest of the pictures from today click HERE. The others were staying up at the hotel for the night but David and I had to head back. We stopped at Culvers for a quick dinner and made it home around 7:30 pm. We are ALL tired but had a really fun day. 

Fresh Meat

 It was a freezing 22 degrees this morning and most of the waterers had been plugged in but not turned on. Not Mike's fault, we were the ones that turned them off last spring. I should have realized I could just have unplugged them.  At least they weren't frozen solid and it warmed up above freezing in a few hours.

Nolan was out in the woods early this morning setting up a deer stand and soon we heard the boom of a shotgun. Nolan sent a text that he got a young buck. The golf cart was taken down to the bottom of the field to help bring the deer up to be gutted. 

The welcome meat will go a long way helping feed his family of 5 this winter.  Nolan also found a nice big shed.

The deer was gutted up by the barn so we had hot running water to help with the clean up. 

Below is the video of Nolan getting that disgusting job done.

Nolan gave me the liver and the heart. Both were cleaned up well before preparing them for cooking. I watched a video on preparing the deer liver and followed the instructions pretty well.

The liver was fried then a couple onions fried up mixed together in a bowl and taken over to mom's house for mom, Aunt Jinnie, Ruth and Karin. They pronounced it delicious and ate the entire bowl.

For supper tonight I prepared a small portion of the heart, fried thinly with garlic salt and pepper smothered with mushrooms and onions and served with asparagus. I wish I could say Mark enjoyed it but he kind of watched the video of Nolan and lost his appetite. At least he ate the asparagus, mushrooms and onions. This evening we took Braelyn, Taegan and Kensley to the Co-Op play. It was a packed house by the starting time so the kids were asked to sit on the floor in front.

Our kids were the first to volunteer but by starting time there must have been 50 of them crowded on the floor. The room really was standing (or sitting) room only. The play was really top notch. The audience enjoyed it as much or more than the actors and actresses.

The Enchanted Bookshop

 With Fedi in the hospital, Diane, Beth and Spark in Gulf Shores and Joan busy with play practice it was left to me to be with mom this morning. I wore a mask all morning in hopes mom won't get this cold although I am much better.  It was a brisk 33 degrees outside but the sun was shining. Mom had me pick the last rose still blooming from her flower garden and bring it inside.

We had a quiet morning with mom practicing her walking around the kitchen table. Aunt Jinnie went to quilting today. At 1:00 pm Karin, Aunt Jinnie, mom and I took the wheel chair van to Calvary Baptist church for the Co-Op play The Enchanged Bookshop.  Rebekah (Fedi and Ruth's daughter) was the direction. This play is about the characters in books coming alive to help the bookshop owners. Faith (Joan's daughter) was Pollyanna.  Justin (Marie Unsicker's son) was Eddie one of the bad guys, Johnny and Serena's daughters were the princess and the prince, Brooke Berger was a hilarous office Ketchum and also one of the3 musketeers, and Dr. Hoerr's nephew Brandon was Robin Hood.

Below is Rebekah taking to Grandma about the play.

Below is Faith as Pollyanna taking to Grandma.

A couple short videos are posted below.

The wind had really picked up after the play and we were glad the heater works well in the van. We took Mackenson home with us. Dan left Diesel at Joan's house but when Mackenson let him out he ran straight over to mom's. Karin drove over to Joan's, brought his bed and food back and put them in mom's garage but Diesel is an inside dog and wasn't happy being outside.  He made himself right at home sitting with Mackenson.

Wonderful News

 I woke up during the night with a stuffy nose and sneezing. I picked up a cold and because of that plans needed to be changed. I asked Joan if she could take mom to the senior lunch bunch and Karin to take mom to the Co-Op play on Thursday.  I walked with the girls and the only symptom I have is a stuffy nose but I just don't want to take the chance to give it to mom or Aunt Jinnie. We had a damp rainy day and a fire was built in the rec room wood burner then I just listened to AC Central while enjoying the warmth.  Jessica (Rachel's daughter), mom's private OT came to do the stretching exercises. We had to laugh at her expression, she is SO over all this therapy and yet willingly does it.

Joan sent the picture below of mom enjoying the luncheon. She was determined to order a hamburger and fries and enjoyed them both. Much better than hospital food.

The update on Fedi was not what was expected. They opened up his hip and for the third time removed the ball joint, put in a new one and closed him back up again. They were supposed to have just opened up the hip and put in a wound vac so they must have seen something not right with the second ball joint. Please pray for Fedi, this has been so wearing on him. Since I still have a cold I didn't got to Wednesday night church but watched on line.  Mike Kaisner had the message. The most wonderful news came after the service. Tim Funk announced Marie Hoerr for baptism. She is someone really special, she has been a grader for Berean prison ministry for years and is also the writer of the Skyline News.  How very thankful I am for her that she has made such an important decision at this time of her life. 

Infection

 We walked this morning but quit after 1 quick round then stopped in to visit with mom and Aunt Jinnie who were eating breakfast at the table.  Mom only had 1 Aleve pm last night instead of the 2 she had been taking and yet still slept well.  Karin reported that when she went to buy another bottle of Aleve pm the cost had risen to $9.00 a bottle but that wasn't the reason mom just took one. She has been much more active and now is sleeping all night. Today was Berean day and Aunt Jinnie and I left for that office at 8:10 am. If you would like to read about our morning there click HERE. We enjoyed the morning, enjoyed the visiting, dessert and coffee after the work was done then dropped the Bibles off at the Bartonville Post office on the way home.  Ruth sent a message that she is going to have to take Fedi back to the hospital for surgery again! He had a hip replacement that popped out of joint twice so had to have that hip redone well now it is infected. He has to go back to the hospital tomorrow where they will open up the incision try to clean out the infection then will leave it open for a few days. He is looking at another 5 day hospital stay. He sent the picture below of  his hip. 

Tomorrow will be his 21st surgery and Friday hopefully will be the 22nd to close it back up.  Crazy how awful this has been for him. When Mark got home he brought a new battery for the 2021 Wildwood trailer and got that installed then I left with that trailer taking it to D & H trailer repair.  They will give the insurance agent the estimate then I will take it home as it will be months before they can actually repair the trailer. They cannot get the metal needed and they don't have the workers even if they had the metal. We talked for a while why no one wants to work because our government hasn't figured out if you give people free money they may not want to work.  By the way that money is NOT free even if it is just printed which the inflation we are experiencing shows.  We put that money in a separate account to use for something special like groceries and gas. (not really)

Police Report

 Mike filed a police report on Indy's missing filly. We were sure we would find her body at Middle Grove but a good amount of searchers searching over days found no evidence of a dead body.  This is just crazy. It was shared on Facebook with over 600 shares so if she is alive hopefully we will hear something. After our walk today I drove to Sam's Club to pick up supplies for mom's house. Ruth was there this morning and had mom practice getting in and out of her car.  She DID it! 

Molly mom's dog had an ear infection so Ruth and mom made a vet appointment for her and took mom's car for that. When I got back David's message at College Weekend at ISU was downloaded and posted on Youtube. This one is hard for family to listen to. We as parents really had no idea of some of this. I debated on whether it should be posted but ultimately there may be someone who needs to hear this. 

A nice review came in from the band that stayed in the apartment over the weekend.  I had no idea they were a band but they left the place clean and were quiet so must have been taking a break from their instruments. They were from Ohio and heading to Wisconsin for their next show. This is what they wrote: We had a really lovely stay at Judith's horse farm retreat.  It was exactly what we needed after a long day. Very quiet and peaceful.  All the boys were smitten with the lovely horses and the gorgeous farm.  Very clean and cozy!  

When Mark got home today we hooked up the Wildwood trailer to the truck and drove it out of the barn. That needs to go in to the trailer repair place for an estimate tomorrow morning. Mark used the skid steer and hooked up his aluminum trailer to help with hauling wood. 

It was my turn to stay with mom this evening. For supper tonight I served a 3 course meal starting with soup then chicken stir fry over white rice and a salad and for dessert pecan pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Mackenson joined us for dinner. After dinner we were watching The Jungle Book but mom thought we were going to watch the Princess Bride. She fell asleep while when we started the movie and when she woke up she was trying to figure out how and when the princess bride was going to show up.  We had a good laugh. She is walking much better learning how to shift her weight to make it easier to pick up that left foot. We all admire her determination. Gulf Shores is looking like it is a real possibility. Mom already had Joan block off the first two weeks in April and I think it is going to happen.

Sterling, Jewel's colt somehow got in with Sally during the night. He wanted to get back in with the weanlings but since he keeps jumping out or crawling through the wire in the pasture he is much safer in the middle paddock with Sally.  I thought Mike must have put him in with Sally so she wouldn't be alone but he didn't so we really don't know how he ended up in there. 

Just Like Grandma

 Another wonderful Sunday. Oh how blessed we are to wake up another day and a Sunday at that. Ruth drove the van to church with mom and Aunt Jinnie. Craig Stickling had the first service on being a good soldier in second Timothy. David had the second service.

 Diane and Mike drove separate as did Joan's family as they were going to Goodfield for the baptisms after the first service. One funny thing happened. Diane's coat was taken and the one left looked like hers but was smaller and didn't have gloves in the pocket.  We started teasing about how we just can't trust those country churches. She posted a message on the AC encouragement page on Facebook and the person that took the wrong coat saw that message. Turned out she was from Eureka so maybe Goodfield AC's are trustworthy.  That lady stuck her hands in the pockets of the coat and pulled out gloves that were not hers. She told Diane, I was GLAD for your gloves, it was really cold outside. They ended up talking on the phone for over a half an hour. It turned out her mom had a stroke about a month ago and they were taking care of her at home. They brought her mom to the baptisms then she was scrambling helping her husband get everyone situated in the car and grabbed the wrong coat. Talk about a small world! There are 7 in her family and they are all taking turns caring for their mom just like us.  We had a full house for supper just missing a 3 of the family. Sarah and Nolan arrived first. When Anna arrived her 3 girls went right to work setting the table.

How thankful I am for hard working willing grandchildren. When Taunya arrived the kids had fun visiting with each other while waiting for Rhoda and Lee. 

Israel was pretty proud of his art work.

After supper Rhoda and Lee left Iris with me while they went to the Peoria Civic center this evening. I took Iris to mom's house and we had such a good time. Rebekah had Jordan, Riley and Blair there for Iris to play with.

Riley had to show grandma the picture she made.

Rebekah brought mom some FannieMae candies and mom shared them with the kids.

Jordan was watching mom walk back to her chair with the walker and wanted to try it out. He watched great grandma and tried to walk just like her. 

All of us just burst out laughing. The other three had to try too. 

Winter Weather

 It was only 34 degrees and windy this morning while doing chores. Even the foals were standing inside their shelter instead of gallivanting around like they usually do in the mornings. Winter seems to have arrived.  I headed over to make breakfast at mom's while Mark got the tractor going so he and Mackenson could keep splitting logs for the wood burners. 

They practically filled the wood shed today.

 Below is a short video of Mackenson bringing logs over for Mark to split.

They quit at noon and Mark took Mackenson to a Chinese Buffet in Pekin for lunch. Mackenson is a growing hungry boy and he was able to eat his fill. While there a couple ladies stopped Mark and asked him about the Friesian horses. Mark was not wearing a horsemeister sweat shirt but was wearing a Meister Heating sweat shirt so he thought they must have figured out the companies were related. Turned out one of the ladies was from Hanna City and the other from Glasford. We are right between those two towns but I had to laugh when Mark was telling me he was trying to explain to them what Friesian horses are. We don't consider him the expert but he did a great job. The grandkids got to ride dinosaurs today.  I can't believe how brave Iris was.  

Taunya sent the pictures below:

This evening Ruth and Diane took mom and Aunt Jinnie to Goodfield for the testimonies. Joan, Mackenson, Faith, Mark and I got there before the 6:30 pm starting time but the others dropped off Nancy first in Morton so didn't get there until 6:45 pm and sat in the back. Sofia, Dan and Susan's daughter was second in line. It really was amazing when it came time for mom to speak that without a microphone she spoke loud and clear enough to hear all the way to the front of the church.  When she got home from the hospital she had no strength to speak and would just whisper. How far she has come! It was snowing all the way home from the Goodfield church. Thankfully none of that white stuff was sticking on the roads.

A Big Loss

 Last night Mike took a crew out to Middle Grove to transfer the horses from the summer pasture back to the winter pasture. On Monday they discovered the back gate had been unlocked and left open and of course the horses found  the open gate. We don't want them in the summer pasture because of the hunters. Mike mentioned there were only 15 horses out there but I told him there had to be 16 because of Indy's filly and right then he exclaimed, "there was no baby out there!"  He thought I had brought them all back. I left early this morning for Middle Grove to start the search just hoping he just didn't see her.  When I turned on Middle Grove road I could see something in the road and realized as I was passing it that it looked just like a saddle pad. I stopped and put it in the car because it was OUR saddle pad. It must have blown out of Mike's truck on his way  home last night.

The herd was not in sight but after hiking up the hill I could see them in the distance and could not see a foal with them. Lily was the first mare I came to. She was grazing a little distance from the others. When I turned I could see Indy also by herself with Irish a little distance away. That wasn't a good sign at all.

I went right over to check her udder and was very disappointed to see it was obvious that a foal had not been nursing recently. Her udder wasn't stretched tight but not flat and she still had milk. That meant the foal has been missing for at least 3 days or more. Today is Friday and last Friday all was well so the gate was either left opened Saturday or Sunday as Monday they were discovered in the wrong pasture. Some of the herd were spread out grazing. Below the 4 grays are Sangria, Cookie, Soul and Jury. Jewel is in front of Missy and Mika is to her right. 

Rosaleigh came up for attention. 

Up by the gate (this is the gate that had been unlocked and left open were a few more of the horses. Left to right is Madiera, Big Rosalie, that is Oksana's big rear end in front of Indy who had walked over to be with the Oksana. 

It was really cold and windy and had been spitting snow on the way out but the sun broke through a bit as I started hiking. I spent all morning hiking and searching for the filly's body in the winter pasture. There is no way Indy would have left her if she was alive. It was strange that there were no buzzards flying around.  Hopefully Mike can take the 4 wheeler out and search the summer pasture. I just can't believe this happened and kept hoping I would find her sleeping somewhere. This filly really was special. She was the most beautiful foal of 2021. She was curious,

had the mega hair,

very athletic,

and had beautiful movement.

I hope we can find her body or I will always wonder, what happened to her. She was sold so the owner was notified and we will send back the deposit of course. Of course my mind goes to "if only I had brought them home last week."  Those if onlys are not good to dwell on. As soon as I got home the saddle pad was taken over to the cabin then I headed to the apartment to get that ready for the 5 guests coming in tonight. The snow was coming down and when it hit my face it hurt.

The picture above was taken while cleaning the barn and below was taken from the front porch.

None of the snow stuck but it sure was cold and windy.

Ruth was with mom this morning and when she asked if she would like a shower mom replied, "I could give YOU one too." then started laughing. She was having a really good day. Below is one of the walk this morning. 

She got a little impatient with how slow she could move the wheel chair so Aunt Jinnie recommended trying to go backward. She picked up speed on that.

After lunch I went over and was really surprised at how much better she was at walking today. Each day she improves.  Ruth wanted to try some transfers from the wheel chair into her car but the weather was so awful that was put off today.  This afternoon laundry was done and since it was so chilly I made a pot of soup. We had some for supper along with bbq chicken and stuffing.  I'm still trying to wrap my mind about losing Indy's filly. She turned 4 months old so could would be able to survive without Indy but I know Indy would never had left her. This is a big loss for us.