Busy Long Day

 My day started earlier than expected. I saw a white pickup truck coming down our drive. It wasn't our airbnb guests as they didn't come in a truck. After feeding the colt, Jewel and her filly were brought inside so I could clean up the filly's leg and was saddened to see it was much worse today.  The swelling was worse and the openings had closed over with sticky fluid. I had to scrub and scrub. They were left in the stall while I left for the walk. On our walk there was that white pickup truck again. It was a man coming to rent the Wolf Pup, he showed up over an hour early. Joan stayed and got him hooked up while Ruth, Diane and I kept walking. We stopped and admired Joan's Hibiscus plant. The blooms are just beautiful. 

After the walk I ran in to Hanna City to pick up 6 and a half dozen eggs from a lady selling them. They are mostly pullet eggs and a little over priced at $3.00 a dozen but they are fresh. One dozen was dropped off at mom's house.  Once home I went back to work on the filly's leg then left them in the stall while the  apartment was cleaned. The airbnb guests had left early. I listened to Jeff Waibel at Leo on AC Central while cleaning. All the laundry was taken down to the house as I had more guests moving in today.  The apartment was finished by 11:00 am and the next people sent the message it was ready and they could move in any time. Only then did I leave for the Peoria post office. That was a little depressing, I had over 10 Bibles returned and owed the post office $41.26. I didn't take the time to see why so many were returned. When I got home Jewel's filly was no better but Jewel wanted to go out so they were put out. The filly walked over to the salt block again and started licking that so maybe she isn't as bad off as I think. Later I saw her grazing and keeping up with the rest.  We have the hole dug for her grave but I was hoping we wouldn't need it. Sheena was grazing in the pond pasture so I watched to see if she would come up to Valiant's paddock but today she completely ignored him. I will still tease her tomorrow morning early just in case. The stall was cleaned up and the barn swept then I headed in to finish the apartment laundry. Mark got home around 1:00 pm so we left for TSC to pick up 3 hog panels and the new picnic table for the 5th wheel campsite.  I unloaded the table and opened up the box to get it ready to put together,

but then Joan needed to have the Wildwood moved for the renter coming at 5:00 pm so took the truck over. The trailer was plugged in and made ready for the people coming but realized the keys to the camper were in my purse so took the car back with the keys and passed Faith on the Kubota with Mackenson and Berlica. Those 3 were heading out to do a job but I'm not sure where. 

Mark and I went out to finish putting together the picnic table. It was really hot outside and no breeze at all. The windmill was completely still. 

It took us over an hour but we finally got it put together. 

Tomorrow I'll bring out the blue outdoor rug and blue umbrella. The only thing left to do before I can advertise it is get the electric outlet on the outside of the barn wall. We have the outlet just need to get it installed. Mark took the box to the dumpster while I grained the horses then took the milk up for the orphan. While he was eating that looked for and found Abe's shoes. Those were put in my purse as tomorrow afternoon I will be with Rhoda, Anna and Taunya. 

Sunday July 24th

 We could hear the rumble of thunder in the distance early this morning. Before the storm arrived the colt was fed and the filly checked. It started sprinkling as I was bringing the milk bucket back to the house. The horses were enjoying the cool rain by standing out in it. That is Oksana, her colt and Jewel's filly with Jewel far right. Sheena was up in a shelter eating hay. 

We are very thankful for the rain and love the sound of the drops splattering on the patio.

We left for church a little late but arrived before 9:45 am. Amy and Ken had already arrived. We were waiting for Beth S but she was waiting for us by the front door. It was really good to be in church today. David Obergfel had the morning message. He stepped in to help as Peoria has been a little short handed with both Tims having surgery. It was such a shock with Cleve's sudden death that Peoria church was in mourning. Amy needed to leave at noon as she was a little shaky after the horse accident. Brain injuries are not fun and the brain needs time to heal.  Mike Kaisner had the afternoon message. After church I made a cake for our dessert tonight. Rhoda and Lee brought Pizza and wings for the meal and set Zeke down first while they were bringing in the food. 

He is a very content baby, just watched and contemplated life as all the commotion going on around him. We were visiting while waiting for Ben and Taunya's family and when Israel sat on his mom's lap a picture had to be taken. 

Mark grilled some of the potatoes he bought at the farmers market and everything was delicious. Afterward we all ended up at the playground. I stopped in mom's where a game of Carbols was going on.

The kids were playing in the new barn.

The big kids were playing some very entertaining games of volleyball.

After each game they would break and visit with each other while getting drinks.

Below is a video of some of the afternoon.

We left the playground after 8:00 pm. David dropped off the wake board and a tube for us to bring on our vacation Saturday. I realized we are short a wakeboarding rope so ordered one on Amazon that should be here by Tuesday. Mark and I will be driving the truck down and I'm very glad it has an 8 foot bed and a back seat. 

98 Degrees

 Today was my turn to be at mom's early so I went out at 6:15 am to feed the colt, hose down Jewel's filly and give her the antibiotics and get Sheena covered. The colt got fed and Jewel's filly taken care of but Sheena was not up, she and Loxley were across the pond.  I got to mom's at 7:30 and mom was eating breakfast but Karin had not yet had hers so I cooked breakfast for Karin.  It was already getting too hot to be out on the deck so instead we read the Daily Bread inside. Aunt Jinnie and Janet called and we had a good talk with them about Eastern Camp. That ended last night and today were the farewells.  The final song sung during the pizza party last night God Be With You. 

Mark brought us tenderloins for lunch today from the Warehouse. Molly was VERY interested in mom's meal.

Ruth relieved me at 1:00 pm and I was shocked at the heat when I stepped outside.  It was much to hot to try to get Sheena covered so instead I went in to clean my house but laid down on the couch and fell fast asleep. I remember dreaming that I was trying to get up to work and my body just wouldn't work. That wasn't a nice dream. Mark went out to collect the mail and take mom's over and met Spark who told him about Cleve Klopfenstein. We could hardly believe it and were heart broken for Kathleen, his wife, and their children Crystal and Aaron.  Tim sent the message below:  

We are sorry to share the passing of our Bro Cleve Klopfenstein.

Bro Cleve and his family were sharing a wonderful weekend at the family cabin celebrating Cleve and Kathleen's 50th wedding anniversary.  They had a wonderful day together yesterday and today with their children and grandchildren.  Tragically, while Cleve was swimming something happened that caused him to call for help; he slipped under water and did not resurface.   Despite heroic efforts by the family and neighbors, his body was eventually recovered by the rescue squad.  

Our hearts break at this tragic loss and our prayers continue for Kathleen, Aaron, Cara, Crystal, Jay and the grandchildren who were together this weekend.
We will keep you informed as we know more.
In Christ,
Tim

Rhonda sent the link of her 98 year old Uncle's testimony and baptism. That started at 6:00 pm. I was a little late getting on because I didn't find the password right away but heard most of it.

Once that was over it was time to go back to work outside. It was no longer 98 degrees outside, it had dropped to 90 The colt's milk was made up and taken out then I had to go find Sheena. She still wasn't with the other 2 mares and foals but was in the far paddock so she and Loxley were brought out. Sheena was teased and when she showed she was still in season taken to the breeding shed paddock so Loxley could be kept in their while she was covered by Valiant. Faith and Berlica came riding over on the 4 wheeler as I was putting them away. I was able to talk to Faith about when we leave for our family vacation and how to take care of the horses while we are gone. 

DIE Worm

The colt was fed around 6:30 this morning and while he was drinking his milk Jewel and her filly were taken into the stall. I didn't have time to treat the filly's leg until after the walk. Today she willingly let me halter her and stood while the leg was hosed off well and the antibiotic applied. It is draining well and her lower leg needed a good scrubbing to get all the sticky serum off. She is walking much better. When I was done they were put into the paddock and she walked right over to the salt block and started licking it and didn't even quit when her mom went out the back gate into the pond pasture.

When she realized she was in the paddock by herself she took off quickly. The stalls were cleaned and then I left to pick up the Wildwood trailer from the repair shop. That was parked at my house for the morning. My next job was to load the car with the wood scraps left from building the stairs then drive them to our wood shed and stack it. These pieces make great fire starters for our wood burners. I quit after a couple loads. We have those awful tomato worms show up on our plants yesterday. I killed two and Mark killed one this afternoon.  Mark heard the tomato worms are easy to see with a black light and ordered one tonight. They are such a disgusting worm and destroy the tomato plants. I want them DEAD! We have a lot of cherry tomatoes now ripe so those were picked and taken over to mom's. It was my turn to be at mom's starting at 1:00 and staying until bed time so the meal for tonight was planned and brought over after lunch. Mark grilled porterhouse steaks, I sautéed mushrooms, onions, stir fried sugar snap pea pods, and boiled some fresh picked sweet corn. For dessert we had brownies covered with vanilla custard. I left mom's at 8:35 pm and by 8:48 had the orphan's milk made up, fed him, checked on the foals and was back inside. Joan had 2 campers leave today and neither person brought the correct ball. Both of the campers that left today needed the 2 5/16ths inch and both brought a 2 inch ball. I took one off my old truck and the second one was taken off the 2015 truck. I still have my drop down 2 5/16ths ball for the horse trailer but we decided we'd better have a few extra of the straight 2 5/16ths on hand.   

Picnic Tables Needed

 David's message on Psalm 91 was downloaded from AC Central then uploaded to youtube this morning. Below is the message. 

BUT if you go to AC Central you can see it on video. Click HERE for the link. This may or may not work but it is easy to find. Just go to  https://accentral.apostolicchristian.org then click on sermons then Advanced filter then type David Sceggel into the speaker box. The way I understand is this is just a trial so it may not work later. Mike came over at 7:00 am to help get Sheena covered by Valiant. That was a successful cover and I was only 1 minute late for the walk.  Right after the walk Mark and I got the 5th wheel moved into position. Mark needs to install the new outlet on the barn and once that is done I will be posting it on Airbnb.  I need to buy a picnic table before it rents. I actually need quite a few picnic tables so if anyone wants to sell some please contact me.  Jewel's filly was treated with hosing down her leg and the antibiotic then the stalls were cleaned and the apartment checked and made ready for the guest coming in today. I left for grocery shopping and needed also to fill the car with gas. Since it is still $4.89 here in Hanna City I decided to go to Pekin to the Aldi there and get gas somewhere in Pekin. I found 2 gas stations at $4.67 a gallon and filled up at the second one. I still spent $50.00 for the Prius but it was almost empty and needed just over 10 gallons.  Lee and Rhoda have now placed their house for sale in Bloomington. They decided it was time to move closer to the rest of the family. If you have been looking for a VERY nice 2174 square feet 3 bedroom 3 bath house with a fenced in yard, attached garage, finished basement in a very safe friendly neighborhood, you may want to look at this house.

you can see all the information about it by clicking HERE. We will really miss the club house with it's exercise rook, banquet room, full kitchen and best of all INDOOR POOL.

I spent almost $200.00 at Aldi today but bought a lot of the food for our family vacation coming up in 9 days AND a new pair of shoes for me along with new pairs of socks.  My everyday tennis shoes are just plain worn out plus they stink really bad since they have been in some of the worst of the wet manure mud ever during those weeks of rain. Faith and Mackenson finished the mowing while I was shopping. Below is Faith on the grass hopper mower.

While I was gone Faith and Berlica took out 3 groups of riders on the trails. The younger kids did the smaller loop and the older kids got to cross the creek and do the bigger loop. They used all 4 horses. We can honestly say Earl's gelding really is perfect for children.  If anyone is looking for a very special 14.1 hand registered Quarter Pony with Doc Bar in his pedigree he may be available if we decide we have too many horses. Right now the kids are enjoying him and even took him for his first swim across the lake last week. After the trail rides they all relaxed floating around on the lake as it was another hot one.

This evening after Molly and Gabe left for the vacation with the motorhome the Salem camper was taken over to Joan's. As we were pulling away the man coming to look at the campers was pulling in. Those campers are still renting. When we got back Mark wanted to block off the stairwell as there is no railing so we hauled some 2x4's up the 20 steps then put a piece of particle board on top of those 2x4s.

Nancy Scare

 It was my turn to be at mom's for the first shift so I quit the walk a little early in order to be there. Mom was just finishing up breakfast so once that was cleaned up it was time for therapy.  Someone ordered a new machine for her to use and we started at the table with her arms. After about 10 minutes we moved to the chair and put the machine on the floor. I had to have the wheel chair against the couch then hold the front of the machine with my feet to keep it steady but was very pleased when mom could do this herself.

That is Karin singing in the background. Molly stretched out on the chair and fell asleep watching mom work out.

There was left over roast beef, potatoes and carrots for her lunch. Diane arrived at 12:30 pm so I could leave to take care of Jewel's filly. She was taken into a stall and 3 ccs of banimine were squirted under her tongue. Then she was taken into the barn and the leg hosed off well. It looks now like it could have been an abscess and today it burst. Once it was cleaned up well, she was taken back into the stall, tied then gentamicin was squirted directly into the wound and DMSO was put on a cloth and rubbed around the area not opened but swelled up.

She tolerated it all very well. 

Jewel and her filly were given hay and water then left in the stall for the day.

In the video below she is happily munching away at the hay. Jewel turns to smell the cloth that has the DMSO on it as that was sitting in the windowsill. 

I needed to get two bales moved in for the mares and foals and the orphan colt needed to be moved into his own paddock so he could be given grain with out the mares stealing it. At 4:45pm Mark and I drove the car over to the new barn and loaded a bunch of the scrap lumber into the back of my car. This kiln dried wood works great to get the fires going in our two wood burners. We were unloading it when Joan called to ask if we would take her kids to church tonight as she was with Nancy in the emergency room. They took Nancy to a prompt care today because her left leg was swollen. Prompt care thought she should go to the ER to get blood work done and a sonagram on her leg to rule out a blood clot. Joan went at 11:30 am to be with Nancy and ended up staying all afternoon and most of the evening.  She reported Nancy didn't like the needle for the blood draw but the biggest problem with the whole thing was she hadn't had lunch yet and by the time they could give her any food it was 7:00 pm. She was really hungry. The doctors feel she there is no immediate crisis but she has some mild afib and one of the lab tests showed a slightly elevated number that could be the preliminaries for congestive heart failure.  There was no immediate answer as to why her leg was swelling and the sonagram on her leg and the chest x-ray came back fine.  

Mark and I picked up Faith, Mackenson and Berlica at 5:15 pm and took them to Culvers for supper then to church. David had the message on Psalm 91. That will be downloaded and posted tomorrow as it is almost 10:00 pm now. Brandee, the lady that bought Lily's 2021 filly by Valiant sent back a picture and videos of the show they took her to. Her son showed Onyx and they were very pleased with how quiet and accepting Onyx took everything. Onyx stands 15 hands at a year old. 

They still have one more day of showing and Brandee said she would get better pictures tomorrow. She wrote: Everyone is absolutely amazed at how well she is behaving and that nothing is scaring her. They had the trail class set up with a wooden bridge, rope gate and ground poles. I walked her through it for fun and she did better than some of the older horses. Amazed at that & how big she is

Enter

Brande

A Reprieve

 On our walk this morning I had them stop to look at Jewel's filly. She must have injured her hock while we were on our camping trip and because I was busy I didn't check on them until Tuesday night.  I've been watching the hock, thinking first it must have been a wound but could never find any opening. Then thought it must be an injury but this morning thought it might be joint ill which usually comes on with an umbilical cord infection. The filly is a month old so that just didn't seem to be the case.  After everyone looked at her they thought it was time to put her down so I left for the Berean office believing this was her last few hours alive. To be honest I didn't think she was at that point but both Diane and Mike thought she must be in tremendous pain and felt we could not leave her that way. Once I was home later this afternoon I sent Mike a text, he drove the yanmar over to dig the hole first and I brought Jewel and her filly out. Mike saw her eating grass, nursing, getting up and laying down and walking and even a bit of trot and realized she was not in as much pain as he thought this morning so decided to just watch her. She gets a reprieve! When I put them back out, Jewel took off and the filly cantered right behind her. 

I will start treating it with dmso to see if I can bring down the swelling as water isn't working.  The website was changed as she is no longer for sale.  Getting back to our morning. Beth came with mom and I to the Berean office to help with mom but ended up helping at Berean too. We had a lot of fun there but had to quit early as the Unsickers had to turn the water off to the building. If you would like to read about our morning there click HERE. After dropping mom and Beth off at mom's house Madiera and her filly were loaded into the trailer and they were taken to Kickapoo. I won't be going back there until they are ready to wean Zena.  As soon as I got home from Kickapoo Rosaleigh and her filly Tessa were loaded and taken to Middle Grove.  

Rosaleigh was thrilled to be back, I thought she would spend some time grazing but instead took off right up the hill to try to find the herd. It was after I got home from that trip that Mike came over to dig the grave for Jewel's filly. The hole is there but I hope and pray it can be filled back in. This evening Mike and Diane came over to help get Sheena covered by Valiant. It was a successful cover and was marked down. I'll try her again on Thursday morning. Oksana and her colt were moved in with Sheena and Loxley and Oksana also started to show.  Dr. Hoerr could not find any large enough follicles on her yesterday so I'll wait a couple days before trying to cover her with Evan. There was good progress today on the barn. In other news Amy is home from the hospital. She has one black eye instead of the 2 I expected. 

Three Confirmed

 Ruth is now back to work so couldn't walk today. We kept up a brisk pace and finished a little early. I left right away for the Peoria post office to pick up the Berean mail and made it home with an hour to spare before I was to leave to pick up Madiera and Zena. Today was ultrasound day, I had 5 scheduled and Dr. Hoerr was due to come in the afternoon.  Just as I was removing the straight bar ball (the one used for the campers) to put on the drop down ball for the horse trailer Amy called and reported she had left her pills in the motorhome and asked would I get them. Since I didn't want to walk back to the house as soon as the new ball was on I just drove the truck over, found the pills, put them in the passenger seat of the truck. The horse trailer hooked up and getting in the truck when Joan called. The trailer repair placed called her to say they were ready for the motorhome.  Well Molly is borrowing that and we could not ruin her vacation so Joan asked if they could do the trailer repair first. They agreed, said the parts were in and it would be a quick repair. I told Joan I would be able to get it to them in an hour but first had to pick up Madiera and Zena in Kickapoo. That trip went without incident and as soon as they were put in a paddock I removed the drop down ball for the horse trailer and put on the straight ball for the camper, drove to Joan's picked that up and hauled it in to the trailer repair shop.  I was REALLY pleased when they backed it right into their shop.

Since I was very close to Bridlewood decided to just drive there and give Amy her pills instead of making her come out here.  Cathie met me when I pulled into to Bridlewood. It was good to see the old home place and I took a picture of Pleasant Home.

We opened the door to the barn and there was Amy's horse loose in the arena and Amy was on the ground. We both went running. It turned out Amy was asking Belle to step over the tarp but instead of stepping over the tarp Belle jumped the tarp, landed on top of Amy hitting her head, knocking her to the ground and stepping on her ankle. Amy had a cut on her nose and was knocked unconscious for just a moment but by the time we got there was awake and in a lot of pain. We cleaned her up removing the blood from her face, Cathie drove her truck into the arena and together we helped Amy into the truck.

Cathie took her to the hospital. They did lots of X-rays and a CT scan and found she had a small brain bleed. Amy just sent an update that they are keeping her overnight and have just put in an IV that isn't in right and is hurting her arm. 
I left for home and just as I was pulling into my drive the trailer repair place called to report they didn't have the right metal and they would need to order that and they were not going to be able to repair the trailer yet. What a disappointment. Dr. Hoerr didn't arrive until 7:00 pm. I had the 5 mares in stalls waiting and the ultrasounds went quick. First was Madiera. She is pregnant due May 30th, 2023. 

The sire of this coming foal is Valiant. Her 2022 filly by Valiant is spectacular, hopefully I can get some updated pictures of her tomorrow before hauling her and Madiera back to Kickapoo.  Next up was Rosaleigh. She too was confirmed in foal and she is due May 15th, 2023.

The sire of her coming foal is Evan.  Next was Oksana, now Oksana should have been coming into season yesterday if she was  not pregnant and she is not showing at all but Dr. Hoerr could not find an embryonic vesicle nor did she have ANY coming follicles on her ovaries. This was a strange finding strange enough that I hope she may be pregnant and will just keep her here and keep teasing her and if she doesn't come in season have her rechecked in a month. The next mare was Jewel and she is confirmed in foal due June 5th, 2023 and the sire of this foal is Evan.  

That is Oskana in the picture, Jewel and Oksana were sharing the stall for the ultrasounds.  Last up was Sheena. She had a cluster of 3 that Dr.Hoerr thought were more than likely cysts but couldn't rule out that one of those in the cluster may be an embryonic vesicle. She had a follicle of just 29 mm but a little edema so may be coming into season. I'll start teasing her tomorrow, if she is in season then the cluster is cysts. If she doesn't come in she will also need to be rechecked. So we have 3 confirmed and 2 maybes. The mares were put back in their paddocks but I'll clean stalls tomorrow, it was much too late tonight. The colt still needed to be fed. 

Iris's 4th Birthday Party

 My phone went off this morning and it was an airbnb booking for December 24th, and 25th. Not unusual but what WAS unusual was it was from our current renter. I sent him a message that he would be welcome again in December and he wrote back quickly:  Thank you so much! The place is amazing, the best we have found in the area. We visit family in Peoria every month or so year round. Your place will be my future go-to when I am booking my visits.The horses are beautiful! Today we were going celebrating Iris' 4th birthday after church with the family so before breakfast the bathroom and kitchen were cleaned up and after breakfast the floors were scrubbed. I don't want the kids thinking we are too old to care for the place plus they all needed doing. I should have done them on Saturday but was just too tired or maybe lazy either way I just didn't have the energy or will to work after coming back from mom's. Don't judge me (for working on Sunday) We still had a wonderful Sunday.  Gregg Rumbold had the morning message and Mike Kaisner had the afternoon. During lunch I noticed we had another booking and this time for Nov 24th and 25th and it was again from the SAME current renter. He didn't want to take a chance someone else would book for those two times. We took Nancy home from church and took her to mom's so she could see Dan and Susan before Joan took her to her house for dinner. Dan brought his lethal bug gun and of course Israel was very interested in that so Dan came out to show him how it worked. 

 Mark was put to work husking the sweet corn for our supper tonight while I worked on cutting up the melon.

Lee and Rhoda arrived with two cakes for Iris. One cake is not quite enough for this family.

The chocolate cake above is a unicorn cake and the cake below is vanilla.

Dinner was chaotic but delicious and after dinner came the party. 

After the cake and ice cream we went to the playground. Lee and Rhoda brought a unicorn piñata stuffed with candy. The video below shows them destroying that and then a few other fun things.

We got another update on the 5 boys from Roanoke that were electrocuted last week. 4 of the 5 boys are now home from the hospitals. Some will still require skin grafts, surgery, etc. at a later date. Seth Durand is still in Springfield. He remains unconscious and is very critical.   The chaplain from LaSalle County Sheriff Office (*who was one of the first responders at the accident) along with his wife spent the day at the Roanoke Church.  Over lunch hour he asked if he could speak to the congregation about the accident. So after services were over he stood up and talked. Attached is a link to his 10 minute talk. Not only did he give insight into the accident, but he offers a unique outside perspective about who we are as a church body. While he speaks about the 5 young men who were injured, much of his time is about the 5 young men who witnessed the accident. IF you would like to hear his talk click HERE. Amy and Ken arrived this evening returning the motorhome.  Amy reported they all had a wonderful time. Below is a picture of their group at the campground.

While they were telling us about their camping trip Dr. Who showed up, he landed on Phil and Anna's car as Phil was trying to leave. Then flew into a tree. Next he left the tree and came flying right at us, trying to land on Amy's head. Amy ducked and he flew into the climbing Maple tree. Joan was called, she drove over in Hannah's car, called him down with some chopped up chipmunk then took him home.