Moving Over

 We were both up early. I had a lot on the schedule today so spent a good hour reading and praying. We really have so much to pray for and so much to be thankful for. The new sheets for the apartment and this house arrived yesterday so today they were washed. As soon as 2 of the sets were dry and folded those were taken up to the apartment. The people checking in today thought they would be here around 4:00 pm then let me know it was now going to be midnight. I got all the lights turned on for them and set the thermostat to 69 degrees as that is what they requested. Hope their trip goes ok. Breakfast was cooked then over to the barn. I ran back to get more supplies and a big fat bullfrog was sitting on our drive. I think with all of this rain he was lost.

He didn't move even when I walked behind him so left him be as he thought he was invisible. On the way up to feed the mares. Rosaleigh was eating on the round bale and her colt had climbed up on top.

He thinks he is the king of the hill here.

Tomorrow we have guests coming in so today the barn needed to be finished. I got the 6 bathrooms done and the windows when Mark sent a text. He had been grading the driveways but wanted to take a break and go into town. He was willing to drive to Morton, IL to pick up the short cycle shot for Izzy. I called the clinic to let them know he was coming then went back to work. I was able to finish the barn plus mended sheets. We had one set that had a small tear and was an easy mend. When Mark got back with the shot I went out to get Izzy. After giving the shot I stayed out to watch her. I was waiting for the reaction of sweating and some cramping and after a few minutes that happened. 

That poor filly wasn't sure what was happening. Hopefully she will come into season in a few days. My next job was to clean out the stock trailer. 

We plan on using that on Saturday. It wasn't too bad and didn't take very long.

Jewel, Rosalie and Sally's paddock needed a new bale but there wasn't anyone around to help keep the mares in the paddock while I moved a bale in. I got the bale close to the gate.

Hung buckets on the other side and gave each mare a scoop of grain. That kept them busy so I could get the bale in without any running out. I had just finished that and was back at the house when Sarah and Rhoda arrived. They were going to take the girls on a trail ride. Zion was going to ride 17 hand Rosalie and we were all impressed with how she pulled herself up onto the saddle.

Iris rode Jewel and Rhoda led with Jury.

Sarah, Eden, River, Zeke and I followed on the golf cart.

They did great on the trails.

They even crossed the creek.

We followed them but probably shouldn't have with all that rain we couldn't quite make it up the hill through the mud. After trying to push it up we had to back up and then get a run for it then go up a different way.  We told the little kids that this was an adventure! They loved the last part but not the part where we got stuck near thorn bushes.

We made it back to the horses before they reached the barn so all was good. Below is a short video of a little of their ride.

Jury was put away but Jewel and Rosalie were taken to the round pen so Eden could have a ride on Jewel.

River and Zeke also got to ride.

A bit later Zion got a trotting lesson on Rosalie and even cantered her both directions. 

They all went swimming after the ride.

With all the rain the lake rose and some of the boats drifted off. They took the paddle boat to go rescue them.

On the last trip up to the barn this evening that colt was back up on the hay enjoying the view.

They were locked off the pasture. That needs a rest for a week. Now that we had that 2.5 inches of rain yesterday it will bounce back pretty quickly.

Both of the golf carts are now plugged in inside mom's garage and tonight we will be sleeping there. I'm writing the blog now but as soon as I update it I'll be packing our clothes and moving over. My computer will need to stay here at the old house until I can get help moving it so I guess I'll be driving back and forth for a while. 

Lots of Rain

 Mark got up around 3:30 am and started the coffee so when I got up it was already starting to cool. I'm thankful for the microwave. I got a few pictures from the weekend that I want to share. I was thankful Berlica was willing to take the guests out on trail rides.

We were expecting big storms starting at 8:00 am which meant at 7:55 Tessa and her filly were brought into the barn. We got rain, lots of rain, some thunder and not a lot of wind. The terrible predicted storm went around us. We are SURE it was because David S put his truck in the barn. He is 4 for 4. We have had hail predicted 4 times this spring, hail fell all over but not here. As long as his truck is in the indoor arena the hail has missed us. Mark worked at mom's scrubbing carpet and chairs. 

I went to work on cleaning and scrubbing the kitchen cupboards and drawers. 

At 10:15 am a couple of men arrived from 4 hours away to pick up the breeding equipment. That is now sold. They were quarter horse breeders and trainers. They were thrilled to get it and I was thrilled to get it out of the tack room. 

I forgot to give them the cardboard box filled with other supplies so that will go in the dumpster if there is room as the guys from Iowa don't want to drive back for it. Around 2:30 pm the rain stopped. We had 2 inches in the rain gauge by then. Tessa and her filly were taken to the outdoor arena to graze and I went in to clean the stall. I had just finished up when the rain started back up with a downpour. I walked over to the golf cart, hesitated then drove that out to the arena. Do I bring them back in or not?

Tessa was fine and glad to be grazing. The filly was not shivering at all so they were left out. This rain didn't last that long only giving us about a 10th of an inch before it slowed down.

After this second shower quit, Tessa was teased. She is in her foal heat but I can't use the second breeding stand (Valiant's) as she has a foal by her side. The other mare in season right now was Star Temple. She was brought out put in the breeding shed paddock with her filly then taken out of the paddock and tied to the breeding stand. Even before I got the stallion out she threw herself backward and broke her halter. I forgot this mare does not stand tied and will have to wait for Mike and Diane to come back to get her covered.  By this time is was almost time to get ready for church so she and her filly were left in the breeding shed paddock. There is plenty of hay and water there. She wasn't happy, she wanted to be out in the big field with Rosaleigh, but too bad I didn't have a halter on hand and didn't want to go back to the barn to get one. We arrived at the church parking lot just a few minutes before Joan's car. Berlica was driving tonight. She just got her permit. Gregg Rumbold had the message tonight on fellowship. Well that was really only a small part but I don't want to spoil the it for you if you want to watch it yourself. You can be clicking HERE. After church we went to Culvers for a late supper and were joined by David and Stephanie's family plus some others.

We left after 9:00 pm and it was still light outside. The picture below was taken just before turning on to Hanna City Glasford Rd.

We ended up with almost 2.5 inches of rain today!

Big Storms Coming

 I left early for the Berean office so I could stop at Sam's club first. We needed cream for the coffee, small plates for our dessert and napkins. Even with shopping first I was there at 8:47 am. Of course Skip was ready to dock my pay. Sharon showed up even later. Why she arrived just before 9:00 am and Skip told her he would dock her pay too. We all had to laugh. We had Shirley, Ray, Skip, Marvin, Shirl, Sharon and me today for volunteers. Vonnie and Kathy couldn't make it today. We were easily able to finish on time. We had more studies come in today than last week but less Bible requests. I was a little busy so forgot to take even one picture. The studies and Bibles going out today were dropped off at the Hanna City post office. I also asked for 3 more white tubs since I didn't pick any up last week. Rhoda and Sarah were here when I got home. Rhoda had given a lesson to Iris before I arrived. Zeke was just getting ready for his turn on Jury. 

Zion was helping me grain Tessa when Zeke was taking a turn.

Next on Jury was Zion. Rhoda gave her real riding lesson, just like she gave Iris earlier.

Since I wasn't there for a picture of Iris Rhoda said she would send one but hasn't yet.  Today Tessa and her filly joined the other two mares with foals in the pasture. Tessa is just coming into her foal heat. She ran over to Evan (her sire) and stood there while he talked to her, Rosaleigh, Tessa's dam got between them and Tessa left but when Rosaleigh left to watch over her colt. Tessa came back, her filly walked over to her grand dam Rosaleigh and Rosaleigh let her know to back off. That got both the filly and Tessa running.

Rosaleigh's colt just stood there watching everything.

Once I knew everything would be fine I went over to the lake where the grandkids were having fun boating. Sarah was watching all the kids while Rhoda took Jury out on a trail ride. 

They all went over to Joan's to look at the fawns. Below they are getting ready to boat back. David is in the canoe fishing near the dam.

For her first day back Jury is doing ok.

She did the entire 'death trail' but it took a while. Rhoda had to convince her it was safe. They made it back fine. After Jury was put away Rhoda worked with Izzy and taught her a new trick. 

Berlica and Israel went riding too today. They also did the entire 'death trail' and all went well.

This evening we were watching news when Peoria was mentioned. Peoria is right in the middle of the highest category for the big storms coming tomorrow with a high chance of hail and tornados. We decided we had to put the vehicles all inside. Mark drove his black car up to the barn. I backed the truck and stock trailer into the indoor then we took the second golf cart over to mom's garage. On the way back we noticed Mike and Diane's Prius sitting out so moved that into Mike's new barn.

All garage doors were shut and we are kind of prepared. Tomorrow morning I'll bring all 3 mares with foals inside. If there is hail those foals might not be smart enough to stay under the shelters. 

Blew It

 We were both up early enjoying freshly brewed coffee. Mark left for his walk but I read a while before heading to the barn to collect the laundry. No walk as Ruth is in Romania and Diane & Mike along with Spark & Rhonda and Dan & Susan all left for Missouri. Both of the solar coaster boats went too. Mike and Diane took the big one while Dan and Susan took the smaller one. They will be staying with Spark and Rhonda and going out on Bull Shoals lake. Spark had a pontoon boat at his place there on that lake. Joan was stripping the sheets off of each of the camper beds as I was stripping sheets of all the beds in the barn. We talked over the weekend then started discussing the 4th of July plans for out here. Rachel and David are going to be doing the fireworks again on Friday the 3rd. Mark and Mackenson worked on getting the 4 campers ready to be hauled back to Joan's house. I called the vet clinic to get Valiant's appointment to have the cancer looked at. On Friday they had no electricity and couldn't tell me when I could bring him as for this appointment they wanted to make sure Dr. Hoerr had 2 full hours to give him. His appointment is now next Wednesday June 24th, at 8:30 am. After the laundry was started I took the truck over to help. We used the barn septic tank to empty all of the camper tanks. Then hauled them one at a time over to Joan's Berlica was out riding with 2 of her friends. 

We finished up the campers then hooked the stock trailer up to truck so I could haul Cookie out to Middle Grove and bring back Jury. Sarah arrived just as I was leaving. Her girls gave Cookie some carrots before she left then went to play with Tessa's filly. Sarah sent back the 3 pictures below.

She was enjoying the girls. I arrived at Middle Grove and drove back to the big field. There were no horses in sight. Cookie must have smelled them as she started heading North.

About then we heard thundering hooves but it was just Oliver coming down to meet Cookie then take her back to the herd.

Below is Oliver making sure Cookie joins the rest. He really is impressive. 

I had to walk and it was a long way and all up hill. They were all waiting for me when I arrived.

At first I couldn't find Lily. I saw some turkey vultures and my heart dropped. She is 24 years old this year. Well it turned out she was right in the middle I didn't recognize her, she is in such good shape.

Below it is easy to tell it is Lily from the side view.

She is licking a salt block in the picture below. She does have a tail she is just swishing it to her right side on the picture below. That is Jury behind her.

After taking a few pictures Jury and I started the long walk back to the trailer. Unfortunately Oliver didn't want to see Jury leave so followed us down bringing the whole herd with him. I had to use the lead rope to shoo him away a couple times. He really is well behaved and would have stood quietly if I would have tied him up to something but where we were there wasn't anything other than trees and I didn't want to have to walk all the way back to untie him.

Above Oliver is looking over at Sheena, behind Oliver is Missy and behind Missy is Cookie. 

Below Oliver is coming over to greet me while the others are behind him.

The black mare in front is Valerie, Lily's last daughter I kept and behind her is Jury.

Valerie came up to see if I had a treat but I didn't bring anything out with me today.

Harli, the gypsy mare is looking very wide. She is due in August and I think is the last mare due this year. Jury loaded fine. Harli had followed her to the trailer. I went over to pet her was scratching her back when I saw a big horse fly land on her hip and without thinking slapped her and killed the fly. She jumped and ran then looked back at me as if to say, "WHY?" Harli came to us as almost impossible to catch. We have been working with her carefully gaining her trust. Each time we go to Middle Grove I make sure to scratch her back which she loves and give her attention then walk away. Today I blew it by slapping that fly! I stopped for gas on the way home just to have a full tank for our Saturday trip. Jury was put in the middle paddock with Basilea and Thalia once we were back. Laundry waited for me. I was able to finish the last load of towels and sheets and got all of the beds made at the barn. The towels are now over but not put away. I'll have plenty to do of that kind of work tomorrow. Now I'm going to rest!