We woke up to RAIN this morning and it is still raining at 9:00 PM. Ed got bored and decided to drive to Greencastle (gas prices didn't cross his mind?) for breakfast!! This is a tiny little Mom and Pop restauant. It used to be a depot stop of the Monan Rail road. It is full of train memorabelia and other antiques. They also make good coffee!!

We each had an omelet, which was quite tasty. And I had some of their good coffee! Yum! We visited a Tractor Supply store then returned home. Since it was raining, raining, raining, we pretty much stayed inside.
We had to go out and seperate Sis and Katie though. They got along pretty well for awhile, but now Katie is chasing poor Sis and picking on her in the run in shed, where they were all congregated to escape the rain. So...Katie was banished to the barn for the afternoon, and there was peace again, at least with the horses.

But, one of the banty hens has decided she wants to be a mother. When they are in their broody state, they don't lay eggs, and will sit on an empty nest for weeks. So...she has been banished to the empty end of chicken house all by herself, and the nest box covered up so she can't nest in it at night. I've read that if you can break up their broodiness within the first couple of days, then within seven days they should start laying again. Don't know if it wil work, but we are trying it. It is too late in the year, we don't want to raise any more chicks right now.

Yes it is still raining!

Right now, at this minute, I'm so glad I don't live in Texas anymore. I sure feel for the people that have to leave and don't know what, or if, anything will be there when they get back. It would be a difficult place to be, especially if you have large animals, such as horses, as we do. I can't imagine the stress and upset that that would do to me. I hope and pray that everyone stays safe.

When Ed got home from work, we left immediately to go and pick up a load of hay that was on a wagon waiting for us. We loaded 115 bales, all we could haul, and brought it home in the dark on a winding, twisty, hilly, rural road. I was so glad to get home. (I'm a wuss, especially in the dark)! As we unloaded it and I was putting bales on the elevator, I was thinking how ordinary a thing we were doing and all those people trying to get out of east Texas were sitting in that huge 100 mile traffic jam. What a lot of stress and emotion for them.

I rode Sis on Wednesday when Ed was there to help. Since I don't know her history, I was hesitant to ride her but he led her around the round pen with me on her, then let us loose and she and I did just fine. She walked off and even trotted a little. She is not very soft in the bridle, but she will get better, I'm sure. I love the John Lyons training method and use it with all my horses. It is gentle with the horse and they learn quickly.

I have been working Maddie in the round pen too. We started with outside turns, and she did pretty well. She attempted to turn inside several times and after cutting her off and turning her back to the outside, she quit trying, mostly. Well, then I tried to teach her inside turns and she thinks that is the wrong thing to do now! So we are having some trouble getting them. She isn't reading the difference in my body language yet, but that will come. We just need to do more. I wear out before she does, and I have to stop and get my breath before continuing. But we will get there.

This is the day that the Lord hath made!!! I love that song! It is such a happy tune! Today was a wonderful day. It was cloudy with a good breeze blowing. Temperature was 70°.
Since it was nice working weather, I decided to take the riding lawn mower with a trailer hitched to it and clean the horse manure out of the dry lot. I wanted to put it in my round pen to make the footing softer. It has a clay footing that dries as hard as concrete and when wet is so sticky and slick. So...I hauled 6 loads and dumped in there. I probably need 20 more! There might be 5 or 6 more that I can pick up, I just ran out of time. I sure hope it makes a difference.

A couple of days ago, I happened to look out the back window about 4:45 PM and saw three strange horses coming up the back pasture into the barn area. I ran outside and got some grain and a halter and tried to get them to come to me. But they took off to the neighbors house. I yelled for the neighbors and they came running and helped me catch them. We put them in our round pen and when Ed got home we finally tracked down the neighbor they belonged to. It was quite late by then so we gave them hay and water in the round pen and waited until the next day to take them home.
Their Mom came with some halters and I helped her lead them home down our back pasture, through the woods, and then across a hay field and into their own pasture. She invited me to her home for a glass of ice water, which tasted so good after that trek!
She showed me her emu's, a pair of golden pheasants, and assorted house pets. She is an interesting lady. I didn't know her before this, as she lives on a different rural road than we do.

Today we went to an abandoned sawmill and picked up two pickup truckloads of firewood. Some of it was very heavy stuff. Hickory, oak, some poplar, a few pieces of locust. Some of it we had to split, the rest we just loaded and brought it home and threw it on the woodpile. It was very hot today, and humid to boot, about 89°! We sweated quite a lot! After the last load we went to Burger King for some burgers and to sit in an air conditioned place to eat it!

We are having a problem with our horses, and I don't know what the problem is. Three of them are lame. I attributed it to the farrier trimming their feet too short last Monday, but now Sis is lamer than she was yesterday. I am suspicious of the hay. None of them are getting any grain, only hay, but I think something must be wayyyyy out of balance in this hay. It isn't moldy or dusty. But we have a problem somewhere. And no, they are not getting any grass either, they are on dry lot. How to find out where the problem is???????? I switched them to some other hay today, it is much richer, has some alfafa in it, but we will give it a trial and see what developes.

Some time ago, Ed brought me a Rice Cooker. Some one at work had a yard sale, and he was throwing away all the stuff that didn't sell. So Ed brought some of it home. The rice cooker was barely used. Yesterday, I made a banana bread in it, and for supper I made spaghetti in it. I put the dry spaghetti in and added a jar of sauce on top and let 'er cook! I had to stirr it pretty often but it made some good spaghetti. I cooked a half pound of hamburger and added that to it, and a can of mushrooms. Yummy.

There were two boxed of assorted dishes and I gave them to a young family that had everything stolen out of there house. She is 6 months pregnant and has a 2 year old too. I took her shopping to get the babies some clothes and she wanted to go to the Goodwill Store so that is where we did the shopping. She got a lot of stuff for the kids and some for her self too. So far, they havent' gotten any of their stuff returned.

Today is the anniversary of 9 11. I went to a couple of places and looked through some of the photographs of the destruction. I hope a lot of people did that and stop and think about why we are at war in Irak. One reason is because if we didn't do something about these terrorists, we would be fighting them here on our turf, in America. I think President Bush knows that. Even though his popularity rating is very low now, someday, people will thank him for what he did for this country. Maybe not in his life time, but they will eventually.

We had a nice weekend. The grandchildren (4 and 2 years old) and their parents came down and brought their camper and parked it in the driveway. They brought their 4 wheeler and the kids went on long rides back in the woods with Papaw and their dad. Papaw even took me for a ride!! First time on a 4 wheeler for me!

Ed made homemade French Vanilla ice cream with the kids. They were intrigued with the icecream maker. I made an angelfood cake from scratch to go with the ice cream. It was the first time I ever made one and it turned out well. The ice cream was very good also.

They brought their big Tonka trucks and dug holes and moved dirt from here to there. And got very dirty, but they loved every minute of it.

We had our meals out on the porch since it was so pleasant outside. The humidity was very low for a change. We all had fun.