Hit The Road

We hit the road Friday morning, just after 8:00, on our way to visit family.  Maggie came with us, on her first road trip.  She did not relax enough to lie down in her crate until almost three hours into the trip.


We stopped at Chili's at 1:30 for a late, big lunch.  With full bellies and a little indigestion, we got to the Always Inn (Bed and Breakfast) a little after 3:00.






After getting settled in, we hopped back in the car and drove ten minutes to Brown County State Park, where we hiked two trails totaling over three miles. 




It was a fair amount of up and down and we had dressed warmly because it was in the mid forties, so we both ended up hot and sweaty.













Maggie enjoyed the new terrain and being out of the car.




I've said it before, but I'll say it again, I just love the under story of dried leaves on these trees that I still haven't identified.
They look so lacy.





The bonfire at the lodge was nice to sit by and it felt good to take a rest.

Once back to our room, Joe took a hot Jacuzzi bath.  We got the gas fireplace going and enjoyed beer with our snacks for supper.


Early in the evening Maggie barked a few times at people passing by our door, but otherwise was very well behaved.  

We slept well in the king size bed, and with not a peep out of the dog.





The large hearty breakfast we were served Saturday morning was wonderful and very filling.  Then we were back on the road at 9ish.  Seen right, a stop at a rest area.  Maggie likes getting out and investigating new smells.

We arrived at Dan and Valencia's apartment in Aurora at noon on the dot.  Maggie liked Val immediately, but was slow to warm up to Daniel.

A quick trip to Subway satisfied our lunch needs.  Then I walked Maggie around the large apartment complex to tour it.  I was impressed by the club house, pool and picnic area.  Maggie was interested in all the new smells, but especially those of the waterfowl.

  



We hung out at Dan and Val's and then headed to her parents (Yaneth & Ricardo Cruz) in Montgomery, taking Maggie with us.
  
Valencia's youngest sister (Alexsys) watched the dog while the six of us went to the movie "London Has Fallen" in Yorkville.  There was rarely down time during this movie, it was constant excitement.

After reconnoitering back at Val's parents, we decided to go for dinner at Blackstone Grill, back in Yorkville (seen right).  Below is Yaneth's selfie of the two of us.





Dinner was very tasty and a wonderful opportunity for each of us to re-connect with each other.  It was so good to get together again.


After dinner, we hung out at the Cruz residence for awhile.  Valencia's little niece (Ariellah) was precious.  Maggie was fairly well behaved, but did have two little accidents when she got overly excited / nervous.  Ugh.

Sunday morning started relaxed and carefree.  Joe, Dan and Valencia got up two hours after I had.  Joe went for coffee and brought back donuts and muffins.  Yum.  But then the craziness happened.  Joe went to workout and enjoy the hot tub and sauna.  Well, he locked himself out of the hot tub room, which uses the key card to get into.  The card and his phone, wallet, and towel were also locked into the room.   

The three of us walked (individually) the complex looking for anyone with a key card willing to let us in.  Meanwhile, Joe stayed in the community building guarding his locked up but unobtainable valuables, with hopes someone would show up to workout.  No luck for any of us.  Valencia finally got ahold of maintenance and they soon came to the rescue.  We said our goodbyes to Dan and Val and were on the road for New Ross Indiana over an hour late.  I regret (for the kids' sake) the tension between Joe and I as we left.  Since I had no photos of Dan and Val together, I got this photo off Facebook, of them at the Science Museum later in the week. 

Thankfully our drive to Carol's was uneventful and we got over our frustration with each other.  Maggie was still nervous while the car was in motion.  We were all glad to get to Carol's.  










Once all of Maggie's and my stuff was unloaded, Joe headed for a Casino in Louisville IN.  Carol and I took the four dogs for a much enjoyed long walk.  It was sunny and fairly warm, but with a strong breeze.  Maggie got along great with Rick and Ike, but was a little concerned about Meg, who was the boss.  

 It was time for the bottle baby to get his milk so I held the bottle for him. 



He thought it was finger lip licking good. 




He is tame enough that he will let me pet him.

Carol shooed the herd around the silos (video) so that we could see them from the yard.  






Sunday's day of rest ended on a peaceful note, watching the ewes and lambs the remainder of the afternoon, and chatting about life.  It was overcast and windy, but still nice enough to sit outdoors for a long time.

The ewes, and of course their lambs, hung around waiting for their hay while Carol and I took photos of the various mom's and lambs and of all the cuteness.
  












They dug into their hay once Carol brought it out (video) and we continued to watch and take pictures.  In fact, it was hard to pick just these photos out, out of all we (mostly Carol) took.

As the babies lost interest in the hay, they started to explore...

 ... with some moms being more watchful and protective than others.

And before long, the playing began.

  

There was head butting, running and jumping.  

We were so enjoying watching the lambs, we brought cocktails and snacks out, and lingered for quite awhile.  


Once the babies got tired, they started to lay down to rest.   























As the sun went down, it started to cool off, so we retreated to the house.

Carol made a seven can soup, adding some of her own lamb (yes, last year's cuteness) and it was quite tasty.

Maggie had enjoyed the afternoon activities, and conked out in Carol's living room.




Monday was a day of work.  Our big project was to put together the dog kennel Carol had bought awhile ago.  First, we unpacked, sorted, and inventoried all the parts.


Before building, we needed to do quite a bit of cleaning out in Carol's pole barn to make a space for the kennel to go.  We hauled old hay to her compost pile.









We picked up and moved lots of stuff, including metal siding and barn boards.

Then, following the directions, we assembled the floor of the frame, switching the corner pieces to get the door panel to fit.

Sometime before lunch Carol turned the herd out into her "front yard" pasture area.



  

Ike helped to move 'um out (seen below).






A small part of the group had been left behind (seen above), so he had to go back to get them (seen below). 

I like this photo of Ike in action, all four feet off the ground.

We took other breaks for a walk, to sit and watch (sheep, lamb, and chickens), to get water, and to eat lunch.

  






Seen right, the black hens are Black Australorps.  


Carol's rooster seen left.

It was also great to see Hercules.  He looked good and is doing well for such an old turkey.

As you can see, many more photos were taken, including more lamb cuteness.

Paying careful attention to the instructions, we finished assembling the kennel frame, only making one more error and undoing part of it to correct the mistake.

We got the kennel frame finished, but needed to wait for Joe to help us add the chain link fence.
  
We had also decided to re-position it, so had to move some more things out of the way.

While re-organizing stuff, I came across some treasures that Carol gladly said I could have.  More on those later, including photos.
Putting the kennel on hold, I had started gathering sticks from various spots, so we could have a bonfire and burn down one of Carol's dead bushes.






Joe arrived back from the casino about 5:30 and we quickly set him to work on dead trees and bushes.  He used the SUV, in 4-wheel drive, to pull out one bush along with a rather large, dead pine tree (roots and all).  

Joe got the fire going around the large bush (where I had stacked some of the brush), adding the dead trees, large tree limbs, and old barn wood.  We let it burn down while having pork roast for dinner.  The evening ended around the bonfire, finishing off one last beer and all the sticks and brush.  It felt so good to have worked a day on the farm... I sometimes miss this.
  

I checked on the fire fairly early Tuesday morning and found buried wood that had not finished burning.  There were enough hot coals to get the fire going again and we raked up more brush to finish cleaning up Carol's farm yard.






It was a beautiful day and we had jobs to do before heading home, so got dressed and went outside around 8 am.

We got the chain link fence put up around the kennel and moved it to its final "resting" spot.





There was even time to (try to) castrate Carol's two (one month old) lambs.  The first one we grabbed put up quite a fight, and presented such a problem for banding (I'll spare the details) that we gave up.
 




Gathering all our stuff (except two things Carol had given me that I forgot) we packed up and hit the road right after lunch, and just before Carol needed to head to work.  

It was a longggg drive home.  We had a gas break and later stopped for dinner and a walk in the Baird Municipal Park in Lebanon TN.  There were a ton of ball diamonds, so the walk was not very scenic.   

We arrived home after dark Tuesday.  Maggie and I took another long walk to get the lead out.  It was 64 degrees, felt like spring, and later, we slept through the night with the windows open.

Wednesday morning I noticed that the daffodil were starting to bloom.  I like that spring comes earlier here, than back in IL.  After confirming I didn't have to work, I hunkered down here at my computer and worked on this blog post.







Finally, right after lunch, the sun and warm air was calling and I hit the road, driving to the barn.  Terry and Jan had just gotten there and the three of us enjoyed a wonderful ride together.  It was still a bit muddy down in the woods, but up on the ridge and in the Glade, the sun and wind had dried things out.

Amiga did a great job.  We didn't go far or fast, and we ladies just enjoyed chatting and being on our horses.









After our ride, I fetched Zorro and let him graze on some taller grass while grooming him.  The winter hair is coming out of all the horses.

Then I gathered up two tubs and three large buckets of manure and brought them home.
I dug up a few large rocks in back, moved some dirt into holes and then spread the manure.  It didn't even cover half  the area I wanted to seed.

Joe was at his poker game (apparently it has been moved back to Wednesday nights) so, because I had enjoyed Carol's soup so much, I made a bean, lentil, and corn soup that I also added sauted onions and hot dogs to.

Thursday I finished unpacking and putting things "away."  This is a beautiful tray Carol gave me that looks nice on our round ottoman.  The coasters in the middle are ones from Costa Rica that Britney gave us two years ago.
Next I unpacked this gift from Daniel that he brought us from Kuwait.  Stevie is investigating the candle holder.  


Daniel said that the "wine" glass was used for tea but the "shot" glass he wasn't sure about.

I think these are all beautiful and I just love them.  I put a candle in the holder and got it going and the glass ware is now in my china hutch where I can see it.

Lastly, I put the plant/bird feeder hanger pole (from Carol's) in the middle between the two I already have.  I had given this to Carol when we moved from the farm.  She said it was too windy at her farm to use it.






It was warm enough out that I opened all our porch doors.  I love having them both screened in now, and the cat and dog can enjoy being out on both of them.  Maggie trots across the living room carpet, between the two porches, checking on what is out in the back and side yards.  Stevie has taken a liking to napping on the lounge pads atop our hot tub, until Joe tells her to hit the road so he can get in it.
After an early lunch, I headed to the barn to ride.  Seen left, Judy and Sara with Georgia and Scruffie.  Karen happened to be at the barn, so we rode out together.  I didn't take any photos, but did get this video of Amiga and I after Karen had turned back for the barn.


I gathered up more manure before coming home at 4 pm.  Once I got it spread, seen below, I realized I still needed one more load.  Seen right is the Forsythia branches I had trimmed and am now trying to get rooted. 







I finally went to workout, but because the gym closes at 7 pm, I didn't have a lot of time.  I soon discovered that I didn't have a lot of energy anyways.

Friday morning I got a photo of a pretty sunrise.  At 9:00 I followed Joe into town, to take the SUV in to get a new windshield (a rock had cracked the old one).  We ran to Lowe's and Wal-Mart before coming home.  I worked a long eight hour shift, 11-7, subbing for Gwen.  Seen below, we finally got our flag hung out again, now that the snow and freezing rain weather is past.  



Joe picked me up at work and we went to Vegas, to enjoy dinner with Andy, Rita and Brian.  It is always fun talking with them.  On our way home, we tried to go back to get the SUV but we couldn't get the gate unlocked and they forgot to leave it out in their lot anyway.  So, we remain a one car family and would need to make another trip into town.  I rarely like to hit the road because I do not care for riding in the car, but I always enjoy each destination we visit.  I love living here in Fairfield Glade, so decisions to make a road trip do not come easy.