Quite a Day....

Of course I was worried about Berlin.

Once again she did not each much of her morning grain (ate last night's).

Fortunately, when I went out to catch her after finishing stall cleaning,

she did drop some manure and it looked normal.  It did not take me very

long to catch her this time.

 She wanted no part of being in the grooming room stall.

 I hand fed her a couple cups of Senior feed and an apple,

which she was happy to eat.  Why she would not eat in her stall

is beyond me.

 All she wanted, was to get back out with her buddies.

 At 11am L. Brisson and a crew of 5 came to redo the roof

on Gary's barn.  We had to block off the horses so they could put

down tarps to collect the old shingles.

 You would not catch me up there with a 10 foot pole!

 We had leaking and it was going through the roof because the heavy winds 

had blown off the shingles in a fairly large section.

 If you plan on buying a farm, seriously consider what it takes to maintain your

barns.  No roof.  No barn.  It's easy to be "roof poor."  We have so many....two large barns

with gambrel roofs, an indoor arena, a studio and the house.  If we were loaded with $$$$

I would put metal on all the structures similar to what is on the indoor and studio.

 In a little over two hours, the crew had it stripped....put up new plywood....

covered it with felt paper....and finally shingles.

 While they were finishing up, Gary and I went down to the Morgan Manning House

to celebrate the life of our friend Eugenia (on the right) who was Alicia's sister.

Eugenia has been coming to our house on Christmas Eve with Alicia and her family for years...

even when she lived in New Mexico.  About 18 months ago she moved to Brockport

so they could spend more time together.

 She was connected to everyone that was there today.... in some way

and quickly became part of our community.

 I was on the program to make remarks, and within 15 seconds I 

was crying and never stopped until I finished.  Fortunately it

was not a long speech and I survived.

Alicia's son Andrew and his fiancé Michelle absolutely loved Eugenia

and were able to spend a great deal of time with her before she passed.

Two of the most thoughtful and caring people I have ever met.

 I have known Alicia for decades and a few years ago her mother was

living here and became my art student.  What a sweet, talented woman.

Then, Eugenia came into the picture.  I had met their sister Mercedes

several times,  and was able to spend a little time with her while she

and Alicia were caring for their sister.  Somehow, I felt very

connected to their entire family and was grateful to spend time with

them.  Especially at the end....

 The last thing we did....a toast!

Just know that there was a lot of love in that room.

I had to leave early as the roofers needed to get a pay check

and the horses needed to be let back into the front paddock.

 Berlin was hanging in there.

 Another muddy day.

 Next on the agenda, was picture taking at Jen's.

This is her dog Buster.

 We used her good camera for the photo shoot, but I snuck in a few 

shots of Finn and Coop with my point and shoot.

 Back home again in time to do evening chores.

 I picked a little grass for Berlin and topped off her grain.

As soon as she got in her stall she went for it...let's hope it's gone tomorrow morning.

 She sure keeps me in a concerned state.

Around 6 we arrived at the Rooster Pub and Pizza

to celebrate Doug Frasch's 50th birthday

with wings

 and pizza.

 Gerri had planned a surprise party and the place was packed.

Of course we were old enough to be everyone's parents....

but then again, we were honored to be invited.

Many of the people celebrating had been my students when

they were in High School.  Fun to see them.

Main Street looked sweet....all decorated.

 When we got back to the farm I went out and checked on my old girl.

She seemed ok and had drunk a lot of her warm water.

 Now it's really time to rest.

Night all.