In the past few weeks there have been less than subtle transformations from summer to fall with hints of winter soon to follow. Just in this month, temperatures have fluctuated between 85 degrees and 25 degrees. We have had the air conditioner on and now the furnace. We have gone from mowing, to raking, and to seeing snowflakes. Our Tennessee neighbor Allen called last Friday to warn us it was to get down into the 20's overnight. Joe called our realtor in TN to ask him to switch our house system from cooling to heating. When I got up Saturday morning, I checked the weather down there and it was 25 degrees.
When we got a call from a house shopper Saturday morning, to come look in 30 minutes... we went from sipping our hot morning beverage, in our pj's, to dressed and doing a super speed clean up job... transforming our house from a pigsty to a stylish farm house. Because I have still been packing things up, I have had some pretty big messes around the place. Running stuff out to the garage and shoving things under Daniel's old bed, hides it quickly.
Late morning, with Joe's help, I got Amiga loaded in the trailer and
took her to Country View where Zorro stays. He and Bill were napping
next to each other as I came up the drive.
Amiga was very excited to see Zorro, and started "yelling" for him before she even came off the trailer.
Courtney and I had a good time riding together, even though she was having some saddle issues. We started indoors and then progressed to outside.
I am going to miss being able to ride with her.
Loading and un-loading to get Amiga back home went well. I was pleasantly surprised with how she did on all aspects... from catching, to trailering, to saddling and riding her.
God has transformed the lush green plains of Illinois into a dried, brown and yellow crop to harvest. Farmers have then transformed that into miles of flat, barren ground... beckoning me to come ride my horse and explore.
Joe was mowing as I pulled into the farm. After unloading Amiga I emptied and cleaned the 100 gallon stock tank which has been sold. It took over four years to transform this place into the farm we have. As we sell all our farm stuff... the place is reverting back to just a house in the country.
I skipped church Sunday so I could go riding at Moraine View with Lisa.
I knew this was my last time to ride Roni and probably my last ride at
Moraine View. It might even be my last ride with Lisa. I actually
teared up thinking about all this as I drove to the park.
Lisa's son Dayne joined us and lead the way most of the time. We did the lake loop and some additional meadows, riding for almost 2 1/2 hours.
Notice above left, the steps to the deer blind (enlarged in photo on right) that are practically right in the trail. We did see a few hunters and opted to go a different route when other riders told us about someone dragging a deer out from where we were headed. The horses do not like the sight (or smell) of death.
It was a beautiful day, and a nice ride. Experiences like this I will dearly treasure and really miss. But I know new adventures and friends will ensue.
Getting home at 1pm, I garbbed a quick lunch and then showed some neighbors around who came to look at the house and see what farm stuff we had for sale. Later Joe showed me how to load music onto my i-phone, so I did that for part of the afternoon, getting all my Christmas CDs copied.
Late Sunday afternoon, I made the transformation from a two horse owner to a one horse owner when Lexi and her friend Carrie came to get Roni.
Carrie had just bought this TN Walker, who will become Roni's new friend and riding companion.
Lexi went out to the paddock to get Roni and he walked right up to her. Her mom took this photos as Lexi brought Roni around to the front of the barn. I also took several shots of them.
Roni hesitated when Lexi first tried to load him, but her kind and gentle touch was just what was needed to gain his trust and persuade him to get on the trailer.
Goodbye Roni. God bless and take care. Be good to Lexi. Lexi, be careful, and enjoy your new horse. He is a blast to ride and will be a lot of fun.
Amiga had stood by the back gate calling out to Roni the whole time we were "sending him off." Minutes after Lexi's trailer disappeared down the drive, Amiga was back out on the back pasture eating. Kabob soon went out to join her.
God's light shines down on all creatures great and small.
I had given Roni's bit to Lexi because we knew he liked it and it worked well for him. So I came in and started cleaning up Roni's bridle and reins to move Amiga's bit over to it. I think it looks much nicer and I like the feel of the reins so much better. Also, some of the leather on Amiga's old headstall is about shot.
I woke up at 2:30 Monday morning and ended up napping from 6 to 8 am. I had to scramble to get to Water Lilies, 15 minutes late.
As I was fixing my after swim cup of tea and some eggs for brunch, I saw Amiga standing by the paddock gate hollering for a friend. I went right out to talk with her and console her. Kabob was lying out in the pasture napping so was of no help.
Wanting to take some of my stunning yellow and peachy pink trimmed peony to TN, I first trimmed it way back, and then started digging part of it up. The roots went quite deep, and unfortunately I damaged some of it...
But I watered with root stimulator, the section I was taking and also what I was leaving behind.
Just before lunch time, I went out to ride Amiga to try out her new
bridle and reigns. I also wanted to look for Brother who had been
missing since Saturday afternoon. I lunged her in her boots so she could get re-acquainted with them.
Then we "hit the trail," searching the "neighborhood" for Brother... starting along the abandoned tracks behind our farm.
We went down Hutch's road.
We went all around the Brent's farm and the Craig's farm. I kept yelling for Brother... but to no avail.
Amiga was quite interested in the Craig's horses and kept calling out to them. The row of pine trees in the distance is the north side of our farm along US 150.
We ended our ride going around Becks, who still have a few beans to harvest. It was a gorgeous day and a beautiful ride. Amiga is so much calmer and more relaxing to ride than Roni. But she is not near as responsive with her stop, back-up, and stand still. I need to work on that with her. She also likes to turn for home... but boy is her gait smooth and easy to ride. Although I had a wonderful ride, I was a bit disappointed that Brother never showed up.
We ended a great six week study on discipleship at Growth Group. I think with everything God calls us to do, we first need to go through a transformation of self centered thinking to centering our life around Christ, and putting God first. Not always an easy thing to do. 
It was a red sky morning Tuesday. I had an early morning Dr. apt... a follow up on my wrist because I still wondered if it need a little "tweaking" as it still causes me problems. On my way home, I stopped by Fleet Feet running store (owned by a former teacher friend) and bought a very nice, and somewhat pricy pair of shoes for walking... which I plan to do a lot more of, once I am living in TN.
After a late lunch, I was down- loading music from more CDs when Joe and
Daniel showed up to load the trailer. I had asked earlier if they
wanted to do this because the rain was predicted to start around 5pm and
continue until Friday morning, our departure time. So I had to hustle
to get my desk, the first thing I wanted to put on the
trailer, ready to load. We worked for about 90 minutes and got as much onto the trailer as we
could. I still needed to finish packing up more boxes as this photo of the living room shows... the mess from my desk that I hastily dumped there. The office has taken on a new look
(transformation) since my desk and the bed are gone. We moved the chair and secretary in from the living room, so now, it too looks more spacious. I of course had to do plenty of cleaning where the furniture had been. Amiga has been calling out for another horse friend several times during the day, especially when we are moving the trailer around. I keep going out to love on her. In just this short amount of time, she has really started bonding more with me.
Dan was mowing when Valencia arrived after she got off work. I had just put dinner in the oven. Dan rarely cooperates for a photo. We watched TV and eventually ate. The rains started at dusk Tuesday, just as predicted, and continued all night. When I went out to the barn Wednesday morning I discovered Brother had returned. He was kind of wet and muddy and very happy for a meal. Who knows where he had been the last three days and nights.
I followed this road crew truck the last mile home (Beck's sign on the right). I had seen three dead deer along 150 on the way to town Monday night. I was glad to see they are finally removing them. You can see the gloomy day we had (all day).
When I got home I finished putting the new photo prints that had arrived in the mail, into the frames I have been intending to do for two years now. I especially like this set of pictures.
I continued the process of storing music on my i-phone while I worked on writing this blog and researched about my wrist trouble. I found this: according to healthline.com, "If you were to fall down and land on your
hand with fingers outstretched, the pronator quadratus muscle would help
to maintain the space relationship between the radius and the ulna and
prevent injury". This sounds like exactly what happened when I fell six feet off Roni onto the hard ground. Only I
think I really damaged the muscle when I also broke the bone.Thunderstorms interrupted our taping of Survivor and we missed all of the immunity challenge. At least we could watch it later, on the computer.
Happy Halloween Thursday. As often happens on Halloween, kids, young and old, are transform into something else as they don their costumes for the day or night. 
I found this very cute Halloween video of two wonderful and cooperative golden retrievers who capture the essence of "Trick or Treat" fun.
The storms had subsided by this morning, but it was still raining hard. I finally finished storing music from the rest of our CDs (a total of almost 1,200 songs).
I also continued work at my computer,
which was in the dinning room since my desk was on the trailer. I ran to Downs to look at a glass coffee table Dan had scavenged from the side of the road. I decided it wouldn't quite work for the new house. 
I let Brother in on the back porch because of the rain and I didn't want him thinking he should wander off again. He was happy to nap on the warm, dry dog's bed.
Abbey entertained herself and me while I sat here and worked.
There were several messes scattered throughout the downstairs so I focused on that much of the day, as the rain came down steadily and the farmyard puddled.
After dinner I worked on packing up most of my closet and drawers and a lot of my bathroom cosmetics and supplies. I also cleared out the rest of what was left in Britney's room, other than the furnishings. I ended up working well past midnight.
I am making the transformation from owning two horses to having just one. It felt good to have shifted the responsibilities for Roni's care and training to Lexi. But there has also been a feeling of loss, or an empty void, and sadness. I like that I can now focus all my horse time, training, love and care to Amiga. I think she will benefit from the extra attention.
The inside of this house has been transformed quite a bit. It is
starting to look and feel kind of bare around here. I have packed up
most of the knick knacks and cleaned off many shelves and
table tops. The cupboards and cabinets have the bare necessities for
Joe to "keep house" while he lives here. All of the plants and animals
will go with me so Joe doesn't have to worry about caring for them. I
really want to "set up house" and get everything organized at the
Flossmoor house, but have very little furnishings to work with there.
We are trying to keep this place staged until the closing is a definite
thing. We are taking this house off the market (our FSBO ad expires)
the first of November. We will give it a rest for the winter and
probably re-list with FSBO the middle of February... if our buyers haven't sold their place by then... and
bought this place. Joe will
sell Kabob once Amiga goes with me, so he doesn't have to worry about
caring for him all winter. It makes me
anxious to think about owning two homes. We would love to get out from under two
monthly house payments and get some cash to have for fixing up the new
place. But we are prepared to sit, as is, until Joe retires.The trailer is not yet completely loaded for the next trek to TN because it has been raining constantly since Tuesday evening. We will finish packing and leave early Friday morning. I wish we could be transformed straight from IL to TN. (Like Be-witched... or beam me up Scottie.) Once there, I would love to start work on the transformation of the neglected shell of a house into our warm and inviting home. We first need some contractors to
help with some
problem areas and until getting all our furniture moved there, the transformation of house to home won't be final.
