Friday, November 4, 2011

Days 43 & 44

Here we are!  Going west to get around West Lafayette.  Had a day of rest yesterday at the Perry's.  The horses had a great time in their HUGE pasture!  We got ourselves a little organized, cleaned and good rest!
Brian's mom & dad came over and gave me a lift to the store in Brookston. Thanks so much!!  They left us with a prayer request for Theresa Perry.  She never spent a day in the hospital until she had a stroke, and she's had everything since! She just had surgery so we are praying for health and healing for her.
We also met Art Anderson.
We would like to thank the Perry's again for taking such good care of us and lending us their pasture for an extra day!  God will bless you folks greatly!
And more thanks to Lori Call for bringing us dinner and checking in on us from time to time.  Bless you as well.
So, today the sun is shining and it's time to head out.  Ha!  Easier said than done.  We went down to the pasture and the horses came right up and were ready to go!  That was pretty awesome given Bob's attitude lately, I was afraid we were going to have to chase or trick them into coming along.  Perhaps the old oat bucket trick????  No need.  They were so good!
We lead them up the drive to gear them up when, suddenly, Bob saw the pig!  Bob never told us he didn't like pigs!  That horse turned around and RAN back down that driveway before Mark knew what was coming!  Of course he stopped because Casey was still standing there with me and they can't go anywhere without each other! So, he lead right back up but obviously rattled.  We quick put them on the other side of the wagon, but Bob had a bead on the pig door.  He was on high alert and GLARING at that darn pig!!  We tried to hitch them and NO!!!!!  almost done when Bob swung that big butt around and Casey decided it was time to dance along.  We got the pole all unhooked and reins off and lead them back up to the wagon but with Bob in the blind spot of the barn.  Time to just grab some coffee and let them settle.  We looked around to see if there was a way to get the business end of the wagon out of  pig sight but no way.  So very patiently, we waited.  Mark talked to Bob constantly to calm him down and little by little, he got better.  Time to try again.  Much better.  Got them hitched in record time and headed down the drive.  When we got to the bottom, we got in the word and prayed, prayed, prayed. I had also texted my daughter and she was praying as well.  Thanks, Jaime!  THEN... off we went.  Great day.  Bob is still shying from trucks.  Sometimes bad!  So we are getting off the highway for a while and stay with county roads.  Better safe and calm than ruining a good horse.
In the middle of all of this, we met Mark and Ann Provo.  Marks prayer was that God be with His people for what's about to come to this earth.  Amen
Befrore we crossed 43, we met Nathan.  His only prayer was for our safety on our trip.  Downn the road a little way, we saw Nathan again.  He was taking pictures of us and had his brother Nick with him.  We chatted for a minute and then got more prayer requests.  Nathans wife has 2 steel rods in her back and could use some prayer for that.  Also, a family member has been diagnosed with MS.  Never good!  We pray for a complete healing from this!
We stayed on 600 for a long time today.  Along the way we met 3 gentlemen tiling a field.  They wereTony Cain, who asked for prayer for his son Dillon.  Dillon could use prayer for wisdom & discernment while deciding his path in life while choosing his major in college.
Sean would also like help with life direction as he is taking a year off college.
And Don Anderson.  Don doesn't say much ;)
Then we found that 600 didn't go where the map said it did. We ended up on 231 and THEN crossing 65. . But there was a small gas station there & we pyulled across the street and rested the ponies in an empty lot while Deb grabbed us a couple of things at the gas station. I stayed with the ponies of course. That's where we met Re'Ana German...her boss asked her come out and take some pictures.  She asked that we pray for her Grandma who has lung cancer. We also met Tim Courtney whose Sister & Dad both have cancer. (ouch!) please pray for his family also.
So off we went onto the hwy. And 231 wasn't to bad considering it was 5:00pm  Which kinda took us by surprise (the 5 o'clock thing)  so we started praying in a place for the night. We went about two miles and yup a car passed us and then pulled over ahead of us and Pam Roeder asked if we had a place to stay for the night. We told her no but we were praying one in. She said she had a spare pasture for Bob & Casey (Deb loves to hear that part because she does the fence).
We found the house with no trouble, and then we met the Roeder's.Pam's husband Gary brought pizza home (ummmmmm pizza!!!) and along with girls Morgan, Alexis, and Olivia we all got aquinted. Their cousin Hanna was there too. When Hanna's Mom came to pick her up (Pam's Sister) Mindy, she said my husband met you earlier today. Turns out her husband was Don Anderson who was one of the three guys we met tiling the field. Small world when you move 3 miles an hour! Gary and Don helped us get some hay for the kids. Thanks so much both you fellows.
The girls had some prayers...Alexis has unexplained migraines. Please pray for them to disappear just the way they came. Olivia says there is a 1 year old at her church she would like us to pray for. Alexis asks that we pray for her sister ( Morgan's) health. Alexis also asks for pryer for Ron Wheeling for a knee surgery and just lots prayer for his health.
With that we conclude day 44. We don't know how many miles we did tosday...but we started in the windmills and finished in them. They are awesome. Good night & God bless  you & yours. Thanks for following.

2 comments:

Bob (the Wagonteamster) said...

Hi Mark and Deb,

Sounds like you're doing real good - congratulations. If I might make a suggestion - you should try desensitizing Bob to trucks and other things (like pigs) that are bothering him. Basically, you have to show him that these things won't hurt him. More exposure is better than less. I would tie him very securely near a busy road and let him get exposed to a lot of traffic. Then when he gets nervous, just calmly talk to him and pet him on the neck. Also, you might want to start driving him on the right. Take care, Bob

Terri said...

Poor Bob and the pig! LOL As WagonMaster Bob says you should start to get Bob (the horse) to learn these things won't eat him alive. By taking him away from the pig you just supported his fear. Tie him up right next to the pig (to something VERY secure) and make him stay there until he figures out the pig is not important. While these type of lessons take away from your travel time, it is a good lesson learned. Bob needs to learn to stand and watch the monsters he is worried about instead of getting away from then. As far as trucks are concerned, I think there must be a noise or their motion or something that just scares some horses. My Percheron always goes to the fence at the road to watch semi's, tractors, diesel trucks that are in the area and they don't seem to bother him. Hitch him up, and diesel trucks bother him. The minute I hear a diesel coming I start talking and singing and I talk or sing real calmly and softly. He still gets alittle nervous but he is busy listening to me and the monster drives on by. Another thing to keep in mind that while you might feel like you have been on the road forever, these horses have not been on the road that long. How they are living now is different then how they used to live I imagine and this is going to take some training over a period of time. You are doing a great job and things will fall together but it does take time.