We have arrived again at our son & families home near Hampshire.
Located near Hampshire and Burlington, Illinois are
the Morning Light Stables, about an hour or so west of Chicago.
We noticed these two new stalls have been added since last year - bringing their total to 30.
And they have boarded horses in them all.
And - they have a waiting list of 12
Also added, are fans above each two stalls, and an automated fly repellent spray system,
also above each stall (the small pipe & spray nozzle running from R to L above).
These two additions have helped a great deal this past warm summer.
It has also brought the fly count down significantly.
Evening feeding time - a lot of interest here.
Evening also brings private lessons for one of the owners
Ahhh - the life of ease - grazing time
Grazing by the outdoor riding arena
"It's dinner time, come & lead me in..."
The outdoor arena
It's dinner time, bringing them home.
Brandon - time for his lesson. It's saddle up time for Charlie.
Now it's up there, now to tighten up the cinch.
Out we go to the indoor arena
Receiving today's lesson plan.
He has decided that he will go one-handed today
Today, it's all about control. Turns, stops, 360's with rear feet in place, backing up....
The instructor's report at the end of the session - "AWESOME !"
Some additional instruction tonight
He has three students, which will include "control" & jumping techniques.
(To see more of Morning Light Stables - see LINK for our visit in 2009)
Family portrait: David, Brandon, Michelle & Danny - taken at Augustana College in Rock Island, IL
where Michelle has started this school year.
(Photo thanks to Eric.)
On a very rainy Saturday, Sept. 25th, we drove over to Rock Island to visit Michelle.
Opening the door for us at her residence hall at Augustana College.
Her room...
Michelle's bed is on the top left. Jean checking out a dorm room. First time we have seen one since the early 50's.
Michelle is taking Swedish as one of her electives, hence the flag.
Eric's neighbor working late to harvest his corn.
That is a fairly new and "fully loaded" John Deere Combine - complete with GPS
Since Eric & family also use John Deere products - a small tractor & a Gator
we felt that since we were in the area, we had to visit The john Deere Pavilion in Moline, IL
HQ of John Deere.
But the entire area was buzzing with the Quad Cities Marathon.
It was VERY crowded.
As you can tell, big doin's - By the way - The "Johnny's" above is as in "Johnny Deere"
We have arrived.
Jean checking out one of their products.
This is the same model as Eric's neighbor uses.
This is a Gator - like Eric's - only a tad newer.
Back "in the day" - mid to late 40's I worked on a farm in central Nebraska for a few summers.
I drove this era of tractor.
This one is from before my time, for sure.
Jean waiting her chance to check out one of the big one's
She doesn't think she is quite ready for a test drive yet...
Lots of equipment, old & new on display.
Including one of their caterpillar models for muddy fields.