The Afterglow

This last week has been an emotional journey for me, for many reasons.

It began with our two horses leaving for their new homes.  

Traveler and Buck.

And two back-to-back trips to the Amish, with my friend Ellen.

More, much more, on that later...

And smack in the middle was a visit from my youngest son, Mark.

Mark usually visits every summer, 

flying from Richmond (Northern) California, 

back home to see family.

(We all grew up on Little Traverse Bay in Petoskey, Michigan...

Home of the Million Dollar Sunset.)

Mark is proudly referred to as "my golfer son". 

I love it when he comes home.

You can take the kid out of the country, 

but you can't take the country out of the kid.

And yes, the ball made it to the woods... 300+ yards away...with ease.

He always spends a day at our place.

To relax and connect with the critters.

And help Russ around the farm with chores and such.

And we always head up to Petoskey, for the rest of the family time.

My Mother, Jackie, hosted a dinner at her lovely home, much to our delight.

Catching up and relaxing.  That is what vacations are for...

And reliving the good ole' days, through stories and laughter.

And a time to even ponder the future...

But alas, once Mark leaves, I'm left with a heavy heart...

wishing for a lifetime of days with my son.

But for now, I'll settle back in.  

Dreaming of an even simpler life mirroring the Amish, as we move forward in our own dream. 

One of farm, family, and simplicity.  

The simplicity of being God-sufficient, and abiding in Him.

Until tomorrow, God willing.

Less is More - in action

That's pretty much our motto around here..."Less is More"...

Well, now, more than ever, we are putting this theory into action.

This week we sold Rachael and Levi.

We will miss having our pair, but reports are coming back on their new surroundings.  

Levi now has 6 girls to keep happy, and Rachael has made friends with a big doe.

And in the process, we met an amazing couple who farm and are like-minded.

But wait...we're not done.

Traveler, pictured with young Jordan on his back, is also for sale.

We will miss him.  He's one of a kind.

But someone will have an amazing horse in the process.

We'll just have to wait and see what the Good Lord has in mind...

and who will ride Traveler down the road, to his new home.

Until tomorrow, less is more, God willing.

My GRIT-ty Family

I love being a member of the GRIT family.

For those of you who don't know, GRIT has been around for over 125 years.

And every once in a while, a critter of ours is featured on the beautiful, glossy pages within.

This issue, it is Traveler, our Mustang.

He's a good horse, who loves to work.  And cater to young budding equestrians, 

such as Ana Fortier of 

Coyote Run Kennel.

For Traveler, he's happiest when munchin' on hay.

Although he does enjoy a little adventure, and lovin', mixed in.

Thank you GRIT (Hank, Caleb, Jenn, Jean and all...) 

for sharing our boy with the world.

Until tomorrow, God willing.

Traveler's Buggy Training

Meet Traveler...

Wednesday night, we had to cancel our Wee House Worship.
So we switched gears...and made the best of it.
Since our dear friend Ellen was already planning her evening with us,
we decided to go with Plan B.
Training Traveler.
So after an outdoor picnic supper, we began.
Ellen took the reins first.

We were told Traveler had been driven in his past.

And when he came to us the first time,
we saw evidence of such with markings on his back legs.
They were worn by the harness rubbing against his hair and skin.
Did you know a horse's skin is 7 times more sensitive than a humans? 

Raz, the overseer, is no stranger to the harness...

He watched intently, as if to glean some information from the exercise.
Or just watch his favorite human, Russ, in the round pen.

It was wonderful having Ellen share her skill of horsemanship.
She's no stranger to driving horses, or dogs, for that matter.
She has a beautiful Haflinger, Bob, who she uses for field work at her Farm.

Traveler responded well to Gee (right)
and Haw (left).

He's quick on his turns.

And has a fast "giddy up" trot.

I'm not sure who worked harder that night.

But it sure was a great start toward our final goal ~
Traveler as a buggy horse.


I thought you might like to see what the excitement is all about.
This video features a Standardbred who just came from the race track to an Amish Farm.
A young couple is along for the ride, impressed with the speed!
You'll see how fast they trot!
And how much the horse enjoys it!

Be sure and turn off the soothing music on Playlist so you can hear the dialog and clip-clops!

Until tomorrow, God willing.