Day3- Workin' on the Farm Shelbyville KY

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Today was a very exciting day as we met Alexine Dreager. She is my great-aunt's best buddy. We met her for breakfast at Cracker Barrel along with her sister-in-law Rose, niece Lisa and great nephew Brandon. From there, we drove to her farm. Her farm is called Willow Mist. "Willow", because she has a bunch of willow trees on her property and "Mist", because her favorite horse's name is Misty. It is located in Shelbyville, Kentucky between Frankfort and Louisville and has 19 acres with 6 Arabian horses, 11 cats, 1 dog and 1 big tractor called big blue. We were there to work and our first task was a dreaded job… SCOOPING THE POOP! or mucking y'all stalls. There was a lot so Erin asked, "Do we have to get every piece?" It didn't smell so nice either.

After we scooped the poop we laid down the horses' bedding. All we had to do was lay down the pine pellets and add water. In about 5 minutes it turned to a saw dust material. We also had to sweep the cobwebs off of the lights and windows in the barn. Fact for the day - most barn fires are caused by cobwebs being next to light bulbs. Then we each had an opportunity to drive the big blue with a front loader. You should have seen my dad go racing across the grass! I think he found a new toy - we were trying to imagine him circling the neighborhood - without cockspur or the red cup.

Finally the fun kicked in. We got to bring the horses into the barn. We brushed them and learned how to clean their hooves.

One of the treats the horses love is peppermints. They will do anything for a peppermint. While Torey and Erin rode the tractor with mom in the fields I picked a whole bowl of beans and a cantaloupe from the garden.

Everyone agreed that this was a wonderful day and a lot of fun! But there is definitely a lot of work that needs to be done if you live on a horse farm. Did you know Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky?

We left the farm at 2:30 pm and began our journey to St. Louis, Missouri. We traveled through Indiana and Illinois with little excitement. There is a town named Santa Claus in Indiana close to French Lick where Larry Bird began his basketball career.

Upon arriving in St. Louis, we could see the Arch in the distance. Boy, it is huge! We crossed the Mississippi River (which has very brown water). Mom was thrilled to see the river since she missed seeing it 32 years ago when she traveled cross country when moving to New York. She was mad at her Mom then so she closed her eyes when her Mom told her to look out the window to see the longest river in the USA.

The hotel room is enormous (Erin can do cartwheels in it). It is nice to spread out a little. We went swimming this evening, wrote in our journals and are hoping to get a good night sleep since we have another long day tomorrow.

Thanks for checking our blog and tracking us.

Love, Lea