Chapter 168 – Jack and Elizabeth Sit and Talk
Jack got up and left the library. He headed downstairs to find Elizabeth. When Jack walked downstairs, Lee saw him looking around.
"Laundry room." Lee said.
"Thanks." Jack said.
He walked to the laundry room to find Katie and Elizabeth folding the sheets.
"Hey Elizabeth." Jack said. "I was wondering if we could talk?"
"Go." Katie said. "I will finish up here and then get one of the boys to help me set up the apartment. I still need to get the keys from Margaret."
"Don't wake Gran." Jack said. "I will get you the keys. We will be upstairs when you are done here."
Katie nodded as Elizabeth took Jack's outstretched hand. After giving her a quick kiss, he led her upstairs.
"Grandpa John and Peter are in the library." Jack said. "Let's sit in the front room."
Once they were seated, Elizabeth looked at Jack.
"So what did you want to talk about?" Elizabeth asked.
"Well." Jack said. "There are several things. Grandpa John told me that Thornton Thoroughbreds bought Jellybean back. He has a fracture and is on stall rest. The vets are taking very good care of him, but it will still be weeks before he is back here."
"What happens then?" Elizabeth asked.
"We will give him all the time he needs to heal." Jack said. "He might be a trail horse, but we will have to see. Grandpa mentioned something about breeding him. Even though he didn't win, he has good bloodlines on both sides, so it might be worth breeding him. Right now, it is a wait and see how he does with the stall rest. It is going to be months before he can be ridden again."
"Oh." Elizabeth said. "At least he won't be put down."
"That is why we got him back." Jack said. "The next thing that I need to talk to you about is that Grandpa John has asked me to hold off changing the name of the Miller property other than to Coal Creek. The new signs saying that it is Coal Creek property will go up toward the end of July. After he explained his reasoning, I agreed. Before you get upset, he isn't saying that we can't ever change the name. What he is asking is for us to leave it for now and allow the good reputation of Coal Creek to become associated with that property."
"I can see that." Elizabeth said.
"The last thing that I wanted to talk to you about." Jack said. "Was about Frank."
"What about him?" Elizabeth said.
"I want you to take a little time and get to know him when he gets here tomorrow." Jack said. "If you are in agreement, I would like to extend an offer to him to immediately become the property manager for the new farm. I know that he wants out of the city and I think that it would be a good fit. It would give him a month or so to wrap up things in the city and then be back here. Frank grew up on a working farm, so he has knowledge as far as growing things. Besides, I trust him. I know that he would work hard to make our vision become a reality. We are going to need someone there that can jump in with both feet."
"Okay." Elizabeth said. "But we haven't talked much about what we want."
"I know." Jack said. "But we know that we are going to have to update the barn or build a new one. I know that we need to put a helipad in. I have scheduled professionals to come out and look at the property – both for buildings that we will need as well as looking at the orchard. We aren't going to be able to do a lot until fall and through the winter with that anyway. I know what I want, but I also am waiting to hear what they recommend.
After they have seen the property, they will sit down and draw up what they think is a good plan. We will meet with them and go over the plan. It is at that point that we can make suggestions and ask for other things. So I want you to be thinking about what you want, not only for the house and surrounding grounds, but also the orchard. Do you want a garden? Do you want a greenhouse? What about fruit trees closer to the house for your use? Things like that."
"Okay." Elizabeth said. "I can do that. We will have to sit down at some point and talk about what we want for a house. I want a large house so we don't have to constantly be updating or adding on."
"I agree." Jack said. "There are a few specific things I want in a house."
"What would those be?" Elizabeth asked.
"No." Jack said. "I want you to tell me about what is in your dream home first."
"Fine." Elizabeth said. "First, I want a large wrap around porch."
"Okay." Jack said. "We can do that. Do you want something like we have out back with the pool and fireplace?"
"I am okay with that." Elizabeth said. "If we are going to eventually move here, we don't need a pool but I wouldn't object to one."
"Okay." Jack said. "What else?"
"I want a large kitchen and dining room." Elizabeth said. "It should have an open concept, lots of counter space and storage. I think I want a large pantry like Gran has here. I also want the double fridge, multiple ovens and brick oven for pizza."
"We can do that." Jack said. "Anything else?"
"I want laundry on the same floor as the kitchen and our bedroom." Elizabeth said. "I get why it is in the basement here, but I think it should be on the same floor as the kitchen and master bedroom."
"Understood." Jack said. "Anything else?"
"Lots of windows." Elizabeth said. "I love natural light."
"Okay." Jack said.
"What do you want?" Elizabeth asked.
"I want my own office and a library." Jack said.
"Personally." Elizabeth said. "I think we both should have an office. They could be on either side of the library and closed off with pocket doors or something."
"I like that idea." Jack said. "I also want the media set up something like we have downstairs. It can be a separate room or set up in the open like here. I also want a gym and a music room."
"All those things sound good." Elizabeth said.
"How many bedrooms do you want?" Jack asked. "Also on what level?"
"I think our master suite should be on the main floor." Elizabeth said. "It should be large enough to have a small crib in while we need it."
Jack smiled at her and gave her a quick kiss at the temple.
"I assume we are going to have a live-in nanny for some time." Elizabeth said. "So she should have her own suite and it should be close to the kids' rooms. We can always use it as a guest room later. I also think we need at least a couple of guest rooms that could share a bathroom. I will leave the configuration to you."
"Okay." Jack said. "So you want something like downstairs with three bedrooms that we can turn into a large bedroom at some point that shares a bathroom and then another room with its own bathroom."
"Yes." Elizabeth said.
"Then we can do the other bedrooms like upstairs." Jack said. "I don't know if you have seen those."
Elizabeth shook her head.
"There are two guest rooms that share a Jack and Jill bathroom." Jack said. "The other guest room which is called the small master has its own bathroom. It is also a little bigger than the other two bedrooms, but not as large as Gran and Grandpa's room."
"Which one did your parents stay in?" Elizabeth asked.
"The small master." Jack said. "Grandpa John has one of the other rooms. When Trish comes this weekend, she will be in the one that Grandpa John is in. When he comes back next week, he will be in the small master."
"So he is coming back?" Elizabeth asked.
"Yes." Jack said. "He was going to talk to Gran, but he wanted to come up at some point on the third and will probably stay through the Sugar Creek show. He will have work that he will do here, but the offices are officially closed Wednesday through Friday next week for the holiday."
"That would be nice." Elizabeth said. "I am sure Gran wouldn't mind."
"That is what I told him." Jack said. "But he was going to talk to her. He will probably have Peter and Andrew with him again. I know that they have the suites over at the hotel, but I am sure Gran wouldn't mind if they stayed."
Elizabeth leaned back into Jack and he wrapped his arms around her. Before she could say anything, Katie and Nathan came up.
"I will get that key." Jack said. "Elizabeth, please excuse me."
Jack got up and went to the office. He was back quickly. He handed the keycard to Katie.
"You will need your security code like in the city." Jack said. "We will program it for Katie and Opal when they get here."
"Got it." Katie said.
Jack looked at the time.
"Take Doug and Lee with you." Jack said. "It will go faster and then when you get back, maybe we can sit outside or play in the pool or something."
"I will go get them." Nathan said.
Nathan quickly went back downstairs.
"And you have everything that she needs?" Jack asked.
"Gran will take her shopping tomorrow." Katie said. "I will go with them. There are also a few other things that I have remembered. I want to check the apartment to make sure I am not forgetting anything. We are going to make the beds and put the other stuff in the cupboards."
"Okay." Jack said.
Nathan was back with Doug and Lee. They helped Katie carry everything down to the apartment. After Jack had closed the back door for them, he went back to sitting with Elizabeth. Once they were settled back into the couch with Jack's arms wrapped around Elizabeth and her leaning into Jack, she turned slightly.
"I just remembered." Elizabeth said. "I had a question for you."
"What?" Jack said.
"I know that the horses get hay." Elizabeth said. "But I haven't seen any farm equipment or fields for the hay. Where does it come from?"
"We literally have it delivered by semi truck weekly." Jack said. "We contract with a few different farms in the Southern part of the state and into Pennsylvania. They raise the alfalfa that we want. They cut, bale and store it for us. There is a large building down by the thoroughbred stables where the hay and other feed is delivered. On average we get a load of hay every other week."
"What is the other feed?" Elizabeth asked.
"It is a combination of things." Jack said. "We get bags of oats delivered. We use a brand called Producer's Pride. We get whole oats as well as rolled oats. Those are mixed and what most of the horses get. Sometimes we get a mixture called Sweet Cob, which has rolled corn, barley, whole oats, and cane molasses in it. We will mix that in with the other two. There are also the pellets that you saw. Those have a mixture of the oats in them as well as vitamins and other things. Some places only use one or the other. We mix both the oats and pellets together.
Then there are the alfalfa cubes. Again we buy those. They are exactly what they sound like. Those we order from a company called Triple Crown. We also order specific blends from them. They have different varieties for specific things, such as senior horses or those racing. We would use that in place of the pellets or oats or some combination thereof. My goal would be to get away from some of the extra feed we buy because Katie would be able to grow things here that we could add to oats for the horses. We would still get the hay, but it would hopefully cut down on the special blends that we get. They are expensive, especially when we are already buying oats."
"So what Nathan did for Ghost." Elizabeth said.
"Exactly." Jack said. "I think we might always supplement the feed we give the horses, it would just be a matter of where that supplement came from. Not that I mind buying from these companies, but it gets to be a lot. I would like to simplify things to an extent and I think Katie can do that. Instead of buying multiple things in bulk, we should be able to tweek individual horses' diets to what they need. It will take some getting used to and it is a few years down the road, but I am committed to doing it. Right now, unless otherwise noted the horses get a standard mix of what we buy. One of the places that I looked at has a standard mix of grains and then adds to it as needed. So it could be adding the fresh dandelion greens or dried herbs, things like that."
"So Ghost had a different blend for a while." Elizabeth said. "And eventually each horse would be like that."
"Pretty much." Jack said. "There may be a standard mix we give, say the trail horses or the pregnant mares and then tweek it as needed for each one based on what their needs would be. That is part of the reason that I want a vet and vet tech on staff. They would be able to help monitor the diets and Katie would oversee it all."
"Sounds confusing." Elizabeth said.
"It will be a change and it will require some learning on everyone's part." Jack said. "But part of this individual diet and stuff comes with a huge upgrade in the way we track and document what we do with the horses. It is about three years down the road, granted that can be adjusted but the plan is for each stall to have an Ipad where grooms and hands can look at the horse's chart and see what they are to be fed. They would also put in when the horses are exercised and turned out and into what pasture or meadow. Each chart could be accessed from any Ipad, but the one at each stall would open and up for that horse.
It will change how quickly we are able to respond to problems or changes in the horse. It will also help if they need vet care. The chart is right there with everything on it. I saw this set up at a large breeding facility in Kentucky. I spent time talking to the site manager and loved the idea. I have contacted with the Columbia computer science program and they have developed a program for us. We have co-patent rights on the program with the University. They can't sell it without our permission and vice versa. Later this summer, all the stables will be wired for the internet and we will start using the Ipads. I have a large order of them in and we should start seeing them before we head back to the city. It takes time to wire everything and get over three hundred Ipads. I will have an Ipad where I can check any horse we have on the property. I eventually want all of the horses we own, but are in Florida or California to be loaded into the system so we can see how they are doing in real time as well."
"Wow." Elizabeth said. "That is something."
"Yes." Jack said. "Like I said, it will be some work, but in the long run it will be so much easier to see how the horses are doing. Old competition results will be added as well as old race results. If a horse is injured, we will be able to track its recovery. Since all the Ipads will be connected to a central server I will be able to access it anywhere as long as I have an internet connection. It should also make it easier to see how the horses are doing that aren't under our direct care. Like I said, I want every horse we own on the server and an Ipad to travel with each thoroughbred with a groom or hand that is trained to enter things."
"I think it is wonderful." Elizabeth said. "What are some of your other dreams for the farm?"
Jack paused for a moment. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He then figured he needed to tell Elizabeth, even if it might never happen.