Winter Fun

 Even though it is winter there is still many ways to have fun out on the farm. At least we USED to have fun. Now the riders are all grown up with grown up jobs.  They would go on winter fun rides, pulling sleighs on horseback, galloping through the snow and the horses had just as much fun as the riders. The riders below left to right are Emily, Karin, Sarah, Rebekah and Rhoda.

Above and below is Emily on Killian. He was her favorite stallion.

Above and below is Jessica riding Jenis.

Above and Below is Rhoda riding Lily.

Below is Karin and Caleb riding Ribbon.

Below is Rebekah riding Ribbon.

In the picture below left to right is Jessica, Karin, Anni and Rebekah.

No riding today it was below zero again this morning and 6 degrees now. I worked at the barn this morning cleaning up after Sunday dinner. Mark installed more bright light bulbs in the foaling apartment. Dan came over for a couple hours. He has some ideas for Sophia's wedding. We checked all of the waterers and all are working. This evening I tried a recipe I saw on Facebook made with rolled oats. It smelled good while baking but didn't look as nice as the video. I'm going to serve it in the crock pot with warm apples and icing for the Berean volunteers tomorrow but if it doesn't look any better I will probaby not take it and just buy some donuts. While on Facebook FOBBY announced that the bald eagle Jackie has laid her second egg.

Last year she laid 3 eggs and all 3 hatched but one chick died. The year before the eggs didn't hatch. It will be interesting to see if these hatch. Jackie and Shadow are a very famous couple. Over 20,000 people were on line when it was announced that the second egg was laid. 

Safe Travels

 Braelyn needed to be at Louisville Slugger at 7:15 am but the roads were snow covered so we didn't get there until 7:17 am. We were about the only car on the road at that hour. I am so thankful for snow tires. I really had no problem. I was back home in plenty of time to make breakfast and get ready for church. Below is a picture of Interstate 474 on the way to church. Just one lane was plowed. 

We didn't get a lot of snow but the wind was blowing the snow over the roads as quick as the plows could clean it off.  Darrin Plattner from the Champaign church was visiting today and had the morning message on building on the rock and not on sinking sand. It was a good message. Click HERE if you would like to watch it. Dean and Teresa served lunch and it was a perfect lunch for such a cold snowy morning. They served chili plus hotdogs and lots of other goodies. 

Nancy was pretty pleased with her Sunday school paper today and was showing everyone. Below she is showing it to Bill.

The afternoon was a special message introducing the babies and their families born in 2025. Click HERE if you would like to watch that. Marshall and Jan Heinold were there as they are the great grand parents of Caleb and Kristin's children. As soon as I got home from church I started chopping vegetables for the stir fry planed for supper tonight. Once the vegetables were chopped it was time to chop chicken. The egg rolls were placed in the oven, the rice was simmering on the stove and by 4:00 pm all was done. Mark helped load it into his car, then walked over to the barn while I took the car over to pick up Braelyn. She helped with the unloading. Gail had given us a package of fun craft supplies and as soon as Sarah's girls walked in they were hooked. They started right in building things.

They had to quit while we ate.

Supper was just a few minutes late. Brett had the prayer tonight so his family got to go first.

The food was well received.

After supper the girls including Elisabet went right back to crafts.

I told her it was Eliana's grandma that gave them to us and she knew right away it was Gail. The boys went out to the gym to play basketball and soon the girls joined in. Sarah was watching Jack and the little girls had so much fun pulling Jack and Micah around on the 2 ponies.

We finally heard from Phil and Anna. Kensley's team won the entire tournament. They were 14 wins and 0 losses.

Kensley was given an award for being top player.

The video below was taken by the organizers of the tournament and was of one of the games yesterday. They were impressed with the teamwork on the Farmer's team.

Thankful for a warm church, for a warm barn, and thankful for safe travels to and from both.

Grandkid Games

 We left this morning at 7:55 am to drive to Peoria Christian school where Israel was playing a basketball game. Nolan came with his 3 girls, David has Elisabet with them (David is one of the coaches) and Rhoda arrived with Iris and Zeke.

It was a fun game to watch.

Of course after the game they needed to pose for pictures.

From there we drove to Sarah and Nolan's house to check out the new swings in their basement.

Nolan installed 3 swings, those girls spent hours on them yesterday. All of the cousins wanted to try it out.

We went upstairs to check out their new finished living room.

The kitchen is also finished.

On the other side of the living room is another counter with a fridge, sink and coffee bar.

Rhoda got Willow's puppy out for the kids to hold. She loves children.

Mark and I had to leave right then. Our airbnb guest sent a message that the apartment furnace wasn't working. She had it set on 77 degrees and it had fallen to 70.  We ran home grabbed some wood from the woodshed and I built a fire in the wood burner while Mark checked out the furnace. By the time we got to the apartment though it had already risen to 71 degrees. We quickly got it up to 75. Mark couldn't find anything wrong with the furnace and it seemed to be working properly. We also discovered Valiant's waterer was almost empty. I went down to the house to get the hair dryer while Mark opened up the door to the automatics waterer. Once the hair dryer was in and running we shut it back up. Mark went to get a bucket of water to fill up the tank while I drove to the barn where Rhoda had all of the kids. By the time Mark got back with the bucket his water was flowing so it must not have frozen completely. Rhoda was working with the girls on soft ball as Iris, Eden and Zion are all on the same team this Spring. Nolan will be their coach.

By this time it was getting close to noon and the kids were getting hungry. David agreed to meet us at the Bartonville Diner.

Such cute kids! After lunch David took Israel and Elisabet home, Rhoda took Iris and Zeke home and I took Zion, Eden and River back to our house. They had some crafts they had been working on and were able to finish them before Nolan picked them up.  I needed to leave by 5:00 pm to drive to Louisville Slugger where Braelyn was playing volley ball. Phil took her, watched her win her first set then had to drive to Iowa to watch Kensley play basketball. The roads were really getting snow covered on the drive there and I was only able to go about 35 mph but I made it just before 6:00 pm. Braelyn was waiting for me with the pass I needed to get in. Her team played well. The lost in overtime but it was a fun game to watch. 

The roads were much worse on the way home. Route 8 was snow covered so much that we could not see the lines but since there wasn't much traffic I just drove in the center. I'm sure Iowa roads are even worse so sent a text to Phil that the roads were bad. He called and agreed they should stay in Iowa overnight. Kensley won both of her games and will be playing in the championship tomorrow. Instead of trying to drive home tonight then back in the morning it just made sense to stay. Mike made it in last night and today went to Middle Grove to check on the horses. They are all doing great. Ruth sent the picture below of mom and Aunt Jinnie watching the weather channel.

Diane sent the text back. And they are being thankful they are not in New Jersey or Illinois! I am glad they are enjoying Gulf Shores and missing this extreme cold. It was again below zero this morning but it made it into single digits during the day. According to the computer right now it is 4 degrees. 

Surprise Party

 It was just -2 when we awoke but -6 a few hours later. I needed to drive to Sam's club to pick up a few more things for tonight and the rest of Sunday's dinner but before I left I had both wood burners going. When I got back from Sam's Mark had let the rec-room one go out. He said our carbon monoxide alarm started going off. I bought the ingredients to make a big pan of creamy chicken and wild rice soup for the out of town guests coming in for the surprise birthday party tonight. I also made a fruit platter and a vegetable platter. Joan sent a text that she was having an ice skating party. The ice was smooth and clear on the lake and she had a big fire going. I couldn't get there until the soup was simmering in the afternoon but there were still skaters out on the lake. 

Bill and Bethany came straight to the barn to get the decorating done before going over to skate so her kids were skating with Trip and Aiden. Rebekah's family were all still there enjoying the frozen lake.

There were people inside warming up. When I went in to visit was shocked at all the skates on the floor.

Blair came down to get hers back on to head back out.

Mark left at 4:30 pm to pick up the cakes. Amy came early to help with the organizing. She also got all 60 candles on both cakes. That 60 on the wall is made up of all pictures of the birthday lady. Bethany and Faith worked on that.

After the guests arrived I called Joan to ask for help with the barn washing machine. She was pretty suspicious but said she would come. Of course her whole family followed her over to 'help with the washer'. We had the lights out but when she opened the door she actually WAS surprised at the crowd. She thought it might be just a few family members.

We enjoyed the evening. Below are a few pictures.

I was thankful for all who braved the cold to make this 60th birthday special for Joan. Mike is flying in to Belleville tonight then will drive the 2 hours and 50 minutes home. He sent the video below taken during the summer with the text. Sell this one last and not cheap.

He really wants to keep her. She really is a sweet filly.

Middle Grove Winter Prep

 Ruth sent a picture early this morning as she and mom were enjoying the sunrise in Gulf Shores.

With the cold going to hit tonight Mark and I worked together this morning bringing lots of wood inside.

It was 16 degrees when we finished but had warmed up to 21 degrees by the time I left for Middle Grove. My first job there was to check the bales. We have 6 left from Jay

The other farmer had brought over 14 which were larger bales and the farmer we usually get our bales from but he was in the hospital and couldn't get them to us in time.

Mike is coming back from Gulf Shores to help him move more of these bales over. We usually buy 80 from him. The next job was to find out if there was enough hay set out until Saturday. 

There were a few horses down eating on the bales and just 2 left. Oliver heard one of the mares neigh and took off running to join the rest of the herd.

Mike needed the tractor plugged in so that was done.

I followed the horses going to join the rest of the herd to check on everyone. They all seemed content to graze.

I wanted to check on all of the foals and was pleased to not only find them all but also was able to handle each one. 

Below is Roseberry and Dalhia.

Below is Disco

Below is Dreamer.

Below is Bulu's colt who still needs to be named.

I didn't get a good picture of Shadow but she too is looking good. All of the foals are very fuzzy, exactly what is needed for the coming cold. Lily and Jury had gone quite a ways from the herd over by a tree. I walked over followed by Rosalie, Valerie, Tessa and Thalia. Lily was busy breaking ice from a large puddle then drinking the water under it. I didn't remember to check the bubbler on the way to the field so was worried maybe it wasn't working. Thankfully I found it working well, Lily was just too lazy to walk all the way back to the lake and knows how to find water easier.

If you would like to see the rest of the pictures from Middle Grove click HERE.

By the time I was back in the car I was really cold and glad the heater works well in my Prius. Once home Mark had Mackenson come help stock up the porch with wood.

They would bring it to the porch and I would stack it. By the time we quit the rack was full.

They also took wood over to Joan's house as now that mom is in Gulf Shores she is living back at her house and burning wood in both of her wood burners. We have kept that wood burner going all day and now it is full of red hot coals.