The LOWS are A-Coming

 The smell of fresh brewed coffee at 5:00 am is a good reason to jump out of bed. That first cup of the day is something that I really look forward to. I'm not addicted or anything, yeah right. Coffee is one luxury I refuse to deny myself.  We met at mom's again to work out this weeks schedule. I'm so thankful for Ruth and Joan, both are putting in long hours. I'll be taking mom to the Taste of Madrigal put on by the Co-op Thursday evening. Joan has to be at the fellowship hall early. Mark asked if I would feed the cat today and on the way back took the picture of 2 of the weanlings taking naps up against the hay.

Missy and the 4th weanling were in the shelter eating off the new bale.

Today for our breakfast I looked up a recipe for potato pancakes. We had left over mashed potatoes from Sunday's meal and I remembered mom making them when we were young. The recipe I found looked about the same as what mom use to make.

I didn't like them then and found I don't like them now either. That was a waste of time plus it made extra dishes. They are in the fridge I'll have to find out if anyone else wants to try them. After breakfast and after the dishes were done it was time to start on the barn. The clean sheets were taken over and the beds made. The bathrooms all restocked and the floors done. I wasn't going to clean the game room as it was such a mess and it is just family coming on Sunday but finally just decided to organize it. The ping pong table was missing the brace that holds the net. That missing brace was found on the foosball table the bag game had the bags scattered all over and after cleaning we are still missing one of the blue bags. The new connect 4 game is missing at least 1 green as there ended up with an extra yellow. The basketball game was repaired and is missing one of the basketballs. I started cleaning the gym in hopes of finding the lost bean bag but ran out of time. Mark worked for 2 and a half hours on mom's heat. He thought he could get the heat pump working but wasn't able to. A part is ordered but could be while before it comes in. He got it going on emergency heat. We have record smashing lows predicted tonight and tomorrow. We picked up Berlica and Mackenson for church. Tim Roecker had the message on 1st Chronicles 29 and Galatians 6 . Click HERE to listen to that message. We went to Culvers for a late dinner. 

Winter Weather

 I overslept this morning not waking until almost 6:30 am. Thankfully that still gave me enough time to bake the now risen butterbraid and had it baked and iced before going over to mom's house. Kristin's car was stuck on the dam and Joan's van was already started and warming up. I guess Joan had quite a time rescuing people yesterday that continued this morning. Ruth was with mom waiting for Rachel's husband David to come install the brand new dishwasher. The 3 inches of new snow on top of the old snow left everything white and clean but a little dangerous. Some of the roads were not well cleared off on the way to the Berean office this morning. Skip was already there and was shoveling paths for the volunteers. 

Both Shirley's arrived along with Marvin making us a total of 5 this morning.

We didn't have a lot of studies come in and only 17 Bible requests. 

Below is a short video of getting the Bibles stuffed and ready for mailing.

Looking out the window of the Berean office there were 3 fat birds resting on a wire.

I believe they are doves.

We enjoyed the butterbraid then loaded the car and left. My first stop was to Meisters to drop off some studies for Amanda's mom for grading. The next stop was to the Hanna City post office to drop off the Bibles and studies going out today. When I finally made it home Mark was out working on plowing the drives. The post office let me know that no mail would be delivered until the road in front of the mail boxes was cleared. There was about 3 feet to clear so I started shoveling until Mark got the skid steer down to finish the job while I slowed traffic. It didn't take very long so hopefully we will get our mail tomorrow.  Mark switched out the bucket for the bale spear and we got a new bale in for Evan. The old dead heads of the flowers were topped with the new snow. 

There was a downy pecking away at one of the stems.

There were also large sharp ice cycles hanging from the roof.

I was able to get all the sheets and towels washed from the barn.

Tomorrow I will go over to make the beds and clean up the barn but today I just didn't want to go back outside. Instead the laundry here was finished and some split pea soup made for supper. Ham and bacon were chopped up and added to the pea soup and it was tasty and filling. The heat pump had frozen up. Mark brought buckets to the house, I filled them with hot water from the tub faucet then he hauled them over to melt the ice off of the heat pump. It took 4 buckets to get it working.

We kept the wood burner burning during the day but Mark wanted the heat pump working so we burn less propane during the night. The winter weather is starting VERY early this year. 

More Snow

 I went out this morning to walk over to mom's when I heard a stallion screaming. Valiant was in his paddock so I knew it must be Evan. Sure enough Missy was out and over bothering him. She came running to me and I clipped a lead rope on her but was searching for the 4 weanlings believing they must be out also as they share a paddock with her. They weren't in sight but Mark was. He had the golf cart and came driving down from the barn. I realized then that the gate to the shelter had come off the hinge but all 4 weanlings were still in the paddock. Missy was put away and Mark helped get the gate back on. When I arrived at mom's she was still in bed. She has a cold and was coughing during the night so wanted to sleep in. Diane joined us on speaker phone and Ruth, Joan, Diane and I visited in mom's room until after 8:00 am. Ruth was excited to share that she is going to be a grandmother again in June. Matt and Anni are expecting. Right after breakfast I left with Mark's car for Sam's club then Aldi. We were really out of groceries after the last 4 days plus I needed to restock paper plates and plastic ware at the barn. As soon as I got home and the groceries were put away Mark and I went up to hook the truck up to the 2 horse trailer as Joan needed it at noon. We had to shovel a drift away from the front of the trailer first then once it was hooked up it needed to be cleaned out.

Joan took it to Calvary Baptist to pick up the props for the Taste of Madrigal. When she arrived there was a car parked in the area she usually parks the trailer so she went the other direction and the trailer hit the beam. Just so you know Joan is a very careful driver and has taken this trailer many times to transport the Co-op props and this is the first time she has had an accident. 

She couldn't find the current insurance card but when she called I couldn't find it here at the house either. I was able to call our insurance agent and they emailed the current card. Mike went to Middle Grove to check on the herd and sent back the video below:

It started snowing again this afternoon and by 4:00 pm we had a couple more inches. We will probably end up with 3 by the time it stops tonight. The snow was beautiful, light and fluffy and gleaming like diamonds.

Above is as the flakes were landing on the golf cart with each individual snow flake different. Below is near the South barn door.

I was collecting the sheets and towels from the guests over the weekend. All of the laundry was brought to the house but not started. I'll have to do that tomorrow. 

I took a butter braid out and am letting that rise. It will be baked tomorrow morning for the Berean volunteers. 

Nolan tried to get his work truck back here since Mark had put down sand yesterday on the drives but with the 3 inches of new snow he got stuck again. This time Mike pulled him out then drove him to Meisters to pick up the 2011 truck which has 4 wheel drive. It isn't pretty but at least he will be able to get up and down our drive and go to work. 

Time to Read

 We had a VERY late night as the first tow truck that arrived asked for a tractor and after assessing the truck hovering over the ravine, finally decided his truck wasn't suitable and gave Nolan another company name before driving off. Dependable towing was called next, they arrived about 11:30 and decided the tractor wasn't going to work and wanted a second tow truck to come help. The picture below if of the 2nd tow truck, the picture was taken through the living room window with the wood burner burning brightly in the corner which helped make the beautiful colors.

This driver also called the police to come assist as we are on a blind curve. The police never arrived but the second truck did. BUT by this time the driver of the first truck thought it would be better to use a tree and used a snatch block. That worked. It was after 1:00 am by the time the Meister truck was freed from the ravine. The tow truck driver followed Nolan over to Phil's house then gave Nolan a ride back here to the apartment. I went to bed around midnight but Mark stayed up until after 1:00 am just in case they wanted the tractor. It was sprinkling rain while they were working and that rain was falling on the snow turning everything to ice. The drives were not passable this morning. Mark used the skid steer to try to break up the ice then helped me move 2 bales in for the horses. Valiant got a bale and the weanlings got a new bale. I borrowed pancake mix from Sarah then made pancakes and sausage for her house and some to take over to the barn for Tim, Allie and Strot. Three of the truck doors were frozen shut but the front passenger side door was able to be opened so I climbed in that door and into the drivers seat to get it started. Nolan needed the truck to take Tim, Allie and Strot to the airport a little after 9:00 am. By the time he needed to get them it had warmed up enough to get the other 3 doors opened. I asked him to stop at Aldi on the way home to pick up 10 pounds of potatoes and a tub of ice cream for our Sunday supper tonight.  We went over to mom's house to watch church on line. While we were waiting for it to start Joan noticed the sliding board decoration.

What we were amazed at was the snow at the end.

David had the first message. A VERY interesting message and he even brought a prop along. I'm so glad they video the sermons now as mom's tv froze up during the message and we missed a bit of it. I will for sure watch it tomorrow. To watch this message click HERE. After the morning message there was a short break then the congregation came back for singing and a few words from Craig Stickling before dismissing everyone. Nolan dropped off the potatoes so I went to work peeling the 10 pounds and cooking the pork roast. The grand kids arrived and went sledding on the death trails. They came in pretty cold and tired. The meal was good. We have all been hosting since Wednesday and tonight most of us were happy to just sit on the couch and visit. The girls started on some crafts while the adults laid around.

Of course the grand kids got back their energy and thought it would be fun to flip the bouncy house while they were inside.

I'm not sure how fun it really was when they had to flip it back over. That was just plain work.

Kensley and Zion decided to roller blade for a while. These two zoomed around the gym.

Eden joined them. David and Israel decided to play 2 on 2 with Philip and Kensley.

That was a fun fast game and by the time they called it, they were ready to rest. It was a much more quiet Sunday than usual but I think we all needed the rest. We all left the barn early tonight. I'm going to sit near the fire and read a book this evening.

Snow Day

 The snow started 1:30 am and continued almost all of today. It wasn't snowing hard during the night only dropping a few inches but after breakfast it seemed to be coming down hard with lots of wind. The kids could hardly wait to go out and play.  Below Strot is filling buckets with snow to make a snow castle.

Joan lent out the sleds and the sledding started over at the new hill. The snow was almost too fluffy to get a good fast run. 

They moved to the death trails but that was the same as the cabin hill. All of this time Mark was busy plowing with the skid steer. Nolan used the 4 wheel drive truck to shuttle people over between working at their new house. The skid steer made our driveway packed and ready for action.

They would come in, sit at the fire drinking hot chocolate talking about the last run down and how they can't wait to get back out. Sometimes they wouldn't even finish their chocolate before they were back out. It was the perfect day with the temps hovering around 29 degrees but still snowing. Sarah took the pictures below.

Below are a few of the boots drying by the fire.

Of course we had to get a picture of drinking hot chocolate.

Check out the video below showing some of today's outdoor fun.

We ended up with 8 inches of snow on the ground. Both Mark and I did a lot of shoveling and he plowed twice today.

I left the kids at the barn then took the golf cart home to start on supper. Tonight we had spaghetti with meat sauce, mozzarella cheese, cottage cheese, salad, fried in butter Hawaiian rolls and brownies for dessert. The kids played in the gym after supper while we adults visited. Tim and Allie's plane is supposed to fly out tomorrow morning around 10:30 am so Nolan will drive them in with the 4 wheel drive truck. This evening Nolan's work truck got stuck in the drive with one tire off the road over the ravine. Mark tried to pull it backwards using the tractor but the drive was so slick instead of going backwards it went sideways and ended up with both front tires and one back tire over the edge above the ravine. They called a tow truck and that is on the way! A notice was sent out to all who live here just in case someone needed to leave the neighborhood or come home before the tow truck arrives but at this time of night I think all are already home in bed as we hope to be soon.

Winter Storm Warnings

It was only 19 degrees outside and we were out of kindling to start the fire in the wood burner. Mark went out to cut some. 

Believe me that fire was needed today and I'm thankful to have such an easy way to get it started.

Sarah and Nolan brought their girls plus Iris who spent the night down to join Kim, Tim, Allie, Strot, Mark and I for breakfast. Kim helped get the extension back on the table so it was long enough but we were short of chairs so used stools for the kids. They were almost too excited to eat the biscuits, scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage because they planned to go horse back riding right after breakfast. They were quick to head up to the barn but got distracted by playing on the haybales. 

They were quick to jump off when Missy was ready. Strot went first on Missy.

Zion rode next and showed Strot her canter. Then Iris rode to calm Missy down.

Strot wanted another turn even though it was still very cold.

Zion gave Missy a treat when she was put back then groomed the weanlings a bit. Disco was so glad to see her with that brush. He loves to be groomed.

He even moved sideways so she could do his back.

When she moved outside they all followed her and wanted her attention.

The kids made arrangements to meet downtown at the Caterpillar museum. Rhoda got some good pictures.

They ate lunch at Good Tequila's in East Peoria before coming here for a hike. Kim decided with the the winter storm warnings tonight she needed to leave for Elgin this afternoon so packed up and left around 3:00 pm. Below are more pictures from Rhoda during their hike.. As this was Strots first trip to Illinois he was excited to see everything. They stopped to pet Missy and Evan before heading to the lake.

He even got to drive the golf cart.

All of the kids came to the barn this afternoon then stayed for dinner and games. It was such a fun evening.

Below Eden and River are helping me set the dinner tables while the rest visited.

It was just so good to have the Texas Sceggels here in Illinois. He had a lot of fun getting to know his Illinois cousins this trip and our kids loved meeting him and enjoyed playing with him.

They were supposed to fly out of the Peoria airport tomorrow morning but Tim just let me know that his flight just cancelled. Amazing, the snow hasn't even started yet and they have already cancelled his flight AND Sunday lunch. Will we really get the foot of snow predicted?  Bad news on mom's wheelchair van. The part came in and it was NOT the right part AGAIN! We will be another week without that oh so needed vehicle. Mark found a place we can rent one but it is a couple hours away. We have been making do with using Joan's van but it isn't the best option for mom. We may not be going anywhere for a while if this storm actually happens. 

If it does snow as much as predicted Strot will get a chance to play in the snow, make a snowman and maybe even go sledding! They don't get much snow in Texas and I'm pretty sure he hasn't seem much if any in his 8 years of life.