Jasper Picked Up

We awoke to snow and single digits. Rachel brought breakfast over to moms where we feasted instead of walking. Diane had to drive in to pick up 3 of her grand children for the day so didn't get to join us. Mark left for work but Emily stepped in and cleared the driveways with the skid steer.

She came in after 3 hours with frozen feet and could not get those feet close enough to the fire. Emma thought this was a great opportunity for a snuggle.

 staring intently at Emily until Emily finally breaks down and pets her.

Steven arrived as Emily was working to take Jasper home. He loaded without much drama. Jasper is Steven's paint draft gelding that was growing up a bit at Middle Grove, he is now taking him for training then will be placed for sale. Once Emily finished with the snow removal the bucket was removed from the skid steer and the bale spear put on to move in a couple of round bales, one for the middle paddock and one for the breeding shed paddock. The waterers were all checked and Evan's was not working again. Evan and Emma were moved back into the breeding shed paddock until we get that fixed. Emily put the skid steer away and headed over to Rachel's to help she and Karin with the micro house they are building. The windows are installed and insulation is now up.
Diane and I met to work on the Horsemeister books for 2013. That is probably my least favorite job of this business, why Diane expects me to know the first AND last names of everyone that bought a foal.
Emily borrowed Diane's sprayer to water the arena then raked it with Mike's 4 wheeler before working with Sheena. She reported Sheena did well.
After supper Emily and Sarah went back over to Rachel's to play games. Finally it was time to sit down with a book. I finished up the book mom lent me. I hated this book for the first 60 or so pages but made myself keep reading. That book kept pointing out all of my faults when I was sure I didn't have any. Actually the book is good, it is written by a Christian psychologist. Funny I really thought of myself as more of a compliant person. There was a test to take so once I took it I had Mark write down what his answers would be for me and we ended up with just about the same results. It helped to know that being strong willed isn't always bad, we just need to be reined in a bit, kind of like a fire. The fire in the wood stove warms us up nicely but if it was burning out of control  and out of the box think of the damage that happens.

I asked Mark to read it, there is a good section for husbands too.  Now that I've finished the book I highly recommend it.