Introducing Missy & Cookie

There was no cell service in Manito with our cell service provide, plus the GPS didn't believe there really was such an address. Thankfully I was able to call Alli before leaving the farm for directions. She agreed to meet me in the town of Manito and have me follow her out to her farm to pick up the 2 mares. Missy is a black mare with some roaning on her body. She sticks at 14.2 hands and is 6 years old. Rhoda tried her out she is gaited and very smooth. She didn't want to go into a canter away from the other horses but minded when made. Below are a few pictures of Missy.

Cookie is a 7 year old gray mare that sticks at 13.3 hands and is very sweet. She is also gaited and very smooth. Below are pictures of Cookie.

Both of the mares seemed compliant and willing although Missy is a bit more herd bound than Cookie. When Cookie was taken into the barn for her bath Missy threw a fit. I didn't have a lot of time to take pictures the Skyline auction was tonight and we were scheduled to work at 4:30pm. The dinner and auction were great fun. This was a fund raiser for our retirement home and everybody felt generous. We left the fellowship hall tired and will hit the sack quickly. The warm weather is so exhausting because we don't know how many more nice days we will have and all things outdoors needs to be worked on while the weather is nice.

Middle Grove Round UP

In the video below Rhoda is riding Jewel rounding up the horses taking them back over to the big valley. Watch blind Helen at 40 seconds into the video, she jumps a ditch and then swerves around a big rock. How did she know? There is a surprise ending on this video that I did not edit out. Below is Helen's video again. Sangria's colt is in the video below. We were disappointed, he didn't show off his HUGE trot. Jewel's filly is in the video below, she starts out with a muddy spot on her shoulder so had to stop video taping and clean it off. I'm leaving here around 8:30am, need to be in Manito at 10:00am to look at a couple of mares for the camp program.

Middle Grove Videos

Ciera was picked up from Hoerr Vet clinic first thing this morning. She has a 5 inch incision on her flank where her ovary was removed. She was glad to be home but not glad to be stalled something she must get use to per doctors orders. Her sticthes can come out in 2 weeks. Rhoda arrived at 1:30pm for our trip to Middle Grove. We found the horses in the same valley as yesterday. They like hanging out there it is close to water. It was very obvious that some of them had been swimming on this very warm day in November. Yesterday the horses were all so clean no mud to be found, today some of the horses were covered with mud and us with no grooming tools. Even so Rachel's camera and the video camera were pulled out. Below is Rhoda on Lily with Helen standing next to them.

We took a short video of Helen just to show everyone how well this blind baby copes. Sangria was tacked up next. Her colt looks like he is going to stay black. No white hair at all on this boy so far.

We also took some video of him which posted below: The next two pictures had to be posted. He was so anxious to nurse once the video was done.

but then he pulled his head out from under Sangria and this is what he looked like. His face all covered in milk.

Prissy came up to watch us video taping. She is just gorgeous!

Jewel was tacked up last. Her little spit fire of a filly had fun today. She loved having Rhoda scratch her and then had to go taste the saddle pad.

The Friesians wanted to get in on the video taping and at one point ran right up to the camera and hit it with her face. That will also be downloaded later. It is Karin's turn for Nancy this weekend and she is busy Saturday and Sunday so brought her over for dinner tonight. Mom and Diane also joined us. We had such a nice warm day for the 9th day of November but the house was still chilly. Finally Diane talked Mark into building a fire which warmed us all up nicely.

Stuck Twice

We had to stop on our walk to take the picture below. The boys hanging over the gate asking Mike for attention.

Each morning they show off for us, following us as we walk, making sure we are watching then rearing and bowing. The show they put on is always entertaining. What is funny is when we aren't looking they come galloping over to the fence to make sure our eyes are on them. At work the massive amount of letters were all processed but it took until 1:00pm to finish typing in the last request, too late to get the Bibles ready to mail out. The post office wants them there by noon. Phil was hauling equipment out to Skylines and offered to take the Bibles down to be wrapped which gave me enough time to head out to Middle Grove. Karin left a message that the 2 Friesian mares, Zalena and Ylse have broken out in hives. Diane came with me to drop off Bonnie and bring back the mares. Below is Bonnie after she was let out of the trailer.

She was so thrilled to be out there. The 4 wheel drive option is not working on the truck but the road in looked reasonably dry. There is no good place to turn around on the road so in we drove where we promptly became stuck. Between Diane driving and me pushing we were able to get out, decided against getting the mares and headed back but met Karin on Middle Grove road. She offered to go get the mares so we turned around and headed back to the field. This time I thought I was so wise and only backed in a bit but when I went to go forward it was no go, stuck again. We left the truck and trailer and hiked over the hills to get some pictures of Karin bringing the mares.

They were so far away and the sun in our eyes, there was no way to get good pictures. The zoom was used to get a few closer pictures as they saw Karin coming with the bucket. Below are Sangria and Jewel with their foals coming at a gallop to see Karin.

The most wonderful part of that trip out there was to see Holly's reaction. She was the first to greet Karin and when Diane walked up to her she let Diane pet her and touch the halter. Remember Holly was the rescue mare that had real trust issues.

Karin was soon surrounded by horses.

She haltered Zalena and Ylse and they were brought back to the trailer. Both mares have gotten into a bad weed and both have broken out with ugly weeping bumps all over their bodies. Diane held the mares while Karin helped get the truck unstuck. Once the truck and trailer were on the paved road they were loaded. Oh how I miss 4 wheel drive! Steven was riding Valiant when we arrived back at the farm. The mares were put away and will be worked on tomorrow. There was a neat email from Kres waiting for me. She is a lady that shipped semen from Raven last year and even better she included a picture. She writes: Dear Judy, At the end of the summer, things were really busy around here. I really enjoy reading your blog, but I don't always get to it everyday. I also have the blog in my favorites, so I don't always see your home page. I must have totally missed the days that you talked about Raven's passing, and I apologize for e-mailing you so late about it. The day I figured it out, I think I cried most of the day. I know how important he has been to you and your family and I can't imagine how hard it was for you all to let go. I love Freyja so much that I was really looking forward to another Raven baby. I had always thought that someday I would be able to meet him in "person". Then I realized that I have met him. Every time Freyja nuzzles my cheek, I know Raven's spirit is in her charm and intelligence. When I look out and see Freyja's grace and beauty, I know I am seeing Raven. I am so glad that you stuck with us and that we were successful the second time around, and I am grateful every day that Freyja came to grace our lives. I'm glad you have Valiant and Evan to carry on. Freyja's training is coming along very well, and she's growing up so fast. She was 12.2 hands the last time I measured her when she was 4 months old. (she's about 4 1/2 mos now). I'm attaching a photo that we took last week. You can't see Belle's face, but I didn't crop her out so you could see how tall Freyja is next to her. No more walking under her mama's belly! Oh yes, she was brown for a little while, then went to all black again (within a few days!) when she grew in her winter fuzz. She also has white hairs sprinkled through, so she will probably turn dappled grey gradually, like her mom. How beautiful will that be!! Again, I'm so sorry, and I'll keep in touch. Kres Monday P.S. How is Darcy?

Now doesn't Freyja look EXACTLY like a purebred Friesian foal!

Lights Out

We sure miss daylight saving time. It is now getting dark before we can get home from work. Trying to pull one of the horses out for training is tricky. They already kind of look alike plus as they are all black they blend in with the dark. Steven could really use a light out by the stallion paddock. We will have to check into that, there is an automatic waterer near there with electricity so it may not be too hard. One time a couple of years ago when we were still living in Peoria we got a call from our renters out here that one of the gates was open and the horses no where to be seen. After driving out in the cold windy black night, asking family that lives out here for help, then walking around the fields with flashlights trying to find them. Rachel comments, "did you have to have ALL black horses?" This year we actually added color to our program with our acquisition of Prissy and Lola, those along with Ella and Sangria make it way easier to find the horses out at Middle Grove. Those white spots moving through the fields or woods in the dark catch the eye. The first reaction, from someone who doesn't know there are horses out there is: Did you see that! What IS it? Seeing the ghostly form of strange white blotches drifting toward the car or truck is enough to scare the bravest of the brave. This morning before work the apartment will be finished and ready for company. At work Bibles need to be loaded and hauled to the Skyline home and the wrapped ones hauled back. There is a stack of letters to be processed literally stacked more than a foot high. And NOW...for some humor or is it humour of the day: A MESSAGE FROM THE QUEEN To the citizens of the United States of America from Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II In light of your failure in recent years to nominate competent candidates for President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately. (You should look up 'revocation' in the Oxford English Dictionary.) Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except North Dakota, which she does not fancy). Your new Prime Minister, David Cameron, will appoint a Governor for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed. To aid in the transition to a British Crown dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect: ----------------------- 1. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'colour,' 'favour,' 'labour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters, and the suffix '-ize' will be replaced by the suffix '-ise.' Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up 'vocabulary'). ------------------------ 2. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as ''like' and 'you know' is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as U.S. English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take into account the reinstated letter 'u'' and the elimination of '-ize.' ------------------------ 3. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday. ------------------------ 4. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not quite ready to be independent. Guns should only be used for shooting grouse. If you can't sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, then you're not ready to shoot grouse. ----------------------- 5. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. Although a permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public. ----------------------- 6. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left side with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour. ---------------------- 7. The former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline) of roughly $10/US gallon. Get used to it. ---------------------- 8. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar. ---------------------- 9. The cold, tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. South African beer is also acceptable, as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of the British Commonwealth - see what it did for them. American brands will be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion. ----------------------- 10. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialect in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater. ----------------------- 11. You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies). ----------------------- 12. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the South Africans first to take the sting out of their deliveries. ----------------------- 13.. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad. ----------------------- 14. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776). ----------------------- 15. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 p.m. with proper cups, with saucers, and never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; plus strawberries (with cream) when in season. God Save the Queen! PS: Only share this with friends who have a good sense of humour (NOT humor)!

Results

We live in a very conservative area, our neighbors, for the most part are hard working farmers or small business owners. It was refreshing to arrive at the polling place a little after 6:00am and have to wait in line. These are hard working, salt of the earth, Christian people with strong family values. When a disaster in the area happens they don't sit around waiting for the government to 'do something' they just pitch in and help each other. When a disaster strikes somewhere else they donate funds, supplies, and labor, heading to the destroyed area with strong arms and a willing hearts. These people believe strongly in freedom, freedom from government, freedom of speech, and most of all freedom to worship our Lord and Savior. Now from some very famous Americans a few quotes to start our day: "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government" -- Thomas Jefferson, 1 Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334 "This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember it or overthrow it." -- Abraham Lincoln, 4 April 1861

Dreams for Our Future?

Thank goodness we have heaven to look forward to, there are no elections in heaven, no politics there. Ciera's surgery went well. Dr. Hoerr said it was less than an hour from the first incision to the close-up stitches. She is doing well and will be home by Friday. Ciera will have 2 weeks of stall rest to recover then if all goes well will get to travel to her new home in Colorado with her new owner Stacy.

Don't Forget To VOTE

The conservatives in this country must vote or this could be the last time we can vote. Our wonderful country, America the Beautiful, has a rich history being known as the Land of the Free. Let's try hard to hang on to our few remaining freedoms as these freedoms shrink each time we get bigger government. The bumper sticker below is so true.

America must make some hard choices soon, do we want to be content with a socialist or communist government? One where they promise to care for us but tell us where to work and how to spend even the few dollars they will allow us to keep. Do we want to keep our free speech? With so many riding the wagon and fewer and fewer workers pulling the wagon this great country is quickly grinding to a halt.

Come on America wake up, drink some coffee to get your brain going, (I needed 3 cups this morning) then get out and VOTE!

Cleaning Day

Right after the walk it was time to start emptying the apartment of all personal items. Most of the day was spent sorting things into 3 piles, throw away, give away and keep. Mom took the give away bags and will haul them to mission mart as she is heading that direction tomorrow. The keep piles were brought over and for the most part placed in it's new proper place. About the time the bones and muscles were screaming break it was time to haul Ciera to Dr. Hoerr's office. She is scheduled for surgery tomorrow morning to remove her ovary, the ovary with the huge hematoma. On the way back Steven pulled along side the truck asking if I saw his new horse at Dr. Hoerr's. Turns out yes we did, that horse was in the stall next to Ciera. He is there to be gelded, a nice big paint draft cross 2 year old stallion. Steven has acquired him as a training project. Speaking of Steven, the video of him working with Valiant last week was finally finished today and is uploaded. Today I was praying while cleaning about the beds we still need. Checked craigslist and there was a bed listed that exactly matched the upstairs furniture, is in our price range, a queen size and best of all located in Hanna City, just minutes from our house. The owner was called and arrangements made to meet just after 6:00pm. We were so pleased we didn't arrive very well prepared to haul, the owner loaned us a comforter to wrap the pieces in. Tomorrow that will be returned before heading to work. We got it home, carried it upstairs and put it together. The whirlpool tub sure felt good tonight, these 57 year old muscles are stiff! Mark has a fire going and the house is cozy.

House Pictures

The pictures were taken just a few minutes ago after realizing this is probably the most organized and clean as it ever will be once everything is over here. Mark's papers have already been moved 3 times to get them out of the pictures, from the table to the desk and then into the kitchen. The first pictures are of the livingroom/diningroom combination.

Then looking toward the stairs and our bedroom door:

And a of view of the bedroom:

And looking from the livingroom all the way into the family room:

A couple of views of the family room:

And finally the a scrunched up shot of the bathroom looking toward the shower:

and looking toward the sink from standing in the shower:

No pictures yet of the kitchen, that isn't finished enough plus full of tools. Nor are there pictures of the upstairs bedrooms and bath. Once we get furniture those will be taken.

First Night

Mark wanted to try out the whirlpool tub, with the not so good water pressure in this area it took a while to fill, kind of disappointing our tankless water heater is set too low and it was just not hot enough to really enjoy. It was relaxing and right after I had climbed in bed realized our coffee maker, coffee and cream had not been brought over. That meant a trip out into the cold but the job was accomplished. We were in bed and sound asleep by 8:30pm but with the time change the night seemed to last forever. At 3:00am both dogs wanted out. Needing to stand at the back door and watch to make sure they would come back here instead of the apartment was uncomfortably cold on the bare feet. Slippers must be brought over this morning. Emma did her job then came running to the house, Darcy headed for the apartment and had to be encouraged to come back here. At 4:00am Mark awakes, with the time change it is his usual wake up time of really 5:00am. The coffee pot had to be manually started unless we wanted to wait an hour. Mark let both dogs out and only Emma comes back. After the woodburner was restocked and burning brightly and the smell of coffee was wafting through the house I got out of bed. Darcy finally figured out no one was going to let her in at the apartment and came to the house where she was praised and given some left over chicken (the dog treats are still in the apartment). Thinking over yesterday there is so much to give thanks for. Where does one start when the heart is filled with thanksgiving? Family that gives of their time, talents and muscle and our God who gave His Son because He loved us, His Son who willingly gave His life for us when we were still sinners! How can we not be thankful! Even after working so hard moving furniture Karin had to get her horse fix and trained mares. Steven arrived and worked with both stallions. He reported Evan is now crossing freely when asked to sidepass and Valiant..Valiant is now collected enough to canter in the indoor arena. This doesn't sound like much as the indoor is huge except it is filled with 90 big round bales of hay, the skid steer, all the attachments, Mike's load of concrete, Mark's mower and cart and Spark's fire engine. Karin cries each year, "is it too much to ask for a 20 meter circle?"

Moved!

We started leisurely cleaning out drawers and getting ready for the move until Philip showed up. He called in reinforcements and all of a sudden we were in quick mode. David, Stephanie, Phil, and Karin moved all of the furniture over we needed then moved the furniture stored in the back into the apartment. In just a few short hours with lots of help we are moved into the farm house. We don't have everything over but all of the big items are in and up. We are spending the night in our old new home. We were too tired to cook and too hungry to go without dinner so ordered a take out chicken dinner from Gils and shared it. The hardest part of this entire move has been to convince Darcy to stay. She has been brought over twice and each time someone leaves a door open she runs back to the apartment. Finally we brought her stinky blanket over and put it on top of her nice clean doggy bed. That blanket is going to be pitched as soon as Darcy realizes this is now her home. Tomorrow pictures will be taken of the farm house and posted, just too tired tonight. We still need 2 queen size beds for the upstairs bedrooms along with some tall chairs for Rhoda's tall table now in the apartment. Mark has a fire going in the wood burner and its time to relax!

Pictures from Yesterday

Below are a few pictures of our lunch at Diane's.

She had 14 crowded around the table. My grandchildren had a wonderful time playing in her loft. The first picture is just as they started with all these wonderful toys lined up.

That didn't last too long with three busy kids.

It was interesting what they chose to play with, Addyson with the horses, Braelyn figuring out how something works and Jack busy with the cars.

Jack was sure studying those cars, he reminded me so much of how his dad use to play, very seriously!

While I was up in the loft a couple of pictures were snapped of the people down below. In the first picture everyone is admiring Taegan, although we can't see the baby.

While Diane is busy cooking.

In the picture below Braelyn below showing us how to twirl.

Sarah had to show Braelyn how it is done but first had to put on Braelyn's twirling skirt.

Stephanie and Sarah taking turns holding the new baby Taegan.

Below are pictures of the evening at 5 Points Washington during the auction for Hospital Lumiere in Haiti.

John and Dot Hoerr were seated right behind us.

Below is Stephanie's dad Dana strutting down the runway with the backpack. He is blurry but check out the laughter of the audience.

We had such a wonderful time, not sure how much was raised but I'm sure we will hear soon. Mark is already over working on the farm house, he is determined to sleep there tonight.

Auction for Haiti

What a wonderful day. The sun was shining enough to give off enough warmth that only light jackets were needed. We ended up at Diane's for lunch where she served home made beef vegetable soup along with chicken salad, croissants filled with shaved turkey or roast beef with munster cheese, chips, grapes and for dessert pecan pie or pumpkin cake with cream-cheese frosting. After lunch Anna took her 2 girls home for naps while Taunya, Addyson, Jack, Sarah, Rhoda and Stephanie went shopping and Karin worked horses. Pictures were taken but will have to be uploaded tomorrow. Sarah brought some friends over to ride, unfortunately all the riding horses are at Middle Grove. She got out and used Jenis for them. Diane picked up mom, Ruth and I and drove to the 5 Points in Washington where the dinner and auction for hospital Lumiere in Haiti was being held. This was so much fun, like a blast from the past. We saw friends from years ago, the fellowshipping during dinner and the silent auction was at a roar. The group Testify got up to sing and sang to us for a half hour which kind of quieted the crowd a bit. Their songs also brought back memories of when we were in the young group. The room was packed with people all ready to open the purse strings and spend spend spend. The auctioneers of which there were 3 where so entertaining. The most expensive item was a week's vacation in Connecticut at a very nice house. That went for $26,000.00 and when all the bidding was finished on that the auctioneer pipes up with, "you know you only bought 1 week, not the house!" Stephanie's dad was one of the helpers, holding up the item for bid, at one point he was to exhibit a fancy ladies back pack. He put it on and strutted down the aisle like a lady on a runway causing the room to break out in loud laughter. A half hour of helicopter flight time was donated which went for $5000.00, then if that wasn't enough another half hour of instruction time, learning to fly the helicopter went for another $2500.00. We didn't stay until the end just too tired and it has been a long day.

We the People

This now has well over 10,500,000 hits come on everyone pass this along Perhaps if enough Americans see this it might, just might have an impact on the election. Watch, then vote on Tuesday!

Rush

It just seemed like everything was in a rush yesterday although I took a few minutes out of that very busy day to visit my new grand daughter and her big sister.

Once home Jenis was pulled out and covered by Evan. Now on Monday she only had a 40mm follicle but last night she didn't show well and squealed a couple of times when Evan went to mount. This does not fit her normal cycle. Usually she is in for 8 days meaning we may have missed her again. Diane drove us to church last night also taking Ruth and mom. That is such a huge benefit of living out here on the 'compound.' We enjoy the ride in, then church and love the ride home, gives us bonding time. Church was really good. Mike Reiker had the service on the Holy Spirit. Once home it was straight to bed with a good book but only a few chapters were read before the book got too heavy for my eyes and hands.