Sarah's Haiti pictures and video

Getting ready to go out on the boat to the sand bar.

Ready to load the boat.


Hannah collecting star fish


So much to explore


Left to right: Anni, Bethany and Hannah

A couple neat views from the inside.


Posing in the big cave

Climbing out of one of the caves.

Jeff, checking out a bull tied by the side of the road.

Sarah and Bethany going to church

My beautiful daughter Sarah in Haiti. So glad she came back SINGLE!

OK, I did NOT make this video, so if the music really bothers you when you are watching just turn it down. Sarah made this video the day she got home from Haiti. This was taken just a couple of days ago in the warm sunshine in Haiti. Joan and Tim hired a boat to take all 16 out to a sand bar, the boat ride including the lobster and conch dinner for all 16 was $160.00.

Shopping Day

We woke up this morning to snow lightly falling. The snow continued through the day but only accumulating a little more than an inch on top of the 9 inches earlier. I was very glad we left yesterday to deliver Royal, the roads this morning were slick and besides not having to drive the truck and trailer there was a funeral that needed singers so I was off to church by 9:15am. Once back from the funeral I drove to 2 different banks, made deposits, then off to Sams Club where I promptly spent $535.00 on supplies for the New Year's Eve party. Kroger was next on the list for the drinks (soda, chocolate miik, 2% milk and egg nog) and that was another $75.00. My budget was $600.00 as mom donated also and only went $15.00 over. The car was so full of groceries it had to be emptied before going any where else. It was driven out to the Old School Center were I met up with Spark and his son in law Jay. The three of us had the car emptied and all the supplies put away in the Old School Center kitchen within 15 minutes and back home I headed.
Called Mark to see if he wanted Chinese food for dinner but he had that for lunch so came home and made a pot of chicken noodle soup for dinner.
We are pretty tired, Rhoda came home around midnight from her house sitting job, then Sarah got in from Haiti around 2:00am. Darcy came running in our room this morning before 6:00am so we hauled ourselves out of bed and down the stairs to let her bring in the paper. She ran down the stairs, grabbed the paper and ran into the side yard, then around the house to the back door still carrying it so she got a treat once inside.
Diane and Mike are on their way to look at a 4wheeler for Horsemeister. It needs repair but Mike thinks he can fix it. Mike's was stolen out at the Middle Grove farm and the one at the Hanna City farm is now not fixable. 4Wheelers are a very necessary tool for a farm. Of course the puppy went with them. She has been so good for Diane, she loves her bag and when tired will find the bag, crawl in it and fall asleep.

Royal Gone

After work I drove out to the farm, checked on Clara, hooked up the stock trailer and pulled it out of the snow WITHOUT 4wheel drive. I barely made it up the farm drive without the trailer, I know I won't make it up pulling the trailer so the trailer may stay at my house until either the ice melts or the 4wheel drive gets fixed or Mike comes to haul it home. I called to see if Royal could be brought up today as we may be getting snow tomorrow and the owner thought that was a great idea. Mom called just as she got to Aldi to see if anything was needed for the big New Year's Eve party and I asked her if she would like to travel with me to deliver Royal. She said yes, sure don't know why but I was so glad to have her. We pulled in at his new barn right at 4:30pm, exactly when I said we would be there and waited then waited some more. Finally around 5:15 the new owner showed up and was absolutely THRILLED with Royal. There were 4 men there all waiting and couldn't believe how tall he was, they kept saying, "he looks ALL Friesian" and "Are you sure he is only 7 months old?" Royal was very well behaved the entire time. Mom kept saying once we were back in the truck, "he was so pretty, too bad you had to sell him." and "they really got a nice colt."
We stopped for gas once, then dinner at Taco Bell around 7:30pm and were home and the trailer backed into position by 8:00pm.

The Cold Hits

We had been blessed with pretty moderate temperatures this December but no longer. The rest of December is going out FROZEN. With 9 inches of snow on the ground and clear skies the temperature plunged. It is 5 degrees outside and only suppose to warm up to the low teens if we are lucky. I must try to pick up the horse trailer from the farm today and tomorrow morning deliver Royal to his new home. I did not place any ads for him, just took off the sold on the website and got 3 calls. All of them were told that if he went for asking price they could have him so the deposit could be returned to the first buyer. A man from Tennessee put down a $500.00 deposit in September with the understanding he would pay him off and pick him up in December as Royal was a Christmas gift for his wife. Then he called right before Christmas and said he didn't have the money but wanted to start making payments. He will be very disappointed but it is better for me not to have to worry about something happening to Royal while waiting for payments.
Our daughter is coming home from Haiti. She will be shocked at how cold it is. It was a good trip for her to make. Going to Haiti will opens ones eyes to real poverty.

Diane's Christmas Surprise

This is the surprise Christmas present Diane got from her husband Mike. Her son Andrew took the video with his little digital so it is not very clear but it does make obvious her shock.

Humble Myself

This is a hard post for me, it means I must humble myself and admit to a judgmental, critical spirit. My children enjoy IHOP in Kansas and the worry for me was that they would see and hear something to make them want to leave our church. I believe our church is so special and wonderful and it would break my heart if our children would walk away from their heritage. I went to IHOP not really willing to see the best but kind of looking for something to be critical of and of course when one is looking for something to criticize, one can usually find something. All classes were suspended because of the great awakening that was happening in Kansas. I asked one of the Kellenbergers how he felt about not going to class and not being taught and he told me that the Holy Spirit is teaching them and what could be a better teacher. Of course I pondered this and thought there is no way these students will be able to go out and learn a living going to this school.
Yesterday in church we had a visiting minister from California, Justin Moser and he opened up the Bible to Galatians 1. This is a very familiar chapter and I wondered what the Spirit would teach me. He brought out how Paul after he was converted did not go rushing out to consult with anyone else, he did not go into Jerusalem but he went into Arabia and then later into Damascus for the Spirit to teach him. It was only 3 years later that he went to Jerusalem to visit with Peter and James. Justin brought out how the Holy Spirit was his teacher. This message could only have come from God to me through His Spirit.
So my prayer is that I could learn not have a critical spirit, I would not jump to conclusions about how other churches conduct their services or schools. Not an easy task, my flesh is so weak. I will continue to pray that my children would love the Lord with all their heart soul and mind and leave the rest up to God.

More Snow

It snowed pretty much ALL day yesterday and this morning the dogs were sent out and came back wet. It was too dark to see if it was still snowing but by the time the sky was starting to lighten we can see that yes, the snow is coming down hard. The Northern Pine trees in our side yard look so beautiful with their blanket of snow. David and Philip planted them for Mark in 1992 and they were such little trees at that time, now they are tall more than 20 feet reaching into the sky, well filled out and look like the perfect Christmas trees, they just need lights and maybe the animals would gather around to worship the Christ child at midnight on Christmas just like the story we used to love reading when we were children.
It's time for me to head out to feed the foals.
The Peoria area received over 9 inches of snow by the time it was all over. It is beautiful, but so light that the wind has blown it off the trees. It comes off the roof of the red barn like a blizzard with our gusting winds. Mark and I shoveled the driveway after church, then just goofed off with a fire in the living room for the rest of the evening.

Snow Fall

We woke up to beautiful white fluffy snow. David came over early and enjoyed a cup of coffee with us after dropping his wife off at Methodist Medical Center where she works. He and Mark cleaned off our driveway after breakfast but I noticed when I went out to feed the foals that a lot more snow had fallen. The foals were all lying down in the straw but jumped up as soon as they saw me coming with their breakfast. They were each given an extra measure this morning as a late Christmas gift, really because I just wanted to give them a little extra this day.
Phil showed up with the Meister truck and trailer so David went with him down to Meister Brothers to load duct to take out to the job site. Mark went down to work with my car, it has the best snow tires so I was left at home with only 2 dogs and a couple loads of laundry. What a great time to get a good book and lay next to a roaring fire.
Around 2:00pm the phone rings and it is interface, an alarm went off at work. They were told not to dispatch the police as the boys were down and must have accidently set off the alarm. Turned out it was not the boys but one of the Meister HVAC service techs. He forgot to put in the code.
A big box came today for Kesha's mare, I opened it and saw it was filled with horse cookies and apples. I'll try to get out to the farm tomorrow with a camera so she can see her mare opening her presents. Mark didn't know they were horse cookies, they were decorated so nicely, they were safe from him snacking on them once I told him what they were. She put in some mints and reeses candies for us humans, what a nice gift.
An email came from the lady that bought Ylse's filly with pictures of her in her new home. It is so wonderful for us when people stay in touch.
Mike and Diane stopped in with their puppy now named Ebony but Ebby for short. Mike wanted to show Diane how she played with her step sisters (Darcy and Emma), sure was funny to watch. Mike and Diane are now officially yuppies, they walked around Menards with their puppy in a bag, went to Panera's with the puppy in the bag and took her down to our retirement home on Skyline Drive. Ebby sticks her head out of the bag and watches everything. The bag also has a pocket for water and another for all of Ebby's things.
Mark and I had left overs for dinner, were lazing around by the fire when we hear a car pull up, Rhoda came over to play games and get her Sunday clothes.

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas from the Sceggels
The dinner is over, the kids are all gone and it is now Mark, I and the dogs. We had such a blessed day. We spent the morning in church where Craig Stickling had a wonderful Christmas service. He read first in Isiah where it was written For unto US a Child is born, then in Matthew, He tied in the US through out the entire sermon. Christ came for US, He died for US. We also heard how THANKFUL we should be. After church There were 12 of us around the dinner table, such a small group for Christmas but in a way we were able to enjoy each other even better. We had medium rare steak that had been marinated for hours and was almost fork tender with such a good flavor, mushrooms sauteed in real butter, fancy french cut green beans that had been cooked in chicken broth and as David said, "best ever!" sauteed onions, baked potatoes with butter, a salad with all the fixens, sweet rolls that were brushed with honey butter sauce, and for dessert, hot coffee, a pecan sweet roll with french vanilla ice cream, whip cream and drizzled with caramel sauce. Mom tried to tell the eaters to SLOW down, today we DINE but everything just tasted so delicious that the plates were soon emptied. After our dinner Mark read in Philippians and tied it in with the Christmas story.
We settled down in the living room by a roaring fire just visiting and digesting, with some of us taking cat-naps. Mom and I took Nancy home around 4:00pm, hung up her new bulletin board with her Christmas cards and put her gifts away. The roads were pretty bad with blowing snow, it took us over an hour to go the 12 miles to Morton and back. Mom left for home and the kids started playing games around the playroom table. We made a big batch of popcorn to nibble on during the games.
It is hard to believe another Christmas has come and gone and 2009 is almost over.
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE, I pray yours was as blessed as mine.

Christmas in Haiti

Merry Christmas from Haiti.
Hanna and Faith, they really are little angels.

Bethany and Sarah singing at the Christmas program.

Faith with her new dolly.

Bethany, Hanna and Sarah opening a pretty cool gift.

The Reinhard girls, look closely at the pictures as on each one is a picture of Gabriel.

This picture is of some of our family members missing at our Christmas party, we see they are enjoying Christmas in Haiti. It looks like they are really enjoying Christmas in the warmth.

We know this first Christmas is really hard, please don't forget to pray for the Reinhards.

Christmas Party

Last night was the Meister family Christmas party held at the Old School Center. We had over 20 people missing this year but still had a crowd. Thank goodness for that wonderful facility. Just before the meal prayer, our phone rang and it was the group that left for Haiti in Monday. They had JUST made it to Joan's house. There were bad storms in Port-au-Prince so lost an entire day there. We heard it was kind of scary, they were loaded and unloaded, took off, came back, unloaded and loaded again and finally made it around 7:00pm. Our Sarah was proposed to not once but twice. I had to call her and tell her under NO circumstances is she to marry while she is visiting, she must come home first. What is it with beautiful daughters?
Dan and Susan prepared the Christmas meal and it was wonderful. Everybody brought lots of goodies.
The best part of the evening was watching the little ones perform. Before Santa comes through the door, Spark tells the Christmas story from Luke chapter 2 and of course he messes up the words and the little ones catch it and correct him. This is a tradition that dad always did and Spark is carrying it on. Then comes the singing Christmas carols around the piano. This year Kristen played the piano. After the carols the mike is turned on and which ever child wants to sing or recite is given the opportunity. Most of the kids sang Christmas songs but Tate Schick got up and sang Bob the Builder and Ava sang the ABC song. We never saw such hams, Santa is waiting in the back room and the kids don't want to quit, even knowing presents are coming.
This year Justin Herman was santa and he did a great job. Not only did he dress the part, he acted the part and even Jacob sat on his lap before getting his present.
Clean up went pretty quickly and by the time we got home, we pretty much went straight to bed. Ben, Taunya and Addyson spent the night.
This morning, I go to cook breakfast and can't find the coffee cake. It never did show up, I must have left it at the Old School Center last night. After the puppy was delivered to the Honegger's house, it was home to babysit.
Rhoda and Taunya left for RiverPlex for some exercise while I got to keep Addyson so worked on the puppy video while holding her, that was fun. She wanted to help.

Merry Christmas from the Kata's

Below is an email from the Kata's with pictures of Ribbon's filly now 18 months old. She is so beautiful and I am so thrilled with the pictures. THANK YOU Alesia!
Hi Judy,
OH MY! Do I have a Christmas present for you! I have been waiting for
a day off with some snow so that I could take some Christmas pictures
of THE Princess. (SHE prefers the term; her "Photo shoot"! haha!) As
you can see, this is a valid description since she is a natural in
front of the camera! Everyone who has seen them says she is
"absolutely gorgeous!" My Mother-in-law was so excited to get the
pictures in her Christmas card that she called and left a message on
the answering machine saying that very quote and adding that they
were better than getting pictures of people's kids!!! lol!
The first one is her sophisticated look. The second is the glamour
shot. The third is her playful/curious side:"Wonder what sleighbells
taste like?"and also shows off her abundant mane. The fourth one she
is showing off for the camera. And the last picture she thinks
accentuates her confident stride. A well rounded Holiday portfolio!
:)
Merry Christmas!!!
~Alesia

Office Party

No walking yesterday, just too busy and we had freezing rain last night so unless the roads improve this morning, I won't be making the trip out to the farm again today. It is raining now, the dogs just came in wet, but at 33 degrees outside, I'm not sure if the roads are freezing. Hopefully they have been salted. Actually the weather service has put out a flash flood warning for all of our area. We are expecting 2 to 3 inches of rain and our frost level is at 2 to 3 inches so runoff will be significant. This is just par for the course in 2009. We came into the year with floods and it looks like we will end the year with floods.
Eva Jean beat me to the shop yesterday which was a good thing, she was able to beat the mail man and brought a big box of Bible studies that were all ready to go out.
We worked quickly and efficiently and were done by 11:20am. We ended up taking 3 cars to lunch. Mark had to go straight to a job site once lunch was over and David Jacob was on a delivery and just met us. Spark, Dan, Phil, Eva Jean and I met them at Denny's. We were able to finalize the office Christmas party.
This year instead of going to a restaurant we are holding it at Meister Brothers right after work. We asked our men what they would prefer and this is what was decided. We are having pizza and desserts from Sam's Club, fruit and vegetable trays from Kroger. The funny part in all of this was Spark, Dan and Mark really didn't think it would be well attended and yesterday we found out EVERYONE, ALL the electricians, all the sheet metal workers, all the mechanics, All the service men, all the office workers, EVERY ONE on payroll have indicated they will be here. This works for them even better than making them give up an evening. Philip's entire crew, even the new apprentices are all coming. This may end up being our largest office Christmas party ever.
The Meister FAMILY Christmas party is tonight at the Old School Center and I have promised to help Susan prepare the meal so I will probably not stay long.

The Puppy

I am writing this on the 21st of December. Mike bought Diane a puppy for Christmas on Sunday, this is a REAL shock, this is an indoor puppy and Diane is not really a dog person. The puppy is so adorable that we are all hoping she will fall in love with her. Mike is calling her Wrent, as he has an agreement with the seller that he can bring her back and the owner gets to keep the money.
The puppy is 75% Shitzu and 25% dachshund, black, short with long silky hair. She loves to be held and screams if she is put down. She also screams when she is put to bed for about a half hour, screams around 2:00am, and again around 6:00am. Her scream is so piercing that even in her crate, locked in the playroom with all the doors shut we can hear her up in our bedroom. We fell asleep to the pathetic sound and don't really know when she quit but she must have quit because at 2:00am it started up again. Down the stairs I ran to thinking she must need the bathroom, open the crate and see she has vomited all over her bed. Rhoda wormed her last night so I'm sure this is the problem. Outside standing in the snow and ice for 20 minutes waiting for her to go was just no fun. She was brought in and put in the big cage with a training pad and back up to bed I head listening to her piercing cry all the way. Again we fell asleep to the grating music. 6:00am we are jarred awake by the same. Down the stairs, look in the big crate and see she has had diarrhea. At least it was all over the training pad and not on her bed. Again outside in the snow and ice and again she is not willing to relieve herself out in the cold. I think if I would leave her out, maybe she would go but as soon as I head in she tries to follow screaming. I can't subject my neighbors to this sound so early so up she is scooped and into the house where she promptly wets. I have her bed in the laundry trying to get it all nice and cleaned up for her big presentation on the 24th. I dread leaving her today while we are both gone for work.
1:50pm: Home from work and the puppy is acting lethargic. She was offered food and turns her head away. Even a piece of hotdog is refused. She is drinking well but now I'm worried. Rhoda was called and she is bringing home some special soft puppy food. She thinks it is because of the worm medicine.
UPDATE: She is doing much better this afternoon, eating and drinking well. Her evening and afternoon went much better as far as screaming. She only starts when she is locked up.
Tuesday Night: She was put in her carrier and placed on my side of the bed. She was quiet until midnight, then just started a low key whine. She was brought into the bathroom with her puppy training pad, went right away, put back in her carrier and she was fast asleep in a few minutes. This was the way to go, I couldn't get her to go outside yesterday anyway. No stairs, just a few short steps. She woke up again around 3:30am and again she was taken into the bathroom and went immediately. At 5:30am she was up for the day so down we went to let our dogs out. She followed them but came back in and pooped in the kitchen right in front of the door and wouldn't you know, Mark walks into the kitchen and steps on it.
Right now she is playing with our two Mastiffs and it is so cute. She is pouncing on Emma's tail.
Wednesday 3:00pm: Cathie Trent has been up from the barn twice to take the puppy out to visit the ladies. When she came to get her, Darcy was lying down and the puppy was all snuggled up under her chin. Mike showed up, saw the puppy jumping and playing around Darcy's HUGE head and wants me to take videos. Right now all three dogs are sound asleep on the playroom floor. Emma and the puppy on the portacushion an Darcy next to it.
Thursday, December 24th, 2009 9:30am:
The video below was taken just before we took her over to Mike and Diane's house.
The puppy was taken over to mom's to show Nancy while we were waiting for Mike to call. The call came, the puppy was put in a box and Mike grabbed the box at the front door, calling, "look Diane, there is one more present for you." Diane was sitting on the couch, Andrew was on the steps video taping, Mike hands Diane the box, she holds it, looks at it, makes a comment about how fancy the wrapping was, starts to open it, jumps back and slams it shut. She opens it again exclaiming, "MIKE, we can't have a puppy now!" She holds the puppy, Ella takes her into her arms immediately falling in love, Rachel Honegger is telling Ella, you must give her back to grandma, all the time Diane very loudly exclaiming, how can we have a puppy? Ella sees me standing at the door walks toward me with her arms outstretched saying, "Judy, we don't have a puppy." Willow sees me and starts crying, "Judy, we don't have ANY pets." I had to tell them both, there are no more puppies in the car. Diane finally said, she is beautiful and she would be the exact puppy I would have chosen. We will see if she stays, but if not just about everybody around here wants her.
I headed home to baby sit.

Picky Mares

Steven Marchal was such a help today, he brought Samantha, Sanna and her filly over from the cabin field and put them in a stall to dry off for Tyler Joos, put Sangria and Lily in one big stall, Jenis and Valiant in a stall, and tied Ylse up on the cement all ready. So nice to walk in the barn and everything was done. He told me that Clara was stuck behind a round bale in the shed paddock so she was moved. It wasn't too hard to get her to back out, she just needed encouragement. Her udder was checked to see if she is bagging up yet but so far no sign. She really isn't due until Jan.12th, 2010 but that is coming right up. She is such a nice mare. Izadora was moved in with the herd. She doesn't like the water tank with the heater in the bottom of the tank. I think she can sense the electricity. She wanted to drink but was sure she was going to get a shock. She had me convinced it was shocking her so I stuck my hand in it and there was no problem, Sanna came over and drank out of it along with Wanda but Izadora still couldn't get up the courage to drink. I finally took her over to the farm, stuck her in with the herd and she went right over to the automatic waterer and drank. Save me from picky mares! Our farmer came with his bale trailer as I was leaving and he was taking 7 of the moldy round bales. they were being used as a wind break and I kind of hated to see them go. We had to pay to have the field cut, raked and baled so the 4th cutting was more than a total loss.

Farrier Today

We have Tyler Joos coming around noon today at the farm. Tyler is a fantastic farrier, taking very good care of our Friesian's hooves.
I didn't walk today, just too tired from the long drive yesterday and didn't want to make 2 trips to the farm in one day. The foals here were anxious for breakfast. They felt very neglected over the weekend.
Sarah, Karin, Ruth, Rebekah and Anni are all leaving today for Haiti. Sarah ran to Walmart for last minute gifts to take and brought Emma her Christmas gift a little early. Emma now has a nice light green collar, which she HATES, on her neck. She is trying very hard to remove it.
Karin told me how wonderful her ride on Autumn was on Saturday. She is so impressed with her. Karin told me that Autumn is very balanced, has a great mind, and warmblood movements.

Kansas City

We left at 4:30am Saturday for the trip to Kansas City to visit IHOP. That is NOT the pancake IHOP, it is International House of Prayer. Our first stop was the prayer room. we stayed a few hours just enjoying the singing and praying. IHOP has a coffee shop in the same building, in fact right next door, so some of the group made their way over for some wonderful java.
David rented 2 apartments for us, they were in different buildings but the buildings were adjacent so it was not too far of a walk. We couldn't check in until after 5:00pm. Our 2 bedroom apartment had one bedroom with a queen bed and the other bedroom had 4 bunk beds and the living room had a nice big couch. Ben, Taunya, and Addyson took the queen, Sarah and Maria Kellenberger took the second bedroom and I took the couch. David and Stephanie's had one queen bed and the other bedroom had twin beds. Phil and Anna slept in the second bedroom and just moved the twin beds together but the way I heard it, that didn't work out too well, the beds kept moving apart and Philip kept rolling into the crack. Once we were settled we met Philip and Tom Kellenberger at a Mexican restaurant for dinner. Our food was good and plentiful. Phil Kellenberger is a 4th year student at the IHOP school and Tom Kellenberger is a first year student. They told us some wonderful stories about the school, IHOP and the awakening going on right now. After dinner everyone came over to our apartment for some sweet and funny fellowship. We crashed about 10:00pm and even Addyson slept for the entire night. Mom called early this morning to tell us that Julie and Chad Herman, Beth's son, had their baby girl around 4:30am and all is well. She was 8 pounds 6 ounces and they named her Livy.
Sarah and I walked over to the prayer room before breakfast to prepare ourselves for the church service. We saw David there also. David asked me if during the church service they announce that someone here has a bad right hip and come up so it could be healed would I go up? I said of course I would and I kept waiting for that to happen. I don't know if I was worried they actually might call that out, but deep down I was kind of hoping they would. Oh well, Paul had his thorn in the flesh.
Breakfast was actually at the pancake IHOP and again the food was good and filling. The church service at IHOP was very different from what I was used to but good. The song service was a lot of Christmas carols and the minister talked about Mary getting the news from Gabriel, then how Herod tried to kill all the babies in Bethlehem. He made the analogy that our government is voting on Christmas Eve to try to pass the health bill which is just another way to fund abortions. I've never thought of Christmas in that light. At the end of the service there was more praise songs.
My children asked me if I would be interested in going again and truthfully, I would rather be in my own church.
We left for home right after the service and were making great time until 36 miles to Springfield, IL. The roads turned bad and we crawled along for miles. Our 6 hour trip down took 8 1/2 hours to get home.
I'm glad to be home.

Winter Pricing Specials

After dealing with the rain, mud, snow, ice, and manure we have decided we MUST reduce our herd. WE have dropped the price on the horses below, not because they are worth less but because it is winter. Come summer when they can be out on pasture we will change our mind and keep them. IF you are in the market for a fantastic buy, check them out.
Below is Autumn with Prince Caspian the full sibling to the expected foal. Our special winter price for Autumn is $5800.00

Autumn rides very nicely, she is in foal to Keegan and due June 25th, 2010

Special Pricing on Velvet. We MUST reduce our herd and are willing to sell her in foal (she is due June 8th 2010) for $1800.00. Her 2008 colt was fantastic, please visit our website for his video.

Face Shot of Velvet:

Sanna

To the Chillicothe, IL lady that met me at the Northern IL Horse fair, and LOVED Sanna.
I don't know if you are interested but my partners today talked about selling Sanna for $9000.00 AND this includes her unborn foal expected in July 2010.
I really didn't think they would ever be interested in selling her, her foals usually sell at weaning for $8000.00, but Diane just gave me permission to list her. Before I list her, I thought I would try to get in touch with you. my email is: judy@horsemeister.com or cell phone is: 309-208-3840

Clara

This morning I had an email asking how tall Clara was so after our walk we sticked her and she is right at 15.2hands. Steven Marchal left his measuring stick at the barn and it is the deluxe one so it made measuring her easy. Once that was done, Mom made us a great breakfast with coffee, orange juice, fried potatoes, farm fresh eggs, bacon and whole wheat toast. Diane told us a funny story at breakfast about her grand daughter Ella at 3 years of age asking if she could ride Clara. Diane told her that is Clara and no, you can't ride her, she isn't trained. Ella thought about it for a while then told her, "I could train her to go potty for you."
After breakfast mom called about her verizon plan and we found out she really does only have 250MB which we thought would be plenty. She is over already by 5MB with 6 days to go so have gone to the higher cost plan of 5 Gs starting December 24th.
Rachel had 2 loads of broken up concrete dumped and 4 more loads coming to help support the dam. All these years we prayed for the lake to fill up and this year we are hoping for the lake to go down so we have less stress on the dam. This year with all the rain, the lake is TOO full.
One good thing today is seeing Ribbon standing with her back to me and seeing that she is obviously pregnant. When Ribbon came back from Middle Grove, she had lost some weight so we were thinking she may have lost the baby. Ribbon is so huge that she hides her pregnancies well. She is due the end of January and it is only now that I am seeing her sides sticking out.

Christmas Party

Yesterday was a very busy day. The car needed gas before going anywhere. During the walk we noticed Kesha's mare calling to Raven, brought her over and she is semi interested but not enough to try for a cover so she was put in with Clara and we will try today. If she is in season it will be disappointing but not unusual, she is a maiden mare and we weren't sure if we caught her. Maiden mares do not always give good signals.
Once down to the shop, the Bibles were UPSd out, over 400 of them. I was pleased until I went upstairs to my other office and got a call from the chaplain at Jessup Maryland needing Bibles. I had already run the end of the day so he will need to wait.
We left for Bloomington, IL for Ben and Taunya's house right at 5:00pm for the Sceggel Family Christmas which was held early because Sarah and Karin are leaving for Haiti on Monday. We had SO much fun. I can't remember ever laughing so hard. What a GREAT family! Taunya prepared a fantastic dinner and the stories, ping pong games, and fellowship between siblings is awesome to see. My heart melts when I see my children loving each other. It really hits home that God must be so pleased when He sees His children loving each other and so hurt when we don't.
Ben was going to try to get more details from the Police officer who told him the story about the trumpet at his next Bible study so we were anxious to ask him. Ben told us that he has not shown up since. We were hoping to find out more about that night.
We got home around 10:30pm and headed right to bed.

Email from Andrea

Andrea bought Prince Caspian last year, she emailed me this today:
Hi Judy,
I just wanted to write to you and let you know how wonderful Caspian is doing!!
He is the sweetest horse I have ever been around. When I go out to the pasture, he usually nickers to me and always comes walking/running up. I can pick up his feet and take cockle burs out of his hair without even a halter on him, he just stays there eating grass and doesn't mind at all. He gets along with all of the other horses and most of the time is the one who leads them out to the pasture and back in. It's hilarious because he is the youngest one out there but is the bravest by far.
He now stands right at 15H and is really filling out nicely. His feathers are REALLY coming on and his mane is growing so fast. He is such a beautiful horse and he just gets better looking every day it seems.
He is sooooo smart and always retains what he learned last. He is extremely easy to teach anything to, he always tries hard and likes to be messed with. I keep the lessons very short each time since he is so young. He knows how to do all of the Parelli Seven Games including sidepassing and backing up with a shake of the rope. He is very light, just a light touch and he will move off of your hand. I pony him when we go on short rides, usually just around the farm, and he loves it. He has also taken to ground driving extremely well, he is a natural. I think he will really like driving a cart when he gets older, he really seems to like getting out and going places.
I just got him gelded last month and he did wonderfully with the procedure and healed extremely well. It really didn't seem to affect him nearly as much as any other horse we have had gelded, I was so glad.
I took him a few weeks ago on a camping trip with a group of people. I had so many people complement me on him, on his looks and his behavior. One person even had me give her your website address so she could look at your available horses, she was just so impressed with him. He was absolutely PERFECT the entire time we were there, he was fine with being left behind in the barn by himself (he was in a stall just munching on his hay, like no big deal) and he was great when I took him with us on a short trail ride. I ponyed him off of another horse I was riding and we ended up leading the whole group! He was really happy to go with us, he crossed creeks and went up a hill and even drank water on the trail!! I was so excited I was just grinning from ear to ear the whole time! =)
Well, I could just go on and on about him all day, but I won't, you get the picture, he is a wonderful horse and he is doing really well. I don't think I will ever have another breed of horse again besides a Friesian or a Friesian cross, Caspian has just exceeded all of my expectations! Thank you so much for selling him to me, he is the best!
Sincerely,
Andrea Jessup (used to be Lee

OK, Can you tell this boy is LOVED!

Round Bales

Today once the temperature warms up, I'll try to move some old round bales in the foal paddock. They are actually left from last year and were last years first cutting. 2 of the bales look fine, the other 2 will use as a wind break. The farmer was told he could have the bales but there is no way to load them up onto his trailer so they may as well be put to use. It was 9 degrees this morning when Darcy, Emma and I left for the walk. I was late, my phone was missing but still made it in time to join the walk right at the farm. Mom made us all breakfast so it was worth making the trip.

Horse in Trouble

Below is an email that came in today. I posted the pictures he sent of his mare and foal. I sent an email back to him that I think the mare needs an iodine shampoo, then worming first with Panacur, then 2 weeks later Ivermectin.
If anyone else has any ideas to help him, please don't hesitate to email me suggestions and I will forward them to him. He really wants to save his mare and foal!
hi,
i am Aftab Ali Rahimoon 23male karachi,
my village is in Umerkot Sindh, Pakistan.
i have a mare and a beautifull foal (born in august 2009)
but the problem is, my mare is getting weak day by day, she has some skin poblems also.
as u know in pakistan there are no vitnary doctors in remote areas like THAR & UMERKOT,
i am sending u some of its pics,
could u plz suggest me how can i solve this problem?
THANKS
Aftab Ali Rahimoon
Umerkot/ Karachi
Pakistan

Tuesday's COLD

This morning it was 10 degrees above zero Fahrenheit and the sun was out but the wind was blowing so hard we cut our walk short. We started back over the dam from Rachel's when we decided to quit. Rachel just turned around and headed home while Diane and I went into mom's to see an email Aunt Jinny sent her. Mom has a new laptop and she is learning about the internet pretty quickly. Today she even used facebook!
At work today, Eva Jean and I were swamped with Bible studies. We work amazingly efficient together and were ready for lunch shortly before noon. Phil, Anna, Spark, Dan, and Mark joined us for lunch. We had a very lively and fun discussion and really didn't want to head back down to work but duty called.
The individual Bibles were mailed out after lunch. I had so many request that we ran out of wrapped Bibles and I had to wrap the last 7. Those were not very pretty but at least the entire request for the week went out. Our Apostolic Christian retirement home on Skyline drive in Peoria does most of my wrapping and when ever I have to wrap any is when the thought comes, THEY MUST BE THANKED. This is a TERRIBLE job and they do it so willingly. THANK YOU Louise Roecker for taking charge of this job!
We finally received the email from the lady that bought Meike. It was kind of cute so I am posting some of it below. For the record, English is not her language, I think she does VERY well.
Hi Judy,
Meike was shipped to Ottawa and was kept there overnight, she arrived at midnight on Sunday on my place. She was calm and brave. She did adapt to me right away, she was not spooky, she wants to be
petted like a dog. actually she behaves like a giant dog. I could not believe her size. she is only 4 month old and her legs are as long as the legs of my other horses. I have small horses about 14.5 hands and Meike is over 13 hands, nearly their size.Thank you for the holder and leadrope you bought for her. The holder I bought (for a 4 month old filly) is much to small and I have to bring it back. Meike was so calm that I thought she made have been drugged . I thought- wait another day- she may come out of it and be a wild little horse, but fortunately she is the same, today, she is still the calm big filly who liked to be petted and is putting her head gentle on my shoulder. She is very trusting and I have to thank YOU for that, she had only good experiences with people. I was the whole day around to observe: she is eating , drinking, pooping peeing -well, I guess she is healthy. To make it short, Meike is more as I was hoping for. A wonderful breed with an old pedigree that seems to run through her blood and makes her brave. I was so happy with Meike that all the other thingsdidn't seem important. Meike is greeting my with a loud nicker when ever I approach , that gives me a very nice feeling. It was pleasure to deal with you Judy, if I can sell my Motel in 2010 I will contact you for another horse.....
Good Day
Brigitte

The Girls Snowboarding Trip

Rachel and Dave drove up to Galena, IL on Friday night with their family, Ruth took her motorhome up early Saturday morning with a full load. The had a great trip. Karin and Sarah took the videos. Sarah put it together this afternoon.

Mom and Ylse

Mom had Rachel Sauder of momentscapturedbyrachel take these pictures for her Christmas card. I asked mom if I could post them on the website and she asked me to wait until after she sent out her cards. They are now sent out so Rachel was very kind to email them to me. THANK YOU Rachel, your pictures are always the best!

On the walk today, mom told us about the power she could feel under her when she was on Ylse. Friesians are such big powerful horses, good thing they LOVE people and want to please. Our Friesians are the puppy dogs of the horse world according to Mike Honegger.

Royal

The man buying Royal called on Saturday to tell me that he now does not have the money to pick him up this month. Royal was sold with the understanding he was to be a Christmas present for his wife. He gave me a deposit and was to pay him off and ship him home before Christmas.
I really am not happy about keeping him until who knows when, even if he starts paying board. I would like to sell him outright, then give back the deposit. I'm not sure if this is the morally right thing to do and have not advertised him again. I had 3 very real buyers for Royal but told each one that a deposit was suppose to come each time I was contacted and that Royal was sold. What is the right thing to do? I could wait until Jan and if board does not come in with another payment, then consider the contract void, or take the sold off the website and see if anyone else is willing to buy him, pay for him and take him home.
The round bale here at Bridlewood is almost gone and the next 7 bales haven't yet been delivered. There is probably enough hay for 4 more days before I either must move in hay or take the foals back to the Hanna City farm.

Revised New Year's Eve Flyer

Dan sent me the revised flyer for New Years Eve.

A Blessed Sunday

First of all, Emma really surprised me, NO accidents last night OR today while we were at church. Today was the Sunday School Christmas program in the afternoon and church was packed. We didn't get home until 1:45pm and I was sure I would find puppy pee or something worse and we didn't. EMMA HELD it, oh my we have had a breakthrough? Just maybe she is growing up.
Tim Funk had the morning service and how filled with the Spirit he was. The sermon was so thought provoking and powerful, everyone that was there has something to think about this week. Tim opened to Ephesians chapter 5, we all know it so well but this time the Spirit wanted us to think of MORE, how Christ LOVED his bride the church so much He gave His life for her, and how our husbands should love us and how we are to reverence our husband and reverence CHRIST as He is our husband. The Christmas program was cute and touching. After the program, Brian Elsasser gave the finishing talk. He started by asking the young ones what did they want for Christmas. That led him to tell us the time BJ his son was 16 months old and went in for his first heart surgery. There were 4 children all in for heart surgery the day BJ went, the other three children all died. When BJ was brought home, they wrapped him in Christmas paper and put a big bow on his head. What they wanted for Christmas that year was for BJ to live. Brian then talked about BJ through his years and how thankful they were when BJ gave his heart to the Lord this last summer, his baptism day and then the day BJ died. By the time Brian was finished, there were not many dry eyes in the packed audience.
We are having our all church Christmas caroling tonight with a dinner afterward.

Saturday Work

It was nice to sleep in this morning, Rhoda and Sarah left for a snowboarding trip at 4:30am and they were to let Emma out first. We didn't roll out of bed until 7:00am.
The sun is out and the thermometer is reading 26 degrees. The 100 pounds of sweet feed for the foals was still in the car so that had to be unloaded before feeding.
Darcy went to the farm with me after taking care of breakfast for everyone here.
At the farm, Raven's feeder was off the fence and into his paddock which was easy to put back on, the only hard part is climbing though his fence. I could go through the gate but then I would have to walk. Mike had Clara in with Sangria, Ylse and Samantha and those 3 don't really like Clara. She was moved into the breeding shed area, not because she is ready to deliver but so she doesn't have to compete at all for hay.
We moved a round bale in the first paddock, put the bale feeder around it and was trying to only put 4 horses in but Jewell followed the 4 and didn't want to come out. This is the first winter to use that paddock, we finally got a new automatic heated waterer there. Took the bent gate off and hung a new heavy duty one up. Mike brought out the excavator and the skid steer to help with the next job. The far shelter in the middle paddock was cleaned out, a new bale put in and a brand new shiny red (the heavy duty kind) gate was hung. Now we just need to open the gate to put in a bale, no need to drive the skid steer into the paddock. We needed both machines, the hay and manure build up was getting so high it was getting hard to put in the new bales. The temperature had risen to 38 and the ground was getting slick so had to quit once the shelter was done, we still have a pile to move out of the paddock but will have to wait for better weather. We really should fix the first shelter the same way, perhaps if the weather holds, we can work on that next Saturday. By the time all of this was accomplished I was muddy, frozen and miserable. Darcy never got out of the car, she thought it was just too cold, she even honked the horn once to hurry me up. I couldn't wait to get in the car, turn the heater on and drive home. But... the drive was awful, my boots were pretty filthy and the heat made the manure on my boots really start to stink. The car smelled so bad I had to open the window which took away my heat. Good thing the drive is only 12 miles.

Our Friesian Stallion Raven's 2009 Season

After driving home from the funeral and hearing from Sarah about the Transport company picking up Meike, it was time to head down to work. Today was another day to run financials such as credit card payments and our twelve months same as cash at Meister HVAC. We don't run the payments through until the job is finished.
After work, I started on Raven's records. He had a moderately busy year, covering 28 mares. The calendar was gone through writing down what mare was covered on what day and when she would be due in 2010. Amazing to me is that Raven's first foal of 2010 is due January 13th, only a month away! The mare is Clara our Cremella Tennessee Walker. This is the very FIRST time we have tried for color. We are trying for a buckskin foal and have a wonderful chance of actually getting it. Clara crossed with a black can only throw a buckskin or a smokey black.
I will need to order a few new foal predictor kits.
Today we had a warming spell, it is up to 32 degrees. Warmer weather makes it easier to fill the water tanks, feed the foals, and move in bales.

Transport Company

The transport company taking Meike into Canada was held up and didn't make it here until 10:30am. Sarah told me they were VERY impressed with how well behaved Meike was and couldn't get over how tall she is. They asked Sarah, are you sure she is only 4 months old? I wish I could have been here to see her off.
Mike has moved some of the horses into the first pen, some he is leaving in the middle and some he will move into the 4th pen. He is just uncomfortable leaving them as a herd. The last time he left a gate open ALL of the horses were out and he doesn't want that to happen again. Also he feels it is easier to make sure they are all getting enough to eat if they don't have to compete with 20 + horses. Diane worked on our books and called with the information that we spent $15,000.00 this year on hay. We were not able to use the Middle Grove farm as much with the weather so rainy this summer, now we know what that ground saves us. At least $4000.00 as last year's hay bill was $11,000.00. One bill that went down was our vet bill. This year only Lily went to the University of Illinois, no foals, no mares, THANK YOU GOD!
Vet bills we can not even budget for, they just happen and a bad hospital stay shoots our budget.

Good By Meike

The transport company just emailed that they will be at Bridlewood between 7:00am and 10:00am tomorrow. This would be wonderful EXCEPT there is a funeral and I need to leave the house by 9:15am and won't be home until 11:30am.
I'm praying they get here between 7:00 and 9:00 but if not, I do have a back up plan. Sarah doesn't have to leave for school until 11:30am. She would just need to make sure she does not forget to give the truck drivers the paper work or Meike won't get across the boarder into Canada.
Meike was pulled out of the paddock this afternoon to get all cleaned up for her ride. She was so good while I worked on trying to get the frozen mud balls out of her feathers. It was much to cold to use water so a little cowboy magic was rubbed into the feathers, then I used my hands to warm the mud up enough to break it apart and comb it out. By the time she was presentable, my hands were frozen and VERY muddy. She is back in the stall and twice tonight was brought warm water to add to her bucket. Both times she drank deeply. I can't believe how good she is behaving in a stall, the showing with her dam at the horse fairs taught her stall manners even when she is without her mom. The picture below is the last picture we have of Ylse with her beautiful filly by Raven, Meike, heading to Ontario Canada tomorrow.

New Years Eve Party

Hey All, The flyer that went out for the New Years Eve Party was MEANT to say SUGGESTED donation $8.00. Please, Please, we want everyone to come whether you want to help donate or NOT. A party is only a success if EVERY one participates.
Hope to see HUNDREDS of people at the party. We are excited to host it and want to enjoy the Old School Center with EVERYONE!

The After Effects

This morning it wasn't as cold as predicted, it was 5 degrees above zero, instead of zero but the wind was fierce. The foals were very anxious to be fed their grain and the water was mostly open. I smashed some of the ice around the heater to open a bigger hole for drinking. I had no phone call from the farm so all must be fine. At this point the only calls are usually bad calls so I would prefer the phone not ring. After checking them all over, all have some mud frozen to them but Meike has frozen mud on her feathers so somehow that must be cleaned off before the transport company gets here. The last email from them thought they would be picking up in Minnisota sometime this afternoon which would put them at my place the middle of the night. I'll bring her into a stall tonight just in case. I'll need to bring out the heated water bucket for her. At least all of her paper work is done. This is the time I miss not having a heated indoor barn with warm running water. It sure would be easier to clean these babies up before they leave for their new homes.
Sometime today or tomorrow I'll need to take a trip down to TSC for more grain. Feeding 5 foals here at Bridlewood along with the 3 left at the farm we are going through more than one 50 pound bag a week. I bought 6 bags the last time shopping, 2 for here at Bridlewood and 4 for the Hanna City farm. It didn't help that yesterday I spilled a bucket of grain in the foal paddock, trying to get through the wind and snow then slipping on the ice. Just 2 weeks ago it was so nice that Rachel took pictures of the Friesians at the farm and I made the video below. How quickly the view from the window changes, no more green grass and mud, now it is all frozen ground with snow and ice.

The Storm

This morning there isn't much snow on the ground but it is blowing and snowing and COLD. The wind is blowing 25 to 40 miles an hour (per weather.com) but it seems like 60mph. The temperature is dropping fast, it was 33 degrees when we got up this morning and only 2 hours later is now down to 23 degrees and forecast to drop to 1 above ZERO with wind chills at 15 below! brrrr and double brrrr this is no beautiful snowfall like we want around Christmas this is brutal. I didn't drive to the farm this morning but talked to both mom and Diane. Mike also called to tell me that last night, he thought there were too many horses all together so he put 4 in one of the side paddocks but this morning they were not happy and wanted to be with the others. He let them all together again and all are hunkered down waiting out the storm. He dumped 2 more round bales over the fence into the middle paddock. The horses could go down into the valley, we have all the lower gates open with new hay bales in that field but for some reason they all want to be together in the middle. Perhaps this is survivor mode?

Funny Christmas Decoration

One of my customers sent me this picture today of Christmas Decorations.
Below is the rest of the email:
"Good news is that I truly out did myself this year with my Christmas decorations.
The bad news is that I had to take him down after 2 days. I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever.Great stories. But two things made me take it down.
First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost wrecked when they drove by.
Second, a 55 year old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder almost killed herself putting it against my house and didn't realize it was fake until she climbed to the top (she was not happy). By the way, she was one of many people who attempted to do that. My yard couldn't take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up my yard."