There have been readers of the blog who want to know about Wynne and Evan as they are mentioned in the blog but no where on our website. Since I've been emailing about the story, I finally just decided to post it here.
I saw Wynne when she was born and thought she would fit in our program, after 2 and a half years of waiting, the owner decided to sell her to us. As far as Evan, I'd been looking for a Friesian stud colt for a couple of years. I hate having to haul my mares out of state to another Friesian stallion and Mike is not letting me sell Jewel (last Grace baby out of Raven) and Autumn is Raven's daughter, then I want to keep Ciera so it just made sense to find the best stud colt possible to breed the Raven daughters we want to keep, plus it will give any owner of a Raven daughter a good option. At first I thought we would go with Tietse colt, I love his hair and grand prix movement but with Tietse, there were some disadvantages. Mintse had EVERYTHING we wanted with no disadvantages, He is tall, blue black, has the HAIR, has the distinction of the highest rated approved stallion improving on the mare, and he can never lose his breeding privileges as he is not just approved but approved on offspring. After a 2 years of searching we still couldn't find a stud colt by him that struck me as the right one. So many I looked at had something that didn't click with my program. One colt I found, was beautiful and his movement was spectacular. I asked for a copy of his papers and found out he was out of a Ludse mare. No wonder I liked him, he was Raven's cousin. Of course we had to pass on him. After searching so long, I finally decided to go right to the source and called Bob Debor, the owner of Mintse. He told me on the phone he would show me about 5-6 colts all by Mintse and let me pick. WE were able to see most of the dams of the colts also, what I liked about Evan's dam was she was a little more baroque than Mintse and had lots of hair. I think she was also the tallest but it was getting hard to keep track, he has around 50 mares.
Long story short, the search is finally over. Now we get to wait for him to grow up.
This morning there are NO horses here to run out in the cold and feed. No more struggling to fill a water tank when the hydrant is frozen, no manure to scoop (actually there is a lot from before, I gave up on cleaning up the manure when the extreme cold hit) no trying to start a tractor that just doesn't like starting in the cold, but also no horses looking at my door and calling when they see the door open, no horses crowding around vying for my attention.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Classy & Shots
Steven Marchal got to the farm just before 7:00am to hook up the gooseneck trailer with his brand new fancy 4wheel duly Ford one ton truck. He had a little problem getting the hitch on the ball but finally figured out that his ball was taller than mine and it really was where it belonged. He got to Bridlewood right around 9:00am and Classy was loaded. The trip was an hour past Springfield so it took much longer than expected. Classy was pleased to be at his new home. I forgot all of his paper work so will have to mail that to his new owner.
We pulled up at the farm around 3:30pm, met Karin and got ready to start with the shots. All the horses lined up at the fence line trying to figure out what we were doing. They looked like they were lined up ready to go into a movie or something. Pretty funny looking. Each horse got 2 shots a 5 way which includes tetanus EEE, WEE, Flu, Rhino and a West Nile. I'm writing them here so I don't have to write it on the calender. Raven, Lily, Sangria, Samantha, Ylse, Sophie, Jewell, Autumn, Velvet, Ribbon, Izadora, Walker Sally, Mika, Jenis, Big Sally, Bunny, Valiant, Evan, Clara, Ciera, Chloe, Wanda and Paris.
Still needing shots are Duke and Knight. I wasted 2 shots by losing the fluid when I went to push it into the neck of Ribbon and Valiant so I was short by 2. I skipped the ponies and will get them later.
I'm home by 5:00pm and will leave to pick Rhoda up at the Peoria airport by 5:25pm. Darcy will be so glad to have her home.
We pulled up at the farm around 3:30pm, met Karin and got ready to start with the shots. All the horses lined up at the fence line trying to figure out what we were doing. They looked like they were lined up ready to go into a movie or something. Pretty funny looking. Each horse got 2 shots a 5 way which includes tetanus EEE, WEE, Flu, Rhino and a West Nile. I'm writing them here so I don't have to write it on the calender. Raven, Lily, Sangria, Samantha, Ylse, Sophie, Jewell, Autumn, Velvet, Ribbon, Izadora, Walker Sally, Mika, Jenis, Big Sally, Bunny, Valiant, Evan, Clara, Ciera, Chloe, Wanda and Paris.
Still needing shots are Duke and Knight. I wasted 2 shots by losing the fluid when I went to push it into the neck of Ribbon and Valiant so I was short by 2. I skipped the ponies and will get them later.
I'm home by 5:00pm and will leave to pick Rhoda up at the Peoria airport by 5:25pm. Darcy will be so glad to have her home.
Chewys
Darcy and Emma were given their Big Chicken flavored Rawhide bones last night and it was so entertaining to watch them. Emma would throw hers around playing with it, then drop hers, grab Darcy's and run. Of course Darcy would go get Emma's until Emma realized that Darcy had another bone and the same routine again. If Emma could have fit both in her mouth, Darcy would have been left with none. This morning there is only a small part of ONE left. We thought these would last for days. There were 4 in the package so Emma and Darcy each got another. Darcy grabbed hers this time and ran in the living room where Emma is not allowed.
Right this moment Emma is lying in front of the heater with her new bone plus the piece left from last night. Emma reminds me of a greedy child always wanting what any one else has. Darcy is lying at my feet too dignified to grab.
Today Classy will be delivered to his new home, one down 8 to go.
We really want to cut back on our horses and only want to keep the purebred Friesian and the horses we use for the camps and trail rides. Those that we would like to still sell are: Big Sally, Velvet, Aragon, Clara, Coal, Chloe, Wanda, and one of the ponies. Anni is sold and paid for but still needs to be picked up and Sophie is sold but payments are being made and Jewell is a yearling out of Grace so of course we can't sell her.
That leaves us with riding horses of Mika, Bunni, W.Sally, Paris, Duke, Sangria, Izadora & Autumn.
Vaulting horse: Ribbon.
Friesians: Raven, Jenis, Samantha, Ylse, Wynne, Lily, Ciera, Wanda, Evan & Valiant.
This does not include any of the foals due this year so hopefully we sell some of the mares before they deliver.
Right this moment Emma is lying in front of the heater with her new bone plus the piece left from last night. Emma reminds me of a greedy child always wanting what any one else has. Darcy is lying at my feet too dignified to grab.
Today Classy will be delivered to his new home, one down 8 to go.
We really want to cut back on our horses and only want to keep the purebred Friesian and the horses we use for the camps and trail rides. Those that we would like to still sell are: Big Sally, Velvet, Aragon, Clara, Coal, Chloe, Wanda, and one of the ponies. Anni is sold and paid for but still needs to be picked up and Sophie is sold but payments are being made and Jewell is a yearling out of Grace so of course we can't sell her.
That leaves us with riding horses of Mika, Bunni, W.Sally, Paris, Duke, Sangria, Izadora & Autumn.
Vaulting horse: Ribbon.
Friesians: Raven, Jenis, Samantha, Ylse, Wynne, Lily, Ciera, Wanda, Evan & Valiant.
This does not include any of the foals due this year so hopefully we sell some of the mares before they deliver.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Friday Jan 29th
The trip out to the farm this morning was quick and efficient. Mark had me check the propane level and it is almost empty. With this cold the tanks are not lasting long and the office heat is set on 50 degrees. Ribbon was again checked and no change but I do still think she is still pregnant. I guess by Monday we will know for sure. Raven was fed first, then Clara and the 2 boys. The ice on the driveway must be 10 inches thick and I'm always amazed how well my little Toyota does getting up it when the truck can't even make it up. Front wheel drive and great snow tires do the trick.
Steven Marchal is going to pick up the trailer from the farm tomorrow with his new truck then go down to deliver Classy with me. All of the vaccines came in for the horses so after Classy is delivered we will head back out to the farm and start giving shots. Each horse will be given a West Nile shot along with Tetanus, EEE,WWW, and Flu Rhino. I have over $1000.00 of shots sitting in my fridge, wow we are rich!
After dinner Mark and I went to Riverplex for a physical workout then to Walmart to buy cream, rawhide bones for the dogs and rat poison. We have seen and heard mice in the house again. Living in the country in an OLD house we fight mice each winter. I hate using poison but just can't tolerate the damage the mice can do. I just can't make myself get a cat in the house.
At our Sioux Trail house the boys were always catching snakes and bringing them in. Snakes eat mice so they are usually welcome on a farm. One time the aquarium lid fell off and the snakes all got out but the boys didn't tell us. Mark and I were sitting on the couch and a big black snake came crawling out from under it. Mark jumped up on the couch yelling "SNAKE, SNAKE!" WE decided at that point the boys could no longer keep any in the house. What if company had been over.
Steven Marchal is going to pick up the trailer from the farm tomorrow with his new truck then go down to deliver Classy with me. All of the vaccines came in for the horses so after Classy is delivered we will head back out to the farm and start giving shots. Each horse will be given a West Nile shot along with Tetanus, EEE,WWW, and Flu Rhino. I have over $1000.00 of shots sitting in my fridge, wow we are rich!
After dinner Mark and I went to Riverplex for a physical workout then to Walmart to buy cream, rawhide bones for the dogs and rat poison. We have seen and heard mice in the house again. Living in the country in an OLD house we fight mice each winter. I hate using poison but just can't tolerate the damage the mice can do. I just can't make myself get a cat in the house.
At our Sioux Trail house the boys were always catching snakes and bringing them in. Snakes eat mice so they are usually welcome on a farm. One time the aquarium lid fell off and the snakes all got out but the boys didn't tell us. Mark and I were sitting on the couch and a big black snake came crawling out from under it. Mark jumped up on the couch yelling "SNAKE, SNAKE!" WE decided at that point the boys could no longer keep any in the house. What if company had been over.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Ribbon?
Karin called just as I finished at work and asked if I'd looked at Ribbon yet. That was next on the list so instead of unloading my car it was off to the farm. It is just so hard to tell with Ribbon, her udder looked not quite as flat as a maiden mare and her right side is definitely sticking out more than her left side but her rear end is so huge and she is such a big bodied mare, I just can't tell. If she hasn't had the foal by Monday we will probably spend the money to find out if she is open.
Valiant and Evan are getting along swell. After hanging 2 buckets up and putting in grain in both buckets they were still wanting to just share one. Mike is taking care of the horses at the cabin but I really wanted to see Wynne again and check how things are looking over there. As soon as the horses saw me they left the round bale and came strait to the cabin, of course they needed a treat so into each bucket at the cabin was also dumped a little grain. It is so funny to watch Ciera boss Wynne around, she really is her mother's daughter. Lily was top horse and now Ciera, not even a year old is top horse in the cabin field. Of the fillies, Wanda and Ciera look great, Chloe is still shy and wouldn't let me check her over, Paris is huge and looks like she is carrying twins.
Valiant and Evan are getting along swell. After hanging 2 buckets up and putting in grain in both buckets they were still wanting to just share one. Mike is taking care of the horses at the cabin but I really wanted to see Wynne again and check how things are looking over there. As soon as the horses saw me they left the round bale and came strait to the cabin, of course they needed a treat so into each bucket at the cabin was also dumped a little grain. It is so funny to watch Ciera boss Wynne around, she really is her mother's daughter. Lily was top horse and now Ciera, not even a year old is top horse in the cabin field. Of the fillies, Wanda and Ciera look great, Chloe is still shy and wouldn't let me check her over, Paris is huge and looks like she is carrying twins.
COLD, Cold and more cold
This is one LONG winter. It is 7 degrees outside right now. One should be use to this but with our small January thaw last week it seems double hard to face the frozen ground. It cost $550.00 to get the Horsemeister office's pipes all fixed, so glad Meister Plumbing owes Meister brothers. Trading work problems are so much better than trying to come up with cash. Dan Meister got the new gas heater installed in our Berean office, now we just have to try it out to make sure it works. The individual Bibles need to be taken care of today, there must be over a hundred letters waiting to be processed. Eva Jean reads the letters, then puts an S (wanting a study)or a B (wanting a Bible) on the envelope for processing. Thank goodness for good help.
Yesterday after the bills were paid, there is $65.00 left in my account at the end of this month. Spark and Dan told me they are not going to cash the check for the new years eve party at the Old School Center. THANK YOU SPARK and DAN. I would have been well in the red without this help. Nice of them to give such a gift. The utilities bills must be terrible there and I know they could have used the money so thank you again. The party really was a mission for teens this year.
Horsemeister along with taking the vaulting team, is also going to be taking Friesians down to the IL Horse Fair in Springfield, IL the first weekend of March. We have reserved 4 stalls and now just have to decide which ones we will take. Last year at the fair there were NO Friesians, the new person running the breed and sport demos didn't realize how important it is to have Friesians at a horse fair. Our mares are all in foal and MUST get their shots before exposing them to other horses. Steven Marchal is going to help with all the shots on Saturday after we get Classy delivered. Steven has purchased a 4wheel drive dually with a gooseneck hitch and is willing to drive both to the Horse Fair and also Saturday to help deliver Classy. WHAT A GIFT! Glad for Steven and also glad to have another available truck.
Yesterday after the bills were paid, there is $65.00 left in my account at the end of this month. Spark and Dan told me they are not going to cash the check for the new years eve party at the Old School Center. THANK YOU SPARK and DAN. I would have been well in the red without this help. Nice of them to give such a gift. The utilities bills must be terrible there and I know they could have used the money so thank you again. The party really was a mission for teens this year.
Horsemeister along with taking the vaulting team, is also going to be taking Friesians down to the IL Horse Fair in Springfield, IL the first weekend of March. We have reserved 4 stalls and now just have to decide which ones we will take. Last year at the fair there were NO Friesians, the new person running the breed and sport demos didn't realize how important it is to have Friesians at a horse fair. Our mares are all in foal and MUST get their shots before exposing them to other horses. Steven Marchal is going to help with all the shots on Saturday after we get Classy delivered. Steven has purchased a 4wheel drive dually with a gooseneck hitch and is willing to drive both to the Horse Fair and also Saturday to help deliver Classy. WHAT A GIFT! Glad for Steven and also glad to have another available truck.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Wormers & Shots
Yesterday I must not have worked hard enough because last night after falling asleep quickly I woke up right around 2:30am. Lying there until 3:00am thinking of everything that needs to be done just didn't seem right and soon it was I may as well be DOING instead of just thinking. Down the stairs to let the dogs out was the first job. They were glad to see me but very confused. Darcy was sure the paper must be here early and Emma wet right on the front porch but at least it was not in the house. They were called back in, the heater turned on and time for shopping. First stop was ebay for wormers but didn't find any cheap enough. After searching the web for a while I finally ordered from the usual place and bought 30 strongid and 30 ivermectin. We will use the strongid in Feb, then wait 2 months and use ivermectin. The horses were suppose to be wormed Jan 15th. What is wrong with me that I forgot to even order the wormers? Maybe just a little too busy. Hope the wormers come before we leave on Feb 6th.
The vaccinations were next and after searching the web for a while, finally ordered from a new company. The cost for the shots and wormers came to $624.33. I think I spent enough for the day!
Emma needs a chew bone desperately, she is chewing up everything here, shoes, pens, boxes, earphone, just what ever she can find. Perhaps with a rawhide bone I can quit yelling "NO you can't have that, NO, that's Sarah's shoe, NO and OH NO that was the last set of earphones!" So I may be going down to TSC just to check out shot prices and buy her one. I know the vaccines at TSC were more than I paid online but I want to find out exactly what I saved per shot. Also by ordering on line there was no sales tax and because the order was so huge free shipping, YEAH! By 4:00am I was ready to go back to bed but then morning came too soon.
It is very cold outside and Classy keeps watching the door to see when he will be fed so it is time to get off the internet and up to dress.
Poor Classy had to wait until almost 9:00am to be fed. He will be so glad to get to his new home on Saturday where he will be taken care of like a KING.
The vaccinations were next and after searching the web for a while, finally ordered from a new company. The cost for the shots and wormers came to $624.33. I think I spent enough for the day!
Emma needs a chew bone desperately, she is chewing up everything here, shoes, pens, boxes, earphone, just what ever she can find. Perhaps with a rawhide bone I can quit yelling "NO you can't have that, NO, that's Sarah's shoe, NO and OH NO that was the last set of earphones!" So I may be going down to TSC just to check out shot prices and buy her one. I know the vaccines at TSC were more than I paid online but I want to find out exactly what I saved per shot. Also by ordering on line there was no sales tax and because the order was so huge free shipping, YEAH! By 4:00am I was ready to go back to bed but then morning came too soon.
It is very cold outside and Classy keeps watching the door to see when he will be fed so it is time to get off the internet and up to dress.
Poor Classy had to wait until almost 9:00am to be fed. He will be so glad to get to his new home on Saturday where he will be taken care of like a KING.
Comfort Ship Update
January 25
No big news from the Commodore’s briefing tonight but here’s some other
stuff.
In the area where there were a lot of deaths, people are very poor. They
have a hard time buying food for their family and children are often
malnourished. It is very common for parents to take a child to an
orphanage and leave them there to be taken care of. The parents have every
intent to come back for their child and do when the child has put on some
weight. These orphanages are run by churches or non-profit organization.
Once a child makes it to five years old they’ll usually be OK. Of course
OK in Haiti is different from the US . Life expectancy for a male is 57. I
don’t remember the female but it’s not much different.
There were children in these orphanages who were being adopted prior to
the earthquake. Just after the quake, the Haitian government decided that
for those adoptions in progress they’d sort of stamp the paperwork done.
The aim was to get the children out of the country to free up room in the
orphanages for victims of the quake.
We call the children with us here on the Comfort “displaced” rather than
orphaned because in so many cases we just don’t know what has happened to
parents. And parents don’t know where their children are. Our translators
have gotten names and addresses and any other information they can from
the children and have taken photos. These will be placed on a website.
Not many of the poor Haitians have internet access but they all listen to
the radio. And if they don’t listen, their friend listens so the best way
to get the word out is via radio. Of course all that can be done there is
read names. But it’s a start.
The Haitian government is loosening up with sending people to the states.
We’ve got five patients flying out tomorrow to University of Miami on a
plane that’s bringing in 20 medical folks from the university. UM has
taken the lead on setting up a network of hospitals to take care of our
most serious patients AND to ensure they get back home.
One of our biggest worries just 2 or days ago was where could patients go
when they left the ship. Most of the hospitals around Port au Prince are
just plain gone. The Navy was going to set up an emergency medical
treatment (EMT) at GTMO. But if you look at your globe GTMO is a pretty
good hike from PauP! Now the EMT is going to be in Haiti . And hospitals
in other parts of Haiti will accept patients.
I want to tell you about a meeting 2 or 3 nights ago. All of the medical
care providers were called to the mess hall and told the ship would fill
up soon. The Comfort is advertised as a 1,000 bed hospital. That must have
been written by the same guys who write the description of houses in the
Multiple Listing Services!
Yes, there are 1,000 places to sleep. But in the wards there is an upper
and lower rack. 440 upper and 440 lower. And the upper is pretty damned
high and very difficult to use. The other 120 beds are in ICU and
Recovery, I guess.
Other problems were that medicine and other medical supplies were just
plain running out. And we were using oxygen faster than the ships plant
could make it. We ran out of ventilators and had patients sharing. And
doctors and nurses and others were just exhausted. The leadership had to
face a tough decision.
The medical staff was practicing medicine like back in The World doing
everything to keep people alive. People who were going to die -- The
patient knew it ,and deep inside the staff knew it. But in the USA we do
EVERYTHING do beat the Reaper.
1. At the pace people were coming in and the fact we had nowhere to
discharge them, we were soon going to fill up. Yes, we’d use the upper
racks and stuff but the rate was just unsustainable. And when the ship was
full and nobody could come on, those ashore would receive NO medical help.
We had to get people off the ship
2. We could bring people onto the ship, recognize they were probably not
going to make it, and make what’s left of their life comfortable and, as
the chaplain said, “Help them go in peace.” Again we had to get people off
the ship.
3. We could do a triage at the LZ and not even put those people on a helo.
We’d do that same service and make what’s left of their life comfortable.
But on a cot under a tent at the LZ. In this case we didn't have to get
them off the ship; we just didn't let them on. Try to imagine what the
media would say! Plus that's not why we came here.
I’ve written about the professionalism and dedication of this crew. They
came here to save lives. And I wish you could have heard the ‘discussion’
that followed. Lots of these people have served in Iraq and Afghanistan
and cared for soldier and Marines. They don’t let The Beast win. PERIOD.
Others argued that if the staff spent too much time and resources on
somebody they risked the lives of other who weren’t as badly injured. I
saw Lieutenant Colonel nurses crying.
The meeting had to break up for Taps but the plan was to have more
‘discussions’ because we just weren’t going to make it.
I’m happy to say there’ll be no more meetings. Skipper went to the embassy
and everybody met with the Haitian government and US State Department and
non-profit groups. There is a network of hospitals now so patients can
come to the Comfort. And those who aren’t going to make it will be
stabilized and taken ashore where they’ll be made comfortable. A big part
of this whole process, as I understand it, was the Haitian government
saying, “Listen… this isn’t the U.S. We don’t do that heroic treatment
stuff. When it is time to go, we go. It is God’s will.” And maybe it
really is. Maybe back in The World, society needs to look at the amount we
spend on the last couple months of keeping people alive while we neglect
infant and prenatal care. But I’m not going to get into that!!!
Skipper said last night we are approaching the end of the beginning. The
Navy, Marine Corps, Army, and Air Force are coming together. Remember we
haven’t really been here that long and this is huge. You ought to see all
the ships and helos here.
Today we identified the need for 200 cots ashore and the supply officer
said we didn’t have them and how long it would take to get them. The
Commodore told him, “You tell me what you need. I’m sure that somewhere on
these ships and ground facilities we can find those cots.” Sometimes we
look at these higher staff REMFs as bottom feeders. No value added. But
they’re really pulling this one together.
I don’t want to beat that drum too loudly… But you all can be very proud
of the team you’ve sent here.
Well, for not having much news for tonight I sure have written a lot! And
hey, it’s only 2045 and I’m finished for the night. I’m going up to look
at some stars. You sleep well.
Marty
No big news from the Commodore’s briefing tonight but here’s some other
stuff.
In the area where there were a lot of deaths, people are very poor. They
have a hard time buying food for their family and children are often
malnourished. It is very common for parents to take a child to an
orphanage and leave them there to be taken care of. The parents have every
intent to come back for their child and do when the child has put on some
weight. These orphanages are run by churches or non-profit organization.
Once a child makes it to five years old they’ll usually be OK. Of course
OK in Haiti is different from the US . Life expectancy for a male is 57. I
don’t remember the female but it’s not much different.
There were children in these orphanages who were being adopted prior to
the earthquake. Just after the quake, the Haitian government decided that
for those adoptions in progress they’d sort of stamp the paperwork done.
The aim was to get the children out of the country to free up room in the
orphanages for victims of the quake.
We call the children with us here on the Comfort “displaced” rather than
orphaned because in so many cases we just don’t know what has happened to
parents. And parents don’t know where their children are. Our translators
have gotten names and addresses and any other information they can from
the children and have taken photos. These will be placed on a website.
Not many of the poor Haitians have internet access but they all listen to
the radio. And if they don’t listen, their friend listens so the best way
to get the word out is via radio. Of course all that can be done there is
read names. But it’s a start.
The Haitian government is loosening up with sending people to the states.
We’ve got five patients flying out tomorrow to University of Miami on a
plane that’s bringing in 20 medical folks from the university. UM has
taken the lead on setting up a network of hospitals to take care of our
most serious patients AND to ensure they get back home.
One of our biggest worries just 2 or days ago was where could patients go
when they left the ship. Most of the hospitals around Port au Prince are
just plain gone. The Navy was going to set up an emergency medical
treatment (EMT) at GTMO. But if you look at your globe GTMO is a pretty
good hike from PauP! Now the EMT is going to be in Haiti . And hospitals
in other parts of Haiti will accept patients.
I want to tell you about a meeting 2 or 3 nights ago. All of the medical
care providers were called to the mess hall and told the ship would fill
up soon. The Comfort is advertised as a 1,000 bed hospital. That must have
been written by the same guys who write the description of houses in the
Multiple Listing Services!
Yes, there are 1,000 places to sleep. But in the wards there is an upper
and lower rack. 440 upper and 440 lower. And the upper is pretty damned
high and very difficult to use. The other 120 beds are in ICU and
Recovery, I guess.
Other problems were that medicine and other medical supplies were just
plain running out. And we were using oxygen faster than the ships plant
could make it. We ran out of ventilators and had patients sharing. And
doctors and nurses and others were just exhausted. The leadership had to
face a tough decision.
The medical staff was practicing medicine like back in The World doing
everything to keep people alive. People who were going to die -- The
patient knew it ,and deep inside the staff knew it. But in the USA we do
EVERYTHING do beat the Reaper.
1. At the pace people were coming in and the fact we had nowhere to
discharge them, we were soon going to fill up. Yes, we’d use the upper
racks and stuff but the rate was just unsustainable. And when the ship was
full and nobody could come on, those ashore would receive NO medical help.
We had to get people off the ship
2. We could bring people onto the ship, recognize they were probably not
going to make it, and make what’s left of their life comfortable and, as
the chaplain said, “Help them go in peace.” Again we had to get people off
the ship.
3. We could do a triage at the LZ and not even put those people on a helo.
We’d do that same service and make what’s left of their life comfortable.
But on a cot under a tent at the LZ. In this case we didn't have to get
them off the ship; we just didn't let them on. Try to imagine what the
media would say! Plus that's not why we came here.
I’ve written about the professionalism and dedication of this crew. They
came here to save lives. And I wish you could have heard the ‘discussion’
that followed. Lots of these people have served in Iraq and Afghanistan
and cared for soldier and Marines. They don’t let The Beast win. PERIOD.
Others argued that if the staff spent too much time and resources on
somebody they risked the lives of other who weren’t as badly injured. I
saw Lieutenant Colonel nurses crying.
The meeting had to break up for Taps but the plan was to have more
‘discussions’ because we just weren’t going to make it.
I’m happy to say there’ll be no more meetings. Skipper went to the embassy
and everybody met with the Haitian government and US State Department and
non-profit groups. There is a network of hospitals now so patients can
come to the Comfort. And those who aren’t going to make it will be
stabilized and taken ashore where they’ll be made comfortable. A big part
of this whole process, as I understand it, was the Haitian government
saying, “Listen… this isn’t the U.S. We don’t do that heroic treatment
stuff. When it is time to go, we go. It is God’s will.” And maybe it
really is. Maybe back in The World, society needs to look at the amount we
spend on the last couple months of keeping people alive while we neglect
infant and prenatal care. But I’m not going to get into that!!!
Skipper said last night we are approaching the end of the beginning. The
Navy, Marine Corps, Army, and Air Force are coming together. Remember we
haven’t really been here that long and this is huge. You ought to see all
the ships and helos here.
Today we identified the need for 200 cots ashore and the supply officer
said we didn’t have them and how long it would take to get them. The
Commodore told him, “You tell me what you need. I’m sure that somewhere on
these ships and ground facilities we can find those cots.” Sometimes we
look at these higher staff REMFs as bottom feeders. No value added. But
they’re really pulling this one together.
I don’t want to beat that drum too loudly… But you all can be very proud
of the team you’ve sent here.
Well, for not having much news for tonight I sure have written a lot! And
hey, it’s only 2045 and I’m finished for the night. I’m going up to look
at some stars. You sleep well.
Marty
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Internet
Philip came and rescued us again! Our router is bad but he got at least one computer working so until Mark buys a new router we will share this one. One would think this wouldn't be a problem but ALL of us need internet, Sarah and Rhoda for school, Mark for his business and of course for me, the Horsemeister business is completely dependent on internet. Most of our sales come from our website so it is very important to be able to answer emails as quickly as possible.
We FROZE at work today, Eva Jean got permission to buy a portable heater but at lunch Mark and Dan thought we should go with an unvented gas heater. Dan may have an extra one at the Old School Center and we will get Greg, his handyman to install it. Hope we can have it done before next Tuesday, what a privilege to have heat. It was in the low teens this afternoon and the next few days to get down to about zero. We had such a nice little break from the extreme cold last week. We are so glad all of our hauling was done before the freeze.
At the farm, Mike moved a round bale in for Clara and her colt now that they are locked in the small paddock of the breeding shed. The 2 boys are doing fine together, I'm glad they have each other. Jenis is SO glad to get rid of Valiant. Ribbon is due Friday but Karin does not think she looks pregnant which means she did lose her foal at Middle Grove. We know she was pregnant in September when we hauled her out there. The vet is coming Monday for 3 sonagrams, 5 coggins, a progesterone test on Samantha and to look at Lily and tell me what should be done for her. This one is going to be a big bill. We may as well have him look at Ribbon at that time also since she is one of the horses down for a new coggins.
It looks like Joan and Tim will not be able to join us on the cruise Feb. 7th They bought a non refundable ticket but hopefully the cruise line will understand about trying to get in and out of Haiti.
We FROZE at work today, Eva Jean got permission to buy a portable heater but at lunch Mark and Dan thought we should go with an unvented gas heater. Dan may have an extra one at the Old School Center and we will get Greg, his handyman to install it. Hope we can have it done before next Tuesday, what a privilege to have heat. It was in the low teens this afternoon and the next few days to get down to about zero. We had such a nice little break from the extreme cold last week. We are so glad all of our hauling was done before the freeze.
At the farm, Mike moved a round bale in for Clara and her colt now that they are locked in the small paddock of the breeding shed. The 2 boys are doing fine together, I'm glad they have each other. Jenis is SO glad to get rid of Valiant. Ribbon is due Friday but Karin does not think she looks pregnant which means she did lose her foal at Middle Grove. We know she was pregnant in September when we hauled her out there. The vet is coming Monday for 3 sonagrams, 5 coggins, a progesterone test on Samantha and to look at Lily and tell me what should be done for her. This one is going to be a big bill. We may as well have him look at Ribbon at that time also since she is one of the horses down for a new coggins.
It looks like Joan and Tim will not be able to join us on the cruise Feb. 7th They bought a non refundable ticket but hopefully the cruise line will understand about trying to get in and out of Haiti.
Comfort Ship in Haiti
I'm posting this from our AC list, This is from a man on the US ship Comfort now in Haiti.
January 22:
Another long day in Haiti... But a good day. Nobody died today and
hopefully that's all over. But There is some bad news. Kids are going to
hospitals ashore and disappearing and they're afraid they're being
kidnapped and sold or if they're very young being sold for "adoption." It
appears the Haitian police are ripping off incoming aid and selling it
though black market. The 22nd MEU is out talking with locals as part of
their public relations S-5. What they're hearing from the people is the
perception that the Haiti government is not providing any services. They
feel everything good is coming from from the United States.
Today we admitted 63 people with a total count of 257. We did 59 surgeries
for a total of 109. And 2 discharges. We have 1200 crew on board now.
The two discharges were burn victims and in pretty bad shape. The
University of Miami said send them their. So we put them in a helo and
took them to the airport where they were loaded onto a US Air Force C-130.
The Haiti government got word of this and wanted to show how they're IN
CHARGE. Remember... these are politicians who don't give a ____ about
anybody but themselves. So as these two patients are lying there suffering
the pilot of the plane got word of what was going on. So he just left...
End of discussion. What's the Haiti Air Force gonna do? Go Air Force!
January 23:
The crew of the Comfort is now 1242 people. I never understood when people
write "The Officers and men of the Comfort." Aren't officers men? If not,
what are they? Anyway...
At 0400 today the 1MC (that's the PA system over the ship) called a code
(that's an emergency) for a kid in ICU. He didn't make it. Another child
was lost to renal failure. Allot more deaths that I just can't talk about.
It is just God Awful. This afternoon I was walking down a passageway and
passed a gurney going the other way with a tiny baby perhaps 4 or 5 months
old. Tubes and respirators and everything. And the mother following behind
sobbing. You guys know me and how stoic I am... yeah. At the same time I
had two intense emotions. 1] Why did I do this and come here because this
really really hurts. b] This is why I come to help these people in need.
That long letter I wrote I edited. These notes now are just what I'm
feeling and experiencing. Part of me thinks I should delete all that stuff
about my emotions because it sounds like I'm saying poor me. That's the
last thing I want. I just want you to know what it's like here for me.
Other people walked right by the baby and never flinched. We become to
hardened to pain and death. At least they didn't show it. Anyway...
The surgeons have done a lot of amputations. But we learned today that in
this culture a very high percentage of amputees commit suicide. A large
part of the culture feels that if you are not whole, you are worthless.
The surgeons are going to try to not amputate. But because of this
cultural belief, a lot of patients with broken legs have not come in. So
their broken leg developed gangrene. We end up that a patient whose leg
could have been repaired, looses it. So sad.
A mother brought her 18 day old child who has a deformed heart to an
Israeli army field hospital. They knew right away they couldn't help and
sent the baby to the Comfort. We did an echocardiogram and determined it
is operable. One of the doctors called a friend at Children's Hospital in
DC and agreed to send the baby. The med ops department called the Air
Force and they agreed to put the baby on the next plane. Then guess what
happened... You got it. The Haitian Ministry of Health said no. And
they're still "angry" about the two burn patients that were flown to
Miami. So now a baby is suffering because of some "idiot" politician. Do
those people have no sense of what is right?
So the good side. We had another baby on the ship. And a lot of lives have
been saved. Saving lives is what it's all about.
January 24:
There are people out there trying to find flaws in what we’re doing here
and I don’t want to give them anything negative from somebody on the
Comfort. Let me tell you what happened yesterday.
One of our helos landed at LZ Tomahawk to pick up patients and loaded up a
child with a doctor who had been treating her. They arrived on the ship
and went into Casualty Recovery. The doctor who had come out reached into
her bag and pulled out a microphone and camera and began asking questions
and taking pictures to document “the United States ’ medical crimes
against humanity.” She was escorted away… There are people out there who'd
love to make this look bad.
It was pretty cool that today a French Navy ship dropped anchor nearby.
Eight days ago they were of the coast of West Africa when they got word to
go to Haiti . In eight days they sailed all the way across the Atlantic,
stopped in Martinique to load cargo, and got here. Their CO and engineer
and senior medical officer came over for dinner tonight and to meet the
crew. It was nice. Maybe now they’ll have French Fries in the
Congressional restaurants. Ooops! There I go with politics!!! In tonight’s
briefing, with the French guys there, one of the issues listed on the
briefing slides was that the Comfort crew may want to go to the French
ship for chow.
Local authorities are saying 150,000 dead. Today an American civilian
nurse who has lived in Haiti for years came aboard. She said that in the
first days after the quake, flat-bed trucks went through the city
collecting bodies. People just threw them aboard but as they drove along
some would fall off. She said it was like something from a nightmare that
she just couldn’t believe even when she saw it.
Some of the UN security forces fired warning shots over the heads of some
unruly crowds today. Several of you have written to me about being careful
and it not being safe. That’s not really what we see here. There are
isolated incidents but the people are very nice and it’s OK down here.
30% of gas stations are open. Venezuela is sending 800,000 gallons of gas.
22nd MEU intel says that outside Part au Prince local government is
non-existent. That doesn’t mean anarchy. The social networks and churches
are keeping everything going fine..
Right now we have a surgical backlog of three weeks on the Comfort just
taking care of the patients we already have on board.
The JTF (Joint Task Force) has said that the involvement in Haiti is five
phases. Initial Response, Relief, and Recovery. They acknowledge that’s
just three… the other phases or TBD… Oh well.
CNO was surprised that Facebook, Hotmail, Yahoo, etc. are blocked from the
crew. I’ve got hotmail because I’m with the NGOs. So CNO directed sailors
be allowed to get on Facebook and Twitter. But to please be careful what
they write. “We can’t tell you what to write but don’t write anything that
could be embarrassing to the Navy or the United States .”
Now the numbers. 57 admissions today bringing our patient count to 372. 18
surgeries today bringing that total to 101. We are packed to the limits.
We have room for only two men and eight women in berthing. They have
talked about the possibility of bringing a berthing ship here. Especially
if the USNS Mercy comes to Haiti .
Unfortunately we’ve had 9 deaths today. But out of 372 patients from a
disaster, perhaps that's not too bad. Today we had returned the first
remains. The sister of one of the children had been on the ship with her
brother. They flew them ashore today. Those who were there said it was
very touching.
Tomorrow we’re moving five burn patients to University of Miami hospital
with the permission of the Haitian Ministry of Health.
January 22:
Another long day in Haiti... But a good day. Nobody died today and
hopefully that's all over. But There is some bad news. Kids are going to
hospitals ashore and disappearing and they're afraid they're being
kidnapped and sold or if they're very young being sold for "adoption." It
appears the Haitian police are ripping off incoming aid and selling it
though black market. The 22nd MEU is out talking with locals as part of
their public relations S-5. What they're hearing from the people is the
perception that the Haiti government is not providing any services. They
feel everything good is coming from from the United States.
Today we admitted 63 people with a total count of 257. We did 59 surgeries
for a total of 109. And 2 discharges. We have 1200 crew on board now.
The two discharges were burn victims and in pretty bad shape. The
University of Miami said send them their. So we put them in a helo and
took them to the airport where they were loaded onto a US Air Force C-130.
The Haiti government got word of this and wanted to show how they're IN
CHARGE. Remember... these are politicians who don't give a ____ about
anybody but themselves. So as these two patients are lying there suffering
the pilot of the plane got word of what was going on. So he just left...
End of discussion. What's the Haiti Air Force gonna do? Go Air Force!
January 23:
The crew of the Comfort is now 1242 people. I never understood when people
write "The Officers and men of the Comfort." Aren't officers men? If not,
what are they? Anyway...
At 0400 today the 1MC (that's the PA system over the ship) called a code
(that's an emergency) for a kid in ICU. He didn't make it. Another child
was lost to renal failure. Allot more deaths that I just can't talk about.
It is just God Awful. This afternoon I was walking down a passageway and
passed a gurney going the other way with a tiny baby perhaps 4 or 5 months
old. Tubes and respirators and everything. And the mother following behind
sobbing. You guys know me and how stoic I am... yeah. At the same time I
had two intense emotions. 1] Why did I do this and come here because this
really really hurts. b] This is why I come to help these people in need.
That long letter I wrote I edited. These notes now are just what I'm
feeling and experiencing. Part of me thinks I should delete all that stuff
about my emotions because it sounds like I'm saying poor me. That's the
last thing I want. I just want you to know what it's like here for me.
Other people walked right by the baby and never flinched. We become to
hardened to pain and death. At least they didn't show it. Anyway...
The surgeons have done a lot of amputations. But we learned today that in
this culture a very high percentage of amputees commit suicide. A large
part of the culture feels that if you are not whole, you are worthless.
The surgeons are going to try to not amputate. But because of this
cultural belief, a lot of patients with broken legs have not come in. So
their broken leg developed gangrene. We end up that a patient whose leg
could have been repaired, looses it. So sad.
A mother brought her 18 day old child who has a deformed heart to an
Israeli army field hospital. They knew right away they couldn't help and
sent the baby to the Comfort. We did an echocardiogram and determined it
is operable. One of the doctors called a friend at Children's Hospital in
DC and agreed to send the baby. The med ops department called the Air
Force and they agreed to put the baby on the next plane. Then guess what
happened... You got it. The Haitian Ministry of Health said no. And
they're still "angry" about the two burn patients that were flown to
Miami. So now a baby is suffering because of some "idiot" politician. Do
those people have no sense of what is right?
So the good side. We had another baby on the ship. And a lot of lives have
been saved. Saving lives is what it's all about.
January 24:
There are people out there trying to find flaws in what we’re doing here
and I don’t want to give them anything negative from somebody on the
Comfort. Let me tell you what happened yesterday.
One of our helos landed at LZ Tomahawk to pick up patients and loaded up a
child with a doctor who had been treating her. They arrived on the ship
and went into Casualty Recovery. The doctor who had come out reached into
her bag and pulled out a microphone and camera and began asking questions
and taking pictures to document “the United States ’ medical crimes
against humanity.” She was escorted away… There are people out there who'd
love to make this look bad.
It was pretty cool that today a French Navy ship dropped anchor nearby.
Eight days ago they were of the coast of West Africa when they got word to
go to Haiti . In eight days they sailed all the way across the Atlantic,
stopped in Martinique to load cargo, and got here. Their CO and engineer
and senior medical officer came over for dinner tonight and to meet the
crew. It was nice. Maybe now they’ll have French Fries in the
Congressional restaurants. Ooops! There I go with politics!!! In tonight’s
briefing, with the French guys there, one of the issues listed on the
briefing slides was that the Comfort crew may want to go to the French
ship for chow.
Local authorities are saying 150,000 dead. Today an American civilian
nurse who has lived in Haiti for years came aboard. She said that in the
first days after the quake, flat-bed trucks went through the city
collecting bodies. People just threw them aboard but as they drove along
some would fall off. She said it was like something from a nightmare that
she just couldn’t believe even when she saw it.
Some of the UN security forces fired warning shots over the heads of some
unruly crowds today. Several of you have written to me about being careful
and it not being safe. That’s not really what we see here. There are
isolated incidents but the people are very nice and it’s OK down here.
30% of gas stations are open. Venezuela is sending 800,000 gallons of gas.
22nd MEU intel says that outside Part au Prince local government is
non-existent. That doesn’t mean anarchy. The social networks and churches
are keeping everything going fine..
Right now we have a surgical backlog of three weeks on the Comfort just
taking care of the patients we already have on board.
The JTF (Joint Task Force) has said that the involvement in Haiti is five
phases. Initial Response, Relief, and Recovery. They acknowledge that’s
just three… the other phases or TBD… Oh well.
CNO was surprised that Facebook, Hotmail, Yahoo, etc. are blocked from the
crew. I’ve got hotmail because I’m with the NGOs. So CNO directed sailors
be allowed to get on Facebook and Twitter. But to please be careful what
they write. “We can’t tell you what to write but don’t write anything that
could be embarrassing to the Navy or the United States .”
Now the numbers. 57 admissions today bringing our patient count to 372. 18
surgeries today bringing that total to 101. We are packed to the limits.
We have room for only two men and eight women in berthing. They have
talked about the possibility of bringing a berthing ship here. Especially
if the USNS Mercy comes to Haiti .
Unfortunately we’ve had 9 deaths today. But out of 372 patients from a
disaster, perhaps that's not too bad. Today we had returned the first
remains. The sister of one of the children had been on the ship with her
brother. They flew them ashore today. Those who were there said it was
very touching.
Tomorrow we’re moving five burn patients to University of Miami hospital
with the permission of the Haitian Ministry of Health.
Clara and her Colt
We had such a wind storm last night, the wind was howling, rattling windows and doors trying to find an entrance. Thank goodness we had all of our old windows replaced with energy efficient ones. This was a huge expense, we have 66 windows in our old house but they probably paid for themselves just from that one windstorm. With the snow coming down we had white outs, we could not even see the barns from the house. We didn't get much snow but what did fall blew around something awful.
The deposit did not come on Clara and was supposedly sent out on Friday. I already turned down other people as she assured me she sent it priority and would be here by Monday. I've emailed the others that as the deposit did not come she is still available and we will see if any of them are serious.
We have no Internet at home, probably because of the weather so I will only be able to answer emails at work today. IF anyone has a question about one of the horses, be patient and know I'll answer emails at least once a day. Good thing the office is only a mile away.
WE are also FREEZING in our office, Mark borrowed our space heaters for one of his customers without heat. BRRR, we may have to work upstairs.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Evan & Valiant
Amy Koch came to the farm and helped me move Valiant in with Evan. The only problem with this is telling them apart as they grow. We are amazed at how alike they are. At this time Valiant is a little bigger and has Raven's face. Evan seems to have a little shorter neck, not so good, and his face looks more like Mintse's which is good. We also think Evan may have more HAIR, his tail is longer than Valiant's tail and he has longer thicker feathers.
Both boys have fabulous movement and presence with their arched necks held high.
I was pleased with how Evan moved. His registered name is Evan f/t Friesian Connection and we need to come up with something more elegant and majestic to call him. Evan will be a yearling this year and in the next couple of years we will be able to offer our customers with a RAVEN DAUGHTER an option on a breed back to a Mintse son. By the time Ciera is ready to be bred, Evan will be standing at stud, FABULOUS, I won't have to haul her to another Friesian owner. That will be a fantastic match.
Clara and her colt are sold, the deposit check should come today. They will be leaving for California in June. The new owners want her bred back to Raven in March for a Feb. baby. We moved Clara in the small paddock next to Raven's and threw her a half of bale of hay. We will need to move in a round bale or move her in with the herd.
Both boys have fabulous movement and presence with their arched necks held high.
I was pleased with how Evan moved. His registered name is Evan f/t Friesian Connection and we need to come up with something more elegant and majestic to call him. Evan will be a yearling this year and in the next couple of years we will be able to offer our customers with a RAVEN DAUGHTER an option on a breed back to a Mintse son. By the time Ciera is ready to be bred, Evan will be standing at stud, FABULOUS, I won't have to haul her to another Friesian owner. That will be a fantastic match.
Clara and her colt are sold, the deposit check should come today. They will be leaving for California in June. The new owners want her bred back to Raven in March for a Feb. baby. We moved Clara in the small paddock next to Raven's and threw her a half of bale of hay. We will need to move in a round bale or move her in with the herd.
New Update from Joan
We have the first of what may be 3 ACC medical teams here right now. They arrived in Port on Friday and the thought was for them to work at a hospital in Port, King's Hospital, that was not too badly damaged. When they arrived there they found it well staffed and taken care of so they started looking into coming out our way for which we are very thankful. The are up at Bonne Fin Hospital which is about an hour's drive up in the mountains, but a very beautiful location. This hospital, because of mismanagement and other factors over the years, had all but closed down. The plan was to close it this month. There was no full time Dr.s anymore and a real shortage of nurses because they can't pay them. I always felt so bad when I would go up there and see this kind of run down, but full of potential, hospital with empty bed after empty bed in a country full of sick people. This last week it was overflowing. They put an announcement on the radio that there would be a bone doctor there and in just 2 days they had about 200 patients. The doctor who was there and another orth surgeon were just overwhelmed. The amount and the severity of the injuries were incredible. After working for a week and doing amputation after amputation because of infections. They headed back to the States and now our team will take over. There are still some amputations to be done, but there are many operation or reopening wounds and cleaning them and reclosing them. They've had 4 patients die at Bonne Fin and 3 so far at our clinic. There is a forth, a young lady who they thought wasn't going to make it, but she was looking better yesterday.
Yesterday, we went up to Bonne Fin for the day and Sarah, Alisha, & Sheila stayed to help out. Tim will run up in the morning today carrying supplies, oxygen, and some other patients and then when he comes back down he typically will bring patients down that need care here. It is such a good feeling to know you have doctors here that know what they are doing. Hopefully there can be some good healing take place. Thanks to all who are sharing their family members for the week. God bless you for it.
What day is it? Has it really been 13 days since this all happened? I can't imagine living in a country that is always at war because this is what it feels like ... a war zone.
Yesterday, we went up to Bonne Fin for the day and Sarah, Alisha, & Sheila stayed to help out. Tim will run up in the morning today carrying supplies, oxygen, and some other patients and then when he comes back down he typically will bring patients down that need care here. It is such a good feeling to know you have doctors here that know what they are doing. Hopefully there can be some good healing take place. Thanks to all who are sharing their family members for the week. God bless you for it.
What day is it? Has it really been 13 days since this all happened? I can't imagine living in a country that is always at war because this is what it feels like ... a war zone.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Comparing Friesians
One of the best parts of our trip yesterday was actually getting to see that our Friesian mares, foals and stallions are as good OR BETTER than I realized. We saw many many mares and one approved stallion. We can honestly say Raven's quality is so evident in his black shiny coat, his height, his sweet disposition and his beauty. The movement of his offspring is fantastic. People look at his knee and say, "what a shame," except if he hadn't been stepped on and his knee was perfect we would NEVER have been able to afford him. His beauty and elegance rivals approved Friesian stallions all over the world. An approved stallion can cost close to a million dollars. God's ways are AMAZING, to think we were blessed with this wonderful gift. Raven is truly our gift from GOD.
Watching our mares perform and seeing Raven's offspring now winning championships at inspections and shows is so heart warming.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Home
When the alarm rang this morning at 5:00am, my eyes did not want to open, I was sure it was part of my dream. There was no way it was morning. Once I was able to drag myself out of bed and down the stairs, I was able to start functioning. Luckily my clothes were laid out, the truck cleaned out and packed and coffee ready. After 2 cups of coffee we were almost ready to pull out. Mike and Diane pulled up a little after 6:00am, we loaded Mike's tools, chains, Diane's dog Ebby, Ebby's crate, the cooler, and laptop up and realized no one had a GPS. Oh well, we had good directions and off we went. We stopped in Morton, IL to pick up Amy Koch and her cooler with all her GREAT food. By the time we were ready to head out we had 4 people, one dog, and 2 coolers all crammed into the truck it was amazing we were able to breathe. We actually had a great time visiting on the trip and it seemed to fly by. We made it up to Mr & Mrs DeBor's farm called The Friesian Connection just a little after noon. The Debor's were so welcoming and very informative. We enjoyed seeing his wonderful collection of Friesians (over 50)and hearing many stories about their life. We saw one of their approved stallions but Mintse was at the trainers getting ready for a big show. The colts were really nice, so nice we ended up bringing one home with us. We will let him grow up with Valiant, the 2 boys can be buddies and known as the 'farm boys'.
Our trip home was a little long, I think we were all getting tired, we hit a very thick patch of fog on 474 and had to really slow down to be safe.
Once back at Bridlewood, we unhooked my truck, hooked up Mike's truck loaded up Wynne and Anni and off they started. I realized as I was backing my truck that the trailer lights weren't working and I jumped out of my truck and tried to get their attention but they just didn't hear me so I grab the phone and called them. They weren't too far and were able to hook them up without anyone coming behind them. Back in the house, the first job was to go through the mail.
The check came today for Anni so she will be marked sold. She will be picked up Feb. 27th. I'll need to tell Emily that she is now sold.
After driving more than 1400 miles the last 2 days I REALLY need to head to BED!
Our trip home was a little long, I think we were all getting tired, we hit a very thick patch of fog on 474 and had to really slow down to be safe.
Once back at Bridlewood, we unhooked my truck, hooked up Mike's truck loaded up Wynne and Anni and off they started. I realized as I was backing my truck that the trailer lights weren't working and I jumped out of my truck and tried to get their attention but they just didn't hear me so I grab the phone and called them. They weren't too far and were able to hook them up without anyone coming behind them. Back in the house, the first job was to go through the mail.
The check came today for Anni so she will be marked sold. She will be picked up Feb. 27th. I'll need to tell Emily that she is now sold.
After driving more than 1400 miles the last 2 days I REALLY need to head to BED!
Friday, January 22, 2010
Rachel's Pups
Rachel made the above video of her siberan husky puppies. I started playing it and both Emma and Darcy are going NUTS! They are sure the noise is coming from behind the wall, they keep running back and forth through the door whining and barking.
I left this morning at 3:00am to drive to Eau Claire, WI to pick up a mare for training. The roads were ok, the hardest part was getting out of my driveway which was a sheet of ice.
I made great time and was back on the road with the filly loaded right at 10:00am and made it home by 5:00pm. She is at Bridlewood in the red barn until Sunday when she will be taken out to the farm.
We leave at 6:00am tomorrow morning for Dorr, MI. I'm exhausted.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Email from the Boys
OK, David AND Ben sent me this listing off Craig's list. Then they put in the email, hey mom, only $250.00 and you're covered!
the listing is below:
Will take care of pets after Rapture
Are you a Christian or Catholic worried about what will happen to your beloved pets after The Rapture? If you’re going to heaven you’ll need someone to take care of your pets who are left behind. As a non-believer (who will not be Raptured) I’m offering to care for your pets post-rapture. It’s a simple agreement, for a small fee of $125, I will adopt your pet should The Rapture occur in the next ten years. (After ten years you can renew the agreement for the current market price). Please contact me today for more info!
I guess I should have never said I was worried about who would take care of my horses if the Lord comes soon.
the listing is below:
Will take care of pets after Rapture
Are you a Christian or Catholic worried about what will happen to your beloved pets after The Rapture? If you’re going to heaven you’ll need someone to take care of your pets who are left behind. As a non-believer (who will not be Raptured) I’m offering to care for your pets post-rapture. It’s a simple agreement, for a small fee of $125, I will adopt your pet should The Rapture occur in the next ten years. (After ten years you can renew the agreement for the current market price). Please contact me today for more info!
I guess I should have never said I was worried about who would take care of my horses if the Lord comes soon.
Emma
Emma is still uncomfortable and needs to be kept locked in the kitchen where there is tile for easy clean up. Times have really changed for us, that without hesitation on how much it would cost, we just call the vet. There were many times when our children were growing up that we could not afford to take them to the doctor if they were sick, and now our puppy goes to the vet at the first sign of a problem? One time our milk cow went down with milk fever and we had to call a vet. The cost was $40.00 and I took the money from my grocery fund, then the next day she went down again. We scraped up the money, Daisy was too valuable to lose, she was giving us almost 4 gallons of milk a day which went a long way towards our food expense. Not too long after that our old mare (very old) Twinkle went down and was comatose, we knew she would have to be put down and had no money to call the vet again. We had to find someone to come shoot her. Cathy Trent, the Bridlewood instructor knew about us calling the vet twice for Daisy and not for Twinkle and said, Your cow goes down and you call the vet twice, your horse goes down and you shoot her, "just what does this cow mean to you?"
Sitting at the emergency clinic last night, I started remember how much we need to thank GOD for His blessings.
I was suppose to drive up to Eu-Clair, WI today but put it off because of Jury Duty. I'm very thankful we are not out on the roads with all this ice.
Saturday we are taking a road trip to Dorr MI to visit the Friesian Connection and see Mintse. He is ONE FANTASTIC FRIESIAN stallion!
I've posted a video of Mintse. I believe he is the highest rated approved Friesian stallion in America and his stud fee is $2000.00 plus all the vet cost for AI, they do not live cover him. Just to breed your mare to him is close to $3000.00. Because he is an approved stallion ONLY approved Friesian mares can breed to him. It is extremely expensive to have your stallion approved, they must go through a very stringent 50 day stallion testing and after spending all the money in training before the testing, then the hundreds of dollars for the testing it is heartbreaking to find out your stallion failed. Only very few are ever approved. It is also expensive to have your purebred Friesian mare approved for breeding but that is what keeps the price of these very beautiful animals so high. All of our purebred mares are approved for breeding to an approved Friesian stallion but we feel we get just as good or BETTER results from our own stallion RAVEN. We know if it hadn't been for his knee he would have been a contender. Raven's foals, purebred or crossbred have held their value because of their beauty, conformation, sweet disposition and train-ability. AGAIN Haven't we been BLESSED!
Sitting at the emergency clinic last night, I started remember how much we need to thank GOD for His blessings.
I was suppose to drive up to Eu-Clair, WI today but put it off because of Jury Duty. I'm very thankful we are not out on the roads with all this ice.
Saturday we are taking a road trip to Dorr MI to visit the Friesian Connection and see Mintse. He is ONE FANTASTIC FRIESIAN stallion!
I've posted a video of Mintse. I believe he is the highest rated approved Friesian stallion in America and his stud fee is $2000.00 plus all the vet cost for AI, they do not live cover him. Just to breed your mare to him is close to $3000.00. Because he is an approved stallion ONLY approved Friesian mares can breed to him. It is extremely expensive to have your stallion approved, they must go through a very stringent 50 day stallion testing and after spending all the money in training before the testing, then the hundreds of dollars for the testing it is heartbreaking to find out your stallion failed. Only very few are ever approved. It is also expensive to have your purebred Friesian mare approved for breeding but that is what keeps the price of these very beautiful animals so high. All of our purebred mares are approved for breeding to an approved Friesian stallion but we feel we get just as good or BETTER results from our own stallion RAVEN. We know if it hadn't been for his knee he would have been a contender. Raven's foals, purebred or crossbred have held their value because of their beauty, conformation, sweet disposition and train-ability. AGAIN Haven't we been BLESSED!
An Alaska Firsherman's 'Take' On Sarah Palin
Sorry all, I try not to post political ads on but how come we NEVER heard of all of Sarah's accomplishments from the news?
I thought this was too good NOT to post.
As posted in comments on Greta's article referencing the MOVEON ad about Sarah Palin
The last 45 of my 66 years I've spent in a commercial fishing town in Alaska I understand Alaska politics but never understood national politics well until this last year. Here's the breaking point: Neither side of the Palin controversy gets it. It's not about persona, style, rhetoric, it's about doing things. Even Palin supporters never mention the things that I'm about to mention here.
1- Democrats forget when Palin was the Darling of the Democrats, because as soon as she took the Governor's office away from a fellow Republican and tough SOB, Frank Murkowski, she tore into the Republican's "Corrupt Bastards Club" (CBC) and sent them packing. Many of them are now residing in State housing and wearing orange jump suits. The Democrats reacted by skipping around the yard, throwing confetti and singing, "la la la la" (well, you know how they are). Name another governor in this country that has ever done anything similar.
2- Now with the CBC gone, there were fewer Alaskan politicians to protect the huge, giant oil companies here. So she constructed and enacted a new system of splitting the oil profits called "ACES." Exxon (the biggest corporation in the world) protested and Sarah told them, "don't let the door hit you in the stern on your way out." They stayed, and Alaska residents went from being merely wealthy to being wealthier. Of course, the other huge international oil companies meekly fell in line. Again, give me the name of any other governor in the country that has done anything similar.Each person that lives in Alaska gets between $1200-$2000 per year for living there. What do VA. Governors give you? Answer, a closed rest stop. Now try to name anything Obama accomplished while a senator?
3- The other thing she did when she walked into the governor's office is she got the list of State requests for federal funding for projects, known as "pork." She went through the list, took 85% of them and placed them in the "when-hell-freezes-over" stack. She let locals know that if we need something built, we'll pay for it ourselves. Maybe she figured she could use the money she got from selling the previous governor's jet because it was extravagant. Maybe she could use the money she saved by dismissing the governor's cook (remarking that she could cook for her own family), giving back the State vehicle issued to her, maintaining that she already had a car, and dismissing her State provided security force. I'm still waiting to hear the names of those other governors.
4- Now, even with her much-ridiculed "gosh and golly" mannerism, she also managed to put together a totally new approach to getting a natural gas pipeline built which will be the biggest private construction project in the history of North America. No one else could do it although they tried. If that doesn't impress you, then you're trying too hard to be unimpressed while watching her do things like this while baking up a batch of brownies with her other hand.
5- For 30 years, Exxon held a lease to do exploratory drilling at a place called Point Thompson. They made excuses the entire time why they couldn't start drilling. In truth they were holding it like an investment. No governor for 30 years could make them get started. This summer, she told them she was revoking their lease and kicking them out. They protested and threatened court action. She shrugged and reminded them that she knew the way to the court house. Alaska won again.
6- President Obama wants the nation to be on 25% renewable resources for electricity by 2025. Sarah went to the legislature and submitted her plan for Alaska to be at 50% renewable by 2025. We are already at 25%. I can give you more specifics about things done, as opposed to style and persona. Everybody wants to be cool, sound cool, look cool. But that's just a cover-up. I'm still waiting to hear from liberals the names of other governors who can match what mine has done in two and a half years. I won't be holding my breath.
By the way, she was content to return to AK after the national election and go to work, but the haters wouldn't let her.
You have just read the truth about Sarah Palin that sends the media, along with the Democrat party, into a wild uncontrolled frenzy to discredit her. I guess they are only interested in skirt chasers, dishonesty, immoral people, liars, womanizers, murderers, and bitter ex-presidents' wives or current President and his wife and staff.
So "You go, Girl." I only wish the men in Washington had your guts, determination, honesty, and morals.
I rest my case. Only FOOLS listen to the biased media.
By Dewie Whetsell
I thought this was too good NOT to post.
As posted in comments on Greta's article referencing the MOVEON ad about Sarah Palin
The last 45 of my 66 years I've spent in a commercial fishing town in Alaska I understand Alaska politics but never understood national politics well until this last year. Here's the breaking point: Neither side of the Palin controversy gets it. It's not about persona, style, rhetoric, it's about doing things. Even Palin supporters never mention the things that I'm about to mention here.
1- Democrats forget when Palin was the Darling of the Democrats, because as soon as she took the Governor's office away from a fellow Republican and tough SOB, Frank Murkowski, she tore into the Republican's "Corrupt Bastards Club" (CBC) and sent them packing. Many of them are now residing in State housing and wearing orange jump suits. The Democrats reacted by skipping around the yard, throwing confetti and singing, "la la la la" (well, you know how they are). Name another governor in this country that has ever done anything similar.
2- Now with the CBC gone, there were fewer Alaskan politicians to protect the huge, giant oil companies here. So she constructed and enacted a new system of splitting the oil profits called "ACES." Exxon (the biggest corporation in the world) protested and Sarah told them, "don't let the door hit you in the stern on your way out." They stayed, and Alaska residents went from being merely wealthy to being wealthier. Of course, the other huge international oil companies meekly fell in line. Again, give me the name of any other governor in the country that has done anything similar.Each person that lives in Alaska gets between $1200-$2000 per year for living there. What do VA. Governors give you? Answer, a closed rest stop. Now try to name anything Obama accomplished while a senator?
3- The other thing she did when she walked into the governor's office is she got the list of State requests for federal funding for projects, known as "pork." She went through the list, took 85% of them and placed them in the "when-hell-freezes-over" stack. She let locals know that if we need something built, we'll pay for it ourselves. Maybe she figured she could use the money she got from selling the previous governor's jet because it was extravagant. Maybe she could use the money she saved by dismissing the governor's cook (remarking that she could cook for her own family), giving back the State vehicle issued to her, maintaining that she already had a car, and dismissing her State provided security force. I'm still waiting to hear the names of those other governors.
4- Now, even with her much-ridiculed "gosh and golly" mannerism, she also managed to put together a totally new approach to getting a natural gas pipeline built which will be the biggest private construction project in the history of North America. No one else could do it although they tried. If that doesn't impress you, then you're trying too hard to be unimpressed while watching her do things like this while baking up a batch of brownies with her other hand.
5- For 30 years, Exxon held a lease to do exploratory drilling at a place called Point Thompson. They made excuses the entire time why they couldn't start drilling. In truth they were holding it like an investment. No governor for 30 years could make them get started. This summer, she told them she was revoking their lease and kicking them out. They protested and threatened court action. She shrugged and reminded them that she knew the way to the court house. Alaska won again.
6- President Obama wants the nation to be on 25% renewable resources for electricity by 2025. Sarah went to the legislature and submitted her plan for Alaska to be at 50% renewable by 2025. We are already at 25%. I can give you more specifics about things done, as opposed to style and persona. Everybody wants to be cool, sound cool, look cool. But that's just a cover-up. I'm still waiting to hear from liberals the names of other governors who can match what mine has done in two and a half years. I won't be holding my breath.
By the way, she was content to return to AK after the national election and go to work, but the haters wouldn't let her.
You have just read the truth about Sarah Palin that sends the media, along with the Democrat party, into a wild uncontrolled frenzy to discredit her. I guess they are only interested in skirt chasers, dishonesty, immoral people, liars, womanizers, murderers, and bitter ex-presidents' wives or current President and his wife and staff.
So "You go, Girl." I only wish the men in Washington had your guts, determination, honesty, and morals.
I rest my case. Only FOOLS listen to the biased media.
By Dewie Whetsell
Medical Work Team for Haiti
Medical Work Teams to Haiti
Christian greetings in the name of our Savior,
Are you interested in joining a World Relief Medical trip to Haiti on short notice? We are in the process of organizing Two Medical teams of 10 - 12 people to go to Les Cayes, Haiti. The need is immediate so we are looking to arrange the first of these teams to arrive in Haiti in less than a week. If you would like to learn more about World Relief and our work teams please visit our web site at: www.acworldrelief.org
If you are interested we would like the following information:
· When you are available.
· How much time you can commit.
· Your profession and/or skills.
· Address and phone you can be reached at.
· Which airport you normally fly out of with 2 alternatives.
· Are you available to travel on Jan. 26th to Haiti (time of day to be determined but plan for early morning) and return on Feb. 4th (time of day to be determined but do not make plans at home for that day) and/or are you available to travel to Haiti on Feb. 4th (time of day to be determined but plan for early morning) and return on Feb. 14th (time of day to be determined but do not make plans at home for that day)?
In order to plan the logistics (particularly for the first trip) it is critical that we receive this information as quick as possible. If these dates do not work, we are interested in other dates that would work for you for future reference.
Please send all correspondence to:
Russ Manz (russ_manz@campbellsoup.com)
Alice Widmer (alice.widmer@jmsmucker.com)
Christian greetings in the name of our Savior,
Are you interested in joining a World Relief Medical trip to Haiti on short notice? We are in the process of organizing Two Medical teams of 10 - 12 people to go to Les Cayes, Haiti. The need is immediate so we are looking to arrange the first of these teams to arrive in Haiti in less than a week. If you would like to learn more about World Relief and our work teams please visit our web site at: www.acworldrelief.org
If you are interested we would like the following information:
· When you are available.
· How much time you can commit.
· Your profession and/or skills.
· Address and phone you can be reached at.
· Which airport you normally fly out of with 2 alternatives.
· Are you available to travel on Jan. 26th to Haiti (time of day to be determined but plan for early morning) and return on Feb. 4th (time of day to be determined but do not make plans at home for that day) and/or are you available to travel to Haiti on Feb. 4th (time of day to be determined but plan for early morning) and return on Feb. 14th (time of day to be determined but do not make plans at home for that day)?
In order to plan the logistics (particularly for the first trip) it is critical that we receive this information as quick as possible. If these dates do not work, we are interested in other dates that would work for you for future reference.
Please send all correspondence to:
Russ Manz (russ_manz@campbellsoup.com)
Alice Widmer (alice.widmer@jmsmucker.com)
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
The Case
Well I was actually asked to go be interviewed by the judge and the 2 attorneys, They called jurors up 4 at a time and each one was asked some questions. The case was about arson, the defendant was sitting in the room, one of the witnesses was Dr. Schock. The defendant was charged with burning down one of Dr. Shock's houses. Of course when they asked me if I knew anyone on the case I told them yes, Dr. Schock. When I approached the bench to tell them how I knew Dr. Schock, I told them he was a friend, goes to my church and he is honest and what ever he would say would be the truth. I can't figure out why at that point they invited me to leave.
I was home in plenty of time to have Anni ready for Dr. Monfort for a prepurchase exam which she passed. I will mark her sold as soon as the check comes for her. They are picking her up Feb. 27th, from the farm.
Classy will be leaving on the 30th of January and Clara and her colt are also probably sold. The lady buying them is going to put down the deposit on her tomorrow with a VISA card, then make monthly payments for 6 months.
Church was canceled because of the awful ice storm outside but we just had to go out in it any way. Emma started urinating blood. She kept whining and going to the door about every half hour. I finally had her locked in the playroom with us, heard her vomiting and saw that she had left a puddle of blood on the playroom floor and some on Mark's pants. We called the emergency clinic and they had us bring her in. Right in front of them she left a puddle of blood, they did a culture and she has a bladder infection. We now have her on sulpha tablets and she is again home, but she is lying here trembling and every once and a while whining. She has to be on the sulpha for 2 weeks. Poor Emma, she doesn't understand why she hurts. She weighs 52 pounds and is 3 months and 3 weeks old.
We gave her 400 ccs of lactate ringers subcutaneous to keep her from becoming dehydrated.
I was home in plenty of time to have Anni ready for Dr. Monfort for a prepurchase exam which she passed. I will mark her sold as soon as the check comes for her. They are picking her up Feb. 27th, from the farm.
Classy will be leaving on the 30th of January and Clara and her colt are also probably sold. The lady buying them is going to put down the deposit on her tomorrow with a VISA card, then make monthly payments for 6 months.
Church was canceled because of the awful ice storm outside but we just had to go out in it any way. Emma started urinating blood. She kept whining and going to the door about every half hour. I finally had her locked in the playroom with us, heard her vomiting and saw that she had left a puddle of blood on the playroom floor and some on Mark's pants. We called the emergency clinic and they had us bring her in. Right in front of them she left a puddle of blood, they did a culture and she has a bladder infection. We now have her on sulpha tablets and she is again home, but she is lying here trembling and every once and a while whining. She has to be on the sulpha for 2 weeks. Poor Emma, she doesn't understand why she hurts. She weighs 52 pounds and is 3 months and 3 weeks old.
We gave her 400 ccs of lactate ringers subcutaneous to keep her from becoming dehydrated.
6.1 Earthquake Hits Haiti
We just heard that a 6.1 earthquake has hit 60 miles East of Les Cayes We have not yet heard from Joan & Tim. If anyone does, please let us know by calling or email.
Joan & Tim live in Les Cayes.
Joan was able to call mom from the Gutwiens. They are all ok. The kids were sleeping and didn't even feel the earthquake. Joan and Tim did but it didn't last long.
They are still very busy helping with relief efforts.
Joan & Tim live in Les Cayes.
Joan was able to call mom from the Gutwiens. They are all ok. The kids were sleeping and didn't even feel the earthquake. Joan and Tim did but it didn't last long.
They are still very busy helping with relief efforts.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Jury DRUDGE
So I find a parking place in the associated Bank deck, walk over to the court house and immediately blow it. Trying to get through the screening process to get into the court house, the lady in front of me put her coat on the conveyor and it didn't move, I leaned forward to push her coat along so my stuff could get scanned and bumped the frame of the walk through screener for people. Alarms went off, the police lady starts telling me to back away, the police man is stating VERY loudly everyone back up, just back up. They finally got it working again and let me go through after resetting everything. OK, I'm a country hick and haven't visited the court house enough to know screen etiquette.
Once in room 204 there were almost no seats left, because I was a little late from setting off all the alarms but I did find a place in the very front row squished between to big men. I started shucking clothing quickly as claustrophobia starting setting in. Once my coat and sweat shirt was removed and stuffed under the chair I could breath better. I know my eyes were a little wild for a moment as the man on the right side took one look and moved. At that point I was able to get an aisle seat, way better. Then we sat and sat and sat. Just before lunch we were dismissed with instructions to come back tomorrow morning. I think I'll try to come in a different door so I don't have to face the same guards.
I stopped at home to get something to eat, I actually had forgotten to eat breakfast and was getting pretty hungry but didn't dare get up in case someone grabbed the aisle seat. Then it was down to work to process all the Bible studies. Just around 5:00pm the last one was finished so Mark and I drove to Eva Jeans to deliver them and try to fix the risograph machine. Couldn't get it fixed so Eva Jean will need to call the repair man.
I'd heard of a store up near Eva Jean's house that sold pasteurized but NOT homogenized milk. I bought one gallon of whole milk, will let the cream rise to the top, skim the cream off for my coffee and enjoy the milk. The rich jersey cream was the one thing I missed when we sold off our cows. I don't miss the twice a day milking but the fresh milk and thick cream was hard to give up. I have 2 gallon size wide lid jars that the milk will be poured into for easy skimming.
The coffee with fresh cream tomorrow morning will be such a special treat.
Once in room 204 there were almost no seats left, because I was a little late from setting off all the alarms but I did find a place in the very front row squished between to big men. I started shucking clothing quickly as claustrophobia starting setting in. Once my coat and sweat shirt was removed and stuffed under the chair I could breath better. I know my eyes were a little wild for a moment as the man on the right side took one look and moved. At that point I was able to get an aisle seat, way better. Then we sat and sat and sat. Just before lunch we were dismissed with instructions to come back tomorrow morning. I think I'll try to come in a different door so I don't have to face the same guards.
I stopped at home to get something to eat, I actually had forgotten to eat breakfast and was getting pretty hungry but didn't dare get up in case someone grabbed the aisle seat. Then it was down to work to process all the Bible studies. Just around 5:00pm the last one was finished so Mark and I drove to Eva Jeans to deliver them and try to fix the risograph machine. Couldn't get it fixed so Eva Jean will need to call the repair man.
I'd heard of a store up near Eva Jean's house that sold pasteurized but NOT homogenized milk. I bought one gallon of whole milk, will let the cream rise to the top, skim the cream off for my coffee and enjoy the milk. The rich jersey cream was the one thing I missed when we sold off our cows. I don't miss the twice a day milking but the fresh milk and thick cream was hard to give up. I have 2 gallon size wide lid jars that the milk will be poured into for easy skimming.
The coffee with fresh cream tomorrow morning will be such a special treat.
Jury Duty
Must be at the court house by 9:00am to start Jury Duty. Must take at least 2 books as no one knows how long we will have to sit waiting. The first time I served we waited ALL day before the man to be tried pleaded guilty. I wouldn't mind if that happens today as long as I don't end up having to serve the entire week.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Udate from Joan
Tim and I spent the last two nights up at the clinic helping out the exhausted doctors. and nurses. Only in Haiti does a builder and a schoolteacher spend the first night assisting with two operations in the operating rooms here and the second night helping set broken bones and putting on casts. The situation here is incredible and up till today, they were still bringing hurt patients to an already overflowing clinic. At this point the small easy fixes are done and the severe, sometimes overwhelming, how-in-the-world-do-you-fix-THAT cases are what is left. These poor people have been suffering now for 5 days and the staff is exhausted which can cause some short tempers. From broken pelvis', femurs, arms etc. to feet and legs cut open to the bone and full of infections, I have never seen so much suffering.
The good news is that 2 orthopedic surgeons and 3 others, landed here in Cayes this morning bringing supplies with them. They are not planning to work here at our clinic, but rather up at Bonne Finn. This will still be a tremendous help and will pull some of the excess up to Bonne Fin. I took a doctor and some translators up to Bonne Fin today and then stayed while they did the rounds of some of those who heard by the radio that there was a team coming and have been waiting since Saturday. There were so many patients however, that they didn't even see half of them before I came back down at 6:00 pm.
We are at total peace knowing we are right where God wants us to be... "for such a time as this".
Now I have to add my 2 cents worth. Joan actually went in to nurses training first, found out the sight and smell of blood made her sick and changed her major to teaching. In fact, if I remember correctly blood made her faint. She has come a long way!
The good news is that 2 orthopedic surgeons and 3 others, landed here in Cayes this morning bringing supplies with them. They are not planning to work here at our clinic, but rather up at Bonne Finn. This will still be a tremendous help and will pull some of the excess up to Bonne Fin. I took a doctor and some translators up to Bonne Fin today and then stayed while they did the rounds of some of those who heard by the radio that there was a team coming and have been waiting since Saturday. There were so many patients however, that they didn't even see half of them before I came back down at 6:00 pm.
We are at total peace knowing we are right where God wants us to be... "for such a time as this".
Now I have to add my 2 cents worth. Joan actually went in to nurses training first, found out the sight and smell of blood made her sick and changed her major to teaching. In fact, if I remember correctly blood made her faint. She has come a long way!
Haiti's Horror
I've received emails today about why our Friesian blog should post about Haiti's Horror. I would like to explain why. My sister Joan Reinhard and her husband Tim plus their daughters Sarah, Bethany, Hannah and Faith are working in Haiti as missionaries. They know the language so translate for many of the medical teams that are now coming into Haiti. Their stay right now is critical to the rescue work going on at this moment. They know the people, place and need which is sometimes overwhelming. Please pray for this family, we hold them dear to our hearts.
Update from Dr. Keith Knepp & Bob Honegger
From: Keith Knepp
Sent: Monday, January 18,
Subject: Medical Work Team
We are proceeding with a medical team to Haiti, scheduled to depart Florida for Port-au-Prince on Friday. We currently have enough team members for this group, and should have adequate supplies for this team from local supporters of team members.
The needs in Haiti were huge even before this disaster, and are even worse now, so we may still have need of your services and/or supplies.
If you have general medical supplies, especially things useful in immediate care of injuries and infections, those can be sent to Bob Honegger in Bluffton for shipping to Haiti. His email is rahonneger@gmail.com.
Mailing address is:
Bob Honegger
420 N. Jefferson Street
Ossian, IN 46777.
Darrell Widmer, from Ohio, may be coordinating a second medical team in the near future. I am forwarding your message along to him so he can contact you if needed. His email is dlwidmermd@rfpractice.com. We will also keep your contact information to build a database of individuals who might be interested in future opportunities in Haiti.
Thank you very much for responding. I appreciate the tremendous outpouring of support that we've received. Please pray for the ongoing relief efforts, and more importantly, for the people of Haiti.
Blessing to each of you,
Keith Knepp
__________________________________________________
From: Bob Honegger
Sent: Monday, January 18,
Subject: Needs for Haiti
Lord willing we will be shipping a container of food and medical supplies on Friday. We are working with CAM to get the load to the Dominican and then it will be trucked to the border. CAM will have a truck there to haul the container to their PAP warehouse. The plan at that point is to have Dr. Morquette make arrangements to have the items taken to the new Kings Hospital. This is going to take a lot of prayers and our Great God certainly can make it happen. We are still not sure when we can get a container to Cayes, but we are thinking in 2-3 weeks we can get another container on its way there.
The most urgent need
Food and medical supplies are the most urgent need. Sorting of the clothes and shoes into groups of boys, girls, men and women's would be very helpful. The bedding should be for a warm climate.
We have enough items to fill the container going out on Friday and so there is not an urgent need to get things to Bluffton. I would say if everything is here by the 1st week of February that would be great.
Cheryl Herrmann is coordinating the collection of medical supplies in Illinois and they will be taken to the Goodfield Distribution center. One thing that would be very helpful is to have all boxes labeled with what the contents are. Also to have like items in a box so the distribution in Haiti can be made easier.
In His Love,
Bob Honegger
rahonegger@gmail.com
Sent: Monday, January 18,
Subject: Medical Work Team
We are proceeding with a medical team to Haiti, scheduled to depart Florida for Port-au-Prince on Friday. We currently have enough team members for this group, and should have adequate supplies for this team from local supporters of team members.
The needs in Haiti were huge even before this disaster, and are even worse now, so we may still have need of your services and/or supplies.
If you have general medical supplies, especially things useful in immediate care of injuries and infections, those can be sent to Bob Honegger in Bluffton for shipping to Haiti. His email is rahonneger@gmail.com.
Mailing address is:
Bob Honegger
420 N. Jefferson Street
Ossian, IN 46777.
Darrell Widmer, from Ohio, may be coordinating a second medical team in the near future. I am forwarding your message along to him so he can contact you if needed. His email is dlwidmermd@rfpractice.com. We will also keep your contact information to build a database of individuals who might be interested in future opportunities in Haiti.
Thank you very much for responding. I appreciate the tremendous outpouring of support that we've received. Please pray for the ongoing relief efforts, and more importantly, for the people of Haiti.
Blessing to each of you,
Keith Knepp
__________________________________________________
From: Bob Honegger
Sent: Monday, January 18,
Subject: Needs for Haiti
Lord willing we will be shipping a container of food and medical supplies on Friday. We are working with CAM to get the load to the Dominican and then it will be trucked to the border. CAM will have a truck there to haul the container to their PAP warehouse. The plan at that point is to have Dr. Morquette make arrangements to have the items taken to the new Kings Hospital. This is going to take a lot of prayers and our Great God certainly can make it happen. We are still not sure when we can get a container to Cayes, but we are thinking in 2-3 weeks we can get another container on its way there.
The most urgent need
Food and medical supplies are the most urgent need. Sorting of the clothes and shoes into groups of boys, girls, men and women's would be very helpful. The bedding should be for a warm climate.
We have enough items to fill the container going out on Friday and so there is not an urgent need to get things to Bluffton. I would say if everything is here by the 1st week of February that would be great.
Cheryl Herrmann is coordinating the collection of medical supplies in Illinois and they will be taken to the Goodfield Distribution center. One thing that would be very helpful is to have all boxes labeled with what the contents are. Also to have like items in a box so the distribution in Haiti can be made easier.
In His Love,
Bob Honegger
rahonegger@gmail.com
Update from AC World Relief
Haiti Work Team
Sunday, January 17
Ron Palitto and 9 of the team were able to fly out of Les Cayes on 4 twin engine missionary airplanes this morning. They left around 10:35am and arrived at Inagua Bahamas around 11:45am. They then flew on to Nassau Bahamas where they landed around 3:00pm this afternoon. One of the four airplanes returned to Les Cayes to pick up the other three team members and the luggage. Ron just called me a few moments ago and said the plane was in the air and they expected them to be in Nassau within the hour.
The Work Team is safely at Nassau for the night. We give GOD the Glory and we give thanks to all who have lifted us up in prayer. Please encourage everyone to continue to support and pray for the grieving, hurting, and miserable that we left in Haiti. Also remember our full-time Team that is going to face incredible difficulties in the near future as supplies dwindle, disease prospers, and discouragement grows.
Sunday, January 17
Ron Palitto and 9 of the team were able to fly out of Les Cayes on 4 twin engine missionary airplanes this morning. They left around 10:35am and arrived at Inagua Bahamas around 11:45am. They then flew on to Nassau Bahamas where they landed around 3:00pm this afternoon. One of the four airplanes returned to Les Cayes to pick up the other three team members and the luggage. Ron just called me a few moments ago and said the plane was in the air and they expected them to be in Nassau within the hour.
The Work Team is safely at Nassau for the night. We give GOD the Glory and we give thanks to all who have lifted us up in prayer. Please encourage everyone to continue to support and pray for the grieving, hurting, and miserable that we left in Haiti. Also remember our full-time Team that is going to face incredible difficulties in the near future as supplies dwindle, disease prospers, and discouragement grows.
Update from the Gutweins in Haiti
From: Val Gutwein in Haiti
Date: Sun, 17 Jan 2010
Subject: Haiti Update
Hello to everyone. It is Sunday afternoon and I am finally taking the time to send a short update.
I talked to a store owner today and he said there is no way anything in the way of supplies(food) for their store will be coming from Port for awhile. So far we are not seeing any fuel tankers coming into our city, so our city power is cut way back, and trips beyond the city are not advisable.(this evening I heard that a gas station had some lines, so maybe some fuel came in today)
Jan went to Port today to talk with a Doc from a Haitian Hospital that our Apostolic Church works with, called King's Garden. We hope to have a medical team in Port by next Friday. At our clinic here at the compound, the injured are coming every day. Many have broken femurs, pelvises, and feet. One lady's leg looks flat because the bones are shattered. Our x-ray machine is down, so the people have to go into town for an x-ray, then return here for help. It is very hard on the people who are in a lot of pain. The hospital was pretty cleared out before the quake, and today all the beds were full. The families are sleeping on the floor beside their loved one.
This has affected so many people we know. One sad story is our fellow missionary Olga's house lady, lost her only daughter. I believe she was in med school. Some families have lost ALL their children since they were at school when the quake happened.
There are miracle stories, like the missionary family who was on the way to a nice grocery store, when they received a call that their VISA card was going to be discontinued. Seems the company was making a mistake, so they did not stop at the store and went to the Montana Hotel to find a room, since they needed to stay in Port to get supplies, and figure out the VISA problem. The Montana was full, so they were heading to their mission guesthouse when the quake it. Both the grocery store and the hotel crumbled in the quake. They are praising God they are alive.
There have been over 40 tremors since the first, so most Haitians are sleeping outside.
We talked with a girl who works at a clinic called Christianville, where there is a school, church, medical facility, eye facility, and other services. Most of their buildings went down. The Doc and his wife jumped from the 2nd story balcony as their building was falling. They had 6 ft to jump to the ground. Another missionary on the same compound said she was outside and trying to get out of the way of falling "stuff" but she was forced to the ground every time she tried to move. We praise God that the team and all the missionaries were spared. They became a haven for medical help before they ran out of supplies.
We are thankful that our team was finally able to get out. Our efforts now will be to support the Clinic in whatever way we can. We hope some more medical help will arrive soon, as the Docs are getting weary. Patients need help all parts of the day. Some situations are really grave. The hardest are the young children!
The kids are doing fine, although they feel the stress of the situation here. Each one had a different perspective of when the quake hit. It will be a moment they'll never forget.
In Christian Love,
Jan and Val and family
Date: Sun, 17 Jan 2010
Subject: Haiti Update
Hello to everyone. It is Sunday afternoon and I am finally taking the time to send a short update.
I talked to a store owner today and he said there is no way anything in the way of supplies(food) for their store will be coming from Port for awhile. So far we are not seeing any fuel tankers coming into our city, so our city power is cut way back, and trips beyond the city are not advisable.(this evening I heard that a gas station had some lines, so maybe some fuel came in today)
Jan went to Port today to talk with a Doc from a Haitian Hospital that our Apostolic Church works with, called King's Garden. We hope to have a medical team in Port by next Friday. At our clinic here at the compound, the injured are coming every day. Many have broken femurs, pelvises, and feet. One lady's leg looks flat because the bones are shattered. Our x-ray machine is down, so the people have to go into town for an x-ray, then return here for help. It is very hard on the people who are in a lot of pain. The hospital was pretty cleared out before the quake, and today all the beds were full. The families are sleeping on the floor beside their loved one.
This has affected so many people we know. One sad story is our fellow missionary Olga's house lady, lost her only daughter. I believe she was in med school. Some families have lost ALL their children since they were at school when the quake happened.
There are miracle stories, like the missionary family who was on the way to a nice grocery store, when they received a call that their VISA card was going to be discontinued. Seems the company was making a mistake, so they did not stop at the store and went to the Montana Hotel to find a room, since they needed to stay in Port to get supplies, and figure out the VISA problem. The Montana was full, so they were heading to their mission guesthouse when the quake it. Both the grocery store and the hotel crumbled in the quake. They are praising God they are alive.
There have been over 40 tremors since the first, so most Haitians are sleeping outside.
We talked with a girl who works at a clinic called Christianville, where there is a school, church, medical facility, eye facility, and other services. Most of their buildings went down. The Doc and his wife jumped from the 2nd story balcony as their building was falling. They had 6 ft to jump to the ground. Another missionary on the same compound said she was outside and trying to get out of the way of falling "stuff" but she was forced to the ground every time she tried to move. We praise God that the team and all the missionaries were spared. They became a haven for medical help before they ran out of supplies.
We are thankful that our team was finally able to get out. Our efforts now will be to support the Clinic in whatever way we can. We hope some more medical help will arrive soon, as the Docs are getting weary. Patients need help all parts of the day. Some situations are really grave. The hardest are the young children!
The kids are doing fine, although they feel the stress of the situation here. Each one had a different perspective of when the quake hit. It will be a moment they'll never forget.
In Christian Love,
Jan and Val and family
Rhoda & Monica's Snow Ride
Rhoda and Monica went out yesterday to play with the horses, it was a very gray day with the snow still deep in places. They took video clips of Valiant and last night worked on getting them into a usable video. All of our video editing programs are not working correctly so after 4 hours of trying we just made this one and posted it. Valiant had a great time playing in the snow. The girls had fun also riding Jenis and Ylse. Monica told me that Ylse was perfect, so light in the bridle and FUN!
From Tim Reinhard
Tim Reinhard emailed me this today. I saw his name on my email list and opened his up first. We are so anxious to hear news of how things are going for the Reinhard's in Haiti this is the last thing I expected but it is soooo true. We really had a good laugh, our dogs are always sitting on the wrong thing, like feet, toes, your book if you are laying down trying to read, your clothes, each other, and the list goes on.
Sometimes when you are angry with someone,
It helps to sit down,
take a moment to cool off,
and think about the problem.
Sometimes when you are angry with someone,
It helps to sit down,
take a moment to cool off,
and think about the problem.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
The Fog
This morning driving to Morton, IL to pick up Nancy the fog was so thick it was like driving through pea soup. The beautiful part of the fog was how each tree branch was covered in hoary frost. If the sun would have burned through the fog the trees would have sparkled like diamonds. Each tree was clothed in a lacy white frosting.
Nancy was very slow getting into the car today but happy once we got to church and she saw mom. Mike Reiker's sermon this afternoon was amazing. He opened up Joshua 1 but then went on and read 2, some of three and of course had to finish Rahab's story on chapter 6. He brought out people only think of Rahab's downfall, God only thinks of Rahab's Faith. It is true, we remember that Rahab was a prostitute and yet she saved her entire family AND ended up in King David's lineage. Mike also talked about how God told Joshua after wandering 40 years in the desert that in 3 days he would be in the promised land. He talked about the crossing of the Jordan river, it was during flood stage, the priests that were carrying the Ark were asked to walk into the river and once they did the river stacked up and all of the Israelite people walked over on dry land. It is good to remember God is in charge of the past, present and future.
Once home, Rhoda and Monica drove out to the farm to work on Jenis and Ylse for the IL Horse fair. They took the video camera and taped Valiant. I worked on getting a video made but the computer is freezing up each time I try, TIME to call the EXPERT (Philip) AGAIN! He must get so tired of rescuing us.
Around 5:30pm Mark and I drove out to Spark's to pick up Nancy and take her back to Morton. She was really tired, we got her home by 6:30pm.
Nancy was very slow getting into the car today but happy once we got to church and she saw mom. Mike Reiker's sermon this afternoon was amazing. He opened up Joshua 1 but then went on and read 2, some of three and of course had to finish Rahab's story on chapter 6. He brought out people only think of Rahab's downfall, God only thinks of Rahab's Faith. It is true, we remember that Rahab was a prostitute and yet she saved her entire family AND ended up in King David's lineage. Mike also talked about how God told Joshua after wandering 40 years in the desert that in 3 days he would be in the promised land. He talked about the crossing of the Jordan river, it was during flood stage, the priests that were carrying the Ark were asked to walk into the river and once they did the river stacked up and all of the Israelite people walked over on dry land. It is good to remember God is in charge of the past, present and future.
Once home, Rhoda and Monica drove out to the farm to work on Jenis and Ylse for the IL Horse fair. They took the video camera and taped Valiant. I worked on getting a video made but the computer is freezing up each time I try, TIME to call the EXPERT (Philip) AGAIN! He must get so tired of rescuing us.
Around 5:30pm Mark and I drove out to Spark's to pick up Nancy and take her back to Morton. She was really tired, we got her home by 6:30pm.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Sanna With Sue
Sanna was loaded up right at noon today we pulled the truck up, Chuck Altic brought over 10 bales of hay and they were also loaded into the trailer and we were on our way. Casey's was the first stop, the truck had a low tire and Philip has our air compressor, then off to Chillicothe. When we drove up to her new home, the man that owns it looked at me and said, "I know you, you bought a hay conveyor from me 14 years ago." What a small world. We still have the hay conveyor, it has worked very well for us all these years.
Once Sanna was unloaded and lead very carefully over the ice into the barn we unloaded the hay. Sue, Sanna's new owner gave me a beautiful brand new blue halter she bought that was too small for Sanna. She also said she would be glad to email pictures of Sanna's 2010 foal. Halters are one thing we are usually short of even though each spring we try to buy them in bulk so I was thankful. For once the truck did not get stuck when I was backing the trailer in place.
Mark took the filled propane tank out to the farm, came back and told me that we HAVE to keep selling horses. This is the first winter we have wintered them at the farm and there is quite a mess. Hopefully this year will be dryer and when we can finally move some horses to Middle Grove, we can clean them up and lime the paddocks.
Once we were both home, it was off to Sam's to buy dog food. Of course, once there one doesn't just buy dog food. We ended up spending $149.89. It was stock up time on laundry detergent and dishwasher detergent along with nuts, almonds and mixed. Mark also wanted some shrimp. He wanted to buy that to share with mom, she came to help us when we served at choir and she didn't get any.
Once Sanna was unloaded and lead very carefully over the ice into the barn we unloaded the hay. Sue, Sanna's new owner gave me a beautiful brand new blue halter she bought that was too small for Sanna. She also said she would be glad to email pictures of Sanna's 2010 foal. Halters are one thing we are usually short of even though each spring we try to buy them in bulk so I was thankful. For once the truck did not get stuck when I was backing the trailer in place.
Mark took the filled propane tank out to the farm, came back and told me that we HAVE to keep selling horses. This is the first winter we have wintered them at the farm and there is quite a mess. Hopefully this year will be dryer and when we can finally move some horses to Middle Grove, we can clean them up and lime the paddocks.
Once we were both home, it was off to Sam's to buy dog food. Of course, once there one doesn't just buy dog food. We ended up spending $149.89. It was stock up time on laundry detergent and dishwasher detergent along with nuts, almonds and mixed. Mark also wanted some shrimp. He wanted to buy that to share with mom, she came to help us when we served at choir and she didn't get any.
Keep Praying
Yesterday at 10:29pm
Things are getting hectic out here with more and more wounded being sent out. Our Haitian orthopedic doctor from town has been in Port, so a retired Haitian dr worked all day yesterday in Cayes doing amputations. At this point most everyone who is being sent out have bad infections and the ability to save limbs is limited with not enough supplies, so the answer is to cut them off.
Sarah and I are heading up to the clinic to help translate for a medical team who has been stuck here and is helping at night to give the Haitian staff some relief.
By the way, when it seems that all else is crazy, it helps to remember that God is in control and He hears our prayers. Keep them coming.
Joan Reinhard
Things are getting hectic out here with more and more wounded being sent out. Our Haitian orthopedic doctor from town has been in Port, so a retired Haitian dr worked all day yesterday in Cayes doing amputations. At this point most everyone who is being sent out have bad infections and the ability to save limbs is limited with not enough supplies, so the answer is to cut them off.
Sarah and I are heading up to the clinic to help translate for a medical team who has been stuck here and is helping at night to give the Haitian staff some relief.
By the way, when it seems that all else is crazy, it helps to remember that God is in control and He hears our prayers. Keep them coming.
Joan Reinhard
Friday, January 15, 2010
Request from Joan
I thought I'd e-mail this out to all of you at once. I have another list of
medical needs from our clinic that I will forward too. Dr. Keith said if
they have a big enough team and it is possible, some may come out here to
Cayes as many of the wounded are being brought here to get them out of Port.
Thanks for all the prayers. We are holding up well.
Joan
Tim & Joan Reinhard
(309)740-0049
treinhard@juno.com
reinhardconnection.com
-----Original Message-----
Subject: Haiti medical opportunity
Greetings to each of you,
King's Garden is a mission hospital in Port-au-Prince, run by Dr. Hubert
Morquette and his wife, Dr. Junie Hyacinthe. They have a new facility which
thankfully survived the earthquake and is functioning. As you might expect,
they have been overwhelmed with patients, and have asked for assistance.
They are most in need of anesthesiologists (or nurse anesthetists) and
orthopedic surgeons. We would like to mobilize a team to help, and are
working on transportation arrangements sometime next week. If you are an
anesthetist or orthopedist and would consider coming, or know someone who
could, please contact me at kknepp@mchsi.com or by calling 309-303-1184.
We will also have need of supplies, so if you have access to wound care
supplies, casting material, antibiotics and pain medications, those would be
useful. These should be in bulk form (not small sample bottles) and packed
as compactly as possible, with labels on the outside of bags or boxes to
easily identify contents. All medications need to be current (no expired
medicines). We will let you know shipping instructions as soon as possible.
If we can't use the supplies immediately, they can be sent later to the
hospitals we support.
Thanks to each of you for your support and prayers for the people of Haiti.
In Christ,
Keith Knepp
medical needs from our clinic that I will forward too. Dr. Keith said if
they have a big enough team and it is possible, some may come out here to
Cayes as many of the wounded are being brought here to get them out of Port.
Thanks for all the prayers. We are holding up well.
Joan
Tim & Joan Reinhard
(309)740-0049
treinhard@juno.com
reinhardconnection.com
-----Original Message-----
Subject: Haiti medical opportunity
Greetings to each of you,
King's Garden is a mission hospital in Port-au-Prince, run by Dr. Hubert
Morquette and his wife, Dr. Junie Hyacinthe. They have a new facility which
thankfully survived the earthquake and is functioning. As you might expect,
they have been overwhelmed with patients, and have asked for assistance.
They are most in need of anesthesiologists (or nurse anesthetists) and
orthopedic surgeons. We would like to mobilize a team to help, and are
working on transportation arrangements sometime next week. If you are an
anesthetist or orthopedist and would consider coming, or know someone who
could, please contact me at kknepp@mchsi.com or by calling 309-303-1184.
We will also have need of supplies, so if you have access to wound care
supplies, casting material, antibiotics and pain medications, those would be
useful. These should be in bulk form (not small sample bottles) and packed
as compactly as possible, with labels on the outside of bags or boxes to
easily identify contents. All medications need to be current (no expired
medicines). We will let you know shipping instructions as soon as possible.
If we can't use the supplies immediately, they can be sent later to the
hospitals we support.
Thanks to each of you for your support and prayers for the people of Haiti.
In Christ,
Keith Knepp
DANGER for Rescue Workers
As Joan writes, Desperate People do Desperate Things. Please pray for the safety of our family in Haiti.
Although doctors, rescue teams and supplies had been flying into the capital, Port au Prince, a series of bottlenecks meant aid was not getting to those who needed it most. The sound of gunfire echoed around Port au Prince as looters fought over scarce food supplies, hijacked vehicles and raided a UN warehouse where 15,000 tons of food had been stockpiled.
Even the most stoic Haitians began to express frustration at the continued lack of help on the fourth day of their ordeal, and in one part of the capital corpses were piled up to build roadblocks in protest at the delays.
David Wimhurst, spokesman for the Brazilian-run UN peacekeeping mission, said: "They want us to provide them with help, which is, of course, what we want to do. But they're slowly getting more angry and impatient."
Brazil's defence minister Nelson Jobim, who spent two days in Port au Prince, said: "As long as the people are hungry and thirsty, as long as we haven't fixed the problem of shelter, we run the risk of riots."
The problem has been worsened by the complete destruction of Port-au-Prince's main prison, where almost all of the 4,000 inmates survived the earthquake and are now roaming the streets.
Rescuers have been told to stop work when it gets dark because of fears they will be attacked.
"Our biggest problem is security," said Delfin Antonio Rodriguez, rescue commander for the Dominican Republic. "Yesterday they tried to hijack some of our trucks. Today we were barely able to work in some places because of that. There's looting and people with guns out there, because this country is very poor and people are desperate."
Shaul Schwarz, a photographer for TIME magazine, said he saw at least two roadblocks formed with bodies of earthquake victims and rocks.
"They are starting to block the roads with bodies," he said. "It's getting ugly out there.
Although doctors, rescue teams and supplies had been flying into the capital, Port au Prince, a series of bottlenecks meant aid was not getting to those who needed it most. The sound of gunfire echoed around Port au Prince as looters fought over scarce food supplies, hijacked vehicles and raided a UN warehouse where 15,000 tons of food had been stockpiled.
Even the most stoic Haitians began to express frustration at the continued lack of help on the fourth day of their ordeal, and in one part of the capital corpses were piled up to build roadblocks in protest at the delays.
David Wimhurst, spokesman for the Brazilian-run UN peacekeeping mission, said: "They want us to provide them with help, which is, of course, what we want to do. But they're slowly getting more angry and impatient."
Brazil's defence minister Nelson Jobim, who spent two days in Port au Prince, said: "As long as the people are hungry and thirsty, as long as we haven't fixed the problem of shelter, we run the risk of riots."
The problem has been worsened by the complete destruction of Port-au-Prince's main prison, where almost all of the 4,000 inmates survived the earthquake and are now roaming the streets.
Rescuers have been told to stop work when it gets dark because of fears they will be attacked.
"Our biggest problem is security," said Delfin Antonio Rodriguez, rescue commander for the Dominican Republic. "Yesterday they tried to hijack some of our trucks. Today we were barely able to work in some places because of that. There's looting and people with guns out there, because this country is very poor and people are desperate."
Shaul Schwarz, a photographer for TIME magazine, said he saw at least two roadblocks formed with bodies of earthquake victims and rocks.
"They are starting to block the roads with bodies," he said. "It's getting ugly out there.
My Truck
This morning the hydrant between the green barn and red barn is WORKING! This makes watering SO much easier. Once the horses were fed and watered here, it was off to the farm to feed Raven and check if Clara is showing any signs of coming in. No go today on that. Mike has fixed the shelter roof that was broken from the snow and was also able to turn the water on to the 2 hydrants in the barns. Karin will now be able to use her sprinkler to water the arena. Clara's colt is so beautiful, today he was trying to go under his mom and his coal black coat was frosted with white hair from her. He looked like he was being decorated for Christmas!
I dropped off 5 dozen eggs at mom's house for anyone out there needing them. Once home there was a message from Mangold Ford that it is the 4x4 module that is broken but... they do not have the part, cannot find the part, the company that made the part has gone out of business, and maybe they will have the part by May! Great, I need 4wheel drive to get up the barn driveway. Sarah drove me out to Eureka to pick up the truck. They wrote down the part number so I spent time on the internet trying to find it but so far no luck.
I dropped off 5 dozen eggs at mom's house for anyone out there needing them. Once home there was a message from Mangold Ford that it is the 4x4 module that is broken but... they do not have the part, cannot find the part, the company that made the part has gone out of business, and maybe they will have the part by May! Great, I need 4wheel drive to get up the barn driveway. Sarah drove me out to Eureka to pick up the truck. They wrote down the part number so I spent time on the internet trying to find it but so far no luck.
Joan's Update
The trip to Port got cancelled. The missionaries in Christianville did receive the supplies that we sent earlier, but they said not to send people. We are starting to get wounded and refugees here in Cayes, so we are crazy busy getting supplies ready. Please keep praying that people here can keep there heads on straight.
They are starting to send out wounded and refugees from Port. Our clinic here is filling up. Most of the orthopedic drs from Cayes went to Port so we are short handed in town, but we can do what we can here at the clinic. Keep praying.
They are starting to send out wounded and refugees from Port. Our clinic here is filling up. Most of the orthopedic drs from Cayes went to Port so we are short handed in town, but we can do what we can here at the clinic. Keep praying.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
God's Ways Are Amazing!! (from Joan Reinhard)
God's ways are amazing!!
Today at 5:25pm
I need to share what I did today. Saturday, the container that was sent from Illinois arrived here in our yard in Cayes. I knew that this was the container that had all of the leftover stuff from the garage sale that was held in memory of Gabriel. When I saw the pile of stuff that ended up being unloaded in our garage, I thought "What in the world are we going to do with all of this stuff." There were huge piles of sheets and towels, boxes and boxes of toiletry items including soaps, shampoos, tooth brushes and paste, laundry soap, bleach... the list just went on and on. Tim said that Roger Ackerman just sent whatever they had there to fill the container. Yesterday, we got the e-mail that I shared from our friends at the edge of Port and many of the things that they requested were sitting in my garage. As we opened box after box of supplies I was completely amazed with the incredible wisdom and omniscience of our great God. This container of stuff was packed months ago and here it was right in my garage 3 days before the worst earthquake here in over 200 years. The garage sale leftover clothes, shoes, suitcases and other stuff that was given in memory of Gabriel is turning into a blessing that I wouldn't have even imagined. I was just overwhelmed all day.
Tim, Sarah, Sheila Moser, Jan Gutwen, Alisha Gutwein, and some of the other missionaries are all heading in to the Christianville area tomorrow morning at 4:00 A.M. They will be delivering all of these supplies and then bringing back loads of people who need to get out of Port. Some may stay and try to help with the digging out process. Rod Wray, one of the missionaries has a Bob cat that he is going to take in to Port and help dig with. Most of the houses are built with concrete and without equipment it is almost impossible to dig people out.
Please pray for safe travel for them and that they will not run into any problems on the road. Pray also for any situations they might encounter that they will have the wisdom to know how to handle each and every situation.
Continue to pray for all those who are living in such difficult situations of not enough water, food, and medical help.
Lastly continue to pray for all those who have lost loved ones as we are slowly starting to hear of individuals who have been killed. The death toll is huge and the recovery will be a long time in coming.
Thank you each one for lifting us up. We love you and need you.
Joan
We were able to run down town yesterday early and fill up on propane, diesel, and gas and it is a good thing that we did. As the situation becomes more clear, people are realizing that it may be a problem. Jan said there were huge lines at the stations today.
Today at 5:25pm
I need to share what I did today. Saturday, the container that was sent from Illinois arrived here in our yard in Cayes. I knew that this was the container that had all of the leftover stuff from the garage sale that was held in memory of Gabriel. When I saw the pile of stuff that ended up being unloaded in our garage, I thought "What in the world are we going to do with all of this stuff." There were huge piles of sheets and towels, boxes and boxes of toiletry items including soaps, shampoos, tooth brushes and paste, laundry soap, bleach... the list just went on and on. Tim said that Roger Ackerman just sent whatever they had there to fill the container. Yesterday, we got the e-mail that I shared from our friends at the edge of Port and many of the things that they requested were sitting in my garage. As we opened box after box of supplies I was completely amazed with the incredible wisdom and omniscience of our great God. This container of stuff was packed months ago and here it was right in my garage 3 days before the worst earthquake here in over 200 years. The garage sale leftover clothes, shoes, suitcases and other stuff that was given in memory of Gabriel is turning into a blessing that I wouldn't have even imagined. I was just overwhelmed all day.
Tim, Sarah, Sheila Moser, Jan Gutwen, Alisha Gutwein, and some of the other missionaries are all heading in to the Christianville area tomorrow morning at 4:00 A.M. They will be delivering all of these supplies and then bringing back loads of people who need to get out of Port. Some may stay and try to help with the digging out process. Rod Wray, one of the missionaries has a Bob cat that he is going to take in to Port and help dig with. Most of the houses are built with concrete and without equipment it is almost impossible to dig people out.
Please pray for safe travel for them and that they will not run into any problems on the road. Pray also for any situations they might encounter that they will have the wisdom to know how to handle each and every situation.
Continue to pray for all those who are living in such difficult situations of not enough water, food, and medical help.
Lastly continue to pray for all those who have lost loved ones as we are slowly starting to hear of individuals who have been killed. The death toll is huge and the recovery will be a long time in coming.
Thank you each one for lifting us up. We love you and need you.
Joan
We were able to run down town yesterday early and fill up on propane, diesel, and gas and it is a good thing that we did. As the situation becomes more clear, people are realizing that it may be a problem. Jan said there were huge lines at the stations today.
Rachel's Haiti Pictures
Above is a picture Rachel Sauder took this of Port-au-Prince as she was flying in to Haiti on a missionary work project last February. Compare that to the pictures below are of the images of Port-au-Prince taken off the internet after the earthquake:
Rachel also took the next picture. This picture below is a very successful program in Haiti called S.E.E.D. project.
The Farm Thursday Morning
We took the truck this morning to Foster's in Bartonville, they called around noon to tell me they were not able to fix it. The truck is now at Mangold Ford in Eureka, IL. Sure hope it gets fixed reasonable. At the farm this morning as I drove up I thought there might have been a disaster OR the horses were all enjoying the sunshine and warmth of the day. After checking, yes it was the latter. They were all lying down except a few still standing here and there. They didn't even hear the car pull up. Even Ribbon was stretched flat out. Of course I had to walk in the paddocks to check everybody and disrupted all of their naps. Clara was checked to see if she is coming into her foal heat. The colt is now 9 days old and usually the mare comes back in season 5-10days after birthing but no sign yet. We did not check her until today so there is a small chance we missed her. She will need to be checked everyday from now on. Her colt is doing so well. He is exquisite! He has a beautiful face and we can't rave enough about his coal black, shiny, thick coat.
Ribbon's udder was checked and it is as flat as a maiden mare, that should start filling up soon, she is due Jan 30th, only 16 days away, unless she really is just fat. Mike wanted me to check on Ciera's hip, he felt a lump of something crusty when he was checking them over yesterday. She has a 2 inch in diameter place on her right hip that needs to be scrubbed with iodine, it is still to cold today so I groomed as much as possible out. We call it the creepy crud, I think it is where bacteria got under the coat, it causes it to weep and clump up. Wanda and Chloe look good. Paris is in the field with them and she looks miserable, her foal is due in March and she is sticking out both sides, just looks huge.
The plumber's have not been to the office yet, there is still no water hooked up, they are suppose to come out today, hope it happens, we need to water the arena before vaulting tomorrow.
Ribbon's udder was checked and it is as flat as a maiden mare, that should start filling up soon, she is due Jan 30th, only 16 days away, unless she really is just fat. Mike wanted me to check on Ciera's hip, he felt a lump of something crusty when he was checking them over yesterday. She has a 2 inch in diameter place on her right hip that needs to be scrubbed with iodine, it is still to cold today so I groomed as much as possible out. We call it the creepy crud, I think it is where bacteria got under the coat, it causes it to weep and clump up. Wanda and Chloe look good. Paris is in the field with them and she looks miserable, her foal is due in March and she is sticking out both sides, just looks huge.
The plumber's have not been to the office yet, there is still no water hooked up, they are suppose to come out today, hope it happens, we need to water the arena before vaulting tomorrow.
New Post from Joan
We received this e-mail at about 7:00 PM on Wed. night from a friend who used to live here at the compound. We are working on organizing relief supplies and maybe hiring a Haitian to drive it in. We don't feel it would be safe for a white person to be out on the roads at this time, as people can tend to act crazy when times are desperate. Please pray for relief supplies to reach everyone soon so there won't be further chaos caused by desperate people.
It seems I'm constantly asking for prayers, but thank you for being faithful.
In Christ,
Joan
Hello all!
First, I want to let you know that we are all safe. All but three of the buildings here at Christian are destroyed including our apartment building which collapsed. We have been working non-stop treating those who are wounded.
We are already running low on clean drinking water and food will be soon to follow. There are about 26 of us here, including missionaries and a team. We are also very quickly running out of medical supplies to treat the hoards of people who are coming to us.
I have heard that the road between here and Cayes is passable (a pastor friend came in today from cayes). I know it is a lot to ask, but we were wondering if anyone could help us with supplies. We need water, food, sheets, cots, antibiotics, gauze, needles, syringes and sutures (the list could go on!). Let me know if anyone could help with any or all of this.
I am so happy to hear that things in Cayes are Ok and that you all are safe!
Love to all,
Jenn Rogan
It seems I'm constantly asking for prayers, but thank you for being faithful.
In Christ,
Joan
Hello all!
First, I want to let you know that we are all safe. All but three of the buildings here at Christian are destroyed including our apartment building which collapsed. We have been working non-stop treating those who are wounded.
We are already running low on clean drinking water and food will be soon to follow. There are about 26 of us here, including missionaries and a team. We are also very quickly running out of medical supplies to treat the hoards of people who are coming to us.
I have heard that the road between here and Cayes is passable (a pastor friend came in today from cayes). I know it is a lot to ask, but we were wondering if anyone could help us with supplies. We need water, food, sheets, cots, antibiotics, gauze, needles, syringes and sutures (the list could go on!). Let me know if anyone could help with any or all of this.
I am so happy to hear that things in Cayes are Ok and that you all are safe!
Love to all,
Jenn Rogan
World Relief Update on Haiti
Update on Haiti Work Team and Earthquake
Greetings in Jesus Christ,
Below are two emails from Haiti.
The first email is from Bro. Bob and Sis Sue Beebe from our South Bend, IN congregation. The second email is from Marie Luce who manages the MEBSH Child Care office in Les Cayes, Haiti. Let us continue to pray for our brethren in Haiti, and for those in Haiti that have suffered great loss.
Greetings of love, in Christ Jesus.
Following the earthquake on Tuesday afternoon, we are safe and have comfortable accommodations here at the S.E.E.D. Institute in Les Cayes, Haiti. Frantz & Doris Clotaire have cared for us very well during this very stressful time, and this very agonizing time for the Haitians. We have been here a week, as we came to assist with the S.E.E.D. student graduation last Saturday. We were to leave Haiti yesterday morning (Wednesday, Jan 13) but due the earthquake happening the evening before, were not able to get out. If God would give us an avenue to assist the Haitians in any way, we would be glad to stay longer, but realize our best efforts are prayer for them, which we could do at home. Therefore, a journey home would be best.
Sue felt the first quake and first aftershock while visiting at Brother Jan & Sister Val Gutwein's home. Frantz and I were traveling on the rocky road from S.E.E.D. to MEBSH at the time, so we felt only the "normal" road vibrations. Later, Sue & I were together at our guest quarters & felt several of the rest of the 33 aftershocks. The quaking and movement of these very substantial concrete structures was most unsettling. The Haitians here in Les Cayes were very disturbed with the quake, and yesterday (Wednesday), most were staying at home. The S.E.E.D. school was closed for classes, the road traffic was light, and even few of the roadside markets were open. There was one large house near the center of town that collapsed, but otherwise we know of no structural damage in this area.
As the city of Port-au-Prince was so heavily destroyed, and possibly 100,000 people lost their lives, our fervent and frequent prayers have been for their physical and spiritual well-being. em to trust in the God who not only created this planet and their lives, but wants to give them all of His love and hope. We know your prayers are the same.
We would appreciate our prayers that the work team and other brethren here who have plans to exit would be able to get back home in an expeditious manner.
In His service,
Bob & Sue Beebe
Dear Friends and Family,
Thank you for your prayers. The phones just started to work, before 7 AM. I have reached my parents. The house collapsed on my parents but they were able to get them out. My father is wounded; he has been hit in the head, but he is strong. My mother is in a critical situation because the house fell on her and she has not been able to see a doctor. They are at my brother's home. All of them are alive. Gina, Ernso, Ruth, Jean-Marie, and Paul and Myria are all safe. I praise the Lord for that. Chavannes was able to reach his two brothers and one sister. Chavannes wants to go to Port today, he feels compelled to do that. Universite Lumiere of MEBSH collapsed and there are students underneath.
Please continue to pray.
Love and blessings,
Marie lucie
Stan Virkler
Administrator
Apostolic Christian World Relief
Greetings in Jesus Christ,
Below are two emails from Haiti.
The first email is from Bro. Bob and Sis Sue Beebe from our South Bend, IN congregation. The second email is from Marie Luce who manages the MEBSH Child Care office in Les Cayes, Haiti. Let us continue to pray for our brethren in Haiti, and for those in Haiti that have suffered great loss.
Greetings of love, in Christ Jesus.
Following the earthquake on Tuesday afternoon, we are safe and have comfortable accommodations here at the S.E.E.D. Institute in Les Cayes, Haiti. Frantz & Doris Clotaire have cared for us very well during this very stressful time, and this very agonizing time for the Haitians. We have been here a week, as we came to assist with the S.E.E.D. student graduation last Saturday. We were to leave Haiti yesterday morning (Wednesday, Jan 13) but due the earthquake happening the evening before, were not able to get out. If God would give us an avenue to assist the Haitians in any way, we would be glad to stay longer, but realize our best efforts are prayer for them, which we could do at home. Therefore, a journey home would be best.
Sue felt the first quake and first aftershock while visiting at Brother Jan & Sister Val Gutwein's home. Frantz and I were traveling on the rocky road from S.E.E.D. to MEBSH at the time, so we felt only the "normal" road vibrations. Later, Sue & I were together at our guest quarters & felt several of the rest of the 33 aftershocks. The quaking and movement of these very substantial concrete structures was most unsettling. The Haitians here in Les Cayes were very disturbed with the quake, and yesterday (Wednesday), most were staying at home. The S.E.E.D. school was closed for classes, the road traffic was light, and even few of the roadside markets were open. There was one large house near the center of town that collapsed, but otherwise we know of no structural damage in this area.
As the city of Port-au-Prince was so heavily destroyed, and possibly 100,000 people lost their lives, our fervent and frequent prayers have been for their physical and spiritual well-being. em to trust in the God who not only created this planet and their lives, but wants to give them all of His love and hope. We know your prayers are the same.
We would appreciate our prayers that the work team and other brethren here who have plans to exit would be able to get back home in an expeditious manner.
In His service,
Bob & Sue Beebe
Dear Friends and Family,
Thank you for your prayers. The phones just started to work, before 7 AM. I have reached my parents. The house collapsed on my parents but they were able to get them out. My father is wounded; he has been hit in the head, but he is strong. My mother is in a critical situation because the house fell on her and she has not been able to see a doctor. They are at my brother's home. All of them are alive. Gina, Ernso, Ruth, Jean-Marie, and Paul and Myria are all safe. I praise the Lord for that. Chavannes was able to reach his two brothers and one sister. Chavannes wants to go to Port today, he feels compelled to do that. Universite Lumiere of MEBSH collapsed and there are students underneath.
Please continue to pray.
Love and blessings,
Marie lucie
Stan Virkler
Administrator
Apostolic Christian World Relief
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Sanna Sold
We will say goodbye to Sanna on Saturday. I'm surprised at how hard this actually is. I've tried to change the website but someone came and downloaded something on this computer and now I cannot make any changes. The last time this happened, I was able to reverse the problem but this time it is beyond my talents, time to call in the expert!
Frozen Pipes
Well the update on the office seems to be pretty good. The plastic filter cover shattered and of course it flooded. Lisa from Meister Plumbing is sending someone out to replace the cover, turn back on the water to see if any other pipes are broken TODAY. It would be wonderful to have water back on to the barns in only ONE day, last year it was months.
Update from Joan Reinhard (in Haiti)
Thanks for all your prayers. We on the compound suffered no damage bigger than pictures falling off walls. We aren't sure how much damage there is in Port yet, but will try to keep everyone posted. We do not have power at our house right now, so we are just using Gutweins internet right now.
We are hearing nothing from this end from Port as all communication is cut off. What you are seeing in the news is the same as what we are getting here, but it is all coming second hand to us.
We had quite a few aftershocks last night, but nothing too big.
I asked one of the old yard men if he remembers things like this happening before and he said only small ones...nothing like this in his lifetime. He has 2 children in Port and has had no word of them. I think that is the worst thing...so many people have family in Port and the news is not encouraging. Keep praying.
We have a team here right now that were supposed to leave Friday and another one that was supposed to come in on Friday, so we are taking it one day at a time. Please pray for us that we can be used in the best way possible for His glory.
Joan Reinhard
We are hearing nothing from this end from Port as all communication is cut off. What you are seeing in the news is the same as what we are getting here, but it is all coming second hand to us.
We had quite a few aftershocks last night, but nothing too big.
I asked one of the old yard men if he remembers things like this happening before and he said only small ones...nothing like this in his lifetime. He has 2 children in Port and has had no word of them. I think that is the worst thing...so many people have family in Port and the news is not encouraging. Keep praying.
We have a team here right now that were supposed to leave Friday and another one that was supposed to come in on Friday, so we are taking it one day at a time. Please pray for us that we can be used in the best way possible for His glory.
Joan Reinhard
Another Haiti Email
Update on Haiti Work Team and Earthquake
Greeting Dear Brethren,
Thank you for all your prayers and Love. At this moment, our Team is not in great danger for which we are very thankful. We were on our way to Cayes from Jeremie during the major earthquake. Some of us were on the ground along side the roadway when it hit. We commented that the ground was vibrating!! We thought that the heavy earth moving equipment that had stopped and delayed us was causing the ground to shake!!! Hours later, we learned about the earthquake. The news is telling us that we may be staying longer until the airport opens again. Please focus your prayers on the injured, sorrowing, and in danger. We have felt many tremors last evening!!!
May the LORD Watch between us!!!
In CHRIST's Love,
Ron Palitto
Greeting Dear Brethren,
Thank you for all your prayers and Love. At this moment, our Team is not in great danger for which we are very thankful. We were on our way to Cayes from Jeremie during the major earthquake. Some of us were on the ground along side the roadway when it hit. We commented that the ground was vibrating!! We thought that the heavy earth moving equipment that had stopped and delayed us was causing the ground to shake!!! Hours later, we learned about the earthquake. The news is telling us that we may be staying longer until the airport opens again. Please focus your prayers on the injured, sorrowing, and in danger. We have felt many tremors last evening!!!
May the LORD Watch between us!!!
In CHRIST's Love,
Ron Palitto
Team Member in Haiti
This was taken from an email from a member on the team that is at Haiti now with Joan and Tim Reinhard. We are very thankful to hear from them, they fly home from Port-au-Prince and are not sure if or when the airport will be open.
Update on Haiti Earthquake from Work Team member
Greetings in Christ's name,
I just wanted to let all of you know that our team is ok. As many of you know, the largest earthquake to hit Haiti in 200 years hit this evening about 10 miles from Port au Prince and you can read the details online at the news sites. As of right now, the airport is closed in Port, but we are all safe in Les Cayes, which is about six hours away. (Haitian speeds) We will have to play it by ear as pretty much all communication is out from here to Port. You probably know more than we do.
I just want you to know that God has been watching over us and we have had many miracles. Even today, there were several times when we felt his hand guiding and keeping us from harm. We started this morning around 8 am and had a rather uneventful trip on a road that been very eventful. We arrived in Les Cayes at 6 pm after traveling around 70 miles. We had a fair amount of rain and had to cross moving water that could have swept us away, but a Haitian was there at just the right time to tell us where to go over the bridge to miss the holes. This is just one of several examples of how the Lord has watched over us.
Please keep praying for our safety. When we get out is in the Lord's hands. Pray for the Haitians and the destruction that will be present. We are still feeling aftershocks here regularly. I look forward to getting home and seeing all of you.
God Bless you and keep you until we meet again. Feel free to forward this on to anyone you think may need to know. My time is short in writing this. I will try to stay in touch via email.
In Christ,
Tim Troxel
Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. - Phillipians 4:4
Update on Haiti Earthquake from Work Team member
Greetings in Christ's name,
I just wanted to let all of you know that our team is ok. As many of you know, the largest earthquake to hit Haiti in 200 years hit this evening about 10 miles from Port au Prince and you can read the details online at the news sites. As of right now, the airport is closed in Port, but we are all safe in Les Cayes, which is about six hours away. (Haitian speeds) We will have to play it by ear as pretty much all communication is out from here to Port. You probably know more than we do.
I just want you to know that God has been watching over us and we have had many miracles. Even today, there were several times when we felt his hand guiding and keeping us from harm. We started this morning around 8 am and had a rather uneventful trip on a road that been very eventful. We arrived in Les Cayes at 6 pm after traveling around 70 miles. We had a fair amount of rain and had to cross moving water that could have swept us away, but a Haitian was there at just the right time to tell us where to go over the bridge to miss the holes. This is just one of several examples of how the Lord has watched over us.
Please keep praying for our safety. When we get out is in the Lord's hands. Pray for the Haitians and the destruction that will be present. We are still feeling aftershocks here regularly. I look forward to getting home and seeing all of you.
God Bless you and keep you until we meet again. Feel free to forward this on to anyone you think may need to know. My time is short in writing this. I will try to stay in touch via email.
In Christ,
Tim Troxel
Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. - Phillipians 4:4
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)