Whisper In

Emily and I needed to start work early to get everything done before the girls arrived. Whisper was the first mare out to tease. She didn't show but we knew she was ready because of the ultrasound the day before. So today was the day to force the issue. She was taken over to Evan's paddock and when he went to mount she pulled back and broke the halter. Emily had her hands full stopping Evan from following her but thankfully got him under control and tied up. Whisper was good and let Emily walk right up and put a halter on. The next try was done inside a paddock but this time nothing broke. Funny thing she only started showing after Evan mounted her, that is sometimes the case with a maiden mare. Next up was Ribbon. She was not covered yesterday so we wanted to make sure she was covered today. This cover went like clock work an experienced  mare with an easy to control stallion! Valiant didn't use to be easy to control but he is learning to wait until given permission to jump.
Rachel Sauder gave me a new lens for my camera and today I tried it out on action shots. Braelyn and Taegan were more than willing to jump on the tramp for grandma.

I think it does pretty well focusing on jumping girls. Mom, Faith, the girls and I decided to take the golf cart on Mark's trails. We were coming up the cabin trail when the mares and foals in that pasture noticed us and were trying to figure out exactly what was coming out of the woods.

We had fun exploring for a while until Faith got called back to get ready for pictures. The wedding party got all their pictures taken today to help with the timing for the big day tomorrow. The wedding guests started arriving around 2:00 pm. It was fun getting them all settled in the various houses and cabins around here. The kids that weren't going to the rehearsal dinner had a swimming pizza party at Diane's. Emily was put to use as a life guard.

Should We Grieve for the Old School Center?

A few videos of functions at the Old School Center before it burned down. I had some time this afternoon and visited memory lane by watching these videos. Below is Senior High Boy's camp, what memories, what memories The video below is of the Canton School kids coming to spend the day at the Old School Center The video below is the Meister cousins performing the Everything Skit for the Zeug reunion The video below is David giving the message during one of the Worship and Praise sessions The video below is of the 2011 Meister Christmas which was always held at the Old School Center The video below is of us girls, that is 7 of the 8 Meister girls singing Heirlooms.
 This building was so enjoyed and used by many many different camps, family reunions, retreats, worship services, fun and fellowship. Today was spent remembering and grieving over the loss of the building but some family will be grieving over the loss of a family member. Dan wrote this today and posted it on Facebook: facebook asks "What's on your mind?" ... loaded question, don't you think?... What is on my mind? My thoughts shift between a grieving family somewhere or the poor soul that on possibly his final act before entering eternity was to burn a building that was used mightily for Gods purposes. It must be horrifying to stand before the Holy One to face judgment when your last act on earth was against His bride.. What would I say to his family if I met them? Would I mention that their husband/father probably destroyed me financially? Ruined something my family had poured our heart into and that was working well for everyone? Or would I understand their hurt and grieve with them? Does God like vengeance? Does He love to Get even by sending a soul to everlasting torment? Or does He grieve over the choices of the wayward son that ran away from His goodness. Back in grade school there was this kid that never seemed to get things right. He didn't get good grades, couldn't make friends, said the wrong things at all the wrong times... His Father would try to help him,, give advice, lead by example, pray for him.. what ever he could do to help.. In the same school was a bully,, he would torment the kid.. always remind him of his flaws,, loudly,,, shaming,,,,,for all to hear... even for the clothes he wore which was often full of holes and threadbare, but was all the Father could afford...... Insulting the family of the boy,,, ridiculing his dad,,,, while the boy could do nothing but stand with his head down in acknowledgment. I need to invent a Fathometer... to help me accurately read which influence I listen to now... to understand the heart of the Father is always to lift his son up,, to never shame or embarrass him,, to encourage, teach, to love... The bully is interested in only our destruction.. to impede and cause doubt about the love of the Father,,, What would I say to the mans family? would I be the bully to them.... Or would I be an ambassador of the Fathers love?.... When I let the bully bully me I become the bully to someone else.. When I let the Love of the Father love me, I have only love for everyone else....... I should always remember,, someone else paid for my ticket to the Kings table.. I had nothing good to offer........so I can not play the victim now.....God gives and He takes away.. Blessed be His name

Yes It is True

I had emails, facebook messages and texts all asking, "is it true!"  Yes we are sad to report that it IS true, it is all over the news and internet. A body has been found at the Old School Center. The news stations are reporting it is a male who died of smoke inhalation. Please pray for Dan, the one thing he and everyone else were saying after the fire was at least no one got hurt.
The news hit us hard this morning, so hard to believe and so hard to understand.
Phil brought the girls out to play with Emily today. Braelyn is fascinated with the goats and always wants to feed them. The kids were playing on the hill with Braelyn.

Those big floppy ears were flying when the kids were hopping around on top of the hill.
A nice email came in from the owner of Eliza's 2013 colt. She writes: Hi Judy, Just wanted to send these pictures of Carbon we took last Sunday. We are impressed, at just 1 year old he is very tall and strong. Thanks so much, Ana

I so much appreciate when the owners keep us updated, isn't Carbon gorgeous! At just 1 year old he already looks as tall and mature as a 3 year old. 

Dr. Hoerr came for songrams today and we kept him busy. Jenis and Emma were brought in to find out where they are in their seasons and both had just ovulated but the timing just wasn't right. Both mares were cultured and infused. Dr. Hoerr will let me know the results later. He also came up with a plan for Jenis. Next up was Sangria and she was confirmed in foal due April 20th, 2015. Sire is Valiant. 

Sheena was next and she was also confirmed in foal except she was carrying twins. Dr. Hoerr pinched the left one off, rechecked her and reported all is well with the other embryo.

 Sheena is due April 21st, 2015. The sire is Valiant. Sissy was up next and thankfully she is also in foal due April 22nd, 2015. The sire is again Valiant. After seeing her 2013 filly also by Valiant of course we were going to use him again on her.

Valiant was a busy boy that week.  Whisper, Pat's mare was next. She is not showing but Pat had given her a shot which should have brought her in to season a couple of days ago.

The ultrasound showed she is coming in, she has good uterine tone and some edema. We will get her covered tomorrow. Evan will be glad for the work. As soon as Dr. Hoerr pulled out, Emily and I loaded up the 3 pregnant mares into the trailer. Sarah had taken Braelyn and Taegan swimming so Emily joined up with them for a cool off break while I took the mares to Middle Grove. When I got back Emily was getting ready to rake the arena and guess who was glad to help drive the 4 wheeler? 

The golf cart parts came in today so after supper Mark went out to fix that all important tool. I'll be thrilled to have that running again. 

This evening Israel is visiting until late. Dave and Stef have potluck tonight. Diane, mom and Faith came over to take us on Diane's golf cart for a ride around the neighborhood. Israel loves that and tries to drive. Typical boy just a year old and already wanting to take the wheel. We checked out the work done today on Joan and Tim's house. Faith was pleased to show us her bedroom. We were amazed at how much they got done today. After dropping Faith and mom off we decided to go on the trails and saw 2 big deer bounding across the fields. We stopped at the cabin and fed the horses there then back to the farm to see that Mark had my golf cart fixed and charging. 

Israel loves the dogs but it isn't fair for the dogs to have to put up with him so they were locked in the kitchen. 

I can't quit this post without reminding readers to please pray for Dan. This discovery was awful for him. The school is now a crime scene and no work can be done there. 

Mow Mowing and More Mowing

Today was mowing day and by the time the day was done most of the mowing was done. Emily made the comment, "there is just so much mowing around here!"
With all the company coming for Bethany's wedding everyone is spiffing up the entire neighborhood.

Rhoda worked on the yard while Emily mowed the cabin field.

After Braelyn and Taegan were brought back here for lunch they were put down for naps. Braelyn didn't settle down and came downstairs thinking just maybe it would be ok to skip the nap today. Instead of taking her back upstairs and maybe waking up Taegan she was just put to bed in our bed. When Philip arrived I went upstairs to wake up Taegan while Philip walked in our room to get Braelyn. He came out saying, "Braelyn found a pen." I didn't think too much of that until I saw her.

She was so quiet while busy coloring herself from the toes to her face. 

Sure hope Anna has something to take ink off little girls skin. After supper Mark went out to work on the trails again. He finished up just as I was finishing up with the horses so we went for a walk on one of his finished trails.

 They are open enough to easily ride 2 abreast most of the time winding through the woods. There are a couple of wet areas, not big enough to cause problems, just big enough to leave interesting tracks.
The deer that left the track below must be a mature adult.

The tree above Mark will be taken down but is still high enough a horse and rider could walk under.

We came upon some really beautiful flowering bushes.

The flower below is off a big tree.

We finished the trails as the sun was setting. Walking down the drive we saw Valiant in the pasture grazing. That was like a flashback of a few years ago. We use to let Raven, Valiant's sire out in that same pasture grazing.

Emily did the teasing of mares this morning, only Ribbon is showing. She got her covered by Valiant. 

Diane's Adventure

As my golf cart is out of commission until we get the connectors fixed Diane arrived on her golf cart with 2 of her grand children offering to take 2 of my grand children for a ride.

They were more than happy to load up and off Diane went. She went around the barn and over to Spark and Rhonda's house through the fields. As they were heading to the playground  up the steep hill the golf cart died. Just then her phone rang and it was Dr. Adamson he is heading through the Peoria area and wants to meet with Tim Reinhard. Diane, while holding Crew tries to call mom's place to let Tim know and Crew keeps bumping the phone, she ends up calling Ruth, Rachel and finally mom who gave Diane Tim's phone number before finally getting Tim. Tim was driving in Pekin and was just going to try to remember the phone number. Diane was trying to do all of this while backing down the steep hill hanging on to Crew and Taegan. Taegan was unloaded at the bottom of the hill and then Diane asked Braelyn and Irelyn to push the golf cart up the hill and guess what? THEY DID IT! Once the golf cart was up to the top, the brake was set and Diane had to walk back down the hill to pick up Taegan while carrying Crew. The rest of the way to Diane's house is pretty much down hill or flat so the kids were loaded back up, a good push and they were off. She got the cart to her house, unloaded all 4 kids and placed the charger on the cart. When I offered to walk over to pick up my kids she said, "let them stay, they are all playing nicely"  but before she realized what was happening Taegan had already found Ebby's food, dumped it in the water then dumped the water all over her kitchen floor. While she was cleaning that up she suddenly realized Braelyn was missing. She is calling Braelyn who isn't answering and living by a pond is always nerve racking when one is watching a child who can't swim and gets outs without making any noise and that means panic time for Diane. She found Braelyn down the basement and explains she must answer when called. After hearing all of this I figured Diane has it all under control so I went back to doing laundry. then thought, if this isn't written down it will be forgotten. So no Diane I'm not playing on the computer when suppose to be working, nope I'm writing down your adventures in babysitting.

Rhonda's Company

Rhoda and Emily left before the walk to pick up 3 mares at Middle Grove. Sangria, Sissy and Sheena are all needing sonagrams. Sissy wouldn't be caught so Emily jumped on Mika bareback with just a halter and lead rope and galloped him back to the cottage to grab the 4 wheeler. The problem was Killian, he didn't want Sissy to leave and kept herding her away. Emily got the job accomplished but not without a lot of effort on this hot humid day. They arrived back here around 10:30 am and Rhonda's company which was her mom, most of her mom's sisters and a few cousins arrived at 10:45 am. Rhonda had chair set up and plenty of umbrellas to give the spectators a bit of shade. Rachel gave me a new lens for the camera and the pictures below are all taken with it.

Rhoda grabbed Evan and took him to the outdoor arena to start with him while I grabbed Ribbon, hosed her down and started tacking her up for Bethany. Emily ran to the cabin to bring back Eliza, Zalena and the 2 foals. While we were tacking up the horses Rhoda was showing Evan. She finished just as Bethany was ready to start her canter vaulting Kur.

When Bethany finished Rhoda and Emily popped on Eliza and Zalena and rode them into the arena showing off the Friesian movement and beauty and of course those cute cute foals.
When the girls were done with the mares Emily brought out one of Dolly's kids.

The girls decided to take the mares over to the pond to cool them off so I brought out Valiant to show off his tricks and finish up the show. Rhonda took them all over to her house for lunch.
Ribbon is now in season so once she was hosed off to cool down from the vaulting she was covered by Valiant and put back in her paddock.

Emma and Jenis were in the pasture behind Valiant's paddock and both of those mares needed to be hosed off also and moved to a pasture with more shade. Emma has a patch on her left shoulder that is kind of scaly. She was given a good scrubbing with iodine shampoo. I think it is a reaction to a weed, hopefully it will show improvement by tomorrow. Both mares enjoyed the cool water. Evan was also hosed down today.
Rhoda and Emily said the Eliza really enjoyed the swimming, she paddled all around the pond. Her filly also went swimming. Zalena gets wet but we don't take her in the deep end, the mare sinks right to the bottom.
We had some dark clouds that looked like they might dump some rain on us but some passed to the north and some passed to the south of us. At least it cooled down the air a bit and we got a few sprinkles.
We could tell it rained in town, when we came out of church tonight the parking lot was wet but the closer we got to home the drier it became.

Volunteers

Eva Jean called in sick today, she wouldn't be able to make it to help with the Berean mail. Emily was already booked to watch Phil and Anna's girls so that left Diane and I. We dreaded going to work today knowing we were going to be overwhelmed. Well God provides, Kathy and David Obgerfel showed up to help then after lunch Emily came and by 3:30 pm we had all the studies processed, all the letters read and all the Bibles sent out. This was a long day but so worth finishing as this week is extremely busy with the vet coming for ultrasound and getting ready for the wedding company. When we arrived home Pat's mare Whisper was taken out for a couple pictures.

She was teased but not showing yet. Rhoda had arrived so she and Emily decided to take the 2 ponies to Jubilee. Rhoda pulled Bonnie out first for a quick canter around the arena. Bonnie is doing amazing and we are so impressed with her we discussed raising her price from $500.00 to $1000.00. She is well worth more money but we are thinking that everyone sees the cheap price and thinks she is a junk pony, she's not.

Emily loaded Misty up first for the trip to Jubilee.

Misty is so cute! She is also for sale but we KNOW this pony is worth much more, she is an excellent driving pony plus a fun ride and at only 9 years old has decades to give to a family. 8 year old Bonnie pony pictured below is about an inch taller than Misty and also a fun ride for a bold child, she can really move.

The girls had a blast on this ride, they came back thrilled, the ponies did so well they decided to try to ride without reins to see if the ponies would just go off their legs. OK that probably wasn't the best idea but still fun. Both ponies were excellent.
Tim's renter has moved out so tomorrow is cleaning day at their house. Joan gets home tomorrow night so anyone wanting to help feel free to just show up.
Mark brought home a few more plants for the north side of the house and got them planted tonight. While he was walking down to the pond chopping weeds he startled 2 of the foxes, both parents were over on our side of the pony hunting for dinner.

Giant Goose Ranch

Early this morning Mark and I are sitting at the breakfast table and we see a fox running down our driveway. I stood up to watch then noticed Valiant staring at something out the other window and a big white tailed deer was bounding across Valiant's pasture. Seeing these helps with the morning chores, we just don't know what we are going to see next and can't wait to get outside to start the feeding. After breakfast we hauled 7 horses out to the Giant Goose Ranch in Canton, IL to scout out horse trails and a good spot to set up an equestrian campground for that facility. Emily and Sarah took the big 4 horse Kiefer built while Mike and Diane took the stock trailer. Mom and I drove my car with 3 of the riders, Hannah, Bethany, and Faith. Beth, mom and I took the Mule out to find a good place to park the trucks and trailers and the first thing we had to do was stop for a goose crossing.

We couldn't head right out on the trails, a van showed up with lots of little kids that all wanted pony rides so that was first on the list.

Luckily Chad stepped in and told the little kids that it was time for the big kids to ride.  The ride went well, the horses were mostly well behaved. The horses and riders today were from left to right: Sarah & Sunny, Karin & Sangria, Diane & Missy, Emily and Faith & Jenis, Hannah & Cookie, Mike & Mika and Bethany & Sally.

Notice Bethany talking on the phone, no she isn't talking to Bill, her mother, Joan called from Haiti.

 The horses were glad for lake crossings, it was hot, the thermometer was reading 89 degrees.

Check out the beautiful rolling hills in the picture above. The video below is pony rides first then some of the trail ride.

I had to be back by noon as a mare was coming in for breeding. Pat the owner of the mare arrived after noon. The mare is a gorgeous Friesian cross named Whisper. We took her right over to Evan to tease. She is not showing but hopefully will within the next few days. I'll have to get pictures of her tomorrow. The trailer arrived back with Jenis and Emma both of these mares will need to be sonagrammed to find out where they are in their cycle. The rest of the group headed to Norris for volley ball and a cook out.