Set UP at the Fairgrounds

Karin, Rhoda, Sarah and I along with baby Zion were moving like a well oiled machine.  We had everything unloaded and almost all the decorations up by the time the hay and straw were delivered. What a blessing to have these hard working, horse loving helpers!  We left once all the stalls were bedded, each had 2 filled water buckets and a nice big chunk of hay just waiting for the horses in the morning. The 4 of us worked hard for 4 hours but left feeling satisfied with what we accomplished.  The ONLY regret I had was forgetting to bring the camera home from the fair grounds. Sally, one of the fair organizers, was extremely helpful by going back to our stalls and grabbing the camera for me. Well it might have been her husband Ernest but which ever one of you that did that, THANK YOU!  I would have hated to lose that camera.
Since I forgot the camera none of the pictures from today can be posted. The decorations are pretty much what we have done in years past but this time we made a few modifications with the lights. We also used one of those HUGE 10 foot banners where we will be popping pop corn. Sarah took the picture below of Zion helping out at during the set up by being happy and smiling at all the activity around her.

At one point we had the lights draped all over her stroller. She is such a happy baby.
 Emily came today and worked with Valiant. She ended up riding him bareback since the saddles were packed in the trailer. He was so glad to get into the outdoor arena to run, buck and just have a ball that I'm sure a lot of the pictures were post worthy. Oh well there is always tomorrow.
As soon as I got back to the farm, the trailer was backed in place, unhooked and the truck taken down to Hanna City to fill it back up with gas. While unhooking the two horse and hooking up the 4 horse gooseneck,  the coyotes were screaming and howling very near the place. It sounded like a hundred puppies screaming.
 Rhoda and Sarah took some time before they left for home to go see the new covered arena at the fairgrounds and sent the pictures below:

We were pleased to see there are bleachers plus standing room. The arena is a good size, plenty of room for big groups of horses. The other plus this year is the round pen in the warm up arena between barn 13 and 14. I'm posting the schedule again, just in case you missed the last link. IF you are coming down to the fair make SURE to come to the new covered arena (pictured above) to watch the Horsemeister play this year. There are going to be cool presents thrown to the spectators, well to be perfectly honest some are not so cool, in-fact those are down right awful but all in good fun.  To see when we are performing click HERE. 

Another Beautiful WARM February Day

We had such a gift today, a gift of 65 degrees and sunshine this afternoon. Even the morning, although cool, was sunny for our walk. I only did the one round again as today was Berean day. We really enjoy the opportunity to serve in that office. Everyone that comes is so welcome and needed. Today we did 2 days work, making sure tomorrow's work was done today as I will be out of town starting tomorrow. I forgot the camera so just snapped these few pictures with the phone. Everyone really helped. It is an absolute priviledge to spend the day with these volunteers.

 Once everything was done, lunch was served and then I went to work entering the Bible labels getting those finished also. When I left Mark, Marvin and Robin were still working. Mark and Marvin were finishing up the certificates while Robin was applying the Bible labels to the Bibles. Those will go out tomorrow when Bill arrives. We ran out of postage on our meter and could not get the meter to reload. Bill is out of town but will take care of that when he gets back tomorrow.  It was quite late when I got back and Karin was already here working horses. She worked with Jenis, Zalena, Indy and Oksana today, I'm not sure which mares are which in the pictures below.  I was moving a new bale in for Ayanna and Rosalie's paddock and didn't pay attention to which horses were getting schooled.

Walking back I snapped the picture below of EasterBonnet and EllaSkye. These two will be going out to Middle Grove or over to the cabin field when we get back from the fair. 

Karin helped pack up all 8 saddles, pads, and bridles. We also stuck a ladder in the trailer to help with the decorating. Rhoda and Sarah are coming down tomorrow to help with that.
This evening mom and I drove to the Tremont fellowship hall for Mike and Joyce's all church wedding shower. It was great to be there and hear their story, that and to see so many good friends from the past. We LOVE Tremont church.

Packing

We had a beautiful day to work outside so that was exactly what I did. The 2 horse trailer was cleaned out, hooked up to the 2003 truck and taken down to the house. Then all the stuff that has been stored in the family room, the presents, tubs of material, stall decorations, tools, table cloths, extension cords and candy are now out of the house and into the trailer. Even the popcorn machine and all of those supplies along with 6 tables 8 chairs, the wheelbarrow, 25 water buckets, 2 of the new 3 saddle saddle stands along with 2 other saddle stands and the mounting block and still there is room. Tomorrow Karin just needs to add the tack then we are ready to go.
Once that was done the new truck was hooked up to the big 4 horse trailer. That took a bit as the gooseneck ball wasn't in correctly. I was able to figure it out thankfully. That truck also has the in-bed electrical connection for the trailer and it was thrilling to see that it worked.
The middle paddock needed 2 new bales so those 3 horses were stalled while the bales were moved in. The hog panel around the bale in Ayanna and Rosalie's paddock was taken out so they could clean up that bale. Tomorrow afternoon that paddock will also get a new bale. The one bad thing that happened today was that I ran over the battery charger with the tractor. I just didn't see where it was. It must have been on the log splitter than when I backed the tractor out it fell off and the wheel ran over it. Hopefully we won't need one until a new one can be purchased.  This evening I finished Henry Michel's sermon on how the church got started. This was a sermon he gave when mom was still an unconverted teenager. When we were young, she had told us about him and that sermon he gave during Eastern camp.  Even as an unconverted teenager she didn't want him to stop. And to think all these years later we get to read this very same sermon. Mom made a lot of copies of it if anyone else wants to read it.
Mark and Mackenson worked hard on the driveways out here on Saturday, filling in potholes with buckets of the bigger gravel. All that hard work paid off for Mackenson, he was cajoled into arm wrestling someone who had beaten everyone else and of course Mackenson won very quickly shocking those kids that thought they might be strong.
The horses were all enjoying the warm sunshine, at one point just about every horse here was laying down basking in the sun. With all the rain we had last week we have a tremendous amount of mud so each and every one of those horses that are enjoying laying in the sun are also getting very very muddy. Good thing the horse fair has warm water to bathe them, they are all going to need it.

Envy & Darla SOLD

Envy and Darla will be going to the same home.

The buyer has been wanting a couple of Friesian fillies and settled on these two. They won't be leaving our place for 3 months though as their new 58 acre property should be ready for horses by then. I love that they are going together and knowing they will have plenty of room to grow up. Congratulations Michael.

For Sale VALERIE

Valerie is out of 17.2 hand Whitney by 16.2 hand Valiant. She is registered with Friesian Heritage Hosre International. She looks black but will gray and is listed for only $6000.00!

She is a 3 year old and already 17.2 hands tall. She is eager to please, learns quickly, and has no vices.  She has had 75 hours of round pen training and 15 rides.

NO spook, good with her hooves, easy to catch from the field, comes right up to you, friendly to people and other horses. She likes attention but is respectful to her handler. She has a powerful but smooth trot and canter. Ready to go in any direction.  With regular use will be a kid appropriate horse.  She loves water.

PRICE $6000.00

She is located in Idaho Falls ID  zip code 83406

Contact the owner BRIAN at 208-881-1648

Big Yellow Ball

That welcome big yellow ball showed up today for the first time in at least a week. Having the sun beating down on this cold wet muddy land helps big time with the attitude around here.  We had an exceptional day at church. Kent Heimer was visiting from Taylor and had the morning service. The afternoon was the reading of the memorandum. We had a real shock hearing that Brock Streitmatter had a major heart attack. His mom Lori writes:  what we thought was major muscle spasms in his back turned out to be a major heart attack. He is 22 and active. We are very shocked and would appreciate prayers.  We prayed for him in church and are continuing to pray for him.
When we got home around 2:15 pm while the sun was shining and it was 45 degrees, the wind was coming from the north west and blowing pretty hard. Hard enough to make us all want coats on during the play practice today. At least the outdoor arena was in just about perfect shape. Amazing to think that was possible with all the rain we had last week. Our last play practice was scheduled for 3:00 pm. Karin and I started bringing in mares and tacking up at 2:30 pm. The fairy lights were tried out today. We learned that we need a better way to attach to the manes and tails but were pretty pleased otherwise with the results.

 Check out the 3 ladies below on their horses. This is before the costume change. 

 Below is after the costume change. Anni is a genius. She figured out how to have these beautiful fairy dresses go from black to white while the riders are still on the horses and all within a minute. 

If interested in the rest of the play practice pictures click HERE.  We can't leave out the Oogie Boogie man. Pictures just didn't do him justice so below is a short 40 second clip of some of his antics.

Anna dropped of the girls before went to volleyball. They had a ball climbing on grandpa then jumping off.

Lessons In the Indoor

What a rainy gloomy day. It was above freezing pretty much all day but hovering around the 37 degree mark until this evening.  Karin started giving lessons in the indoor arena and this way got 8 mares plus Evan worked. Students today were Shaeya, Sadie, Kayla, Nolan and even Sarah had to try some of the techniques Karin was teaching.

Karin started at 9:00 am and taught until 1:00 pm all the while riding herself . If you would like to see the rest of those pictures click HERE. They broke for a late lunch at mom's house.  Shaeya and Karin came after lunch to work with Evan. They had just brought him in the indoor when Fedi arrived with the Eclipse trailer, all fixed up and better than new.

I'm so thankful for brothers-in-law that are as talented as they are good looking. (the good looking part is according to Ruth) The ground is so saturated on top but still frozen about 8 inches down that Fedi's van got stuck. We needed to pull him out with the truck.  Evan did very well with Shaeya today. 

I had taken my camera to the house before lunch and didn't bring it back out because of the rain so the 4 pictures above were taken with the phone. This afternoon Mark and I went to the Home Show at the Civic Center in Peoria. Parking was $7.00 but Spark gave us two free tickets which made it worth while going. We saw lots of people from our past and present and enjoyed visiting with everyone.  The weather has improved by warming up to 50 degrees, but we are getting lots of rain and wind because of the warm up. 

Horse Fair News

Well I found the blue sparkly halters. They had been put away in the bridle case along with lead ropes. We only were able to get 7 of them so Evan will wear plain black and one of the mares will wear one of our new blue ones. Karin arrived after work and together we worked on the play script for the fair.
Rhoda and Lee's dog Ruby came in heat today.

Rhoda called Buddy's owner to set up a time to bring her to their place in Indiana and got terrible news. Buddy, the King Charles Caviler Rhoda and Sarah use for a stud dog, got loose, ran out on the road and was hit and killed by a car. Rhoda was able to find a male Cavapoo the owners are willing to stud out. He is not proven as Ruby will be his first. Sure hope he is very fertile, it is extremely hard now-a-days to find people willing to stud their dog out.
Mocha's stall card for the fair is now packed with the other cards. She is such a hairy little black horse that we are explaining to everyone that Amy put her in a dryer and SHRUNK her Friesian.

Our stalls are in barn 14 aisle E for the Horse Fair. Sure hope we get a good turnout. We have well over a thousand presents and prizes to give out. Remember this fair is KID friendly. If your son or daughter likes horses they are going to LOVE this fair. There are many different breeds to see including Andalusians, Fell ponies, Arabians, Shires, Gypsy Vanners, Mules, Spotted Drafts,  Clydes and really cool demos to watch such as trick riding and Mounted Archery and of course Friesians. Why there is going to be 3 Friesian stallions at this fair, Evan of course then one of them is a very rare chestnut Friesian Friesian, along with Albert who will be driving a carriage.

YOU WON'T want to miss this FAIR. Exactly a week from today the fairgrounds open at 9:00 am, want to see the schedule? CLICK HERE. Tickets can be purchased at arrival but if you want to save a little money you can purchase them cheaper on-line by clicking HERE. 

Noisy Transient Neighbors

Around 9:00 am a tremendous noisy chattering surrounded the house. Emma and Ebby ran to the patio door and started barking and when I looked out there were thousands of red winged blackbirds in the yard. I grabbed the camera and opened the door but they took off  swarming all around, landing in the trees and Valiant's field

 and all of them voicing their displeasure at being disturbed. It really was an incredible sight.

The noise was also incredible. Each bird chattering at the top of their lungs.  I didn't stick around, instead took the car up to the trailer and started bringing down all the show trunks. It took two carloads to get them all down to the house. Each one was gone through, the stall fronts organized and material washed. I still need to work on tack and to find the show halters. None of those were in any of the trunks and yet I thought all of the trunks were unloaded. They must be somewhere!
The house is a mess, it looks like a hoarder lives here with trunks and boxes all crammed into the family room. Karin shopped and picked up some supplies to hang stall guards. We want the stall doors open as much as possible so the mares can hang their heads out for attention.
Sally, the lady in charge of stall assignments of the Illinois Horse Fair told us today we are in barn 14 aisle E. We even have that extra area right before our stalls to decorate and set up our popcorn machine. The man bringing down our bedding and hay was contacted and they will meet us there at  on Wednesday Feb 28th. Karin and I have a plan to fill the 2 horse trailer and the new truck Tuesday night with everything needed, meet the hay guy late Wednesday afternoon, unload and start on decorating the stalls. The only problem with this plan is we will not make it back in time for church since we have to wait for Karin to get off work on Wednesday.  Thursday morning I plan on leaving here around 8:00 am have the horses there by 9:30 am to start bathing. We have 10 to wash. Once that is done we should have enough time to finish the stall decorations before checking into our hotel.
The information stall cards were made and printed out. Mark got home as I was finishing up with those. I'm too tired to do much more tonight.

Icy Frozen Driveways

Lots of ice this morning, after that hard rain yesterday then 20 degrees this morning the gravel drive was solid. The ice landed on rocks and froze them to the ground creating a walking obstacle course. Mom fell on our walk today. She just skinned up her knee and wrenched her shoulder but didn't want to quit the walk so Diane, Ruth and I lifted her up and off we went again.  When we got back from the walk I took the picture below of our Japanese Maple.

 The skids on our shoes were for sure needed today. The next job was to take Sangria and Oksana along with their foals into the stalls for their grain. Yesterday was the first time I saw Serenity eating the grain and today she got her own bucket. It is always a good sign when they enjoy grain before they are weaned, it makes weaning go so much better when they can't resist that.  The arena was cleaned up while they were eating then they were taken out to the field next to Valiant's paddock. I needed to move a round bale in Ribbon's old paddock where these two mares and their fillies will be living for a while to keep them out of the mud. Sangria went right over to Valiant and started showing. We do NOT want a February baby and Valiant has been known to break all the boards even breaking the electric fence when a mare in season is in that field so I had to get a bale in the paddock and move her as fast as possible.  Evan also needed a bale.  Before putting the tractor away I moved a few more bales back from where I had dumpped them last night trying to get Oksana free.  Rhoda sent a text that she and Sarah were on their way out with a gift. Rhoda bought a brand new purse for me. My old one was pretty shot so she transferred everything out of that one into the new one and then pitched my old. It was good to see Zion again, I really missed her smiles and giggles from being on vacation with her for that last week.

Rhoda, Sarah, Zion and I went over to great grandma's to see the new floor in her basement. Fedi and Tyler are almost done with that HUGE job from when mom's pipes broke that first week in January when it got down to -18.  Faith was over so she and great grandma Rhoda both got to play with Zion. Babies are just so much fun. 

I was pretty exhausted from yesterday and this morning's work so once I got home from mom's house laid down and took an hour long nap.  That nap was exactly what I needed.  Mark drove mom and me to church tonight. Tim Roecker had the service. Billy Graham died today and during the service Tim read a few of his quotes. It really wasn't about Billy, it was all about Jesus, His death on the cross to pay for my sin. It really was great to be in church.