Oksana Waxing

I was thrilled early this morning when I went out to the barn just as the sky was starting to lighten and saw that Oksana had clumps of wax on both nipples. She should be delivering her foal tonight.

Oksana was just let loose in the big field until after our walk.  Mom had a really good report. Sarah stayed with her over night but mom didn't need her at all. She didn't even take the muscle relaxer pill and slept all night. She truly is on the mend. It was pretty cold this morning so she didn't go for a walk today. We had a high of only in the 40s with a brisk wind. I had a cardiologist appointment today needing to leave at 10:30 am. The stalls were finished then Oksana and Indy with her colt brought inside the stalls just in case she decided to foal while I was gone. Of course I had to shower and change out of my barn clothes.  I didn't even wear my muck boots but pulled out some tennis shoes that I only wear when I go out in public. That appointment went well, they took my temperature as soon as I walked in and then was asked all the Corona questions. This was just the annual checkup. When I got home and changed, Oksana was taken out to the big field first. Today the colt was given a haltering, tying lesson and he did not like that halter. It was put on and off him about 10 times. He let me handle him all over but wasn't really happy about it. Hopefully the next time goes a little easier. Indy and her colt were taken first to the outdoor arena for a few pictures. That colt can fly.

 I happened to look over at Joshua and Josiah's paddock to see them staring at the colt. They were both very curious.

 The colt is adorable, he is 2 and a half weeks old today.

 When Indy was let loose in the big field she and Oksana walked up to each other to greet. The colt was a little worried. 

 They sniffed then both settled down to graze.

 The colt was having fun bouncing around his mom but still a little worried about getting too close to Oksana. 

 When Oksana dropped to roll, he jumped then stood staring in amazement as she rolled. 

After Oksana had a good scratch on her back and a good roll I was sure they would be ok and left to get the stalls cleaned up again. When they were bought back inside the halter was taken off of the colt then they were put back out in a paddock. Oksana's tail was wrapped for the pending delivery this evening. .

 Her tail is so thick and long one entire vet wrap was used and even that wasn't quite enough. 

 When I came out of the barn I noticed Hadassah sure knows how to make herself comfortable. 

Later this evening towels were taken down to the barn and straw was brought inside Oksana's stall to prepare for the delivery. I have her on the monitor and believe she will probably deliver before midnight. She is dripping milk now and very restless. The picture below is her in the stall at 9:13 am today before I wrapped her tail. 

Birthday Celebration With Social Distancing

Today is mom's 88th birthday. Karin spent the night with her last night and for the very first time since the fall she slept ALL night not waking until 6:00 am. We had a cold morning of 37 degrees but the sun was shining and the 40 mph wind gusts from yesterday had slowed down to a trickle of 6 mph. Mom got some sunshine on her balcony this morning.
I went to Berean and got the labels for the studies finished but didn't start on the letters. Marvin is going to go there tomorrow and work on Bible labels. I stopped at Sam's club on the way in and was pleasantly surprised. I made it there exactly at 9:00 am and there was no line at all. There was plenty of fruit and other foods and they had that all important toilet paper. I bought one package to leave some at the Berean office along with more napkins, paper plates, a cheese cake for Faith, fruit to go with the cheesecake, and a rotisserie chicken for mom and Karin's lunch.
When I got back to mom's house they were just getting ready to go on a walk. It had warmed up into the 50s. Mom was able to walk all the way to my house.

The golf cart was taken out then and mom given a ride up to the barn to see Indy's colt and the other horses and from there we drove it over to Joan's house. All of Joan's kids were having a picnic lunch in the field enjoying the sunshine and all of them had finished their school work for the day. Spark stopped in to work on Joan's solar system right at that time so we got to wish him a happy birthday. Spark turns 68 today. He was born on mom's 20th birthday. At 1:00 pm we met on mom's balcony to have a birthday party.  Below Joan is lighting the candles.

Notice how Rachel is 6 feet apart from Joan's family.

 While Spark and Rhonda are 6 feet apart from mom and Karin is probably only 3-4 feet apart from Spark. Maybe she can't count. 

Molly also arrived with gifts.

We were glad it was such a nice day that we could celebrate this special birthday. Beth arrived a bit later, dropped off her presents but couldn't stay. 

Eleven years ago mom went to Beth and Greg's place in Norris to try out the new swing and Nate, Beth and Greg's son kept her pretty busy. Check out the video below of mom trying out that fun filled lake in the sky. My mom really didn't grow up very well.

While we were celebrating mom's birthday. we heard a tractor coming. It was Mark grading the driveways.

 Mark was using the skid steer to drop gravel then spreading it well with the grader.

Faith, Ava and Eden came walking over to play on the hay bales.

Oksana, who just won't drop this foal had been let out into the field to graze. She is just huge. That foal sticks out both on both sides,

and drops way low.

We had a high of 62 degrees today and it was a perfect day for working outside. I picked up Pax from Phil and Anna's house. Mark grilled salmon for supper then after supper went to work digging out sour dock weeds in the field with Pax following and having a ball. The dog door was put in and both dogs are enjoying the freedom of going outside or coming inside when ever they want. 

Windy Sunday

It was still sprinkling when I went out to take care of the horses this morning. The wind last night and today made the house feel like it was shaking and trembling. Mom lost her flowering crab tree during the night. Still no baby by Oksana.

We met at mom's for church around 9:45 am and were joined by Joan's family, Anni and Matt and Ruth and Fedi for church. Matt carried up the flat screen monitor, Fedi hooked his phone up to that and between the 2 of them we had a perfect way to watch Craig Stickling have the message.

After church Ruth had arranged with Linden Home to have Facetime with Nancy and we sang happy birthday to her. The day before Ruth dropped off presents for her and with Facetime we got to watch her open her birthday gifts. Joan brought over a big taco salad for church lunch and that was delicious. Ruth and Anni said they are bringing lunch next Sunday.  

Karin arrived and worked with Ayanna this afternoon.

Notice the crossovers of her back legs in the photos above and below. This mare is very talented. 

She is trying her new relaxation exercises on her and by the time she was done Ayanna was yawning and lowering her head.

Rhoda and Lee brought dinner for us, picking that up at Gil's in Hanna City. After supper we went to mom's for an amazing piece of Karin's birthday cake. Karin made a double chocolate cake with double the frosting which was some kind of frosting made out of heavy whipping cream and fluffy frosting. That really went down easy.  Lee and Rhoda were careful not to get too close but we had to laugh at the picture below of Iris at a year old looking over at mom while sitting in mom's chair she got on her first birthday 87 years ago. BTW check out that social distancing of 6 feet.

 Iris had fun in that 87 year old chair.

Faith, Sarah and Hannah were fishing in Diane's pond yesterday and just check out the big bass Faith caught in the picture below. Fishing here is catch and release but that one sure gave her a good fight. 

It is now after 9:00 pm and the wind is still slamming into the house with sustained winds of 30 mph and gusts over 40 mph. 

Storms

It was my turn to spend the night with mom and she didn't even wake me up. Not once. The only problem was she lost her glasses during the night.  Sarah is going to spend the night with her tonight. She really is doing better and feels we should not worry about making sure there is someone with her and even promised to call if there was a problem.  I ran home around 6:30 am to find Mark busy burning the sausage. I took over cooked him breakfast, changed, moved mares then headed back to mom's to make her breakfast. After breakfast she had a small grocery list and needed more black oil sunflower seeds for her bird feeders so I drove to Stock and Field in Pekin buying two 40 pound bags for $14.00 plus some grain then over to Aldi's to get the groceries. When I got back Karin and a few others were here working with the stallions. No pictures, I wanted to quickly get a some deviled eggs made for Karin for her birthday which is today. I also bought the ingredients for a big pot of creamy chicken and wild rice soup which was also started before taking the eggs over to mom's to give to Karin. A big storm moved in around 11:00 am and I had Oksana out in the field so grabbed a rain coat and brought her inside. This storm brought 3/4ths of an inch of rain in a very short time.  This afternoon Ruth came over and we played games. Mom got a lot of mail today with lots of birthday cards. Her birthday is Monday March 30th. She opened them and we enjoyed reading them together.
The next big storm arrived at 8:30 pm. The wind is ferocious, Spark's windmill sounds like a jet engine. The rain is slamming into the house. This storm is also lasting a little longer than the last. The thunder is booming.  Maybe a good storm will make Oksana drop her foal. She is now (technically)7 days over due.

Rainy Day

It was raining this morning so no walk. I stayed with mom and was impressed with how well she is doing. After breakfast she first started working on Aunt Emily's pillow case. Now this pillow case is well over 100 years old. Aunt Emily lived until she was 99 and she died over 10 years ago. The case itself is 100% cotton and was falling apart but the hand made lace was still in good shape.
Mom carefully removed the lace then cut up the pillow case to use as rags.

When that was finished she pulled out the baby blanket she is making. Mom makes these blankets for each baby born in the Meister family and in our church family. She keeps VERY busy with this job.

I left to head to the barn to get the stalls cleaned then back to mom's to heat up some of her frozen beef vegetable soup for lunch.  The rain stopped for a while which gave Joan time to come with Faith, Mackenson and Berlica to load up the rest of the wood onto the trailer and haul it back to her house. Mark's trailer holds a lot of wood but with everyone working fast we got it all loaded up in less than an hour.

 Below Joan is driving it over to her house.

 We had to celebrate when the last lot was stacked. The pile behind them is some of this load and the rest was thrown down to be stacked for the downstairs wood burner.

 Below Joan is sweeping off the trailer.

After the tractor and trailer was put away it was time for Mark's hair cut then I packed some clothes and headed back to mom's for the night. We played games this evening. After the games I drove back to the barn to clean up any manure in Oksana's stall then here to work on the blog. Of course as soon as I got back here and turned on the monitor I could see that Oksana left another pile in her stall. I'll head back to the barn to clean that up before heading to mom's to spend the night. We are expecting strong storms tonight and tomorrow. Praying everyone stays SAFE!

Bringing Home Ayanna

Mom was able to walk with us past the dumpster and about half way to Diane's house. We thought it was a good start considering she hasn't been able to walk at all since she fell Friday March 13th.

Right after the walk I left for Middle Grove as the rain was suppose to move in by 11:00 am only it actually started raining as I arrived. It wasn't raining hard so I started hiking and hiking and hiking. The herd was not in the winter pasture. The gates were closed so I realized they must be locked in the summer pasture and found them after another half hour.  I didn't take the camera as it was still spitting rain but I pulled out the phone a couple times. That is Rosalie in the picture below and below  her is Sangria enjoying the grass.

 Isla and Irish came running up to greet me. Not the best pictures but I didn't want to take the time to get a decent picture as I was getting wet and tired. 

Ayanna was haltered and we started the long hike back to the trailer but when we got to the bottom gate it was locked with a padlock that wasn't working. The only other way through was to hike back up the hill to the far gate so I was determined to get the padlock open and banging it against the gate a few times it became loose enough to open.  Ayanna was taken to the stall to groom up a bit then into the indoor for a few pictures. By this time the rain was pounding on the metal roof of the indoor arena making quite a racket.

The rain slowed down to a trickle so she was taken over to Evan and teased. She is not in right now and was put in with Hadassah.  Next the weanlings needed a new bale. By the time that was done and I was back in the house it was quite late and my feet were soaking wet and very cold. I sat down in front of the heater, took off my wet socks and was enjoying the heat when Diane called. Her first words were, "what are you doing?" When I answered "sitting in front of the heater trying to get warm" she started laughing. She had to keep jumping in the pool to cool off. It was 81 degrees with bright sunshine in Gulf Shores.  ALMOST makes me want to retire from the horse business. Tonight Ruth, mom and I played a game called Banana Grams then Mexican train. Mom is doing well but still feels she needs that muscle relaxer pill to sleep and is going to take a half of a pill tonight. Joan is going to spend the night with her. At 9:00 pm I headed home to put Oksana in the stall but couldn't find her. She was at the far end of the paddock laying flat in the mud. Of course I panicked thinking she was in labor but when I called she came up to the gate. She was filthy and needed a bath before stalling her. I am so thankful for the hot water right there in the barn and the hose Diane bought last year. Once she was cleaned up and her stall given fresh water and hay it was time for me to head in for the night. What a long day.