Gulf Shores Day 1

 We had an uneventful easy exactly 14 hour drive to mom's condo. Mom called just as we got into Foley and we told her we would pick her up in 20 minutes for breakfast at Waffle House. We made it there in 19. Breakfast was fast and delicious. Our waitress was horrified at how we northerners ate our grits.

She decided to make a bowl in front of us of how one is supposed to eat grits and then served it to all of us giving each a spoon.

It was okay how she prepared it but we still like it better with maple syrup and cream. We got back to the condo walked over to Island Royale checked out mom's new table counter and chairs then hiked back and rested. In the afternoon we sat around the pool in the Sun at Beth and all of us fell asleep. This evening Beth invited everybody down here over to a fish dinner at their place that was amazing. We enjoyed a feast of all kinds of good fish and side dishes and desserts. Then played games. With no computer I'm not able to post pictures but took a few to post later when we get home. The two Colts we're picked up this morning with just a little problem, the truck and trailer got stuck in the drive Mark was gone, and Spark came over and pulled them up with the skid steer. Karin and Magda helped with the Colts loading them and giving the transporter their papers. The ice storm and snow storm in Peoria hit and Mark reported our driveways are a sheet of ice. No one can make it up or down. I'm glad we're here in the warmth.

Gulf Shores Bound

 I found out at 1:20 pm I would be leaving for Gulf Shores with Joan and within 4 minutes was packed and ready. We are leaving this evening around 5:00 pm and if all goes well should arrive there around 7:00 am. I'm not taking my computer so not sure if there will be any updates until I get home on Feb 5th. This morning I got one more of David's teachings up on youtube, plus made a page just for his teachings. That can be found under the my favorite blog section. Here is the one downloaded today.

Mark is going to have to show the driver of the transporter coming for the two colts the paddock they are in and give him the paper work. Usually I would not leave someone else to load foals but the owner has put off getting them since Thanksgiving. They will be going without being groomed. 

Winter Fun

 It was a frigid 10 degrees this morning on our walk but Ruth and I were dressed for the cold so it didn't matter. Joan and her family all went skiing and snowboarding with the co-op to Sundown. Sarah sent back a few pictures. 

Above is Sarah taking a jump and below is Mackenson on the lift.

Above is Anni and Timothy waiting for the chair lift and below is Faith

Justin got in some good jumps.

They will all be sore in the morning. We have to take advantage of the winter time fun. We use to love heading up to Sundown or Chestnut, getting there when it opened, skiing all day then driving home exhausted. The good news is no one got hurt today. Hope Joan isn't too sore, she is driving down to Gulf Shores tomorrow. The laundry and dishes were done then I moved the net wrap out of the middle paddock and brought the two colts in that are leaving now on Saturday. That sounds so easy but the gate wheel was frozen solid in the ground and there was no way to open the gate. I had to bring the colts out the shelter gate and was only able to bring one at a time while keeping the other weanlings IN the paddock. Mark got home, moved his car in the indoor so the two colts were put in the middle paddock for the night. Today I just had time to download only one of David's messages and this one was from December 8th, 2020. What was interesting about this download as I wanted a specific picture put on, one of children spinning and laughing but couldn't find one in all of my pictures so settled on the one below. Then once it was downloaded and I was listening to the message I realized EXACTLY why I wanted a picture of a child spinning. It wasn't that I knew what was in the message, I just pictured in my mind a child spinning with joy when I saw the title. Listen to the message and you will understand why. 

This evening the man that bought Roxanne's filly by Valiant sent the picture below with the news that Giselle is expecting!

She is looking so much like her mother. Below is a picture of Roxanne just before we lost her.

Roxanne and Rosaleigh came to our farm the same day and from the same farm. Rosaleigh's mother was Roxanne's mother's daughter. Both the mother and the daughter were bred to Othello de Berthonval who was owned by  Friesian of Majesty. So they were closer than half sisters. We were thrilled to get them both. Rosaleigh was the taller of the two, she has the mega hair gene so we breed her to Evan who also has the mega hair gene. Rosaleigh is due the 4th of July this year but more than likely will deliver a couple weeks early as that seems to be her pattern. I will be very tempted to keep this foal if it is a filly to replace Roxanne. Rosaleigh is not related at all to Valiant. 

Another Cold Day

 A cold spell came through and we only had a high around 22 degrees today but right now it is 16 and predicted to bottom out around 10 degrees. Those in Gulf Shores, Rachel, David, Mike, Diane, Beth, Greg and mom are VERY glad to be there right now as they had sunshine and highs in the 70s. Spark and Rhonda got home last night and now have to face this cold like the rest of us here.  It snowed again today but very lightly leaving just a film of less than a half inch on the existing snow. Karin and Magda arrived today to work horses. 

I'm thankful for an indoor arena with room enough for riding. Now that Sheena's filly is weaned we are making plans to bring Sheena in from Middle Grove. Sheena supposedly is due in August but looking at this picture taken in November I think she must have settled in July and the ultrasound missed it which would make her due in June. 

This afternoon I was able to download 2 of David's messages, one was from 3 years ago and I'm not sure when the other one was given. 

Tonight Mike Kaisner had the message at church. It really was good to be there, I'm thankful the Bible says forsake not the assembling of the saints. Assembling together with people that we love is such a big part of a believer's life.

Not Fluffy

 The snow looked fluffy but it wasn't, it was crunchy as the flakes were mixed with ice. I took the picture below with my phone as I was heading to the meeting place. 

Ruth was a little late as her car was covered with a thick layer of ice that needed to be chipped of a little at a time. Emma came with me and was staring intently at Diane's house just hoping she would arrive with a bag of left overs. I took the picture below and sent it by text to Diane who is very glad she is still in Gulf Shores enjoying the warm sunshine. 

As soon as Emma realized Diane wasn't coming she left for home.

I spent the day grading Bible studies and by afternoon got them all done. While I was doing that I was listening to the message below David gave on Philippians 2

Snow Storm Maybe

 Early this morning I placed a couple ads for Jewel's filly. The person that put down the deposit shortly after she was born first planned on paying for her and picking her up around Thanksgiving. They had been sent pictures, videos, emails, texts and phone calls and I hadn't heard from them so this morning I sent a text that I was relisting her. I placed a couple ads using the video below..

 

Before leaving I had one response for her asking if we knew anyone that could deliver her to Texas.  For the last couple days weather.com has been predicting snow, as much as 5 to 8 inches over the next few days with ice mixed in. At first it was suppose to start Sunday then Monday morning. Yesterday they bumped it back to Monday around noon. So this morning instead of walking I drove down to the Peoria post office early to pick up the Berean mail then to the Berean office to get all the Tuesday work done today. Bill Schick called as he was on his way to Mayo clinic to report the entire parking lot was ice covered already and with the ice and snow predicted to fall later today and tomorrow it would be dangerous, we decided to call off Berean. Anyone who did NOT get the text hopefully will read it here. NO BEREAN TOMORROW. I worked there until after lunch and was able to get all the studies processed and the Bible labels printed out. Bill will be back from Mayo Clinic later this week and will mail out the Bibles and studies as the postage has gone up on those and our meter needs to be changed. As I was finishing up my phone rang and it was the person that had put the deposit down on Jewel's filly. They promised to send money at the end of next week if I would just hold her for them. I agreed. As it wasn't snowing yet I dropped off a bunch of studies to be graded at Jerry and Marie's house then headed to Aldi. When I got home it still wasn't snowing yet so I brought in wood for the wood burner and got the fire started. Mark got home shortly after that. The owner of the colts that were supposed to be picked up today sent an email because of the storm expect the driver to arrive on Thursday so the colts were put out in the paddock.

Forget this trying to keep them from getting muddy. Originally they were supposed to be picked up on Saturday then it was changed to Monday. They have been inside either stalls or the indoor arena since Friday and I'm tired of cleaning up after them. The owner is just going to have to deal with some mud. The lady from Texas wanting the filly was sent an email about the owner not wanting to lose her and they responded pretty quickly to please keep them informed in for some reason they don't send the money as she really wants her too. She really IS a pretty filly. 

I guess it's nice to know these foals are still in demand.  The snow and sleet started this evening but it is still 31 degrees outside so more icy than fluffy snow. Our electricity has been flickering off and on all evening. Around 7:00 pm it went all the way out but came back on within a few minutes. The wind has kicked up which is probably causing the outages. I've already set the clocks back twice. Next time they can just stay off.  David's message on Acts 1 and 2 was downloaded today so I could listen again.

I was trying to listen to one of his other messages but the mp3 player on this computer just kept dying. I was able to download it then upload it as a video and finally was able to hear this one too. Below is his teaching on martyrdom and the Glory of Jesus. 

Sunday's Blessings

 The cold has moderated and was 30 degrees this morning which felt like a heat wave. The colts were put back in stalls and the indoor cleaned up. These two boys make quite a mess in the with no supervision. They pulled saddle blankets down and stepped on them, played with Karin's flag and had emptied the garbage can dragging anything in there all over. Mark and I left for church around 9:15 am and it was so good to be there. Many people that had just been doing on-line services came back this week. It was wonderful to see so many and both Mark and I enjoyed visiting both before and after the service. Craig Stickling had a Spirit FILLED message on Joshua's last days then Revelation 5 of the only ONE who is WORTHY to open the book. We stopped at Kroger on the way home to fill up the water jugs. Karin had a group here working with the horses but I didn't go out as I was stir frying vegetables for the dinner tonight. Rhoda and Lee stopped in before supper with 4 darling puppies. They had their dew claws removed and she had taken them to the vet to make sure all was well. The puppies were left at our house for the evening. Tonight we gathered at Phil and Anna's house, all 24 of us plus Ron, Taunya's dad. 

Below he has finished dinner and is listening to the chatter around the adult table. The kids table was also noisy, actually there were 2 kids tables.

Not pictured were Israel, Elisabet, Eden, Abe and Kensley. They were too excited as they were with their cousins to sit still long. Some of the guys left for volley ball while the rest of us enjoyed the evening visiting and playing with the grands. We are expecting snow to move in tomorrow afternoon so in the morning I'll need to head to Peoria to pick up the Berean mail and hit an Aldi while I'm out to pick up milk, bread and a few other items. Today was a very blessed Sunday and I am thankful. 

Stubborn and or Foolish

 A cold morning and cold afternoon. The colts were moved into the stall while the truck and trailer were taken out of the indoor and put back in place before leaving for Sam's club. I found some bargains at Sams and bought those along with the meal for tomorrow. Mark helped unload the groceries as he had just come in from chain sawing more of the branches down. Karin, Magda and Isaiah were here trail riding with Ripper, Mika and Irish. They had a good ride with Irish doing well to keep up with the geldings. After the ride Mika and Ripper were moved in to the breeding shed paddock while Oksana and Irish were moved into the short shelter as both of those have new round bales in them. We are expecting snow and Mark wanted to get the snow plow on the skid steer so it wouldn't be available to move in bales for a few days. I spent a couple hours chopping vegetables and then chicken for the stir fry tomorrow.   We had a bit of a heated discussion this morning. The Wall Street Journal came out with an article that unless we have proof we have had the vaccine we will not be allowed to travel, work or shop. Hmm does this sound like something predicted at the end times? Maybe he will have to do the buying or selling soon.  I have already had Covid, it wasn't awful and am very suspicious of our media now. In fact I pretty much don't believe anything they say any more. I had already decided I will not take the vaccine weeks ago and won't be bullied into it. Mark thinks I'm being foolish and stubborn. By the way, I'm not an anti-vaxxer. At least we agree with the stubborn part. God has numbered my days and I'm ok with His number. 

Trailer Training Two

 It was really cold this morning and stayed cold all day, with a high of only 22 degrees. At least the sun was shining. Ruth and I were the only human walkers but for a little bit we had 4 dogs. Ruth brought Farkosh (not sure how they spell that) Emma quit early, Kabur and Leo both only joined us the second half of the walk. After the walk I had to run to the post office to pick up a package then to the money center 24 to deposit a few checks. Today was trailer training for Madolin (Tori's colt) and Moonlight (Rosaleigh's colt). Right after the walk the trailer was backed into the indoor arena and the arena doors shut. Then it was time to bring in the boys. I went out into their paddock with two halters and to my surprise Jewel's filly came right up and practically stuck her nose into the halter and even stood quietly while it was buckled on. Jewel's filly has been the only foal that has always been leery of me so this was very unexpected. I quickly put a halter on Irish's filly and brought both of those fillies into the indoor and tied them up. Next was Moonlight, he was also led into the indoor and tied. The last two were Mayberry (Sheena's filly) and Madolin and both were led into a stall and grained. That kept them busy while Jewel's filly (her registered name is Dana's Crown Jewel) was handled, led around, given a treat then put back in the paddock with Irish's filly (registered name Genevieve Grace). Next Madolin was brought inside and tied then Mayberry led out to the paddock. I'm really thrilled with how well all the foals are doing with leading and tying. Finally I was ready to start the trailer training. A purple halter was put on Tori's colt

and a green halter was put on Rosaleigh's colt

Both are kind of muddy from yesterday's big melt down. Pictures were taken for their owner. A bucket was put inside the trailer with a little grain. Both colts were pretty curious. Tori's colt is more bold and he went in first to check it out.

He ate a few bites which made Rosaleigh's colt want some too.

They finished up that grain then jumped out to play in the arena.

Soon they were going in and out at will but I also made sure to lead them in and out a few times just to make sure they knew when I asked they must go in.

While I was out there I decided to take a few pictures of the recliner chair we needed gone, did that then went into the house to post it on Facebook.

Within a few minutes of posting I had a couple people that wanted it and within a half hour that was gone. The chair was comfortable but collected dog hair each time an airbnb guest would bring a dog which made it hard to clean. The colts were left in the arena with a bucket of water and I came in for lunch and clicked on AC Central to pick out a sermon and was surprised to find David had spoken at ISU last night. When we were in the young group we would drive to ISU every Thursday night for this Bible study and now to think David was one of the speakers. Below is the message if you would like to listen to it.

More wood was brought in and the wood burner kept fed all day. 

Banned?

 We had another cold start to the day but it warmed up into the 40s and had lots of melting going on. This melting made lots of mud and this afternoon Evan needed a new bale. That meant my shoes got caked as he was being taken out of his paddock and let into the field. Mark was working on the downed fence but Evan was glad to get out, run and roll and left him alone. Mackenson came over to help with the branches from the silver maple piling them up in the pasture. As soon as the bale was moved Evan was called back in with his grain. I tried a new recipe for supper, pineapple chicken in the crock pot. It was ok but not something I will make for Sunday dinners. It would be good served over rice. There was enough to freeze a quart and 2 pints for later. The weanlings broke another bucket while playing around. One really weird thing happened today. I have been banned from messaging anyone on Facebook market place. I thought it must be my computer and tried turning it off then back on but I'm still banned. Oh well I probably shouldn't be spending any money right now until we see what is going to happen with the economy. 

Tree Work

 It was still too dark at 6:45 am for Mark to walk down to the mail boxes. He went late afternoon yesterday and the mail had not yet been delivered. There was still too much ice on the driveways for him to walk in the dark. Around 7:00 am it was light enough. At 7:10 I was at the dumpster waiting for Ruth when I saw this streak in the sky.

 It was too big to be a jet and found out there was a rocket launch at 8:02 am Eastern time of the Falcon 9 Rocket from the Loring Commerce Centre in Limestone Maine.   Diane and Mike left early this morning for Gulf Shores. Cocoa, Rachel and Andrew's dog has been staying with Mike and Diane and will be picked up tonight so Diane had me let her out of the house to go on the walk. When we reached our drive Cocoa jumped up on the branch Mark took down yesterday. 

I happened to notice Irish was grazing in the field but she wasn't supposed to be in a field. Last night she was in her paddock. That meant Oksana was also out. On the way back from Joan's house we saw Oksana in the big field so both were safe. I left them out to graze until after 9:00 am then brought them both in. Their gate had been left unlatched, probably since Sunday, they had just not discovered it until this morning. Today the wood box on the front porch was filled for the coming cold. Speaking of cold it was only 15 degrees this morning. The sun came out and we had a strong south wind which brought the temperature up to 38 degrees and melted a lot of the ice off the yards but not the driveways. Those are shaded and the ice is still thick and slick. Mark came home early to work on clearing the logs off the driveway. Mackenson came over to help. Below are pictures of this big job.

Above is the stump, you can see where the wood was rotted and could not hold these huge branches up any longer. Below shows how BIG these branches are. Each one is a tree in itself.

Mark was using the skid steer to drag them off the road.

He dragged one of the smaller ones over to Joan's house but the skid steer was not able to dig into the ice and started sliding sideways making it too dangerous to take any more. He ended up dragging them to the edge of the yard to get them off the drive.

He quit at 5:00 pm and came in for supper which was taco salad. Tonight Tim Funk had the message at church on the Act's Bible study. 

I DON'T Need Towels

 The dogs on the walk this morning were slip sliding all over. Poor Emma gave up as soon as Diane arrived with no goodies. It was just too icy for her to walk. Ruth's dog and Joan's dogs tried to run but their back legs kept slipping out from under them. This ice is thick and very hard right now. Even with our ice tracks on we had to keep to the sides. The ice is so hard the tracks can't dig in. I could only do one round as I needed to leave early to drive down to the Peoria post office to pick up the mail. That went well and I made it to the Berean office by 8:45 am quickly followed by Chuck Hemmer and Ron Rumbold. Chuck mentioned he had breakfast with David and Stephanie yesterday. We had a good morning working together with the other volunteers at the Berean office. If you would like to read about that click HERE. Cousin Skip showed up to help now that Berean has been banned from the jails and prisons because of Covid. Skip is also a board member at Berean and we were very glad to have a board member join us to see exactly what we do there. We put him right to work reading letters as we are very short of letter readers. 

When we finished up the Bibles were loaded into my car and I drove to the Bartonville post office to drop them off then drove home. I drove straight up to the barn, parked the car, jumped in the truck and drove that to the gas station to fill it up and hook it to the 2 horse trailer before Joan took it to move furniture for Sarah. Sarah now has her own apartment. Mark came home early to work on cutting up the big limbs in the driveway. That is such a big job but he got a lot done. We had beef stew for dinner tonight. The house is nice and warm with the wood burner glowing softly. Winter is a quiet time around here. We will soon be gearing up for foaling season. I have the bedding, plenty of square bales for the stalls AND will have my foaling towels back. When the girls cleaned and organized the house they removed all my foaling towels and thought I should use some of my older bath towels BUT I'm just too tight and can't imagine using almost perfect towels for cleaning up a just born, wet, slippery, bloody foal. Rhoda needed some for puppy towels then was going to take the rest to Hoerr vet clinic. When I realized I was missing my foaling towels I put the word out and Ruth donated a couple rags.  Sunday Rhoda reported she still had a bag full of them so I asked for them back. We will need them soon on HER horse. Below is Jury, Rhoda's Andalusian mare.

Jury was bred to Valiant and is due April 28th. The picture above was taken Oct 29th, 2020 she is much bigger now. This will be Jury's 3rd foal and all have been by Valiant. We didn't own her when she delivered the first two which both turned out gray and because of that we are expecting another gray Warlander but there is a chance of either bay or black. We will see. Galena is our first mare due March 23rd and she will be brought back here in February. 

Weaning Well

 Mayberry did very well during the night for her first night away from her mom. There were no spilled water buckets, no broken buckets and it was obvious that both of the fillies had laid down to sleep. They were glad to see me, very glad for their grain and were given a couple fresh buckets of water and a wheelbarrow load of hay before leaving on the walk this morning. Can you guess what we are doing in the picture below about half way into our walk? : 

We were marveling at the beauty of each individual snow flake. The snow was coming down with such a beautiful variety of snowflakes each one more beautiful than the last.

After the walk I needed to head up to the barn to clean the stall Irish's filly and Mayberry, Sheena's filly, were in. Not thinking about the date I drove all the way to the Peoria post office on State street to pick up the Berean mail. When I pulled in I was surprised to see only 1 car in the parking lot. The last few Monday's that place has been packed. Well the reason for 1 car in the parking lot was because it was closed for Marten Luther holiday.  That was almost a wasted drive except on the way home I stopped at Dollar Tree and bought 10 mugs then Kroger to pick out a nice coffee cake for the Berean treat.  When I got home Mike was up at the barn and with his help both of the fillies were moved out of the stall into a paddockwith the other weanlings. I'm very impressed with how quickly Mayberry is adjusting to weaning. Diane sent the forms for our new wills which needed to be looked over before our 1:00 pm meeting at the law office to sign them. We now both have up to date wills. Mark's 2:00 pm appointment cancelled so he came home and went to work on the poor silver Maple tree. This tree has been losing limbs and the ice storm really did a number on it. The tree is so huge that when the first big limb fell down this summer we filled the wood box.

Then came the ice storm when another huge limb fell across the drive smashing down the fence into the stallion pasture.

Mark waited a few days until some of the ice melted before cutting it up and hauling it to the wood shed.

Well this afternoon he got to work on the next big branch that had been damaged in the ice storm and took down 2 more big limbs. There really isn't much left of the tree after today.

The driveway will stay closed probably until the weekend when Mark will use his trusty chain saw and handy skid steer to cut it up in pieces small enough to haul away. This is not the best firewood but we will still use it and it will still put out heat when burned. This evening Diane and I worked on the 2020 Horsemeister books. Russ Rumbold is coming tomorrow to do the taxes and this must be done before he gets here. 

 

Blessed Sunday

 It was lightly snowing again this morning. Only a little is accumulating each day and each day most of the snow melts off. We left for church around 9:15 am. David had the message. If you would like to hear the message you can listen to it below. 

After church Mike and Matt went to Middle Grove to pick up Mayberry, Sheena's filly by Valiant. It was past time for her to be weaned. The horses were all down by the red gate and they came running up so Mike and Matt loaded Mayberry first then Mike to Matt over to show him how to move bales in while they are in Middle Grove. Diane, Ruth and I played games until 2:00 pm then I headed home to prepare a stall for Mayberry then moved Irish's filly into that stall to keep her company. Mike and Matt arrived at the same time as Ben who came to pick up the fridge, Karin who came for a trail ride and Isaiah who also came for the trailer ride. Matt and Isaiah helped Ben load the fridge. Karin took Mayberry out of the stall then led her into the barn. Irish's filly was very glad to see her and both settled right in. They are on the monitor and both are quiet and relaxed. This has been the easiest weaning yet. Mayberry wasn't nursing much at all and Irish's filly is so very sweet. Taegan happened to come out to the barn to watch and Karin mentioned they have an extra horse if she would like to go on the trail ride. We walked into the barn just as they were saddling up the horses. Left to right is Magda getting ready to mount Irish, Isaiah saddling up Mika, Taegan saddling Oksana and Karin was getting a bridle for Ripper.

Below Magda was telling me about Irish's trail ride yesterday and how she cantered and galloped and was practically perfect!

Taegan was pretty thrilled to get a chance to go on this trail ride and really likes riding Oksana. 

Isaiah rode Ripper yesterday so today he rode Mika. 

Below they are heading out on the trails. 

Everyone had a good time. For supper tonight we had Phil and Anna's family, Lee and Rhoda's family and Sarah and her girls. Nolan is still in Gulf Shores but is coming home soon. We enjoyed haystacks then played games after supper around the table. The 6 girls were playing so nicely in the rec room. They were playing school and even got grades. No pictures of that as we were enjoying visiting in the quiet living room. It was a very blessed Sunday.