Two Eggs

 There was a new song from Dan waiting when we awoke this morning.  These songs he is writing are all about the age to come when Jesus returns. This one is titled Ride of Life. 

I was able to get it uploaded before leaving for mom's today.  Mom had the Big Bear Eagle cam on. Jackie laid the second egg a few days ago but today is the first time I've seen both eggs.  Jackie got off the eggs, left the nest for 2 minutes then flew back and sat on them again for a few hours before Shadow came to relieve her. 

Below Shadow is just about to take his turn.

If you want to check out the eagles go to youtube then do a search for Big Bear Bald Eagle Cam. Hopefully the eggs will hatch in about a month from now. Karin brought home pillows from her house in Maquon and put them in my car. I had explained I used all upstairs pillows for the new barn and would need to buy 4. She had a bunch in the car but I picked out 3 regular size and 2 king size to take home. Two of the regular size were thrown in the washer and when those 2 were done they looked great. The next two washed were the 2 king. They did not turn out as well, both had stains that didn't come out even though I used spray and wash.  I may still keep them if I can find some king size pillow protectors. The last regular size was a feather pillow. It said dry clean only but I put it in the washer, if it turns out fine if not I can pitch it. We left for church at 6:18. Mike Kaisner had the message. Click HERE if you would like to watch that. After church we joined the group going to Culvers. We enjoyed the company and the fish dinner. 

Wrestling Match

 Another gray damp morning and it stayed that way all day. Mark was for sure feeling better and asked for breakfast early. He picked up some oranges at Kroger yesterday that were as big as a grapefruit. 

I left early for the Berean office as I wanted to clean out the freezer section of the fridge. We have had food items stored in there since last year.  We had a great morning at the Berean office. Today we had healthy fruits and vegetables for our break. Check out the picture below:

Shirley and Ray brought donuts that were made with potatoes! That was what we all considered the vegetable and the apple pie was of course the fruit. We all had to try the different donuts for the main meal then had the pie for dessert, why there was a maple flavored donut that had bacon bits on top and it WAS good. A big thank you to Shirley and Ray!  If you would like to read about our morning there click HERE. I didn't get home until afternoon. Mark did some work at the barn but I just stayed home and got the laundry done. At 4:30 pm we left for Illini Bluffs where Jack was having a wrestling match. There were 3 schools competing. Eureka, Illini Bluffs and El Paso.  He won both of his matches today.

Below is a video of him wrestling.

By the time we got home it was way after supper time. By the time I had supper ready it was 8:00 pm. That is Mark's plate below.

Mine was not pictured I had an avocado instead of peppers and skipped the lemon. 

Sunshine

 We had a beautiful sunny day, cold but the sun was shining for the first time in a long time. Mark will be glad as the solar system is finally producing again.  He is finally feeling better and asked for breakfast today but only wanted 1 egg, an avocado, a piece of multigrain toast and some strawberries. 

He left for work today. I had the morning off as Ruth stayed at mom's today. That gave me time to surf AC Central. Fred Witzig had an amazing message. I wanted to explain his message and why this should be watched by every Christian but it is best by watching Fred explain it himself by clicking HERE. Now I don't feel so bad about asking over and over for help. 

The temperature climbed to 37 degrees. I thought today was a good day to bring Thalia out for some pictures but when I got to their paddock was shocked at how much mud there was on Thalia,  in the field, in the paddock and even in the outdoor arena.

Today was not a good day for pictures, just WAY to much clean up and too cold to use water. 

Lea wasn't as muddy.

Instead of pictures I moved more wood in for the wood burners. The wood shed is now less than half full. 

I brought in a good amount that should last the rest of today and some of tomorrow.  The next job was to bring the left overs home from the barn. By the time I got back from that Mark was home and still feeling hungry. That is such a good sign that he is finally feeling better. He even ate a bit of the left over apple pie for dessert. Ruth asked Joan today to block off mom's condo as we are planning to take her again in October this year and MAY, that is if we get enough help, take her back again in January or February of 2025. As Diane, Beth, Rachel and Spark are there now she has mentioned quite a bit about going back. Diane has been sending back some fun pictures of the group there now. 

They have had a lot of rain but it is warm with the temps in the 70s. 

Mom got a special visitor today. She got to meet her youngest brand new great grandson Jack.

This evening I watched Jeff Waibel speak at Leo and that was another amazing message. IF you are interested in having peace and living in peace watch that message by clicking HERE. I am SO thankful for AC Central. 

Another Wonderful Sunday

 Each Sunday I wake up with joy in my heart. I love going to church and I love hosting Sunday dinner. What a wonderful gift we get each week.  Mark still wasn't feeling well so I rode to church with Ruth and Mom.  Tim Roecker had the morning message. Click HERE to hear that.  Jim and Faith served a delicious lunch for everyone. David had the afternoon message. This is another of those messages you really don't want to miss. Click HERE to watch that. One funny thing happened before the afternoon message. I was sitting on a bench with 3 little girls to the left of me. A grandma of those 3 girls sat down on my right then with a horrified voice 3 times exclaimed, "oh my WORD!" Turned out one of the little girls had taken off her dress. The grandmother quickly grabs the dress and her grand daughter and starts dressing her asking her, "why did you take your dress off." The little girl exclaims, " but grandma I was hot and the dress felt tight." The complete innocence of the young! I was telling mom and Ruth about it on the way home and we all had a good laugh. Once home Mark and I took the few items that hadn't been taken over yesterday to the barn and supper was started while the others played in the gym or watched the Kansas City Chiefs play and win a football game. One of my daughters in law are from Kansas so we all knew who we were supposed to root for. Supper was chicken or steak fajitas. Below are the vegetables cooking. 

They look so colorful and good but I don't like the taste of peppers so make sure to just pick out the onions for my meal. 

After supper came the games.

Quinton (Karli and Logan's) and Lucy (Sam and Tyler's) babies were the 2 youngest.  These two are 4 months apart.

Below is Rebekah who is expecting her 5th baby talking babies with Karli.

We watched a fun basketball game of 3 on 3. Then the volleyball games started. Rebekah, Walter and Riley played ping pong and Riley practiced her hand stand and cartwheels. A good time was had by all. 

Below is the video of some of the fun times today. 

Today was another wonderful blessed Sunday.

Moving Bales

 I was at mom's again today but had to stop and take a picture of the green grass now showing as the snow melts. 

We have now had 5 days of temps in 30s and rain or drizzle each day. the snow is melting quickly. The first few inches of the ground are defrosting and muddy but below that is still frozen solid. When Karin got back it was time to move round bales in.  Mark was asked to help. While he went up to get the tractor going Evan was locked out of his paddock. He was glad to get out in the field and of course had to do some major bucking but soon discovered Thalia coming up to the gate to check him out. 

She did her baby talk.

He reached over and sniffed her neck.

The first paddock that needed a bale was the middle paddock with the 2 Thoroughbred mares.

They got a big last cutting bale.  These bales are fine stemmed, bright green and smell great. The mares are going to love this bale. 

The entire time we were working on bales it was lightly raining and 37 degrees. It felt so warm that I was only wearing a sweat shirt. As long as I was working I didn't even notice the cold. Below Mark is bringing the bale down for Evan's paddock.

Once that was in Evan was locked back in his paddock. 

Mike called the farmer at Middle Grove and asked him to put 4 bales in today and 4 more next week.

Once back in the house I cleaned up and went to Sam's club to pick up the rest of the food for Sunday's meal and food for the meal at mom's house tonight. Mark took two sacks of the food over to the barn for tomorrow, while I cooked supper here. Mom, Karin, Faith, Mark and I ate together at mom's house. We will have an early night tonight.

Eagle's Egg

 Ruth wasn't feeling well this morning so I took her place at mom's house. The big news was Jackie laid an egg. Of course when I arrived at mom's the eagle camera was already on.  We watched that for a while, watched Jackie get up and let out a loud screech to call Shadow. 

Shadow arrived to take her place so Jackie flew off to find some breakfast. Below she is looking back to make sure Shadow was going to sit on the egg.

He first arranged the nest a bit then sat down to keep the egg warm.

Jackie came back pretty quickly. Shadow left then within minutes arrived with a fish for Jackie. It is interesting to see how she reacts when she is brooding.  She was glad to see and asks nicely for the fish. Shadow left, Jackie ate the fish, every single bite, then settled back down again.  By this time it was almost time for lunch. Mom and I were sitting at the table watching the finches eat lunch at her bird feeder.

Mom was back in the recliner by the time Karin arrived. I left to do some grocery shopping at Aldi. A quiet day.

Slushy

 Another slushy morning that turned into a really slushy night. I wasn't going to build a fire but by 9:00 am the house felt cold. I was leaving for mom's but Mark was staying home today was willing to keep the home fires burning. The first job at mom's each morning is to fill the bird feeder.  For Christmas mom got 90 pounds of black oil sunflower seeds and the outdoor freezer is full of those seeds. The birds are doing their best to help empty that. The last couple weeks of weather was so cold and snow packed that the birds really are visiting and emptying the feeder each day. Today while we were watching a red bellied wood pecker arrived. 

Lots of finches mostly house finches but I also saw the gold finches are starting to turn yellow. No pictures of them as I wasn't taking pictures at that time.

Karin has been busy making baby blankets and now has 4 finished.

We will need to take mom back to JoAnn fabrics soon to pick out more material. There are 4 more great grandbabies expected as of now.  Rebekah, Anni, Emily and Hannah. Aunt Jinnie called and started a new book with mom. She read 3 chapters today. Each day she calls and reads.  Right now she is in Jupiter Florida with Aunt Sandra and was heading to the beach today.  Karin made it home by 1:45 pm and when I got home was glad to see that Mark had kept the home fires burning. It was 35 degrees so not freezing but just damp and cold.  Lots of melting going on today and more this evening. The rain has been steady and it is currently 36 degrees. I just now took the video below:

Evan was standing out in the rain looking at Lea who was ignoring him. Seeing Evan in the snow reminding me of the time we turned him loose one winter in the pond pasture behind the mare's paddocks. He really was showing off for the girls. Since the song Rhoda picked for the video was longer than the snow clip I added some other pictures and videos of him to finish out the song. 

Fire Starters

 I used the last of the fire starters this morning to get the wood burner going.  Right after breakfast I decided to make more. There are still 5 or 6 big fat candles from Diane so 3 of them were put in a pan and put on low to start melting.  I was only able to finish some of them before needing to leave for mom's house. They work so well. They are just rolled up napkins dipped in melted candle wax and set on paper plates to dry.

The Prius was taken over to mom's. That has snow tires on so I had Karin take my car as hers does not have snow tires. Karin had a few of her drawings on the table. The first is for sure Riley Jane. 

Ruth was also easy to recognize.

The third I'm pretty sure is Brian, Caleb and Emily's son.

Her portraits are really good.  Mom and I had a good morning. Molly was funny, she wanted up on mom's lap then scooted on to the pillow.

Karin made it home just after 1:30 pm and had no problem getting up the drive with the snow tires.  The man that bought the truck wanted to swing by to pick up the second key we found and was waiting to hear if Karin could make it up. He was glad to hear and arrived not too long after.  When I got home I finished the fire starters and cleaned up the kitchen.

There are now 120 of them and way more than we need for the 2024 cold season. We likely won't need to have fires for the next 120 days so what is left will be stored until next winter. Some exciting news came in on the Midwest Horse fair. There will for sure be 2 Valiant's offspring in the Friesian Heritage Horse demo. Ribbon's last son named Titan is going as is Easter Lilly's 2021 son by Valiant named Maverick.

Below is a recent picture of Maverick.

Lily's 2021 filly by Valiant is on the waiting list and if someone drops out she will go also. That is amazing to think 3 of our foals could be showing at the Midwest Horse Fair in 2024. Mark and I left for church a little early. The fog tonight is as thick as pea soup. Cars could only go around 35-40 miles per hour on the way to church and even slower on the way home.  Gregg Rumbold had the message on 1st Corinthians starting at chapter 3 verse 18. IF you would like to watch that click HERE. 

Ice Snow Slush

 It was still slightly above freezing this morning with a light rain. The driveways were worse than yesterday, still a hard ice under the snow and ice above the snow with some slush on top of the ice. 

I was out checking horses this morning. Thalia and Lea were happily munching away on the hay.

I really need to get some updated pictures of Thalia so she can be posted on the Horsemeister website. I called Lea and she looked up from eating then came over to the fence for attention.

Lea stuck her nose over the fence to check out the phone.

Thalia also wanted some attention and both girls were given good scratches up by their neck lines. That is a favorite place for both of them.

Both of Mike's Thoroughbred mares looked over and wanted me to come but there was so much deep snow to walk through I didn't just took the picture from across the circle drive.

Valiant also came up to the gate.

When I finally came in my feet were frozen. I started the fire and that warmed everything up.

Berean was canceled for this week. Skip got to the office to find the parking lot was a sheet of ice. He made the call to cancel and I sent messages to the volunteers who had planned to come. This afternoon we had someone come to see the barn to see if it would work for her daughter's wedding reception. I was able to take the golf cart to the barn but got stuck a couple times so as soon as I got it back to the house it was put away in the garage and plugged in. It is just too slippery to use right now.  A little later I got notice that someone had booked the barn and the apartment for August 16th and 17th for their wedding. They also booked Diane's cowboy cabin. This person is booking sight unseen so I sure hope the barn meets their expectations. I posted the 5th wheel for sale and have had a lot of offers. 

Most of the offers are a little crazy. One wanted to trade a motorcycle, another wanted to trade a 1999 dump trailer plus cash. One lady offered to buy it for the asking price but want to make payments while they live in it. This made me worry that it might sell and I have it listed on airbnb.  Since I don't want to take it off of airbnb, I changed the amount per night raising it to $100 a night with a $20.00 cleaning fee feeling pretty confident that no one in their right mind would rent it for that. It is a nice camper and rented well. 

The two slideouts make it roomy. Staying in it hardly feels like camping, the bed is queen size and comfortable. I really like the camper but don't want to do the work anymore. Must be getting lazy in my old age. This evening I made two pizzas and Mark and I took them over to mom's for dinner. We had a good visit. We are expecting rain with above freezing temperatures tonight so maybe by morning the driveways will be passable. It is currently 35 degrees and supposed to go up to 36.