Finally Outside

I got up earlier than usual today to get the brownies baking for the Berean meal before heading out to the barn. Of course it was raining again and even though it hit 50 degrees during the night we still had a lot of snow on the ground. The rain on top of the snow actually made it hard to walk without slipping and of course that made work much harder. I didn't put on the ice tracks on my shoes today which would have helped. Thankfully Mark took the brownies out of the oven when the timer went off as I was still up at the barn working.
After cooking breakfast, Emma and I started walking to the meeting place (the dumpster) and had just arrived there when the rain started up again hard. Ruth, Diane, Joan and I went into mom's house for a visit instead of walking in the rain.  Ruth and I left at 8:00 am, her for work and me to change out of my barn clothes before heading to the Berean office. We had a great day there. If you would like to read about that click HERE.
On the way home from work I came upon a very unusual sight. On Smithville road behind the airport a huge geyser of water was shooting 30 feet into the air. At first I thought maybe they were flushing out hydrants but after passing it realized there was no hydrant there.

A big water pipe had burst. That water was under so much pressure it wasn't just forming a puddle, it was spraying high into the air. 

 When I arrived home I tried to call the water company but didn't get through.  Rhoda, Sarah and Zion were here and I was thrilled to see them. They had stopped at Anna's and picked up the puppy bringing him over too. Zion was so funny with him and he was content to lay in Rhoda's lap while Zion felt him all over. She was really trying to grab his shiny new name charm on his collar.

She is such a happy baby.

Rhoda helped take Hadassah and her filly along with Anna and her colt over to the cabin field. They have been locked up in the indoor arena since the day before the snow storm and were so glad to get outside. 

 Anna's colt was so glad to get back outside and started galloping around. 

 What he didn't know was the ground was saturated and very slippery. He wiped out.

but jumped right up and kept running

He is just 16 days old and quite the show-off. 

Hadassah's filly at 8 days old was much more careful, sticking with her mama.

 She is such a feminine pretty filly. 

Once they had all settled down grazing we went back to the barn to take Rosalie and her 2 day old filly out of the stall for the very first time since the filly was born. This was a whole new world for her. She was not sure about the footing picking up her hooves high  when they hit the wet ground.

 Below she is checking out the snow. 

She finally learned to stick close to her mom but only after we put Rosalie in the outdoor arena.

 It was fun to watch her learn to use those long legs. 

They were put in the indoor arena for the night. Next Rhoda took the golf cart down to the house to pick up the shots for Darla and Serenity while I brought them into the stalls. Both fillies were so good standing quietly while the shots were given. It sure pays to handle the foals when young. Rhoda couldn't believe how much Serenity has grown since she saw her last. 

As it is not raining and both Marika and Lola are not any where close to delivering according to the testing so will be left out in their paddock tonight. 

Puppy Pictures

As soon as 2 cups of coffee were inhaled, the roast for tomorrow's Berean meal was stuck in the crock pot then up to the barn I went to let Lola and Marika out of the stall and feed Rosalie who must be kept in the stall because this cold wet weather is just to awful for a 2 day old filly.  Right after the walk I drove in to Peoria to TSC to pick up a couple shots for Darla and Serenity. They will be hopefully given tomorrow afternoon IF it stops raining. It has been raining most of the day. This is helping with snow melt but there is just so much snow the rain didn't make much of a dent in getting rid of it. Below the snow is coming off our metal roof over our patio door.

 Above is looking at it from outside and below is inside looking out. 

We sure didn't want to be under that when it fell.  The shots were stuck in the fridge then off I drove to Pekin IL to pick up 500 pounds of grain at Big R and groceries at Aldi. The groceries were unloaded first then once all the grain was unloaded, the stalls and indoor arena were cleaned. Anna and Hadassah were begging to be let outside but their foals are just too young to be out in this cold rain and snow packed pastures. Hopefully tomorrow afternoon they can be taken over to the cabin field.
Anna dropped off Taegan and Kensley while she took Hux, their new puppy for his very first vet check up. Hux is a purebred registered King Charles Cavalier and should end up around 16 pounds once full grown. He got a very good report from the vet and right now weighs in at 5 pounds. Yesterday he was exactly 8 weeks old. Anna sent in the paper work to register him in her name. Below are a few pictures of this 'perfect puppy' playing with the girls.

 Above Taegan is holding him while Kensley takes a picture of them. 

 Then it had to be Kensley's turn. This morning Anna and Kensley went shopping for puppy stuff leaving the puppy at home. They got about a half mile down the road and Kensley asked to go back, she was missing the puppy too much. 

 Emma wasn't that impressed with him. 

 Below they have put him outside to go potty and were all watching when he did. Good puppy!

A phone call came this afternoon about Rosalie's filly, the lady is flying to Chicago on Wednesday morning and will be here Wednesday afternoon to look at her.
This evening Marika and Lola were tested and neither are anywhere close to delivery. They were still left inside for the night, it is just miserable outside. The monitor is off tonight, I plan on a good nights sleep.

The Perfect Puppy

Phil and Anna's daughter Braelyn has been praying for the perfect puppy each night. Well today after Braelyn's birthday party Phil and Anna took the girls to Rhoda and Lee's house where they were holding a special surprise.  The 3 girls were then presented with the 'Perfect Puppy', exactly what Braelyn had been praying for. To see the video clip of the girls getting this puppy click HERE.

We had another great Sunday only this one was really special. Rick and Mary Plattner were visiting Peoria so we got to hear Rick for the morning. Mom, Sarah, Mark and I had to leave right after the first service in order to get to the AC church in Tremont, IL for cousin Mike Meister's wedding to Joyce Kaiser.  That was like one huge family reunion. It was so good to be there.  We didn't stay for the reception as there was no one home here to take care of the horses. 
Jared sent news from Kansas, his big Percheron mare Whitney delivered a big black filly by Valiant this morning.

Whitney is 17.2 hands tall, this filly makes her look like a pony she is so big. Jared reports the filly is nursing well. Congratulations Jared! That is TWO fillies born this morning, Rosalie's filly by Evan came early and Whitney's filly by Valiant came late.  

Rosalie is anxious to get out of the stall but with so much wet sloppy snow on the ground we can't let her filly get wet.  Marika and Lola were stalled again tonight. It looks like I will be cleaning stalls and the indoor arena for a while. Once this snow melts we have rain predicted. I may need a bigger barn. 

It's a GIRL

Rosalie delivered a big beautiful all black filly this morning at 12:39 am. The stall was not bedded in straw nor was her tail wrapped because the testing showed blue at 175 giving us practically no chance of a baby tonight. At least the stall had been freshly bedded. I was sound asleep in the house with the foaling monitor on loud when I heard a noise, checked the monitor and there was Rosalie giving birth. By the time I got dressed and up to the barn Rosalie was standing and the filly was trying to stand.

She was wiped down with a towel then the stall tackled. Getting all that wet bedding out of the stall and fresh straw put down. Below is her first stand.

I left for the house once she was rooting around in the right place. By 1:30 am she had latched on and the placenta dropped. All is WELL! Thankful for a safe delivery OUT of the snow in a nice dry stall very thankful and another healthy foal.

March Snow Storm

Each time I woke up during the night to check the foaling camera there was more snow on the ground. By morning the snow mixed with rain and ice pellets was covering pretty much everything. The picture of the evergreen was taken this morning.

Karin arrived early this morning to help test Rosalie. Rosalie is only showing blue at 175 so more than likely will not deliver today or tonight but with this weather she still needs to be inside. 

Mark went out to shovel while I went out to move mares and clean stalls. The snow was so heavy that each shovel full was an effort.  At one point it stopped and I thought it would be a good idea to take a few pictures of the foals in the snow. That wasn't too smart, by the time I got both mares and foals outside the snow was back with a vengeance. Both foals look like a reverse leopard spotted Appaloosas.

Above is Luka, Anna's colt and below is Hadassah's filly

Hadassah and her filly were put in the round pen while Anna and her colt were put in the outdoor arena for these pictures.

Mark needed to get the skid steer out of the indoor to start plowing and the only way to open the big doors was to shovel all the snow that had piled up on them, all 16 feet of door then another 16 feet of track. By the time I had that done I was more than ready for a rest. The mares and foals were put in the stalls and the two trucks moved inside. The weanling paddock needed another round bale. That was a treat doing that in the snow storm. Each time I got off the tractor (to wrap the round bale or open a gate) when I got back on the tractor the seat was full of snow. I was soaked all the way through by the time that job was finished. Karin and Jackie went to Jessica's new house to help with the painting. When Jessica got home from working all day there she got stuck in the drive.

Mark was just heading up to the barn to get the skid steer to start plowing so pulled her out.

This snow is so heavy that when he was scooping he was making huge snow boulders.

Emma kept wanting to go out but would come right back in. It was just too sloppy wet and cold for her.  

 I was amazed at how many of the horses were standing out of their shelters during the storm. Below is Evan. Silly horses they could have stayed dry.

Mark got a fire going this afternoon in the wood burner which kept the house nice and warm. Rhonda was suppose to have out of town guests for dinner tonight and had it all cooked when the guests decided the roads were just too awful. That meant I, Mark, mom and Sarah Reinhard all got lucky!  We were the only ones home in the neighborhood. Rachel and David are in Las Vegas, Joan is at a retreat and Mike and Diane were at Middle Grove.  Our only problem was picking up mom and Sarah. We were suppose to be at Spark and Rhonda's at 5:00 pm but we couldn't get the car out of mom's drive and this was AFTER Mark had plowed. Sarah ended up shoveling mom's sidewalk 3 times but the snow was coming down so fast everything got covered.  It was worth the getting stuck though for dinner, wow did we eat good. Rhonda made paprika chicken, great plains rolls with butter and rhubarb jam, a big salad and mom brought over asparagus served with hard boiled egg slices topped with hollandaise sauce.  For dessert Rhonda served angel food cake with whip cream and strawberries. Below are happy faces and empty plates.

After dinner we played games until I had to leave for work. Spark offered to take mom and Sarah home so Mark and I could leave before dark.  I still needed to get the big doors shut to the indoor arena which took more shoveling then move the mares and foals out of the stalls into the indoor. The stalls were cleaned and freshly bedded then Rosalie, Marika and Lola were all stalled just in case. We sure can't have a mare deliver out in this kind of weather. I'm so very thankful for nice dry stalls, a great monitoring system and a dry indoor arena.