New Years Eve Party

Hey All, The flyer that went out for the New Years Eve Party was MEANT to say SUGGESTED donation $8.00. Please, Please, we want everyone to come whether you want to help donate or NOT. A party is only a success if EVERY one participates.
Hope to see HUNDREDS of people at the party. We are excited to host it and want to enjoy the Old School Center with EVERYONE!

The After Effects

This morning it wasn't as cold as predicted, it was 5 degrees above zero, instead of zero but the wind was fierce. The foals were very anxious to be fed their grain and the water was mostly open. I smashed some of the ice around the heater to open a bigger hole for drinking. I had no phone call from the farm so all must be fine. At this point the only calls are usually bad calls so I would prefer the phone not ring. After checking them all over, all have some mud frozen to them but Meike has frozen mud on her feathers so somehow that must be cleaned off before the transport company gets here. The last email from them thought they would be picking up in Minnisota sometime this afternoon which would put them at my place the middle of the night. I'll bring her into a stall tonight just in case. I'll need to bring out the heated water bucket for her. At least all of her paper work is done. This is the time I miss not having a heated indoor barn with warm running water. It sure would be easier to clean these babies up before they leave for their new homes.
Sometime today or tomorrow I'll need to take a trip down to TSC for more grain. Feeding 5 foals here at Bridlewood along with the 3 left at the farm we are going through more than one 50 pound bag a week. I bought 6 bags the last time shopping, 2 for here at Bridlewood and 4 for the Hanna City farm. It didn't help that yesterday I spilled a bucket of grain in the foal paddock, trying to get through the wind and snow then slipping on the ice. Just 2 weeks ago it was so nice that Rachel took pictures of the Friesians at the farm and I made the video below. How quickly the view from the window changes, no more green grass and mud, now it is all frozen ground with snow and ice.

The Storm

This morning there isn't much snow on the ground but it is blowing and snowing and COLD. The wind is blowing 25 to 40 miles an hour (per weather.com) but it seems like 60mph. The temperature is dropping fast, it was 33 degrees when we got up this morning and only 2 hours later is now down to 23 degrees and forecast to drop to 1 above ZERO with wind chills at 15 below! brrrr and double brrrr this is no beautiful snowfall like we want around Christmas this is brutal. I didn't drive to the farm this morning but talked to both mom and Diane. Mike also called to tell me that last night, he thought there were too many horses all together so he put 4 in one of the side paddocks but this morning they were not happy and wanted to be with the others. He let them all together again and all are hunkered down waiting out the storm. He dumped 2 more round bales over the fence into the middle paddock. The horses could go down into the valley, we have all the lower gates open with new hay bales in that field but for some reason they all want to be together in the middle. Perhaps this is survivor mode?

Funny Christmas Decoration

One of my customers sent me this picture today of Christmas Decorations.
Below is the rest of the email:
"Good news is that I truly out did myself this year with my Christmas decorations.
The bad news is that I had to take him down after 2 days. I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever.Great stories. But two things made me take it down.
First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost wrecked when they drove by.
Second, a 55 year old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder almost killed herself putting it against my house and didn't realize it was fake until she climbed to the top (she was not happy). By the way, she was one of many people who attempted to do that. My yard couldn't take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up my yard."

Snow Rain Sleet then more Snow

There was only about 2 inches of snow on the ground this morning, but Emma was not sure she should really go outside in it. By noon it had turned to rain, we are to have sleet later and more snow by midnight but only about 2 inches on the ground at the end. The big news is the cold and wind that is to hit tomorrow. Poor Emma will really be shocked tomorrow, she has not yet lived through COLD weather. We are doing pretty well with house training with Emma, however I don't think Mark is very trainable at this stage. We now have Emma not leaving any puddles in the kitchen as that is now considered her home but the door must be kept shut. Emma is not allowed in the other rooms unless she is strictly supervised. Mark just cannot remember to SHUT the door. He is always walking through and leaving it open and I can't seem to run fast enough to stop Emma from running into the front hall and leaving a puddle. Last night I saw Mark walk through, I saw Emma trotting towards the front door, I'm running towards the hall and yelling, Darcy is barking and running in front getting in my way and by the time I get to Emma it is too late, she has squatted and started wetting. Since she was caught in the act, I yell at her, go to pick her up, She starts screaming while Darcy is barking at full blast. If the windows would have been open, my neighbors would have thought for sure someone was Dying!
This is some of the JOYS of a puppy in the winter. She is awful cute. Today she had been playing hard, climbed up half way on the portacushion and fell sound asleep. She looked like she was praying with both back legs on the floor and her body up on the cushion. She was just too tired to make it all the way up the 4 inches.
In the above picture she is getting ready to pounce.

Jenis & Valiant

Mike called with a funny story about Jenis and Valiant this morning. Valiant was trying to nurse, Jenis was squealing, moving away, and just not being very co-operative, Finally Valiant had enough, turned around and let fly with both back legs. He mule kicked his mom, I'm sure in his mind she deserved it. Valiant is 5 months old and Jenis would like to send him to Bridlewood. We probably should wean both Valiant and Wanda but right now I have 5 foals here, I would like to bring them once Meike and Royal leave.

Springfield

We woke up to the sound of a snow plow clearing the roads. That was a shock, we didn't even realize it was suppose to snow. We really didn't get enough snow to worry about so I left this morning by 7:00 for Springfield. My appointment with the department of agriculture was at 9:00am and I wasn't sure of the state of the roads so left plenty of time. I was there by 8:40am, they didn't take in the paper work to sign until just before 9:00am and then kept me waiting for about 45 minutes more. I was the only customer the entire time so what they were doing other than just signing who knows. Perhaps they were checking to make sure the horse I was exporting was not a dangerous object. Although I'm not bringing anything into the US, just sending one 4 month old filly out. I should have had some coffee and breakfast before leaving this morning so by the time I got near Tremont, IL I thought of calling Amy Koch to see if she wanted to join me for breakfast. Amy was just finishing stalls at Bridlewood and was glad to meet me at Denny's for breakfast. After a very satisfying meal and good coffee I had to head over to Hanna City for Meike's new halter for transport and more paper work that needs to go to her new owner. I stopped at home and took Emma with me to show her off to the ladies at Honegger Law office but only Shannon was in. Diane was only a few minutes away but she saw Emma's pictures on the blog last week and did not want to see her in person. Can you tell Diane is not a dog person? I'm glad Shannon is. Mark called to tell me that our MBL account at the Associated Bank will be frozen if we don't get them some lost paper work. We have had this account for 20 years but when the bank closed its office on Harmon Hwy about 6 years ago they must have lost the paper work and now we have to prove we own the account all over again. Why is it that the bank can lose paper work and WE are the ones that suffer? So down to work and about 2 hours later I've gone as far as I can until tomorrow afternoon so now I start to work on mom's accounts.
Mom has changed credit card companies and we are still working on switching everything over from her citibank card to her new Visa card through CEFCU.

Rebekah's Madrigal

We were met at the door by the flower sellers, the singers, and the jouster's with their swords. Down a hall decorated with swatches of beautiful material and many many candles lighted the way. We entered the main hall where we were seated by our 2 wenches and offered dainties for our palates which consisted of crackers and different cheeses, they were actually delicious. The Madrigal singers were brought in and then queen Elizabeth and her lady in waiting. After speeches and songs the wassail was brought in and the toast was given. When the boars head was brought in Spark decided he wanted the other end of the boar, the head was hairy. Our meal was very good and the singers truly were entertaining to watch and listen.

Below were the orphan singers. They were rewarded after singing for the queen with a bowl of soup from the kitchen.

The juggler came to our table to do some magic tricks.

After the dinner, I asked Rebekah to show me her hair.

Rebekah posed next to the Knight. The only thing missing was the Knight's black charger.

Anni Davidovics was a wonderful wench. She was in charge of a table of 6. All of the wenches sang for us also and at the end all of the singers sang a beautiful rendering of Silent Night.

At the end I had to take a picture of the candle on our table. We truly had a wonderful evening.

Thank you Ruth for inviting us to a wonderful evening.

The Calico Cat

Well we have news of the calico cat that disappeared the DAY she was to be spayed. Ralph saw her outside the barn 'playing' with a big black male on Friday.
Steven, I think you are too late and we will have kittens.
As soon as the cats saw Ralph they took off. Steven Marchal was the person that rescued the cat when she was dropped off at CIRTS and Steven is the ONLY person that the cat will allow pet her. Sure hope we can lure her back into the barn when she is ready to deliver. This cat was really earning her keep. She is a great mouser.

Sunday Morning

This morning, Rhoda carried Emma down the stairs to go to the bathroom. I was just a little late, putting in another load of laundry. By the time I got down the stairs both dogs were ready to come in. The foals needed to be checked, fed and watered and Emma wanted to come with me. She was side tracked by the trailer sitting in the yard so I had to do all the work myself. Once back inside Emma saw Darcy sleeping on the portacushion in front of the heater and thought that looked pretty comfortable. She first climbs up the 4 inches, looks around, asks Darcy for permission, then both curled up together. I thought it was pretty cute.



Now instead of just hearing Darcy snore, I get to hear 2 dogs snore.
Today after church is the madrigal dinner at Illini Bluffs. Rebekah and Anni Davidovics both are in the madrigal singers. Ruth bought tickets for a bunch of people. We will have a great time. Spark is going with his broken foot. A few years back he went with a broken leg, a napkin on the table started on fire, Spark grabbed it, threw it to the floor and stepped on it with his cast. Ruth probably especially invited Spark this time just in case of fire. He comes in handy with his leg and all.

The Cooksey's Filly by Raven our Friesian Stallion

After driving to the farm and graining Raven and the mares, we hooked up the trailer and loaded Meike for her trip to Bridlewood. Just as we pulled up, I saw someone leading a horse that looked just like one of the foals and wondered who was playing with them and which one was taken out of the paddock. I unloaded Meike and started walking her over and realized it was a foal, but not one that lived here. Alicia Cooksey brought over her yearling filly, Avalon. She is by Raven out of an Arabian mare. I had to get the camera to take some pictures, she looks so much like her daddy and today with Mieke here along with Avalon there were 6 foals so much alike, they looked like peas in a pod. Amazing how much Raven babies resemble each other even though each mare is so different. I grabbed the camera and took these shots. Alicia put her in the arena with her buddy so she would run around but they were more interested in trying to see the other foals. Do you think she knows they are her half siblings? She has wonderful conformation and WOW the hair on this filly is amazing, her mane and tail are both already really thick and long. Alicia said she never had to teach her to load, she just jumps in the trailer. I asked Mikalya how she stood for wrapping her legs and was told she didn't even move.

Trying to get a good picture wasn't easy, she was so busy looking at everything.

Last Round Bale

Brrr, it is cold this morning. The tractor didn't want to start without a boost from the charger. Mark helped move in the last round bale and the foals were so glad. The water tank had a thick layer of ice, so thick it took my boot to crash through. Obviously the heater didn't work. Once it was plugged inside, it was working so we know it is the receptacle that is not working. Now we won't need to buy another heater. We are temporarily using an extension cord and plugging it in to the next nearest receptacle until Mark replaces the broken one. We bought 28 more round bales and 7 will come to Bridlewood with the remainder heading out to the farm. Mike is bringing Meike over today for weaning and to get her ready for transport to Canada. Winter sure makes everything hard. Meike could use a bath but it's not going to happen. I'll do my best to clean her up without water. Today will be an easy day, just laundry to do, the house is already clean, the horses are cared for and Rhoda took the puppy (Emma) to work with her. I should find a book to read!

Dinner and Entertainment?

This morning it was literally FREEZING on our walk. At 29 degrees and a stiff wind, we actually cut our walk short, we just weren't quite prepared.
By the time I got home the foals were hungry. Their round bale is just about gone and they will need the last bale tomorrow. I had to break the ice in the tank, dig out the tank heater and plugged it in. I'll find out tomorrow if it is working or not. This is the 3rd year for the tank heater, with our very hard water they get limed up so bad they usually only work for one season. It is not suppose to get above freezing today and tonight go down to 19 degrees.
I worked for Meister HVAC today running financing applications. Diane called while I was working to tell me the wire transfer came in and all of our bills are now paid. Such a good feeling! I was done by 2:00pm, ran to Aldi first for some flowers and groceries, then to Sams for dog food and Ice. Both of which could have been purchased yesterday but I didn't realize we were low.
On the way home from Sam's, Hoerr Vet clinic called to tell me the fax came in and the paper work was done for Meike so over to Morton I went. Once home the cooking started. Cathie & Bill Trent, their daughter Sasha and Cathie's mom from Zambia Africa came to dinner along with mom, Spark, Rhonda, Karin and David. The meal wasn't too bad, not as good as some but acceptable. After dinner we watched Darcy and Emma for entertainment. Darcy had to show off her few tricks, then how strong she was by pulling Cathie. Emma was just cute! After all that play it was nap time.

Aunt Jinny's Yard

Aunt Jinny looked out her window and this is what greeted her. She was able to take a couple of pictures. Wow, aren't all you deer hunters jealous?

Where Do I Start

I thought this would be an easy day, HA! It started with a call from a lady that is going to be shipping Meike to Canada. She tells me that she will be here to pick her up on Monday or Tuesday. We have been waiting on the check to pay her off and when I tell the shipper the check was mailed 9 days ago, she says,"that doesn't surprise me, I've had mail wait for 2 weeks at the border." So assuming we can get a wire transfer to pay her off, how do I arrange the Health Papers to export to Canada in 4 days and 2 of the days are Saturday and Sunday. After an hour on the phone with the vet clinic we think we have found a way. The blood drawn on Tuesday will be sent overnight to a lab in Oklahoma, they will run the elisa test, fax the results to Springfield, IL along with our vet clinic in Morton, IL. Then they will overnight the original to me for a Saturday FEdEx shipment. I will drive to Morton, IL sometime tomorrow once the vet clinic has the fax from the Oklahoma lab and pick up the paper work, and on Monday I have a 9:00am appointment in Springfield, IL to meet with the state accredited vet to sign the papers, Monday afternoon she will be good to go.
After working on these details and going as far as I could, I headed first to Sam's and then to Walmart for groceries. We are hosting a dinner for 12 tomorrow and I have no food to serve.
After dinner Mark and I are working on addressing our Christmas cards when I get a phone call from Mike Honegger. He tells me that Ralph called him, all the horses are out and Mike is an hour away at a closing. I call Rachel, she, her husband Dave and her son David go to help Ralph as I am 20 minutes away. I received a call from Ralph that we are really in trouble, the horses did not stop at the edge of the field but are running in the far corn field. It is so black outside tonight, there is no moon and no stars peeking through the clouds, so dark that Ralph has his truck at the edge of the field with the lights on. Even our flashlights cannot pierce the blackness enough to see the horses. It feels like it is 10 degrees out. It is really 29 degrees but the wind is blowing so hard across the fields that Ralph, Rachel, Dave, and David are pretty frozen by the time I drive up. I don't know who caught the first horse but after catching a few the others followed along and they were able to get what we think are all of them into the paddocks. Rachel, Dave and David head home to warm up while Ralph and I tried to count heads but it was just too dark. We thought we got to 23 so quit. I guess we will find out in the morning if they are all there. I called Mike on the way back to tell him we think we have them all and he confessed to leaving the gate unlatched this morning. He put in some round bales, shut the gate, then drove the skid steer into the barn, meant to go back and latch the gate but forgot. It was nice of the horses to wait until Ralph drove up to actually notice the gate and escape.
We will sleep good tonight IF we can warm up. brrrrrrrrr

A Post from Joan Reinhard

One thing I haven’t shared a lot with people, and I guess I need to, is that before we made the decision to tell World Relief that we would be willing to go to Haiti, the Lord laid the situation of danger here in Haiti very heavily on my heart. For about 2 weeks I really struggled with the issue of if something would happened to one of us, (and I was really mostly thinking about Tim because I knew of the dangerous conditions he sometimes is in), would I be okay with it? Would I be bitter? Would I be angry at God for leading us here to Haiti? After much prayer and consideration, I really did come to terms with it and felt a peace about being open to going to Haiti and I knew I could trust my family to God.
I have to say, this peace remains. I know God never makes a mistake, I know He is Good and Loving and that through this all His father heart weeps with us as we suffer the hurts of living in an imperfect world where pain and suffering have a very real purpose. I know that He has given the ultimate sacrifice of His son, to one day fix all of the heartache for all those who make the choice to live for Him and to give our lives back to Him. I live for that day. I anticipate with every cell in my body, the joy of having my boys come running to my arms again and to never be separated again. Thank you, Lord, again for the plan of salvation and the grace to endure until that day.
All that said, I still struggle with the here and now of living with a hole in my heart, of missing Gabriel’s smiling face and his energy, of realizing the future dreams and plans of him growing up to be a man, working with his dad, having a family of his own, etc. will never be realized. Adjusting to the new reality we find ourselves in will and has to take some time, but thanks be to God, He has proven himself faithful again and again and I know this adjustment will come. Little by little, the pain won’t be so sharp, memories will not be clouded by tears, and the raw wound of our hearts will heal over with just a scar of experience to remain.
We will get through this by God’s Grace and your prayers for this. I can’t emphasis enough, that we are dependant every day on the prayers of God’s children to lift us up and keep us going. We need them to cushion the arrows that Satan lets fly and to continue to do what needs to be done when you feel like doing absolutely nothing. No one can feel exactly what we are feeling, but everyone can help bear the load by praying.
Thanks so much for doing just that. For weeping with those who weep and praying for the Holy Spirit to be our Comforter each step of the way on this journey of grief. We are blessed.

Raven's Shadow

Rachel sent me these pictures today of her colt out of Sandy by Raven. He is now 4 months old and just look at how beautiful he has turned out. She ONLY wants $3500.00 and she is glad to hold him until Christmas, but... if he is paid for and picked up BEFORE Christmas she will give a $200.00 discount and accept $3300.00! WHERE else could you buy a quality half Friesian stud colt for that price? AND he is a RAVEN son which means he has fantastic movement, great conformation and a disposition that can't be beat!



Beautiful colt Rachel!

Darcy and the Pup

Darcy would NOT do her job this morning. She refused to get and carry in the newspaper. She is mad, mad, mad! This morning I opened Rhoda's door to take Emma out to the bathroom and she was not in her bed. She was in Rhoda's BED up by the head board, Rhoda was in the middle and Darcy was at the foot of the bed. I knew she was the mad the minute the light was turned on. Darcy may not be able to talk but she sure lets me know what she is thinking. How DARE this puppy sleep on HER bed.
Darcy wants out the back door, so I let her out, she hears a dog barking in the distance and is sure there is a burglar or boogie man out there. Have you ever heard a Mastiff BARK? This was all at 6:00am. She would not come back in the house for me so I finally sent Mark to call her in. Now she is sitting at the back door, I had to promise her I would take her to the lake on my walk today. Why do we have dogs?
On another note, Piper's registration papers came today. I called his new owner and will mail them. They did not want to wait for the papers before getting the colt.
The check for Meike has still not arrived. It was mailed last Tuesday, yesterday was 8 days and no sign of it. We know it was mailed, but we don't know how long it takes to get from Ontario to Illinois. Obviously more than 8 days.
We did not get the rain yesterday, just a few snow flurries so I may be able to UPS out the Bibles today. I'm having company for dinner tomorrow and must go food shopping and clean up the house so I'll have to see if I can stretch the time enough to clean, get the Bibles out and the grocery shopping.

Rhoda and Emma

Tonight before church we were playing with the camera and took these pictures of Rhoda, Emma and Darcy. Then after church we looked at the pictures and all of the eyes were bad, Rhoda's were red, Emma's were blue and Darcy's were like a mirror. So I photoshopped them. How do you think I did? Actually with Darcy, I made the left one look somewhat decent, then copied that eye and pasted it over her right eye. weird the things that can be done with the computer.




OK, I know it is not up to Rachel's standards but at least it looks better than scary eyes!

The New Year's Eve Party

This is an email from Dan Meister about the New Year's Eve Party held at the Old School Center in Farmington, IL. I'm sorry I couldn't seem to get the flyer big enough to read so I copied the information below the picture. ALL are invited.



2009 NEW YEAR’S EVE & NEW YEAR’S DAY CELEBRATION
Old School Center
568 Vernon St Farmington Il
oldschoolcenter.com

Each Family Please bring :
1. $8 per person 4 yrs and over
2. Side dish/snack and dessert to share
3. Your parents if you are under 18
Other stuff you may bring:
tennis shoes, winter clothes (outdoor activities), overnight stuff (you might decide to stay) Sleeping bag/pillow (if sleeping on a bunk)

December 31st
After Church (or earlier by RSVP) -free time/activities
10:30pm Supper (Main Course, Drinks, tableware provided)
11:15pm 5-Skits (RSVP to Dan, 208-4957) (auditorium)
11:55pm Pray in the New Year (auditorium)
1:00am Quiet time (in sleeping areas only)
January 1st
9:30 Breakfast (eggs, sausage, biscuits & gravy. donations accepted) ...10:30am Carnation bowl (football on field behind school)
12:00 lunch (soup, sandwiches, donations accepted.)
12:00pm- 8:00pm free time, (college games on the big screen)

Please do not bring
Roller sports, (all other sporting equipment is provided).

Overnight rooms (families only please) RSVP(309-208-3840 Judy)
Please invite anyone you think would like to come.

Now for the other information. The suites (holding families of 12 or less)usually book up pretty fast. They are $100.00 a night and check out for the suites is 11:00am but once checked out guest are invited to stay, there are plenty of fun activities scheduled.
Cabins rent out for $60.00 a night with check out also at 11:00am, but again guests are invited to stay for the other activities. Cabin's have 8 to 16 bunks each and we would love to reserve these for families.
THERE is ANOTHER GROUP coming into the Old School Center on January 2nd and suites and cabins must be ready for that group so please all things must be removed from cabins and suites by 11:00am.