A Cold Day to Work Outside

With the wind chill below zero this morning we cancelled the walk. Diane picked up Emily and I for our usual Thursday Berean work. We were joined by Eva Jean, Diane R, Tiffany, Rachel and Terren.
All the mail today was just 1 day's worth of mail, just Wednesday's mail as Ellen didn't pick up today's. Below Tiffany and Rachel are working on Bibles while Terren is stamping our address on thousands of envelopes.

 When he got 2 boxes finished Diane put him to work on opening copy paper. Diane kept that copier running none stop today.

 Below Diane R, Diane and Eva Jean are opening mail and reading letters. Emily helped for a while then started entering the studies on the computer.

 Once the labels are on the envelopes the studies are taken into the conference room to separate into the piles by number. The stuffing of the new studies are also done in that room.

There were 8 of us working and all of us kept busy from 9:00 am to noon. We dropped off the Bibles at the post office and ate lunch at Tyroni's.
By the time I got back to the farm Phil and Tyler were here working on our heat pump and thermostat. The house was a cold 62 degrees inside. At least there were still coals in the wood burner and it didn't take long to get the heat going. Karin arrived to work horses. Jenis was the first mare worked and I walked in just as she was finishing up with a bow.

Ayanna was brought in next. This mare will be 5 year old this year and has jaw dropping huge movement. We sure can tell she is a Raven daughter. 

Anna and her colt were brought in next to introduce Anna back into work with another horse in the arena. Anna wasn't happy in the beginning to have Ribbon sharing the arena with her colt but by the time they were finished Anna was accepting her. Below is the colt having a ball galloping around the arena while his mother was working. 

 Emily was working Killian in the outdoor arena on his liberty routine.

 Karin decided we wanted to see how Anna would behave under saddle so Emily saddled her up. It took a while for Anna to pay attention to her rider instead of the colt especially when Karin who was riding Ribbon went any where near the colt.

 We finally tied the colt up which worked better. We will need to keep working with this for a few weeks. Once Ribbon and Anna were put away Karin brought Whitney in for some work. This mare is HUGE! She is a little herd bound.

 Jesse Stickling arrived and pulled Zalena in. We asked him to take her over to the door to stay out of Whitney's way. When he lead her over toward the door Zalena saw the pedestal and jumped right up on it.

 I didn't get to stay to watch Jesse ride Zalena, Mark needed me to meet him in Hanna City.

Purple Fairy

After Israel was dropped off I drove straight up to the barn. Hannah was trying on one of the costumes for the fair just to make sure they were going to work out. What do you think, do they look beautiful and elegant? This is part of one of the fairy costumes for the March show.

So we will need to do a little modification when they are riding. We need more material for the underskirt as the pad shows through and it would be nicer if the underskirts were longer so as to cover the leg and boot but very workable.

Jesse showed up for a lesson on Zalena. Below Karin is working with his position while Eliza waits.

 He is determined to do the best possible and would love to ride for us at the 2016 IL Horse Fair if all goes well. Rhoda stopped by before church to play with Darcy a bit.

 Notice anything different? She said she used miracle grow on her head. Well the truth of the matter is nature needed a little bit of help but we love the results. Bethany put hair extensions in Berlica's hair so we thought Rhoda should try that for the wedding.

Of course tonight Berlica showed up at church with the hair extensions gone. Joan took them out.
 Tonight Craig Stickling had the first 11 verses on our Philippians Bible study. It was so good to be back sitting in church soaking up the message, but I can't help feeling unworthy to be so absolutely blessed!

Israel Visits

Yesterday was a physically hard day for Diane and I at Berean. We had none of Lisa's young strong boys, Emily was taking her bull in to market and Rhoda was watching Israel. Diane lifted 29 of those 32 pound boxes of Bibles over and over and by the end of the day her back was hurting. She would need to bring in one box at a time to work on, label the Bibles, put them back in the box, put the box on the cart then run the cart out to the van. Below Eva Jean and Shirley are working on opening the studies while Jan and Kathy are reading letters. Over at the other table Joyce and Diane are labeling Bibles.

 When ever we get a study in like the one below we call it an "I quit letter!" The studies are individually folded over and over and it just takes so long to get it out of the envelope and straighten it out.

 We brought lunch in today, just didn't want to take the time to drive out somewhere as we were really short of helpers.

Even so we were able to finish by 2:00 pm. A BIG thanks to our willing helpers. Also we need to thank Tim Martin for bringing us another 30 boxes of Bibles. It was kind of discouraging for Diane to call him and tell him they are almost gone the day after he dropped them off. This Bible study program is exploding. 

I decided to skip choir last night, after that very busy weekend then really busy day I decided a good book while laying by the fire sounded like just the ticket to a relaxing perfect evening. This morning Israel was picked up at the shop. He is sleeping now which is giving me time to get some work done like laundry and blogging. Wait I don't think blogging would qualify as work. Below are a few pictures of Israel taken this morning. He LOVES the dogs. Below he is feeding Emma and below that his reaction to her taking the treat out of his hands oh so gently. 

 Below he is eating his lunch.

 He was getting tired so was changed, given his puppy and taken up to bed. Israel loves his puppy!

Whitney

We had a cold morning and a cold day today. All of the melting from the weekend is gone and the roads and walkways were covered with hard slick ice this morning for the walk. The ice was so hard the shoe skids could not get a grip making the walk a little dangerous.
The horses were fed a bit later as I didn't have to go in to work today. Hoerr vet clinic was called to get an appointment to get Whitney's coggins drawn then I took off for Middle Grove. The horses were not by the round bales but all out grazing which was nice to see.
Below are a few pictures.

 Above left to right is Oksana, Piper, Soul behind Piper, Cookie and Prissy. Below is Lily and behind Lily is 2 year old Rosalie. Lily was bred to Valiant and is due April 13th.

 Above is Emma who was bred to Evan and is due May 26th, and Lola who was bred to Valiant and is due Aug 18th.

 Above is Marika who was bred to Valiant and is due June 23rd Below is 2 year old Rosalie in front with Sangria to her left. Sangria was bred to Valiant and is due April 20th and Hadassah is to Rosalie's right. She was bred to Evan and is due August 11th.

 Above is Lola and Lily who were both bred to Valiant.

 Above is Oksana who will be three this June and bred to Evan and below is Piper. Piper is 17 hands 50% Friesian 50% Percheron. Her sire is Hessel and her dam is a registered Percheron mare called Tessie Maria. Piper will be bred to Valiant this spring and probably placed for sale. She rides and drives but is just too big for our program.

 Above is Jewel who was bred to Evan and is due July 7th, below is  Whitney who was bred to Valiant and is due July 26th. Whitney is another mare that is just too big for our program. She is 17.2 hands and takes up too much room in the trailer. Whitney is good on trails.

Above is Hadassah. Hadassah was bred to Evan and is due Aug 11th and below is the herd all lined up waiting to watch me load Whitney. 

 Once they take off the horses had a blast bucking and galloping up the hill. Above is Piper and below is Oksana.

 Above Soul is kicking up her heels and below is Oksana at a gallop. 

 Below is Piper trying to keep up. She is the last to get over the hill, she is just not as athletic or fast as the rest.

Karin was waiting to help me load then came here to work a few horses. I drove straight to Hoerr Vet clinic where Dr. Pallen drew Whitney's blood for her new coggins. By the time I got back to the farm I had been on the road for what seemed like hours. It is 25 minutes to Middle Grove, an hour from there to the vet clinic and a half hour home. That wasn't all of the driving though. The trailer had to be unhooked and the truck driven in to Meisters as Phil needs it early in the morning for a job. Mark gave me a ride home. We had left overs for supper. Mark has a fire going in the wood burner and I'm going to lay by that with a book for the rest of the evening.