Freezing Practices

The walk was cancelled again with the temperature below zero. At least the wind wasn't blowing too hard. I drove in early to pick up the mail before the Berean volunteers arrived. Below Diane is opening more of the plastic sleeves we use to mail out the Bibles.

 Rachel is opening and reading letters

 Eva Jean is opening the studies

 Rhoda is also opening the studies

Below Diane R and Rachel busy reading letters.

 Below Lisa's boys are busy stamping our return address on thousands of envelopes. This is one job that we never have finished. We use close to 1000 each Tuesday and Wednesday.

 We had a good crew today and were able to finish everything by 2:00 pm. Below everyone is working hard a very necessary job.

 My cousin Dave Meister III (Skip) arrived so we showed him what our volunteers were busy with today. Skip is also on the Berean board. Below the workers in the conference room were busy putting stamps on the studies. That pile of studies on the table was just 2 days of mail.

 By 2:00 pm we were all ready to quit. Mark came with me to the post office to help with the Bible boxes. This week we got out 285 Bibles from our office alone.  Peoria County Jail, Tazewell County Jail, Sheridan Correctional facility plus a bunch more jails in prisons all over the United States take these Bibles and give them to prisoners. The number going out of Berean is probably more than 2000 a month but it is hard to know the exact count.  I brought home lots of entertaining letters and will post a few on the Berean blog this evening. Even though it was freezing cold the vaulting practice and Friesian demo practice was held. We are running out of time for practices, the IL Horse Fair is in 2 weeks. Below the vaulters are lining up ready to start.

 The next couple pictures of a few of the moves this year. I'm not posting much, don't want to spoil it for those people going to the fair.

 The Friesian demo practice was next and again I'm posting just a couple pictures of our Maleficent.

After practice Rachel invited everyone over for hot tubbing and hot soup. That was a perfect ending to a freezing cold day.

Polar Bear Weather

We awoke to above zero but not by much, that wasn't really the problem. The problem today was the wind. It was howling around the buildings, throwing dust and snow from the fields and almost instantly freezing any exposed skin.
The walk was cancelled. My car had a small oil leak and today was the appointment at Frenches to get that fixed. After dropping off the car the horses were checked before scurrying back into the house to fight the dogs over prime floor space, right near the wood burner. Today was a day to spend inside feeding the machines, laundry and dishwasher along with the fire. Thankfully Mark brought in a good load of wood before leaving for work.
When Karin arrived late afternoon she took me in to town to pick up the car. It was so bitter cold she decided to work all 6 mares at the same time.

 The propane heater was started but it didn't seem to make much of a dent in the cold.

 Below the mares are lined up for tacking. Jesse Stickling arrived so Karin put him to work tacking up Zalena while she tacked up Anna.

I didn't stay around but went back into the paddocks to check udders. Below is Indy's udder pictured from the back. Notice the drop of colostrum on the tip and how swollen the udder is?

Indy isn't due until March 11th. By looking at this I really think she will deliver early but hopefully not tonight. The predicted low is -8, even inside the stall barn it is going to be bitter. Star's udder is not filled but both mares will be put inside for the night.
Mark drove mom and me to church. Greg Rumbold had the service on the persecuted church.

Anna's Improvement

After a uncomfortably cold morning walk Diane drove me in to Meister's for our usual Tuesday Berean work. Emily couldn't come, she was needed to meet the farrier this morning for the feet trimming today. The farrier was able to get 32 feet trimmed this morning, not a bad day's work. Horses done were Ribbon, Anna, Eliza, Jenis, Zalena, Ayanna, Killian and Valiant. The farrier was pretty impressed with Anna's colt, not just how well behaved he was but his conformation and coat.
Meanwhile at the shop Jacob delivered 2 skid loads of wrapped Bibles, that was 120 boxes of Bibles each box weighing in at 32 pounds and all 120 boxes needed to be taken off his truck and loaded into the foyer of Meisters. They were so heavy we were a little afraid the floor was going to cave in so spread them out  in 3 different locations. We formed a chain to get them off the truck and into the building with Jacob on the truck handing a box at a time to Mark who would hand it to me.

 I would hand it to Elden, Elden would hand it to Curt who would hand it to Joe's son and Diane would show them were to put it. by the time we were done we had Bibles in 3 locations around the room. 

While that was going on we had our normal group of volunteers opening and reading the mail.

 Above not pictured is Eva Jean then Shirley, Dave and Kathy are all working on letters and below Joyce is working on the studies

 We had almost more letters come in today than studies but with such good help we were able to finish by noon. Below Kathy and Dave are reading the letters then putting them in order by city which makes it easier to enter them on the computer.

Because we got done by noon we had a leisurely lunch at Dennys. After lunch Diane and I headed back to the farm. When Karin arrived Anna and her colt were brought into the stall, her colt left there and Anna taken into the indoor arena. Emily brought in Killian to see how Anna would react and today went so much better than yesterday. Below Emily is round penning both Killian and Anna.

 This went well enough that Karin and Emily were able to ride them side by side. Anna called a few times but we kept it short and sweet and quit on a good note. We all felt Anna was greatly improved.

 Once Anna and her colt were reunited and put back in the paddock Karin brought Ayanna in to see how Killian would behave with her. In the picture below he is the horse standing all the way over by the wall. He is not tied, he decided he needed to stand over there so Emily wouldn't make him work.

 He waited patiently there until Karin saddled up Ayanna and then rode off nice for Emily.

 Below Karin is on 4 year old Ayanna while Emily is on 3 year old Killian. Both were excellent today.

The temperature is predicted to drop to 8 below zero tonight with ferocious wind chills. Karin and I shut the big barn doors so hopefully it will be warm enough to work the horses a bit on Wednesday before the scheduled Vaulting and Friesian practice on Thursday.
Mark drove to choir tonight. Bob, our fearless leader is gone, so Dusty led the choir tonight. He had us all laughing mentioning now he knows why Bob needs a fan.

A Work in Progress

Before the walk the mares were let out of the stalls and Jenis brought in. As today is presidents day we decided to have breakfast at Hanna City's famous little restaurant called The Hog Trough. I say famous because they have won awards for their peanut butter pie. If you ever want to try that delicious treat you can buy the whole pie for only $16.80. We didn't have the pie, we ordered breakfast, that is Rhoda, Sarah and I had breakfast, Karin and Emily just came to keep us company. We were actually having a meeting about the coming up show.

I was sent a flyer today to spread the word and am doing my best to let people know this is held in Springfield IL at the IL state fairgrounds on March 6th, 7th, and 8th.
After breakfast Rhoda, Karin and I decided to try Anna and her colt with Jenis. This did not go as well as Friday. Anna is such a good mother she is more concerned with her colt than we would like

 It was a good tying lesson for her colt while Karin worked Anna and Rhoda rode Jenis around. Above he is standing quietly but below he is telling us, "enough already LET ME LOOSE!"

 He was curious about Jenis and came over as far as the lead rope would let him while she reached down to check him out.

 Below Jenis and Anna are walking together pretty quietly but once we took him out of the arena Anna lost her focus on the rider. We are asking her to do something totally against her mother instinct.

As soon as the horses were put away I drove in to TSC to pick up shots and wormers. They only had 8 of the 5 way shots left so only the horses going to the fair were given them. The rest will have to wait until TSC gets in another batch. These same shots we use to pay $25.00 for have now gone up to $36.00 each.  Jenis was also wormed with Quest Plus. She is just a little thin compared to the other Friesians. A big thanks to Karin for all of her help getting all that done. Work sure goes better with an extra set of hands. Emily took the stock trailer over to Gary Unsicker's to pick up 25 square bales. We needed 20 to take to the fair and bought 5 extra to have on hand for when Star and Indy foal.  We loaded 5 bales on the golf cart and drove them over to the stall barn. The other 20 were left in the trailer. We can move the trailer into the indoor arena if the weather gets bad before the fair.
Mom invited Spark, Rhonda, Mark and me for supper. She made a delicious beef and cabbage soup which was served with 3 different kinds of cheese, crackers and peach pie for dessert. Rhonda showed us some of her pictures from their trip to Florida. They were so beautiful I'm going to share them here. Below is the moon glowing on the Atlantic ocean and the bright dot off to the left is the planet Jupiter.

 Above is a beautiful sunrise picture and below another picture of the moon covered with clouds, Jupiter can be seen a bit better in this picture.

 Above and below are sunrise pictures.

Thanks Rhonda for sharing them. I still need to go out in the cold to bring Indy and Star inside for the night. Emily went to the ICC Bible study with Jessica.

Indy & Star

This morning as soon as it was light outside I made my way out to check Indy and Star, the pregnant mares who are next due to foal. Star is due in 9 days and Indy is due March 11th.

Star delivered 2 days early last year and her udder still isn't filling. This is Indy's first foal and her udder this morning had filled up some during the night and there was a drop of colostrum on the tip of one of her teats.

Both mares were taken inside for the day. Not that I thought they would foal but if they did, it was so bitter cold the foal would not survive.  We left for church this morning before 8:00 am and had an wonderful day in church. Craig Stickling had the morning service and since Valentine's day was yesterday his sermon was on Love reading first in Genesis chapter 24 where Abraham's servant is sent to find a wife for Isaac and the second opening was 1 Corinthians 13 the love chapter. It was a pretty amazing sermon best summed up that true love beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things and endureth all things.
After the morning service we had a special Valentines lunch where the men served the women. One funny item to report was we women didn't quite fill up all the tables, David Obergfel announced that the elderly men should sit down and no one moved, then he said, "ok anyone over 60" and Fedi went right over to the table. Now everyone knows Fedi isn't anywhere near 60 and the sound of chuckling was heard throughout the lunch room. We have such a great church.
Greg Rumbold was the speaker for the afternoon service opening first to Psalm 24 and every time that Psalm is read the song, The Carpenter's Son starts running through my mind. At the end of that Psalm the question is asked " Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.  Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, HE is the King of glory. and of course my mind finishes it with, the little boy from the carpenter's shop.
After church Mark helped move 2 round bales in the middle paddock. Jenis was fed then put into the middle paddock with Eliza and Ayanna. Indy and Star were allowed out for the rest of the afternoon but Emily will put them back in the stall tonight.
We had some of the family over for dinner tonight and after dinner Phil and Anna went over to their new house to clean up some of the construction mess. Kensley was taking a nap while Braelyn and Taegan were playing quietly on my bed with a doll, putting her to sleep then waking her up. Soon Braelyn came out with my Sunday blouse on carrying my best Sunday skirt. I thought, aw how cute, about then Kensley woke up so I went upstairs to get her. When I came down the stairs I smelled bleach. It took my mind a minute to process, Braelyn must be spraying the bleach cleaner and the next was oh no she is wearing my Sunday clothes. I went running into the kitchen and found the skirt on the floor. She has sprayed bleach cleaner all over the floor in puddles. The skirt was picked up and the blouse was taken off her quickly. Now my next thought was Diane is going to be so happy if these are ruined. My family are all sick of seeing my Sunday clothes every week. Well I don't know how or why but the clothes were spared, not a single drop of bleach got on either piece. Sorry Diane they are probably good for another 10-15 years.
Gail Hodel sent through a couple items for the Berean blog and  Berean Facebook page.
The first is a request form sent in by a prisoner. When we read this we all started laughing.

The name has been blotted out but hopefully it can still be read, if not this is what the prisoner is requesting.  Can I please get a different conditioner... Not the M.O.P. kind. It makes my head itch bad.  Also need pencil and eraser and if possible a valentines card for a six yr. old girl (granddaughter) and one for my daughter also.  God Bless and Thank you. And a get out of jail free card if you have one of those... LOL :o)
Nice to see there is still a sense of humor when one is locked up. The second is a poem that was written and read by a prisoner today in the Sunday jail service. Gail writes: Author read this today. She started crying while she read it. Very touching. 

This says: I Don’t ever want to see the inside

Of these walls again

So I’ll say to you

See  you later my sister

See you later my friend

This is not good by no

But something I need to do.

So Lord here is my hand

I want to be made brand new

Make me brand new Lord

I need a new way

Open my eyes Lord, to a brighter Day

Fill me with your Holy Spirit Lord

And show me the way

Make me brand New Lord

Please here what I say

I surrender I submit

To your will Lord and your way

So make me brand new

Right now here today

AMEN

Deep Freeze

The deep freeze is upon us. What makes it even more discouraging is we had a few nice days last week. The temperature is heading below zero the winds are ferocious and for the next 10 days it looks as if there is no hope of even getting up to the freezing mark.
I drove to Sam's for a few groceries and then Walmart to pick up a prescription and going from the parking lot to the building was awful. The freezing cold wind took my breath away and it really felt like my fingers were getting frost bite by the time I got the groceries in the car.
Jenis was brought inside for her grain and while she was eating I warmed up in the apartment. The udders were checked on the 2 mares due soon but neither had changed so they were left out. We will need to move a couple round bales tomorrow, sure hope it warms up some.

Balancing the Books

Today was the dreaded day of reconciling the check book and paying the bills. The word reconciling just doesn't seem to fit, it just sounds like such a nice word. One can picture a mother and daughter hugging after reconciling or siblings tearfully forgiving and embracing one another. Instead by the time the reconciling was done I was more exhausted than if I'd single handed put up a load of hay bales. This book work is not my forte, I'd rather be cleaning stalls. Diane on the other hand would hate that kind of work but loves to make the money balance to the penny. Maybe we really do make great partners. Just a note, the check book matched the bank statement exactly right this month. That is 2 months in a row, a real record. (of course I stopped writing checks 2 months ago) Maybe this old dog can learn new tricks. Speaking of dogs, Darcy had to be rescued today. She and Emma took off after a squirrel that ran through Anna's paddock. Both dogs got in the paddock but only Emma could get out of the paddock. Thankfully Anna stayed up in the shelter and Darcy stayed at the far end barking her distress bark so I could come rescue her. She has such a long memory I bet she never ever ends up in there again.
Karin arrived to work horses this afternoon. We had a small break in the bitter cold which made helping her much easier than yesterday. Why it was 30 degrees outside this afternoon, felt like a real heat wave. The first mare she brought out was Jenis.

Jenis is everyone's favorite horse to ride. She is just so well behaved and so very talented. Once Karin was finished with Jenis she was taken into the stall for her grain and Ayanna was brought in.

Ayanna will probably never make a beginner horse, she has such huge gaits but is a fun ride for the more experienced rider. The next horse Karin wanted to work was Anna. Yesterday Anna was paying more attention to her colt than the rider. Today she was excellent although it helped that instead of letting the colt run by her side he was tied.

He spent some time moving around and calling to his mom but never pulled back. This was such a good lesson for him. Karin kept the work at less than 10 minutes so it wasn't too stressful for either Anna or her colt. He will need to be lead into the arena at the IL Horse Fair and will need to stand quietly during the Friesian demonstration each day. After they were put away Karin finished up with Zalena. She is working with her to slow down the trot and carry herself relaxed.

Above even though the reins are loose, Zalena's head is just too tucked. Below Karin has encouraged her to stretch down.

By the end of the session Zalena was working much more correctly with a balanced slow trot.

Karin and mom decided to go over and sit in the Sauder's hot tub at 5:30 pm. It feels like we should have joined them.