Cold First Day of Spring

It was a cold morning and a cold day this first day of Spring. Kayla and Magda arrived before Karin and brought in Evan for her. Karin did some round penning with him then asked him to lay down and climbed on.

 Magda rode him next.

 Kayla took her turn when Magda was finished. Evan is turning into a well trained quiet stallion.

 The girls put Evan away and brought in Valiant. Karin loves riding Valiant and reports he is very talented. 

 Kayla rode him next.

 Magda also enjoys riding Valiant. 

 When Valiant was put away Hadassah was brought inside so she could enjoy a good roll and some fun in the arena's soft sand and out of the mud.

If you would like to see the rest of the pictures of working with the horses click HERE.  

Phil and Anna brought over the girls while they were working on a project at the apartment. We played games at mom's house before coming back here for hot chocolate and strawberries dipped in chocolate. 

 Our next job was to bring in Oksana and give her a good groom. Oksana had rolled and was muddy and is also shedding a lot.

Check out that pile of horse hair. 

Mark worked in the back garage getting it ready for the finishing of the storm shelter and also got his car back there ready for an oil change and to take the snow tires off. Hopefully that can be done tomorrow afternoon.  Tonight Mark and I watched the movie A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. What an amazing Christian man Mr. Rogers was. We didn't have a television growing up so didn't really know anything about him and I don't know if I ever saw his show but was very impressed with the movie. 

Mom had a good night and was taking a shower when I got over there this morning. She is getting stronger and she feels that each day is a little better than the one before.  

Oksana still has no waxing but again was brought into the stall for the night. 

Shelter At Home

Our governor announced today that Illinois is now asking people to shelter at home and only go out for groceries, medicines or gas. Some of us are exempt like farmers, health care workers and some of the service trades.  Meister Electric was pretty much shut down, they will allow emergency service, same as Meister Heating. I will be allowed to travel from here to Middle Grove to pick up or drop off horses.  The New York mayor said the city is now the epicenter of the crisis with 5151 coronavirus cases and 29 deaths. California has more than a 1000 and had doubled in 3 days. Los Angeles has 292 so far. We still have only 4 confirmed cases in our area and that hasn't increased but I think it is because they are having trouble getting the tests out here to the midwest. Unfortunately Chicago area cases reached 585 and another death reported.
Ruth, Joan and I walked this morning. Ruth spent the night with mom and mom had a good night.
She decided she no longer needs someone to stay.We had a gray damp cold day with highs only in the 30s and spitting snow this evening. Indy and her colt were let outside for a little time just so I could get some updated pictures of the colt.

 He is a week old today and just doing fantastic.  Evan and Indy are both clear for Hydrocephalus and Dwarfism gene and neither can pass it to any offspring so this colt is also clear. We also tested Valiant and Oksana and both of them are clear also. Some of the Friesian breed carried this mutant gene and Friesian breeders are trying to eradicate it by testing then not breeding a carrier to another carrier. I'm very glad both of our stallions are NOT carriers.
We ate dinner at mom's tonight with Joan, Hannah, Faith, Mackeson, Berlica, Anni and Matt. Ruth and Fedi came after supper. At 7:00 pm Matt and Anni invited everyone downstairs to watch old family movies mom had stored in the closet. Rachel, Spark and Rhonda also joined us.

Some of them were of the early 70s and the hair styles were so funny. We also got to see lots of movies of Christmases from the 50s, 60s and 70s. We even saw mom and dad's very first riding lawn mower, with them plus all the neighborhood kids trying it out. They had movies of our horses Twinkle and blaze galloping around with riders. What a wonderful way to spend a Friday evening when one is sheltering in place.  A special thanks to Rachel for posting these videos of the old
movies:

Oksana is back in the stall tonight. She is still not waxing and even though today IS her due date she is not ready to deliver. I'm pleased that she is content in the stall and actually enjoys coming inside. I have her on the monitor but so far she is showing no signs of labor at all.

Social Distancing

Well the beaches at Gulf Shores are now closed as are the pools and even Diane's courtyard.  So much for the salt air keeping the virus out. Alabama now has 78 confirmed positive cases of the Corona covid 19 virus. The good news for our area are there are still only 4 confirmed cases, same as yesterday.  Today we practiced Social distancing. Check out how well this works for Cathie, Susan and Amy.

That is just about the perfect distance.  

The pictures below are from yesterday when Rhonda, Barb and Dori went  to visit their mom in Skylines.

I went to Sam's club early arriving around 8:40 am thinking as I am a preferred customer there wouldn't be a lot of people but when I arrived there was a line.

 The picture above are the people before me waiting for their turn to go in and the picture below me are all the people behind me. We were trying to keep the acceptable social distance.

Sam's Club now opens at 9:00 am AND would only allow 10 people to go in at a time. When I did get in I went straight to the butter and was pleased to be able to buy some. They had maybe 3 dozen eggs left. I didn't need any eggs. At the meat area they had guards there explaining that we could each have just ONE meat.  I bought some hamburger. The next line formed in front of the paper good aisle. That was taped off and one of the associates was standing in the aisle and would get the one item allowed. Does this seem like what we used to hear of stores in Russia?  The line for that aisle was probably 30 people and carts. I asked someone, "is this the line for toilet paper?" and she responded, "they don't have any toilet paper, this is the line for the paper towels." Good grief people, wash rags work well and are reusable! My next stop was Aldi. That store seemed relatively well supplied although they were limiting milk. I didn't need any of that but bought fresh fruit there for mom.  It was raining pretty hard on the way home and rained most of the day. Late this afternoon the sun came out for a few minutes. Mom was able to sit outside on her balcony. She had another bad night though with the pain medicine wearing off around 2:00 am.  We have adjusted that. Joan spent the night with her last night and Ruth is spending the night with her tonight.  Below mom was working on her balance therapy. Karin and Ruth have her on an exercise regimen that is working well.

Joan, Ruth, mom and I played games tonight but when Rebekah, Brian, Jordan, Riley and Blair arrived Ruth quit so they could all go downstairs and visit with Anni and Matt.
Oksana was stalled tonight and is on the monitor.

 That is straw on her back, she laid down to take a nap.  She is not waxing but we are expecting storms so I don't want to take a chance of her delivering outside. Oksana is our most baroque (WIDE, THICK) Friesian mare. She stands 16.2 hands and is really a fun ride.

Karin has her canter almost as balanced as Ribbon's was.

She also has a wonderful disposition although she is curious about everything and must check it out. She isn't at all spooky.  Her last foal was a filly that was so darling we named her Darla.

Darla got to go to the 2018 IL Horse Fair where she was the hit of that show.

Oksana's official due date is tomorrow. Mark brought home flowers for no reason other than to brighten my day.

World News

The news is ALL about the corona covid 19 virus that is now affecting the entire world. This virus is so terribly catchy that ALL schools, ALL restaurants, ALL bars, ALL movie theaters, ALL gathering places including faith based facilities (that was how the president of the United States identified churches) are now closed. Restaurants are allowed to do delivery and take out. Grocery stores and pharmacies are allowed to be open.  It is strange to go into a store like Sam's club and see empty shelves and yet that is what we are seeing in lots of stores. Work places are laying off people and shutting down. Some are allowing their workers to work from home.
Diane and Mike left for Gulf Shores yesterday and reported the roads were pretty empty. The beaches though are still full of people. The stores down there are pretty much out of paper goods.
Social distancing is a term we are hearing over and over. The Dow has been crashing since the news first came out and today it was below 20,000 for the first time since 2017.  There are now more than 7000 confirmed cases in the United States and at least 141 people have died. There are more than 214,000 cases reported in the world and at LEAST 8700 deaths  News reporters are reporting that of the countries such as Iran are not reporting accurately. Iran recently announced freeing 85,000 inmates from prison to try to control the virus. And most disturbing were the images from satellite of  mass graves published March 12. This showed 100 yard trenches apparently meant to bury conrona virus victims. (from the Washington Post)

Satellite image ©2020 Maxar Technologies

These newly dug trenches are row after row of graves covered in lime to block the smell of decaying bodies. Sources: Business Insider, Washington Post.'

Here in Hanna City, all is quiet. Mom had a better night than last night but it still wasn't good. Karin spent the night and was able to get mom going on exercises that will help her balance. She also made a chart for mom's pain meds which are for sure helping. Mom looked much better today. Once mom was set Karin came to work horses taking Valiant out first to the outdoor arena but when the rain started up brought him inside. He was so funny, the mares were left in the indoor this morning because of the rain and Valiant would go around the arena, sniff then stick his head WAY up in the air.

 I was in cleaning stalls but when finished joined Karin in the indoor and rode Valiant. He is such a fun ride.

He was put away and Evan brought out.

When he was put away Indy and her colt were brought out. Mom wanted some updated pictures of the colt since she hasn't been able to walk over to see him. He is 5 days old today.

Karin brought in Hadassah last. Of course the first thing she did was roll, just like the stallions, covering them with sand for the pictures.

 Karin does an exercise with Hadassah asking her to side pass around her with just using the whip in one hand and the other hand out. Hadassah does this both directions well.

We went back to mom's for lunch. Karin had made a big bowl of  delicious chicken salad served with crackers, celery, lettuce and pickles. Ruth arrived and joined us for lunch. Mom showed us her progress on her therapy exercises then we played games. Rhonda joined us and told us about her visit to Skyline. She and her sisters went down to visit their mom but they had to stay outside in the rain. They had taken umbrellas and signs. Gladys was glad to see them and they enjoyed visiting through the glass. No guests are allowed in now because of the virus. 

This evening we met at mom's for church. Dave Obergfel had the message starting with John 14, one of my favorite chapters.  He had a very comforting message.  

After church I worked on the pictures from the birthday party on Sunday at Phil and Anna's house. If you would like to see them click HERE. 

Oksana is due in 2 days and has zero waxing. 

2000 Pounds

Today was extremely busy but so satisfying. We had a beautiful morning. Indy and her colt were left in the arena over night. That was cleaned up before the walk. Mom had a terrible night, actually she slept well until 4:00 am then her muscles around her sore ribs started spasming causing extreme pain. She was not able to get comfortable for a couple hours and finally fell into rem sleep and had crazy dreams. She decided she really needs someone to spend the night with her for a while. Karin was more than willing to come tonight. Ruth stayed with her this morning until Karin arrived. We had 46 degrees and sunshine so Karin and mom sat out on the balcony for a while this afternoon.
We had some problems at the Berean office today with trying to get our mail. When I arrived at the Berean office the mail had not been delivered. It was also not at Meisters. I called Bill Schick to see if he would go down to the post office to pick that up but when he got to the post office they refused to give him the mail as he didn't have a key.  He was willing to drive to Morton, IL to pick up the key from Ellen but when he called her she didn't have the key, she had given it to another lady but that lady left on vacation for 2 weeks. We were able to get some things done there and had 72 requests for Bibles from last week that was filled today. If you would like to read about our morning there click HERE.
I stopped at Sam's club on the way home. We only had 2 eggs left in the fridge and 1 pound of butter so thought I would pick up those things but when I got to Sam's there were NO eggs NO butter and only a couple gallons of whole milk left in the entire store. That is just crazy. I couldn't go to another store as Jacob was going to be at the barn by 1:30 to pick up the skid steer and Indy and her colt were in the barn where the skid steer was parked. I made it home before he got there moved Indy and her colt into the field. He loaded up the skid steer as I was getting ready to leave with the truck and 2 horse trailer for the TSC in Pekin to pick up a pallet load of bedding.

 TSC had tanks of chicks in and of course I had to admire them. They are so cute and fluffy.  Mark does not want chickens here but I sure miss having them. 

 The pallet of bedding was loaded into the trailer. On the way home I stopped at the Aldi in Pekin and they had plenty of eggs for 85 cents a dozen and milk for $1.80 a gallon but I forgot to look for butter. I bought 6 dozen eggs to share with the family at home and just 1 gallon of milk. When I got home the truck and trailer were taken between the 2 barns and one by one I unloaded all 50 of those 40 pound bags. 6 bags went into the stalls and the other 44 were piled up on a pallet in the indoor. That is 2000 pounds of bedding. That should last through foaling season. 

Tonight Oksana is stalled. She is due in 3 days, her udder does not look like she is ready to deliver but the weather prediction is terrible for tonight and the morning. It is dropping down into the 30s with a cold rain starting up and raining all day long tomorrow. I just can't take a chance on her delivering in that. Indy's colt is growing like a weed. He is full of energy and loves to run.

2 Bags Left

I'm down to just 2 bags of bedding left for the stalls and will need to head to TSC to pick up another pallet SOON, like tomorrow. I sure hope no one is hoarding bedding and no one will think I'm hoarding bedding when I buy a pallet load. I ALWAYS buy a pallet load at a time.  Now if only they have a pallet load available. 
Indy and her colt were put inside the stall for most of the day. He is doing great. He came galloping up when I opened the arena door to bring them in. An important job at a horse farm is just sitting and watching and I can do that so well. A chair was brought inside the stall. The colt would come up, sniff me then scurry back to mom each time getting braver. Indy manured and of course he had to go check it out then started chewing on her tail. When I told him "no" he looked back in surprise.

Why that watching job is so important is at 2 days old sometimes a foal will get diarrhea if the intestines aren't quite ready for milk. They can become dehydrated very quickly. His intestines are working perfectly, he is not constipated and his manure is not runny. So far so good.  A phone call came while there and it was such a pleasant surprise. (this part is all about Killian)

The call came from the second owner since we sold him named Dianna, and Dianna bought him not knowing any of his history. All she had been told was he was in a parade and did very well. The owner and instructor at the barn Killian was staying at told her that he was considered green broke. Well Dianna wanted to take him on a trail ride and of course the instructor insisted on going as well to make sure Killian would be ok. Killian did wonderful but the instructor's horse was the horse that acted up.  She then did a search and found our website page of Killian and was shocked to see him in shows, performances, plays and even swimming in the water. She wanted to know everything he has done. I gave her Emily's phone number.  Dianna can't wait to speak to Emily and told me that Killian is set for life. He is her heart horse.
Mom is getting a little better each day but still cannot lay down or get back up if she is laying down. Thank goodness she bought that lift chair.  She is using that chair for daytime and for sleeping at night.
I heard the real news for the first time in a couple days. It is sobering to realize how quickly this virus is spreading. We now have a confirmed case in Peoria county.  I am planning on working at the Berean office tomorrow but want to make sure no one feels they must come in to help.