Christmas 2021

 Mark and I were up really early Christmas morning well actually it started very late last night. Our smoke alarm went off. That woke us before midnight. Mark got up to check everything and even thought he smelled smoke but there was no fire. We had not had the wood burner going as the evening and night were mild. Honestly I never got out of bed on that alarm but went right back to sleep. Around 3:30 am the alarm went off again. This time I thought I smelled smoke. Mark stayed in bed but I went searching and again found nothing. I ended up falling asleep on the recliner chair while on duty. After that very disturbed night be both overslept not waking until 6:30 am. Of course that meant a rush to get everything done before leaving for church at 9:30 am.   Church was a blessing. Sarah and Nolan brought Zion, Eden and River. It was such a joy to sit with them during Christmas service. Craig Stickling had that.  After church Zion and Eden came home with us to help decorate Christmas cookies. 

They had fun and those cookies ended up with SO many sprinkles. They took this job very seriously. If you would like to see the rest of the cookie pictures click HERE.  At 2:30 we headed over to Joan's house for Christmas dinner.  Mark grilled the steaks out on her porch. The dinner was delicous.

Nancy sure enjoyed it and cleaned her plate quickly.  Joan had made fudge which was added to the Christmas cookies and pumpkin dump cake for our dessert.  Braelyn, Taegan and Kensley enjoyed playing Christmas dress up at Joan's.

After dinner I took Nancy home while Mark cleaned up the kitchen. As soon as I got back from Morton I drove straight to mom's to help her get ready for bed.  I took the picture below of the Christmas lights on mom's balcony with Joan's house in the back ground across the lake.

Tomorrow mom wants all of her Christmas decorations put away so this will be the last night to enjoy them.  This Christmas was a hard Christmas. Mom would have preferred to be in Gulf Shores with all of the family down there. They are having beautiful 75 degree sunny weather and today lots of the kids were playing in the Gulf Waters.  Greg was catching huge whitefish and the rest were getting lots of beach time. We are still very thankful we can celebrate the birth of Jesus even if we can't be together. Jesus really was the best gift EVER!

60 Degrees on Christmas Eve

 We awoke to a beautiful morning that turned into an even more beautiful day.  I headed out around 7:00 am and discovered Sally in front of Valiant's paddock. She is in season so heavily she couldn't make herself move even when I went to get a halter on her. 

Dancer was also here but Sheena was having a fit still at the cabin field. Both Dancer and Sally were put in with Rockaway so I could head over to help mom get ready for the day.  When Ruth came I was able to take Dancer back over to be with Sheena and grained all the horses.  Sally is 20 years old and has beautiful tall foals with tons of hair when bred to Valiant so we decided to give her one more chance for a beautiful baby and had her covered. She stood very well. We shall see if she conceives. As soon as I cleaned up I drove to Sam's club to pick up things we needed for mom's house and when back started baking cookies. I only frosted a few and will leave the rest for the kids coming tomorrow to help with that.  I have lots of frosting and sprinkles.

Evan's paddock needed a new round bale and Mark had the tractor out moving logs with the bale spear so gave me a hand and brought the bale over.

If you don't believe he was moving logs with the bale spear I have proof.

Ruth wanted to go shopping one more time before Christmas so I headed back to mom's but when I got there she had mom practicing standing up.  

Once Ruth left I stayed with mom until she finished her shopping. When I got back the pumpkin dessert for tomorrow was baked then started supper. Tonight we splurged and had surf and turf, we had grilled ribeye steaks, sweet potatoes, steamed broccoli, salad, crab pieces dipped in butter and a cookie for dessert.

After dinner the pumpkin dessert was taken out of the oven to cool. Not quite half is topped with pecans and the other half is just crumble as a lot of the kids don't like nuts.

It was such a pleasure to be able to work outside without heavy winter coats. I could get used to this nice warm December.

Raising Prices

 This morning was bookwork time. The website had to be updated and unfortunately after going over all the bills (grain bills, hay bills, bedding bills, insurance bills and vet bills) We HAD to raise the prices on our foals. We have kept the price of them the same for almost 15 years.  We now have inflation like we have NEVER seen before.  The price of everything has gone up tremendously except the hay since we raise most of that ourselves, but even that went up as the farmer that puts the hay up had to raise all of his prices. At least the round bales didn't double in price like the grain.  I've always tried to keep our prices reasonable, wanting to help anyone that always had the dream of owning a Friesian a chance to make that dream come true. The next job was another bookwork and this was to write down all the miles used on the truck for horsemeister. I had done a rough estimate but Mark wanted dates and miles which meant going through the blog for the year.  I know it would be simpler to just write the miles down when driving but that doesn't happen. I'm just not that organized. By the time all of that was done it was my turn to head over to mom's house.  Ruth was with mom this morning and sent an amazing video of mom sitting in the wheel chair and holding on to the banister of the stairs and pulling herself up from sitting to standing position. Ruth is amazing!  She is always looking for new ways for mom to improve.  We had a nice warm day with sunshine and the temperature reaching 52 degrees. When Mark got home he went right to work on splitting the last of the logs from the silver maple tree that keeps losing it's huge limbs right in our yard. We sure didn't have to go looking for wood this year.  On another note Valiant is getting plump again. Each breeding season I struggle to keep weight on him. He runs the fenceline calling to the mares sure they are all here for him.  

He also spends hours glaring at Evan.  Of course Evan glares right back at him but Evan stays in good weight. Evan never seems to lose weight even during breeding season. He is content to eat while watching the mares.  The picture above is of Valiant and below of Evan about the same time of year but both were taken a few years ago. Evan has much more hair now.

Poor Pitiful Rockaway

 The morning was cold, hovering around 24 degrees. Mark got up during the night and kept the wood burner going so the house was nice and warm.  I took the golf cart up to check on Rockaway. He saw me coming and came running up wondering where his friends were.  He was fed then left in that paddock until later this afternoon as I couldn't find a halter quickly and it was already after 7:00 am.  Joan is now back from Gulf Shores and came on the walk to tell us all about her vacation.  Diane told us they were planning on leaving for Gulf Shores around 1:00 pm today so we won't see her until next year.  I had the morning free. Joan and Ruth took mom to the dentist at 9:30 am.  They will be finishing the dental implants soon but today needed to make molds for the crowns. She was easily able to tolerate sitting in the dentist chair for over an hour.  Rizzy (Israel and Elisabet's dog) is enjoying her vacation at grandma's. She has been chasing rabbits then taking naps on the couch. 

She really is a good dog. At 1:00 pm I headed over to mom's to meet with Vicki the social working who was here to kick mom off Hospice.

Well officially she isn't off until December 25th at midnight. We have an appointment with mom's regular doctor next Wednesday to get her placed on Palliative care. The problem with that is the hospital bed and wheelchair are from Hospice.  We told mom at midnight Christmas she loses her bed and would have to sleep on the floor.  Vicki was quick to explain, "no no Palliative care will let you keep the bed and wheelchair."  Of course we laughed.  Hospice has been wonderful and we really appreciated all they did for us.  After Vicki left I needed to head up to the barn to move Rockaway so he could see the two stallions.  He was put in Ribbon's old paddock and went right to work checking all the buckets. This poor pitiful weanling is missing his buddies. It isn't often we only have 1 weanling all alone. 

Of course I put grain in 2 of them to give him something to do. Notice those two white things by his feet? Those are ice chunks that had to be dumped out of the buckets.  He even had to check out the bucket I brought the grain in. 

At 4:30 I started supper as tonight was my night to bring dinner over to mom's house.  Tonight we had chicken stir fry with fried rice and egg rolls. We had an enjoyable evening.

Two Leave One Left

 It was just me and the dogs this morning for the walk.  Joan is still gone, Ruth was due a little later and Diane didn't come. 

I didn't walk long and had time to stop at Sam's club to buy more of steaks, mushrooms, sweet potatoes and lettuce for our Christmas dinner. It was plenty cold to leave them in the car while I worked at Bereans. If you would like to read about our morning there click HERE. I was on the way home when the phone rang. I couldn't answer it as I was still driving so when I reached the Hanna City post office to drop off the Bibles I called the number back. It was the owner of the two foals leaving today. He wanted to tell me the transport company said they were just 2 hours away about an hour earlier.  I had to rush home but even before getting into the house the phone rang again and it was the transport company telling me they were about 20 minutes away.  I quickly changed out of my t shirt and new jean skirt the kids gave me and rushed up to the barn to put halters on the weanlings leaving.  They were brought into a stall to wait for the truck and trailer.

Sterling is in the green halter and Morgana is in the red halter.

It wasn't long before their transportation arrived. They were given that nice big box stall in the middle of the trailer.

Now I just had to convince the weanlings it was fine to walk on a ramp.  Sterling was a little afraid so I took Morgana first, she walked straight up without any hesitation. When Sterling saw her walk in he was quick to follow.  The ramp was closed and I walked out the side door into the tack room but stopped to take a picture of them before leaving the trailer.

Rockaway was sad to see them leave. He called for a bit then settled down to eat hay. IF anyone is interested in him he really is a good boy. He will be very tall as Valiant is his sire and Lola is a big mare. He will also be easy to train. He stands tied, leads and loads and he doesn't kick. 

If interested he is for sale for just $4000.00. He is registered with FHHI papers are in hand and he has a current coggins. I'll be moving him into the middle paddock tomorrow, that way he will be able to see both of the stallions and won't be so alone. Ruth decided we needed to figure out a way to get mom down the basement if we get another tornado warning.  She decided to try the wheel chair outside going down to the beach. She sat in it and I tried to take it down and we did ok for the first two steps but the third step was steeper and also at a turn, the wheel chair started tipping, Ruth started yelling and I started laughing as she was trying to get out but couldn't. I couldn't get the wheelchair upright until we finished going down the step. We were both exhausted and was just hoping Karin wasn't watching taking pictures. At the end we decided IF it had to be done there would be a way but ONLY if there were two strong persons working together. There is a lady selling fresh eggs between Trivoli and Hanna City. She contacted me about buying some but I only had a dollar on me.  I drove over to mom's and borrowed $4.00 but right about then Mark got home and had a five on him so I grabbed that and drove to pick up the eggs then returned mom's $4.00 when I got back. Tonight for dinner we had an omelet. Not just any omelet this one was loaded with sausage, mushrooms, onion, peppers, spinach and cheese. I made a 6 egg omelet and put a 3rd away for Mark's breakfast tomorrow. It was delicious! Nothing like eggs laid this morning from free range chickens.

Warm Sunshine

 The weanlings wire bale wrap was taken out of the shelter this morning. They have plenty of hay for today and tomorrow so a bale won't be moved until tomorrow. The 2 weanlings traveling to South Carolina should be leaving tomorrow. I haven't heard from the transport company yet but have heard from the owner. They told him they left Canada where they picked up a couple of Clydesdales and will be heading our way. I wonder if those are going to Princeville. There is a big Clydesdale farm there.  The buyer of Morgana and Sterling tried to send the final payment through paypal but was going to be charged almost $250.00 to do that. He decided to wire the payment tomorrow morning.  Hopefully the transport company will contact me soon about an eta.  I have Berean tomorrow morning then will need to relieve Ruth at mom's before 2:00 pm.  I left right after the walk to head down to the Peoria post office to pick up the Berean mail. There were about 6 people in line before me so I had plenty of time to take a picture of their reindeer made out of shipping boxes standing in the lobby. 

When I got back Ruth and I took mom Christmas shopping to the Dollar Tree in Bartonville. She wanted to pick out things for Nancy's stocking.  I picked up some fun things for the little girls coming here on Christmas day and some other fun prizes for the new years eve party at Ruth's. We had a nice day today, the sun shone and it was a relatively warm 42 degrees Fahrenheit. Mom sat out on the deck wearing her winter coat while Ruth was in short sleeves. The dogs enjoyed the sunshine and warmth too. 

Another Sunday

 Brad Bauer was in Peoria this morning and had the morning message at church. David had the afternoon message on Luke 1. Below is the message. 

After church the taco meat was put in the crock pot and the rest of the meal prepared.  Two families couldn't come tonight, Ben and Taunya's family and Lee and Rhoda's family.  We missed them but the rest of us had a good meal and good fellowship.  Tomorrow I will need to move a bale in for the weanlings. They have enough for tonight but will be out by morning.  Another Sunday has come to a close, the last Sunday before Christmas. 

Dreamer

 I was on duty at 7:00 am and when I arrived both mom and Karin were sound asleep.  I had to wait for about 20 minutes before Karin awoke and told me about mom's night. Mom was dreaming she was riding a horse that was running away with her and somehow got her legs hanging down off the hospital bed. Karin had to rescue her.  She remembered the dream and told us she was getting a little anxious as the horse was going faster and faster. I'm glad she is still riding in her dreams. It wasn't that long ago when she went on a trail ride on Oksana and then rode Jenis.

Below she is riding Ylse and the funny thing about that day was she was supposed to be on Jenis  and somehow ended up on Ylse. Ylse wasn't as well trained.  Mom reported after getting off, Jenis wasn't very well behaved. We ALL started laughing exclaiming, "that is Ylse and she isn't trained yet!"

Ruth relieved me at noon then I was back on at 5:00 pm. As soon as mom was in bed I headed home as I needed to brown the 5 pounds of hamburger for tomorrow's dinner which will be haystacks.

Sceggel Christmas Party

Mark started a fire in the wood burner around 2:00 am this morning as the warm December turned suddenly to winter.  I over slept not waking until 6:30 am and had to rush to be at mom's by 7:00 am. There aren't a lot of horse chores right now so Mark still got a good cooked breakfast of sausage, eggs and toast.  Mom just wanted bran flakes and Ruth got that ready while I was helping her in the bathroom.  We shortened the walk today, not because of time but my hip has been acting up and I just didn't want to do the hills. When I got back I found Mark's hearing aids on the counter so dropped those off at Meisters before heading to Aldi. Karin sent a list by text for mom's house, Mark sent a message on what he wanted me to pick up and we needed eggs, milk and bread for our house. After the groceries were put away I made some goodies to take to the Sceggel Christmas this evening and finished the laundry.  I spent close to an hour searching on-line for a new jean skirt. The one I've been wearing for the last 10 years is just wearing out.  I'm starting to look like one of those surviving the bear attack memes each time I wear it. I didn't find one but figured on hitting some thrift stores next week. We left at 4:00 pm to head to Rhoda and Lee's in Bloomington. They have the perfect place to hosts the Sceggel family with an indoor pool and a nice big room with an attached kitchen. The kids started out playing pool while the adults got the food ready.

Next was our meal.

Then came the pool fun.

Then we celebrated Ben's birthday. Taunya brought a delicious cake. 

We all sang happy birthday to a slightly embarrassed Ben

The cake was so good that it was worth the effort of singing. 

Finally came the presents!

The video is pretty loud so you may want to turn the sound down before playing it.  Not that the kids are loud or anything.

For Christmas the kids gave me a new jean skirt and a brand new t shirt. As soon as we got home from Bloomington I tried both on and they fit perfectly.  A HUGE thanks kids. I should be good for another 10 years.

Septic IN

 It was my turn to stay with mom from 7:00 am until 5:00 pm so I didn't take a lot of pictures. Mom did quite a lot of walking today She will be tired tonight.  The nurse came today and told us next will will be her last visit then mom gets kicked off of Hospice and will go on Palliative care.  Kudo's for how hard she has worked for this to happen.  The company that is putting in the septic tank and field for the new barn showed up today. The picture below was taken from inside mom's house but of course zoomed in a bit.

I was hoping to get a picture of the hole they were digging but by the time I left mom's they were already done and gone.

They will be back tomorrow to smooth out some of the mess. Crazy how quickly they can do the job with their big equipment.  Tonight Mark and I ordered a couple meals from Gils. On the way I noticed a car in the ditch. I had to make sure there wasn't anyone inside. I'm still not sure how the car ended up that way. I took the picture on the way home from Gils.

When I was back at home and opened up the meals the food was missing,  more than half of what we ordered. I called Gils and they were willing to credit us for the next visit except we needed the food. I drove back to Gils and shared some of the food with mom, Karin and Diane.

The Howling

 It felt like Gulf Shores this morning as I walked over to mom's house. It was dark with clouds, breezy and 66 degrees. Crazy for mid December.  Joan left for Gulf Shores last night and Ruth didn't show up for the walk so it was just Diane and I. Right after the walk I took the golf cart over to Rhonda's to feed her cat and Joan's to feed Kabur, her dog and her two cats.  Once back at the house Mark drove me to Zane's to pick up the truck and trailer on his way in to work. What a relief to have the trailer lights working. It was just a blown fuse on the truck. The barn doors are now installed but not quite working yet as the motor hasn't arrived. We can still operate them manually.  It was really nice when the sun came out for a short while. Some of the grand daughters enjoyed playing outside. 

Nice enough to work outside without a jacket. Anna came and decorated the barn apartment for the next renters coming in on Friday. They come from out of town to spend time with their family over Christmas.  This afternoon we needed to reconcile two months of the Horsemeister check book at Diane's office. We are writing so few checks now that it is winter that took less than a half an hour and only one $5.00 mistake was made.  This evening was the church Christmas program at the Fellowship Hall. The singing was beautiful.

Jim Carlson recorded the entire evening which can be seen on their page on Facebook.

Mom came with Mark and I so we sat in the back so the videos aren't the best.  We left just before the last prayer as mom was getting tired. The wind slammed into us as we opened the door. We are having gusts of 65 mph and the drive home was rocky. That wind was buffeting us around like a sail boat on a lake.  We are now safe in the house and the wind is howling around us. A storm is expected later. 

Christmas Concert

 Mom was much stronger this morning. She slept all night and the cold that has been wearing her down is finally wearing out and leaving her.  Mom was tested for Covid and was negative so it really was just a cold.  I left for the Berean office a little after 8:00 am, stopped at Casey's for some donuts. We were a little short handed but those that came stepped up and we got everything done. If you would like to read about our time there click HERE. When I got home Zane's called to report the 2003 truck was finished. It was some kind of sensor on the transmission that kept it from going into park. Rachel gave me a ride to Hanna City to pick it up.  This truck has now had new brake lines, the ball joints have been replaced, most of the coils have been replaced (those over a few years) and now that it is in very good working condition is FOR SALE. The truck has 171600 miles, is a 2003 Ford F 250 super duty gas truck with a towing package, 4 wheel drive, power windows, power locks and cruise control. It has a gooseneck ball and the Reese hitch behind. The air conditioner works perfectly and will freeze one out. The tires are good. There is some rust on the body but not terrible. 

It has been very dependable in fact has never stranded me. If we were still showing I would not be selling but now that are slowing down and no longer hauling 8 to 10 horses at at time find we were not using this truck much at all. If interested in a 4 wheel drive good work truck the price is $7500.00.  At 3:00 pm I took the golf cart over to mom's to take her to the Co-Op Christmas concert 4:00 pm concert. The singers were fantastic. The youngest choir were on first and we were all amazed at how well they sang. Mercy (Chad and Julie's youngest daughter) was in this choir.

Berlica, Emma and Livie were in the next choir up.

Faith was in the main choir. Below is a video of some of the songs starting with the youngest and finishing with the Chorale.

Dreams

 Not a good start to the morning. I took over for Karin at 7:00 am with mom and when helping her up, she collapsed. I had her belt with my right hand at the back and my left arm in front so it was a controlled soft fall but I wasn't strong enough to pick her up myself. I called for Karin who came running and the two of us got her back into the wheel chair.  That really scared me as it was the first time since learning to help mom transfer that this happened. From now on we realized for transfers we would need to have 2 people just in case this would happen again and no more will we have mom walk without someone right behind with the wheel chair. The nurse came today and checked her out. Thank goodness no damage. I couldn't go on the walk as at 7:30 am Mark followed me to Zane's to drop the 2007 Prius off to get the headlight replaced. From there we went to the Peoria post office to pick up the Berean mail and from there back to the farm. The men were here installing the big doors on the new barn. I went up to take the 2003 truck off the 4 horse trailer but when I needed to move the truck forward it wouldn't start. Mark took the golf cart to mom's to borrow her charger while I hooked the 2015 truck to the 2 horse trailer. Zane's called a couple hours later to tell me the car was finished and I should bring the 2003 truck in but it still wouldn't start. Instead I took them the 2015 truck and trailer to repair the wiring on the trailer.  When I got back the weanlings were brought inside, grained and taken back out. By this time it was after noon so I drove back to mom's. They were finishing up lunch and we all sat out on the deck in the nice warm sunshine.  Fedi came to take mom's car in to Peoria to get the battery checked out. By this time the 2003 truck started so I asked Ruth if she would follow me to Zanes and bring me back.  She wanted to get gas so once I dropped off the truck I started walking to the gas station. I saw her heading to Zanes and I was the ONLY person out by the road and thought I could wave her down except she drove right past. I quickly called her to say I had already started walking and was near Anni and Matt's house. She turned around and started coming back. I walked into the road with my thumb out and as a joke showing some leg and to my shock she got in the middle lane again not seeing me. There was a big semi right behind her and I got a strange look from that driver as I'm trying to get Ruth's attention. Evidently my womanly wiles weren't working well as that truck driver flew right by.  We had a good laugh when I finally got to her car. When we got back I took the picture below of the doors getting installed. They had the biggest door in and one of the 10 x 12's. They should have them finished by tomorrow.

A very nice picture text came in from the man that bought Ayanna's 2016 colt. Check THIS boy out!

This is the same colt at 6 days old.

He sure looks like his sire Evan. Evan really throws the hair gene.  I no longer own Ayanna, she was sold in 2020. I KNOW I need to slow down but confess sometimes those twinges of regret flicker in my heart until I remember my age. The pictures of past foals are quick to remove those twinges as I always knew this job is to make dreams come true for more than me.