Sense and Sensibility

 We have SO much ice on the drives that as I was turning into the drive to head up the hill I see Mark going backward down the hill. It took him 3 tries before he was able to get into a dry part, get some traction and make it to the other drive. Sure hope we get a big melt down by tomorrow noon. I have guests arriving for the apartment and I'm going to have to try to get some of the ice off. We have a good chance of rain starting tonight and raising temperatures so hopefully a lot will melt off before they arrive.  I shopped at Aldi for mom's house and when I dropped off the groceries Joan was helping mom with walking. 

The next exercise was to use the barn Rachel and David installed in the bathroom to pull herself up 3 times. 

We are pretty proud of how hard she is trying. This afternoon Diane and I reconciled the Horsemeister check book then finished the year end report for our tax man.  That is a big job and I'm thrilled it is done.  Mark tried air frying asparagus tonight for our dinner. It didn't turn out too bad. We had that was our ribs, salad and chips. I tried an easy recipe from the internet for cookies but they didn't turn out near as good as Becky's Butter Cookies. That is the recipe we use to make Christmas cookies but the recipe makes 200 cookies.  I decided next time I'll just make sure I have the to make the 'real' recipe and forget all these supposed good but easy recipes that don't  taste near as good. This evening I went over to mom's to play games with Diane, Karin and Joan except Joan hadn't arrived yet. Karin was playing for Joan and herself and just as Joan walked in she won the game. We exclaimed, "we started without you and you just won the game!"  Joan replied, "it just wasn't a very satisfying win."  Joan brought the kids over to watch Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility which was playing tonight for free with ads. 

The movie has lots of horses including those gorgeous Friesian horses. 

We all enjoyed the movie.

 

Feels Like Spring

 It was 30 degrees this morning and we made it all the way up to 40 today.  Sure feels like spring is in the air.  I was able to work up at the barn. We had lots of snow melt today and even some mud show up. Rachel needs an electric water bucket and I thought I had one, got it all cleaned up and brought it down to the  house only to find the electric cord had been cut off.  I'm not sure I can find another but will look tomorrow, there is still  some barn cleaning to do before my next airbnb guests arrive on Friday.  Mike sent a picture of Rosalie (Lily's daughter) and I think she may have lost her pregnancy. She is supposed to be due March 24th but in the picture Mike sent she doesn't look pregnant. It could be the angle of the picture but she just doesn't look pregnant to me.

She has such gorgeous foals with amazing movement. Pictured below is her 2021 filly by Evan.

If she did lose the expected 2022 foal it be a loss for me.   It is too sloppy wet to head out to check on her and I wouldn't want to breed her back this early anyway so will just wait until March to bring her in. The next mare due is Irish who is pictured above with Rosalie. She is due April 6th and I'm pretty sure she is still pregnant. Irish delivered a couple weeks early last year so I will need to bring her  in when Rosalie is brought in. Irish is a purebred Gypsy. She was bred to Valiant and if she has a filly we are considering keeping the filly. Of course if the foal is a colt he would be for sale. We just can't have any other stallions on the property.  Irish's first foal was a beautiful black and white filly, exactly what we should have kept 2 years ago. She had beautiful markings. Here's hoping for another just like her.

News from home is mom had a good night last night falling asleep early and sleeping until 7:00 am. The nurse came today and hadn't seen her for a month. Last month was pretty rough with the leg spasms and the reaction to the muscle relaxers but today was good.

Power Hungry

 Joan spent the night with mom who didn't have the best night.  Joan and her family left early this morning for a ski trip. They had perfect weather for this trip. Sarah posted the pictures below and wrote this: We had another successful ski trip with the PCA group. Faith got more confident on a snowboard, Ivan Carlson carved it up, (especially for only being his second time skiing) Mackenson and Berlica loved racing their friends down, Mom showed off a few tricks, and I wiped out spectacularly. Everyone had a blast, and best of all, no serious injuries. Great trip, with lots of memories made!

I had to leave early for the Berean office as I needed to stop at Sam's Club to pick up a few things for mom's house and wanted to get the snow shoveled before the volunteers arrived. Skip pulled in right behind me so he grabbed the snow shovel to open up the drive.

We had a good morning working there. If you would like to read about our morning there click HERE.

After leaving there I drove straight to the Hanna City post office to drop off the Bibles then to mom's to take Anna's place. Anna was busy cleaning mom's house when I arrived and had it looking fantastic. Diane relieved me at 5:00 pm.  I just heated up some frozen creamy chicken and wild rice soup I had made earlier for dinner tonight.  Mark got a fire going in the rec room wood burner. This is the room the computers are in and the fire makes the room very comfortable.  I was able to catch up on some news and most seemed to be pretty positive news. Saskatchewan will end its vaccine passport policy on Monday, Feb. 14 and mask mandates by the end of February. 

WILL the rest of Canada and Ottawa follow suit? Unfortunately Justin Trudeau returned to parliament with a hard stance against the protesters. This guy is either really out of touch with the Canadian people OR just plain power hungry.  The truckers seem to be in this for the long haul. Check out the picture below of this violent uprising.

Wonderful Day

 Mom had a wonderful day today. She felt well but wanted a whirlpool bath and Karin made that happen. She had a great day.  The other really wonderful thing that happened today is Fedi coming home from the hospital. 

His family was so happy the kids made a big meal and all came over to celebrate with him. It really was a wonderful day.  After leaving mom's this morning I headed down to the Peoria post office to pick up the Berean mail then to D & H to check on the status of the motorhome and the Wildwood trailer.  They weren't able to find the paper work but said they would call by the end of the day with the answer. That didn't happen. Hopefully they will call tomorrow. It is really sad that the materials are in short supply as are workers.  I had a family moving from upper Michigan to Florida with a moving truck pulling a trailer plus their truck pulling a car, 5 people and 2 pets asking if they could stay at the barn apartment. The problem with that is the drives are still snow covered and they didn't have 4 wheel drive on the big truck. I took pictures of the hill they would need to climb and sent it to them so they could see why I was hesitate. 

I stood near the top and took the picture above and below to give them an idea of the state of the roads.

They will keep looking for something else.  When Mark got home we moved two bales in, one for each mare paddock.  It was a cold 8 degrees this morning but warmed up to 24 by this afternoon. Mom really wanted her deck cleared of snow but the snow is falling off her roof and is so heavy and icy it is just too hard to get that done until the weather warms up.  The news from Ottawa was the police raided the truckers camp and took their fuel.  Ottawa police tried to intimidate the people supporting the truckers by claiming they would arrest and fine anyone bringing gas to the convoy and the next day... Jerry Cans EVERYWHERE!! I love Canadians!

This peaceful protest is happening now all over Canada and not a single burnt down building, no fighting, no garbage thrown around, free food for anyone, the snow is shoveled by these protestors,  no has been hurt. There are just too many good honest hard working Canadians that support the truckers. What's a corrupt government to do? There are too many people constantly videoing the protests and even the news can't figure out how to put a spin on it. I am praying for a peaceful end but one in which all mandates are stopped and while praying that am praying for the Canadian people. They really are showing the world how to fight corruption!

Sunday's Activities

 Thankful for Church today. Craig Stickling had the morning service and it really was exactly what I needed to hear.  He started with Exodus 3 but expounded on pretty much all of Moses and his calling by the Great I AM to lead His people out of Egypt to the promised land.  Dave Obergfel  had the afternoon service. Reading out of Hebrews. After church the kids brought the grandkids out for sledding and frozen lake fun. Mike brought his 4 wheeler out and gave rides on the frozen lake. 

Supper was a little late, Mark was grilling pork chops over at mom's and it took a while to get them over here. After supper came the crafts. 

The girls had fun deciding which color sand to use next.

Meanwhile Lee was helping the boys make a some gross things like spiders and maggots.

The grandpa's had to laugh at the inventors at work.

If you would like to see the rest of the pictures from this evening click HERE.

It really was another super Sunday and I am very thankful.  Next week Phil and Anna are hosting for the big football game. 

Mike went to Middle Grove to check on the horses and move a couple more bales in. He sent back the pictures below:

Above is Soul and below is Rosaleigh.

Above is Lily and below is Sangria.

There are 15 horses at Middle Grove right now. It looks like there are 7 eating on this bale.

They are all looking fat and healthy. 

The Horses ARRIVE

 This protest is getting serious. If the protesters can't get anymore big trucks into Ottawa a big group of horseback riders arrive to join the crowd. 

There are many many pictures but these are a few of my favorite.

The video below was posted during the evening hours, check out the free stuff for the freedom convoy and how violent these hardened freedom fighters are.

The support for the truckers is amazing.

Why oh WHY won't the politicians listen and give the country back to the people.  I think the government forgot, THEY WORK for the people, not the other way around.  It was below zero this morning and took a long time to warm up.  I finally left at 10:00 am for Sam's Club because by that time it had warmed up 15 degrees, all the way to 10 above. It didn't feel warm. Sam's Club was packed. From there I had to go to Aldi to pick up a few things Sam's club was out of for mom's house.  This evening Karin grilled ribeye steaks for Mark, me, Diane, Mike and mom. Everything was delicious. After supper we played games and poor Karin, at the end of the game she retorted, " I feel like I'm playing with my sister's kids!" We made so many mistakes.  It was still fun. Today was the first time I had driven out into public. The biggest shock on snow was the Sam's parking lot. The mountains of plowed snow were quite impressive but not impressive enough to stop and take a picture. Well I should have but didn't think about it. My grandchildren would have a ball playing on those mountains.  When Mark and I got home I started listening to the Sounds Like Reign family singing and thought I would share it here.  I found this group on youtube yesterday and love their presentation on everything I've heard so far. Tonight I'm just sharing, Is He Worthy but there are many many recorded  songs on youtube. Just put Sounds Like Reign in the search button if you want to hear more.

Never Use Gofundme EVER

 The go fund me page for the truckers was over 10 million dollars and all of a sudden GoFundMe decided the truckers can't have that money since they are now considered terrorist. NEVER NEVER use this service again. How  DARE they.  They are using the excuse that the peaceful protest turned into an occupation.  Anyone that donated to this fund needs to ask for a refund and needs to do this SOON although good luck getting through.. When trying to contact the Gofundme website to request a refund or make a comment I found their website is not responding and of course no phone number can be found.   It really is unbelievable how much power is being used against the truckers.  All I can say is TRUCKERS and  FARMERS  HOLD THE LINE.     Below is just one of the touching stories of one of these truckers. There  are SO many people supporting them.

I had a quiet day, heading over to mom's around 7:20 am and staying until 9:00 pm.  Mom had a good day.  Mark brought supper for all of us tonight picking up 4 meals from the Vietnamese restaurant. I made a pan of brownies for dessert.  After supper Karin, Hannah, Jacob, Joan, Berlica, Faith, and Mackenson stayed and played games. Well mom and Mackenson watched a movie but the rest of us played.  A booking came in for the apartment for Feb 20th. 

FREEDOM

 On this very cold after the storm day Mark got the skid steer out to get the drives out here passable. Thankfully we didn't have a lot of drifting last night. I brought in wood from the porch instead of the shed as we haven't cleared a path to that yet.  Below are a couple of videos of Mark on his second trip through. There is so much snow. 

Ben and Taunya kids were having a blast. Ben made them a mountain of snow for sledding and it even had a snow tunnel.

Mom had kind of a crazy night. She wasn't hurting but somehow got her arm caught in the sheet above her head. Joan had to rescue her.  She reported that she shouldn't watch such awful movies before bed. When Joan asked what she watched, she told her, "The Sound of Music." and the holocaust was just awful. Well she DIDNT watch that, she heard Joan teaching on the war and how horrible the Jews were treated during the afternoon, then had nightmares about it.  Evil just bothers mom so badly. She was pretty comfortable when I got there and decided breakfast in bed would be nice. She walked quite a bit today but by evening was a little grumpy.  I'm sure she was exhausted from the bad night. This afternoon Phil borrowed the tractor to get his drive plowed better. During the night his driveway drifted over and they couldn't get out.  Thankful for 4 wheel drive trucks and thankful for tractors.  Mark went in to work today and after work stopped at Kroger to get a few items. He came back with what we needed but reported the shelves were pretty empty and all of Kroger was out of milk.  Thankfully we didn't need milk.  He wanted to use his air fryer to make onion rings.  So we made the batter and he made a batch with his air fryer and I fried a batch in oil.  There really is no comparison. The oil fried tastes much better. Since I have plenty of the buttermilk/egg soak left and I'm on at mom's all day tomorrow I'm taking the buttermilk/egg soak and a couple onions over and will fry up a batch tomorrow. I forgot how good French fried onion rings taste. Tonight Ruth, Diane, Karin and I spent the evening at mom's for games. Mom didn't want to play.  

The big news that is no news in America but should be is the Freedom convoy in Canada is holding the line.  The media there are trying to portray them as a racist minority violent fringe group which just isn't true.  Actually MILLIONS of Canadian's are out there supporting them and the go-fund me page has raised OVER 10 MILLION dollars to help with the truckers fuel/food/ and now lawyer fees. There are many videos  and honestly not one showing them looting, burning down buildings, trashing businesses or destroying anything. They are shoveling snow, cleaning up the streets and even dancing in the streets. Such a polite group of protesters.  I wanted to post the video of the protesters dancing the the streets but Facebook blocked it.  I found this one that really helped understand Canada.

They just want the vaccine mandates to end and that is EXACTLY what we want in America. One of the best interviews happened like this. The news person asked the trucker, "just how long do you plan on staying in Ottawa?" The trucker responded, "Just two weeks to flatten the curve!" Hopefully the Canadian's will be willing to show us the way.  I told Mark I want to take my truck and trailer and head to Washington DC to join the American convoy March 1st. I'm not sure he is with me on this one. The power hungry politicians are not willing to give us back our freedoms without a fight.  

The Storm Dumps a FOOT of Snow

 I awoke at 5:00 am turned the patio lights on to see how much snow we got over night.

It was still snowing pretty hard at that time of the morning. By 8:00 am this is what the patio looked like. That red 5 gallon bucket was almost completely covered.

By 9:30 am Mark decided he'd better get plowing and stepped out of the door. The snow covered his boots.

I also took the picture below at 9:30 am just a hour and a half since the last picture.

The bucket was no longer visible and the snow was up to the seat of the chair. I got both wood burners burning brightly before heading out to shovel our patio and drive.

Mark was using the tractor while I was using the shovel.

I forgot to take a picture of the shoveled patio but only made a path to both doors.

Below is part of the patio.

Mark spent most of the morning plowing, came in to warm up and went back out this afternoon to finish our drive and plow Phil and Anna's drive.

Today I tried a recipe for pork chops found on facebook. It was tasty but the meat turned out tough. Since this dish was to be taken over to mom's for dinner. I had to cut the chops in tiny pieces and make a mushroom sauce in order to serve it.  I sure won't try that again. When Mark quit plowing for the day he tried out the new air fryer again, this time making sweet potato fries. He followed the recipe but they were pretty spicy and didn't have a good texture.  So far I'm not impressed with the air fryer. He got a recipe book with it and has been studying them to try another soon.  I didn't quite finish the drive by 5:00 pm but was due over at mom's then so had to quit.  The sheer volume of snow makes it quite heavy.  The official total for Hanna  City is 12 inches. It sure seems like more when shoveling. Karin and mom liked the meal.  Mom is doing much better now that she is off those crazy muscle relaxers.  We had a quiet evening there. Matt and Anni came up and played a couple games with us.  Mom was in bed by 8:19 pm and wanted her lights out. She had a big day and walked quite a bit. We are pleased with her progress.

The Storm Warning

 Mark and I brought more wood in this morning as we have a winter storm warning this evening.  The storm is supposed to start with rain around noon then change to sleet and finally snow with perhaps 15 inches arriving by the time the storm moves on Thursday evening. We will see but already schools are planning on snow days.  After the storm comes the bitter cold again.  The good news is the month of January is OVER and February is a short month. We always get some nice days in March.  I ran over to mom's this morning and stayed with her until 8:15 am then left for the Berean office. When I arrived at 8:40 am there were already volunteers there working.  If you would like to read about our morning there click HERE. We finished up there around 11:30 am. Skip had loaded the Bibles to be mailed into my car so I stopped at the Hanna City post office to get those mailed out before heading home.  The job I really needed to get done today was to get the 5 wheel camper covered where the damage had been done as I don't want any water getting into the inside of the camper. That meant I had to climb on the roof with a big tarp and that camper is tall and scary.  The rain was predicted to start at noon but held off until I had almost finished that job. 

When I finished that job I went into the stall barn to feed the cat. That poor kitty gets so lonely in the winter time. In the summer we are out at the barn a lot. 

She shows her affection by rubbing up against thing.

She is one of the best hunters and works hard to keep the mice away. Her name is granddaughter and she came from Forrest IL where she was born and raised at the Rickett farm. When Emily moved here she bought this cat and this cat's grandmother.  They didn't really like each other but both were very valuable barn cats.  After living here for years the grandmother disappeared last winter but we are very thankful for granddaughter. This evening Mark and I took dinner over to mom's house.  Joan, Berlica, Faith, Mackenson, Diane, Karin all joined us for dinner. After dinner Mark and I stayed and played Carbols with Diane and Karin. Mark and Diane were new to the game and both enjoyed it. Good to have Diane home from Gulf Shores. She is staying this evening with mom.  By the time we left mom's house the snow was coming down thick.  We shall see if we really do get over a foot of snow. Perhaps the storm will shift to the south. 

Of course I HAD to post the picture below of Eden holding baby Zeke. 

Babies are SO loved in the Sceggel family.  All of the cousins wanted a turn holding this precious baby boy.  Sarah reported Eden talked all the way home about holding baby Zeke.

Of course we MUST end with a horse, afterall this IS a horse blog.  Below is a RAVEN daughter named Freyja! 

Freyja's owner met us at the Iowa Horse Fair where the vaulters were performing one year.  She brought her mare down to breed to Raven and Freyja was born the next year. What an absolutely beautiful prize she turned out to be!