Dort's Funeral

Evan was feeling much better today and was put outside, he went right over to Easter Lilly and started to show-off a bit. Easter Lilly may be in season and that may have been the cause of the big fight. I didn't have time today to try to cover her but she was moved into the middle paddock so he wasn't tempted to break any boards. This morning there was just enough time to get the feeding done, breakfast cooked, the dishes done and leave for church. We only stayed for the morning service so we could make it to Tremont for Dort's funeral service by noon. Why do people wait for someone to die in order to get together? It was so good seeing and talking to everyone that it is too bad a death had to occur for that to happen. Church was packed. The minister made the statement that this must be like Lazarus' funeral when so many of the Jewish people came to mourn with Mary and Martha. So many people wept at that service, why even Jesus wept. It is ok to have tears, we were reminded that we are to rejoice with those who rejoice but also weep with those that weep. We aren't weeping for Dort but for all those she left behind. This was the first of our generation of the Meister cousins to lose a spouse. How does one go on when they lose a spouse, mother, grandmother, sister? The only answer is one day at a time with the Lord's help. The picture below was taken as we were driving home from the funeral. We were driving right into the sunset.

Rhoda and Lee brought Jack and Addyson along with their puppy out today to stay with grandma for a couple days. Ben and Taunya are in the midst of moving to Dallas and took Jace with them. Sarah and Nolan will be driving Jack and Addyson to Dallas later this week. Phil and Anna came over with their 3 and Nolan showed up with his puppy. Mike and Diane are gone to Gulf Shores so Ebby came over for the evening too. We had a full house of people and 5 dogs all in this little old farm house. As this will be the last time for these 5 to be together for months we had to get a couple pictures. Below they are getting ready to jump.

 Addyson jumped the highest. 

 Our entertainment tonight was rag time played by 3 lively loud talented grand children. 

Good thing it is cold out today and we don't have close neighbors, the noise level was amazing. This was a good ending to a very emotional day. 

The Puppies are SOLD!

Both of the puppies are now sold. The darling little black 9 week old puppy,

And the cute mostly white puppy too:

The grandkids are going to miss them. There is nothing as sweet as playing with a puppy.

Most of the family is gone around here which wouldn't be a problem except today we had a problem. I'm not sure how this happened but Mark came running in to say I had a problem with the horses, he thought a mare was in with one of the stallions. He was WRONG! It was Valiant in with Evan and the fight must have been terrible. Evan was standing like a whipped puppy while Valiant was strutting around the paddock like the king he is. The chain, cane and lead rope were grabbed, Mark held the gate while I grabbed Valiant. He came quietly enough and didn't seem to be that beat up although he was bleeding from the little spots all over. His gate had been slammed open so hard the steel ring had bent. Valiant was not the horse I was worried about so he was put in his paddock and Mark worked on fixing his gate by using a strong chain and a bolt. That gate won't be opened very easily even for me. Hopefully I never had to take Valiant out that gate. Evan was in trouble. He has bite marks and kicks all over and was covered in mud from head to toe. He led out ok, didn't seem to be lame but was very depressed. He was tied up and the propane water heater brought out so he could be given a bath and checked over thoroughly. He doesn't seem to have any life threatening injury's but is obviously shook up. Once he was cleaned up he was brought into a stall, given a couple grams of bute (a pain reliever) and blanketed. He was given hay then left while Mark and I worked on repairing all the damage Valiant did to Evan's paddock. We had broken boards and the electric fence to repair. As long as Mark had all the tools out we put the board up the weanlings knocked down and moved Titan and Jewel's filly in with Angelica and Adara. 

Later this afternoon Evan was checked on. He was dry from the bath so his blanket was removed. He had emptied one of his water buckets. I was glad to see he drank.  He was given a scoop of grain and again I was pleased to see he went right to work eating it. Both water buckets were cleaned and filled again. I am a little concerned with the swelling on his neck but he seems to be eating and drinking ok so hopefully it is just a big bruise.  The weather was awful, cold and extremely windy so we know no one was out riding, no mares were taken in front of Valiant to cause him to slam into the gate. It is a mystery why this happened. Evan will be given 2 more grams of bute tonight. Hope he feels well enough to be put back out tomorrow. 

Police Van Arrives

We had a warm windy morning that changed slowly to a cold windy afternoon and a really cold windy evening. This morning after the walk goodbyes were said all around. Joan, Sarah and Hannah are leaving for Haiti tomorrow morning. Diane and Mike left this evening for Gulf Shores, Ruth is leaving Tuesday for Gulf Shores, Rachel and David's entire family are heading down to Gulf Shores as are Beth and Greg. It's going to be quiet around here for a while.
Easter Lilly needed to be given a new round bale but the bucket was on the skid steer so before changing it over to the bale spear I got one of the shelters in the middle paddock cleaned out and put a new bale there. The far paddock needed a new bale then Adara and Angelica were moved back in that paddock. Easter Lilly was put in the middle paddock so the paddock next to Evan's could get a new bale too. I just left Easter Lilly in the middle paddock but will need to move her over next to Evan's for teasing tomorrow. Now that Caspian and Capricho are gone I wanted to try putting Jewel's filly and Ribbon's colt outside into that paddock. For the first time since Ribbon died I saw her colt play. Today he was galloping around the paddock bucking. He and Jewel's filly were playing together. That was such a relief. His owner was told.
This cleaning paddocks and moving bales took all of the morning and a bit of the afternoon as it was 1:00 pm by the time I finally got back in the house. Funny I can spend all morning outside working but when it comes time to clean the house all of a sudden I have no energy. That dish washing and floor sweeping just takes too much effort but today I made the effort as tonight is rotating potluck. Not that it will be held in this house, we had 13 coming today so needed to have it at mom's. A fire was started in the wood burner to help combat the strong cold wind sneaking into this old house. Mark grilled steak, mom set the table and everyone brought delicious food to be shared. We feasted! Everything was delicious and no one was in a hurry to leave.

We had a wonderful evening of fellowship. Today I am thankful. Now for a story that happened last night. We left early for the Co-op play but Emily, Jessica and Anna decided to drive separate leaving later. Just as they were ready to pull out of the drive a police van with it's lights flashing and it's siren blaring came down the drive going all the way to Spark and Rhonda's house where it stopped. Emily asked this morning if I knew what had happened. As I didn't know, I asked the ladies on the walk and Ruth knew the answer. Spark bought a police van at the auto auction on Wednesday and brought it home last night. 

I'm sure Spark had a special reason for wanting a police van and it certainly takes up less space than the fire engine but none of us normal people can figure out his brain. Why do we need a police van in our neighborhood? 

The Prince and the Pauper

We had a beautiful sunny day with warm temperatures of 73 degrees this 17th, day of November. Warm enough for Mark to work on cleaning out paddocks with the skid steer. We now have a huge pile of manure in the middle of our circle drive. Won't the walkers be thrilled about that tomorrow morning. I spent the morning at Berean with Edie, Roma, Anna and Chuck. Together we got all the Bible's stuffed, wrapped, labeled and loaded. We just had 6 request come in today and after trying a few times to get those 6 labels to print I finally just hand wrote those. After the Bibles were dropped off at the Bartonville post office, it was home to work the foals. Today Jewel's filly got a good leading lesson and an even better tying lesson. Today she tested the rope and actually got mad when she couldn't get loose and stamped her feet like a child throwing a tantrum. It was cute to see her brain working and her reaction when she realized things don't always go the way she wants them too. I think she is the smartest filly this year. She reasons in her mind. Today she decided she wanted the window in her stall open and kept pushing it with her nose until it opened. Well I didn't want the window open. I was afraid she would decide to jump out of the window so the window was shut and latched. She worked on that for quite a while before giving up.

She was taken into the round pen for some round pen reasoning and learned very quickly if she turns and faces me she does not have to work. She and Titan are doing well together. Titan is still not drinking milk but is eating the grain with the milk powder as a top dressing. 

At 12:30 pm I left for Springfield, IL to meet the man bringing Easter Lilly up from St. Louis. He arrived at 3:10 pm in this 6 horse trailer.

I expected to see a little 2 horse pull up. Easter Lilly was backed out of his, walked right over to mine and loaded right up. I was on my way home by 3:15 pm arriving home at 4:45 pm giving me just enough time to clean up and eat a peanut butter and jam sandwich before we needed to leave for Hannah's play at ICC. The co-op this year was putting on the play The Prince and the Pauper . They always do a good job and tonight was no different. Mark drove Karin, mom and I to ICC, we got there early and enjoyed visiting with people before the play started. We had a lot of family show up, why Bethany, Bill and Joshua came all the way from Bluffton, Indiana. 

I didn't have the camera but snapped a few pictures with the phone. Everyone enjoyed it, audience and players alike. They are going to be performing one more time, tomorrow evening at 6:30 pm. They were so entertaining that we gave them a standing ovation. 

Some serious news was Mike's wife, Dort passed away last night. Sarah, their daughter wrote: We sang until the Bible Class came to sing to mom at 7:45 p.m.  They sang on the front porch and it was BEAUTIFUL!  Thank you Greg & Mary for organizing it!  There were a lot of tears as they were singing.  The last song they sang was Nearer, Still Nearer from the Tabernacle Hymns.  As they were finishing the song mom's breathing started to slow down even more.  The Bible Class was leaving so, Jon and Shawn went outside to get our boys.  Once they came in and got settled mom took her last breath.  It was 8:05 p.m.  It was so peaceful.  Some of the kids didn't even realize that she was gone.

The  visitation will be 2-4 and 6-8 on Saturday, Nov 19th, at the Tremont Apostolic Christian Church Fellowship Hall. Her funeral will be 1:00pm on Sunday, Nov 20th at the Tremont AC church. 

Laryngitis

For the last few days I've not been able to talk. That really shouldn't be a problem except we women always have a lot to say but when I try to talk it just won't come out. I've had to do a lot of listening.
This morning I cancelled all the Berean workers, just in case this laryngitis is catchy. I went and entered in the Bible request, then made it home in time to clean up Capricho and Caspian before the transport arrived for them.
They are now on their way to Virginia. The driver was well pleased with how easy they loaded. Both just stepped right in.

Above is Capricho and below is Caspian.

The update on Titan for today: This afternoon I gave up on trying to get him to nurse off Jewel. She was starting to get irritated with him and I don't want him hurt. Jewel was put back in the paddock and her filly was put in with Titan. Titan will not drink the Mare Milk Replacer when mixed with water so the powder is being mixed with his grain. He is eating that. I also saw him urinate today which is great news and have not seen any new diarrhea. 

Jewel's filly was given a leading lesson today and she did very well. She also had a tying lesson but she is pretty easy going and didn't test the rope at all today. 

Now for some very unusual news. 3 years ago, actually Aug 30th, 2013 I brought home a draft cross mare named Easter Lilly. She stayed just 1 day with us then left for St Louis where she was put to work as a therapy horse for handicapped children and adults. Now for the weird part of this story. Not 3 minutes after Ribbon died my phone rang, it was Steven Marchal. He was actually calling to see if we would like to have Easter Lilly back. She is getting cranky with the program but had been used for vaulting and doing well. So tomorrow I will drive down to pick her up.  Both Karin and I had said we were going to retire the vaulting program but who knows what God has in store for us. Below are some pictures of her when we brought her home in 2013. 

Titan's Trial

Last night Titan was moved out of Rosalie's stall and into the stall across the hall. Each time he would get close to Rosalie, Abigail, Rosalie's filly would threaten to kick and did kick. I hung the bucket of milk up, made sure there was a lot of grain and water then headed for bed. This morning about half the milk was gone, the water bucket dumped and some of the grain gone. Rosalie and her filly were put outside and Jewel's filly brought inside. Jewel was put in the paddock next to Evan's to make sure she wouldn't try to jump out of the field. Jewel's filly is old enough to wean and will be leaving here in about 3 weeks. When Emily got home this afternoon, Jewel's filly and Indy's filly were taken out to the round pen, given hay, grain and a water tank and then Jewel was brought inside and stalled with Titan. She is such a kind mare but not sure she wanted him to nurse and would swish her tail if he got near her udder. She stood still while Emily milked her getting quite a bit in the bucket but Titan just wouldn't drink out of the bucket. We watched them most of the day, they are content to be in the stall together eating together but he has not tried to nurse off of her. Every once in a while Jewel will call for her filly and the filly will call back but that is getting less and less. I feel comfortable enough to leave Titan and Jewel in the same stall for the night. Praying that Jewel will adopt him and he will start to nurse before her milk dries up. This morning I drove the mail and meal out to Berean then over to Pekin to pick up mare milk replacer and a few groceries. If we cannot get Titan to nurse the powder can be sprinkled on his grain and will give him the nutrients he needs to thrive.
The chimney sweep came today to get a bird's nest out of the apartment stove pipe. Emily had a fire going strong this evening. It looked so good that we built one too and enjoyed a warm cup of tea by the fire before bed tonight.

Ribbon's Obituary

Ribbon born April 25th, 2001 at Fred Wagler's farm in Loogootee, Indiana passed away 12:30 pm Nov 14th, 2016. She was raised until she was 4 years old at Fred's farm where according to him, "she was never made to do a day of work in all those 4 years." She was purchased by the Horsemeister farm Sept 19th, 2005 at an auction in Arthur, IL and taken home and children put up on her the same day. She had a great attitude and was willing to learn. She was bred to Raven and gave birth to her first foal, a filly we named Princess on June 21st, 2008. That filly was sold to a couple in Ohio and went on to be a police horse.

Ribbon was trained for vaulting exclusively by Karin Meister and performed all over the Midwest.
Below is a performance at the Midwest Horse Fair in Madison, Wisconsin.
Because of her performance schedule she wasn't bred again until 2010 and gave birth August 19th, 2011 to a big filly again by Raven. This filly was named Bow (for Ribbons and Bows). She went to another great home.

Ribbon was bred back to Raven and gave birth April 25th, 2013 to another gorgeous filly. This filly stood head and shoulders over all the other foals born that year. 

Ribbon was taken to the Iowa Horse Fair with the vaulters and was put to work as the half time entertainment for a huge rodeo.

They were use to all those small quarter horses and had never seen such a huge mare performing at a rodeo. Of course she got lots of attention. 

Ribbon was used in our Friesian demos, she made such a wonderful bad guy with her huge body. She didn't mind all the weird costumes she had to wear each year. Below are a couple of her more notable costumes. She was Maleficent's dragon in the 2015 IL horse fair play:

and the Big Black Pearl in the Pirate show wearing the pirate flag in 2016:

Ribbon delivered another filly on May 16th, 2015. This filly was by Valiant and we were amazed at how much she loved kids.

She was so comfortable with them that she would stay laying down while they all petted her. Ribbon was an amazing mom to her foals. In 2016 she gave birth to her last foal and this one was a colt born Sept 12th, 2016. Ribbon leaves behind this 2 month old colt, Titan, who will need to learn to drink out of a bucket.

Below are just a few fun pictures we have of Ribbon.

We are SO going to miss this mare!