Count Down

No more days left of February.

Four more days until the Horse Fair.

Eleven days until Britney gets home

Thirteen days until Day Light Savings Time begins

Fifteen days until Dan heads to Wisconsin

Eighteen Days till the start of Spring break

Twenty days until the Spring (vernal) equinox

Days remaining until warm weather....number yet to be determined.

This snow has been lingering because it is in a shaded spot and had once been a drift several feet deep.








     On my day off last Monday it ended up raining almost all day.  It cleared off for a little while so I went out to see if taking Amiga for a ride was doable.  She was soaking wet and filthy dirty.  There was no way I was going to be able to get her cleaned up and dried off for a ride. And, with the ground so saturated and muddy, any hope of riding Amiga had been washed away.

I took several pictures of our water way while out checking the ground conditions. 




     I did go out to the barn after our Bible Study (about 9:30 pm) and spent almost 30 minutes brushing Amiga.  She was caked with dry mud before I started, but looked good as new by the time I got done.  I think she really appreciated getting cleaned up.



The water way, looking north and looking south. 









     Tuesday was a Longggg day of teacher meetings, so I rewarded myself with over two hours of horse time.  I had done my quota of school work for the day.  It had been in the low 30's all day, so the once muddy ground was fairly firm,  although the round pen was still too muddy.  (We need to get a load of sand in there once we can truck it in.)  I worked Amiga on the parking area of the drive as usual and then took her for a ride.  We started out in the side pasture, but it was too muddy there as well.  So, we headed down the drive and up and across 150.... to Brian's house we went. He has one very pregnant cow who tried to scare us off by charging at us a few times.  Amiga never flinched...I guess she is used to Sir Loin.  The other cows were just very curious. I hoped we didn't get the one too worked up. 

 Back to Monday's photos....I noticed that the water was barely moving through the culvert under the railroad tracks.


     It was 27 degrees with some blowing snow Tuesday, but Amiga and I had a good time on our little adventure.  Since it was getting dark and my feet were freezing, I headed her for home.  I was riding in my muck boots because I had cleaned and re-applied waterproofing to my riding boots which are much warmer, but they still needed 1 more day of drying time.  I was very happy with how well Amiga handled while I was on the ground and in the saddle.  

     Wednesday was not a great work/teaching day.  Like the water slowly slugging from the culvert under the tracks into Becks field, seen in this photo, things, including myself, ran more like a rusty old gear, than a smooth, well greased machine.  The internet was down for awhile, my school web site editing got all messed up, I changed the rules of the game for a protein synthesis simulation lab activity in an effort to keep everybody busy, but ended up making it a bit disjointed and confusing for some of the kids. I also did not handle, very well, a few discipline problems during class. I just wasn't at the top of my game. I was hoping things would get better when I got home....but it was not to be.  Amiga was reluctant to load at both ends, and did not perform well under saddle during our lesson. I know a lot of it has to do with me and my poor cues to her, so I feel bad for her, however, she was not listening to me very well either.

     Thursday I shopped at Farm and Fleet, Wal-Mart, and Tractor Supply...so got home from school 2 hours later than usual.  I was going to give Amiga the day off, but because of the forecasted snow storm, I decided to ride while I could.  I was going to keep it short, but was having fun, so went longer than planned.
Once done, I rushed over to Marj's to catch the tail end of Courtney's lesson with Zorro. 












He had bucked when they first put the saddle on, so they were taking it slow and easy with him.  Marj led him around while Courtney sat in the saddle.  Eventually she took over control of her precious yet ornery horse.   He seemed well behaved when I was there.  After the lesson I helped Courtney worm Zorro and then 

she came to the farm to help me worm Amiga. 

     Friday morning I woke to 3 inches of blowing snow.  We did not get all that was predicted, but man did the wind blow all night.  Luckily the drifting wasn't too bad.  Brother came out into the snow to greet me as usual.











Amiga hesitated when she stepped out of her stall, as if to ask..."what in the world is up with this?"  I had closed the door to the stall over night, so the snow was a surprise to her.

     Sir Loin had been able to stay dry and snow free in the corn crib because it had been blowing out of the north this time.

     Amiga and Sir Loin share some hay together after their feed.


     The video below shows Sir Loin making a mess of it.

     The chickens had a similar reaction as Amiga's when I first opened the coop. 





   Floppsie was very tentative about stepping out into the cold white stuff, and they all hesitated coming out of the coop.

 

      Brooster rooster led the way from the coop to the barn for all the others to follow.  In the video below you can see they had difficulties getting over/through the little drift by the propane tank.  I guess a little wing action helped them to not sink in so much. 

     U.S. 150 was rather icy...one car in the ditch on my way to school.  I had a nice long ride on Amiga right after I got home.  I worked on speed transitions trying not to use the reigns hardly at all.  It took several times for her to get it, but then she was changing speeds on que and stopping and backing as asked.  She is such a good little horse....really wants to please, even though (like most of us) she tries to do things her way.

    I was up early as usual Saturday morning, but in a fog because of our late night out (1 am bedtime).  We went to the debut of The Fedora's, a new band consisting of several from the Biscuits and Gravy band.  I thought it was just going to be listening music, but was pleasantly surprised to get some dancing in.

     Joe got the tractor out of the garage shed, hooked up the flat trailer, and loaded up the bales of hay from in front of the kitchen window.  I wanted to get them out of there before the Day Lilies started sprouting.

      Some school work and then a morning nap were on my agenda....but time got away from me and I was soon headed over to Marj's to work with Amiga.  It was so nice to be able to borrow the indoor arena, especially with it spitting snow outside.  Richard was working with his horse so I join in with Amiga.  She had issues that I continue to work through and work on, but all and all, I was happy with our progress. After that I walked Zorro for almost an hour.  He too had some issues.  I can already tell he is putting on some muscle though.  It is slow, but progress none the less. The rest of the day kind of slipped away like the morning did.  I had the house to myself, (Joe went to a ball game and Dan to Courtney's) so I continued on a stack of papers I was grading.  But the lack of sleep won out and I ended up going to bed REALLY early. 

     After the hay was gone, it did expose some Day Lily growth.  I covered these with some dead leaves that did not get raked up last fall.

      After 8 hours of sleep, I was up and ready to go at 4:30 am Sunday morning.  When I did chores I decided to walk Amiga, since rain was in the forecast for the afternoon.  And then I decided to just hop on and ride her a bit.  She did great, so I quit after 15 min. and turned her out on the front pasture where there is plenty of grass.  Nursery work, Church, and school filled my morning.  A nap and school work filled my afternoon, along with lots more time wasting.  It rained much of the afternoon, so I abandoned any hope of riding Amiga a second time.

       I took this photo Friday morning.  I think Amiga looks so cute and I love the snow covered pine in the background.

Amiga and I count down the days until spring.

Going, Going, Gone!

      With the warmer temperatures and plans to take Amiga to the Illinois State Horse fair the first weekend in March, (in 11 days) I have been more committed to working with her every day.  The snow, ice and mud have limited us to working on the driveway for the most part.  But I have also started back up with weekly riding lessons, which I can do inside Marj's riding arena.


     This week has been one to watch the snow melt away.  It made it up to 42 degrees last Monday and the temperatures continued to climb above or reach the upper 40's almost everyday. It even got up to 59 degrees on Thursday.  Here is a series of photos taken from the kitchen window each day this week.

     Man does it feel like spring is here.  I have had to keep telling myself.... "It ain't over yet".  Due to the law of averages, we are bound to get more cold days and probably more snow.  But for now, I am enjoying the heat wave.  As you can see....the snow was going, going, and now is gone.

     The chickens and turkey have been out of the coop every day.  They are excited to have green grass (and even mud) to dig around in and peck through.  They have been eating less chicken feed and egg production is up to 2 or 3 a day.  I did find an egg out in the paddock where the cow and horse have made a mess of the hay, spreading it all over.  I may have to retrain the girls to lay in the coop or barn.

    
     Britney is gone for MTI at Palmer Lake in Colorado, seen below.   Joe took her to the airport in St Louis yesterday afternoon, for an early morning flight out this morning.  They stayed in a hotel last night.  Britney is hoping to be going/gone to Guatemala for 2 years as soon as she has her committed support for monthly funding during her missions work there.  (MTI)  Mission Training International is a three week training program that Students International requires for all of its missionaries heading to the field. 

     Britney will be getting trained in how to become interwoven into the Guatemalan culture (which she so highly values and respects).  She (and SI) do not want her "North American-ness" to interfere with her ministry or cause damage to the people with whom she will be interacting as she shares God's love and the gospel in ways that respect the culture she is in.  She continues to work diligently, seeking people and organizations willing to partner with her on a monthly basis for the next two years.

     Daniel has also been preparing to go, along with the rest of his unit, sometime this spring.  He will be going back to Ft. McCoy in a little over three weeks, and then going to Ft. Bliss in Texas.  After that he will be gone to Afghanistan for a year. For now, he is enjoying life, as seen here with his cousin's dog Zoey.  His Aunt Patty took this picture.
                                                              After  I worked Amiga Monday,
I walked her up and down the drive.  Tuesday, after we walked, I rode her up and down the drive.  Then on Wednesday I took her to Marj's for a riding lesson.  I felt good about being able to unload and load her over there without any help.  We are making progress.  Thursday I had a little more time, so rode over at Becks and then cleaned up stuff out in the barn. 

     The farrier came Friday morning and I did some quick house cleaning since Courtney was staying for the night to do chores and dog/house sit while we were gone.  We left for Iowa Friday afternoon...and returned home Saturday evening. 

Before going, I sorted the Christmas gifts to have Britney wrap.  Abbey picked to be in Patty's gift pile of snowmen. Notice some green grass out the window.


     I got a picture of the Mississippi as we crossed over it into Iowa.  I always like looking at the river.  I sometimes think it would be great to be back in the "horse and wagon" days, but not when it comes to traveling long distances or crossing this huge river.  How did they do it?

     We had a good (but short) visit in Iowa.  Lounged around, ate a great dinner and had a gift exchange at the Volks.  (Christmas in February works for me.  I would love to have Christmas year round....but not winter.) 

 

Sunday afternoon we went into Iowa City and enjoyed a big lunch together. 

Joe's three sisters; Teresa,  Patty,  Mary and nephew Nathan

Britney, Dan, Joe and Tracy

     Coming back into town Saturday  evening, we drove by our place to go to Brian's to pick up a cattle rope halter we are borrowing.  As we drove by our farm, I got a picture of the water way.  It has a fair amount of water, and still some frozen snow/ice, but seems to be doing its job.

     I didn't get home from Church and school until 3:00.  I was glad to see the snow mostly gone.  But I was very disappointed about the amount of gravel that has ended up in the yard and rock garden  and the clumps of sod that are in the drive or off to the side.  I think I will need to wait for the ground to freeze again before raking the gravel back to the drive.  There are also some more areas in need of more gravel, that have become big ruts.

























     I rode over at Becks again Sunday afternoon....ended up messing around outside for several hours, taking the above pictures, even though it was gloomy and windy.  At least it wasn't quite so muddy.

     This morning, Presidents Day, a day off from school, I was hoping to go for a longer ride on Amiga, but it is a rainy Monday.  Sitting here finishing up this Blog post is much more to my liking at the moment.  I did go out to get a picture of the water way and the last of the snow.  If you look closely,  you can see three chickens (dark specks) at the right of the picture. 

I will be glad for the going, going, gone of winter, but am not looking forward to the gloomy spring days.  Bring on the warm air and sunshine.
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Cupid Shuffle

They got a brand new dance, you gotta move your muscle

Brand new dance, it's called the Cupid Shuffle

This is a dumb song, but came to mind today.  Happy Valentine's Day.

    I  got these beautiful flowers from a sweet, loving husband almost two weeks ago.  They weren't meant as a Valentine, but were a great addition to my February decorating.  They successfully lifted my spirits as intended, and helped me through some gloomy winter days.  And it was really more the thought of the gift that perked me up than the flowers themselves. 

     The long 5 day week at school actually went pretty fast.  Nothing too remarkable occurred at home or at school.  I had to leave here at 6am Wednesday for an early morning meeting so Joe had to do morning chores. I just kind of shuffled into school at 6:30 am, 2 hours earlier than normal. After the meeting though I was able to accomplish a lot.

    
     Last weekend Daniel got home from his week at Ft. McCoy in Wisconsin, and then this week had to drive every day to Decatur. 
    With his MOS, it sounds as if he is an important man in his unit.... he has been given quite a bit of responsibility.  
     Dan doesn't shuffle...he marches....except maybe when it comes to house keeping with his bed.  But Abbey thinks it's a swell place to hide.

Camo  Kitty

  Kaput  Kitty










     It was very cold for several days....didn't get out of the teens, and was actually down to -11 degrees Thursday night.  This made it all the harder to get out there to do chores.  One afternoon Hercules got tired of waiting for
                                                      me on the deck railing, and tucked
Headless Hercules?                       his head under his wing and went    
                                                      to sleep.   When I first put the heat
lamp in the coop to add hours of day light (comes on from 4am to 7am) and to warm the coop up some, egg production went up a little. (Actually, it nearly doubled....from one a day to two a day)  But with the extreme cold, there have not been near the number of eggs again.  Many days the nests have been empty.  I have not seen the chickens come out of the coop much at all this week.  The few times they have, I have had to carry them back to the coop from the barn in the evening.  It seems like it is usually Floppsie and Baby.

     Come on girls!  The sun is setting and it is time for bed. 
     Britney and I have been home bodies as well, shuffling around in our warm house slippers, not wanting to leave the comfort of a warm house.
     The wild birds have been eating me out of house and home.  I do get out to fill the feeders daily.












     Britney continues to work at raising money to fund her missionary work in Guatemala. She hopes to have enough to be able to leave here in May for a two year stay down there.

     Courtney rarely comes out here anymore, because Zorro is at Marj's barn.  I do see her over there on Saturdays for our horse training class.

     The barn kitties continue to look for trouble.  Brother has been leading Missy higher and higher up in the trees.  It makes me a little worried.  Don't know how my Mom could stand it when I got so high up in the tree tops as a kid. I was usually able to get down without fanfare.

     Britney and I got home late on Friday because she did a presentation in two of the Spanish classes at school 7th and 8th hour.  She thought she would probably talk for 10 or 15 minutes, but ended up talking almost the whole hour.  Go figure....wonder where she got that from?  I just wanted to veg out with a cup of tea when we got home at 3, but knew I had to go out and chisel through some frozen snow to get the barn door open so Saturday morning I would be able to get Amiga out to load her to go to Marj's.  The only possible way to get her from the back paddock to the front of the barn is to walk her through her stall and the middle part of the barn.  Once bundled up and out there working, I got too hot.  The hardest part of farm work this winter has been getting out the door.  Since I was warm and feeling good, I decided to try walking Amiga, and work with her a bit.   Every time I bring her out front it is to load her on the trailer.  Today I decided to just walk her around....switch up the routine.  When I brought her in to her stall, she got all nervous.... she has a way of knowing something is going
on.  She had scraped some

skin off her eye brow earlier this week, and I have been putting wound cream on it twice a day.  So I did that.  But how she knew I was planning other things, I do not know.  Once we started walking, she calmed right down.  Even sighed a few times.  Her head was down and her eyes soft.  She really trusts me to follow right by me with out tugging, pushing/pulling or getting nervous.  I was thinking she needs to be able to be walked through some exciting situations when I get her to the Horse Fair March 4th, so I wanted to start practicing.  Where there was a fairly clear path to walk, we went. Around the house, around the garage shed and garden shed, and  up and down the drive.  She did so well and it was so nice to walk with her.  I am really getting hooked on this horse.  She is so precious.

     Saturday's horse training class was great.  It is so fun to ride with others, and Marj is so good at helping us with basic techniques in working with lightness. 

     She also is great at spotting our weaknesses and helping us to correct them.  Amiga was really throwing her head up and out for some reason. (At least she wasn't doing her hopping thing though.)  Marj got on and worked with her for a bit and then Amiga was so much better.     

     I need to tighten up my reins and keep my elbows in at my sides, and stay steady....not let her have her head when she is pulling on the bit, but get her to take the bit and hold it with vertical flexion.  Courtney rode Amiga and Vinnie for awhile.

  

     After most were done and people and horses cleared out of the arena, Courtney brought Zorro back out to work with him.  She had started the training session with him, doing ground work for a while, but then he needed a break.  She walked him as usual, and then sat on him bare back while I lead him around.

     He has really lost a lot of muscle mass standing in a stall for 6 months.  Look how scrawny he is.  The next big task is to muscle him back up so that he will be strong enough to run with Amiga and not re-injure himself.

     Courtney still has her work cut out for her.  She will be increasing Zorro's walking time, jogging with him some, and riding him at a walk for increasingly longer periods of time.  For now, he gets about 10 minutes of "riding" time.  The exercise has been beneficial to Courtney as well.

     Zorro really is a cute, playful boy, but man does he need a lot of muscle building.  His favorite trick is to grab the lead rope and hold it, as if to take charge.  In the photo above, he is swinging it around like a lasso.



     Sunday was warmer than Saturday, and the snow really started melting.  I worked with Amiga again in the afternoon.  We were both doing the ice shuffle which was on packed snow with a layer of water on top all the way down the drive. After making the rounds on foot, I got on and rode Amiga bareback.  She was much better with her head, but did not want to walk through the water, probably because of some slippery snow beneath.

     Also, at the end of the lane she did not want to walk on the asphalt part of the drive, which was clear, clean and dry.  Go figure.  When I was done riding, I got off of Amiga at the asphalt and worked on walking her on it.  She was very reluctant, but I kept insisting, and eventually had her walking, standing, backing, and circling on the asphalt.  Once she got over her fear of it and relaxed, I took her to the barn and gave her a treat.

     Well, I know Valentines Day can be depressing for some folks.  Just remember....if you can't be with the ones you love, love the ones you're with. 
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