CHRISTINA'S WORLD HAS BEEN BUSY....

Visitors for DJ!!!

ODE TO THE SKY.....

All before noon.

EWA IS NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO LIKES FLOWERS!

There is a site I visit in Warsaw, Poland and yesterday, Ewa posted many flowers from her summer garden...a real bright spot.  Our friend George brought me more flowers on Christmas Eve and they are brightening up the library here at Skoog Farm.  The last ones lasted for a month!

JAVA JUNCTION...

Here's the herd going out to eat...seemed like a good idea at the time.  By the way, many thanks to all of you who left comments about these sweet animals.  It's nice to know there are so many people out there who care as much as I do.

Had to stop at the Big M for the Sunday paper before going to Java.  Now it was not only windy,

it started to rain....

This is the one of the daughters of the people who own Java.  They have horses too.

After feeding the horses, I turned them out to a sunny, warm paddock to eat their hay....still no blankets, and the temperature was in the upper 50s.  Within an hour, it sounded like a freight train was coming through and they were blasted with winds of over 50 miles per hour.  At one point, roof shingles were swirling around them.  Gary and I quickly finished cleaning the stalls and immediately set up water in case the power goes off.  Put the horses back in with more hay, and drove down to Java for breakfast.  Poached eggs on whole wheat toast with a side of home fries and a small OJ.  I get the same thing every time!  As you can see, Main Street has lost it's Christmas look without the snow.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES!

Now look!  Almost all that snow is gone.

WHAT DO THEY LOOK LIKE UNDER THOSE BLANKETS?

2PM
Glen Aberlour (Abbe) 10yo POA, 14'3"...backed, good at line driving and free lounging...hope to have her trained to pull a cart this spring.

Babe's Opal (Pony) 28yo. 1/2 Arab 1/2 Welsh/Morgan. 13 h.  Has taught many children to ride.

Berlin. 23yo. 3/4 Trakehner.  15 h (squirt).  This is the horse I ride most of the time.  She is very kind.

Berlin.

Skoog's on Target (Target).  25yo Thoroughbred.  16'3".  Both parents were race horses...he is Jenny's horse.

Target.

Winnie. 19 yo Thoroughbred.  16'2".  Owned by Kenney Family.  Does everything!

Joe.  31yo Belgian.  16"2".  Owned by Randy Sundquist.  Until the past 2 years, he was ridden and driven (as good as any school master).  He is the first horse I had the opportunity to drive.

Took a clinic with Larry Poulin (Olympic Cross Country Driving Team) when I had only driven three hours, and Joe took care of me.

  
Masterpiece of '79 (PC). Appy/Thouroughbred/Quarter Cross (no spots).  Will be 30 this spring.

He was our first horse and was ridden by Jenny.  Bombproof and mischievous. 

All are in good rig for the middle of winter.  

It is supposed to stay in the 50s tonight and go to 60 tomorrow.  I'm sure it feels great to have complete freedom...left the indoor open so they could go roll.  Do I have some golden oldies or what?

TRANSITION....

Warm air reaching snow makes steam....


It started to rain this morning, so I put Joe and Pony in the indoor with some hay and water (wanted them to stay dry).  Put the rest of the hay in a run in and under the shed roof hoping the rest would be smart enough to eat there.  Abbe kept crying out for Joe and Pony and started to paw at the door.
When the rain stopped, I opened the indoor back up and they all went in to see what they were missing.







Didn't Joe go and do it again!!!!!  He went down to roll and with the slippery footing could not get up.  Once again, I unbuckled the front of his blanket and voila!  He was back on all four feet. Loves to give me heart failure.
This was some kind of "rolling" day...PC did his thing.

When I went in after chores, the snow was really melting.  I had to go down to the bank, so Phoebe came along for the ride and we observed a lot more misty, steamy sights.