9543 Has Arrived

Well first off, I'd like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas!

Lots has been going on so I've got a bit of catching up to do here. First off, Mustang #9543 has finally arrived at the Diamond G. Here's the tag she was wearing around before going to Mona.















And without further adu, here she is ("Hi, I'm Grace")
































She arrived on Saturday afternoon. We had a harder time getting Mona's trailer out of the snow than we did getting Grace on the trailer. After a few hems and haws, she loaded right up. When we got back to the farm, Cleo was out in the front paddock. When she saw Grace, she started prancing around the paddock and winnied in her typical tone. Once Grace got settled and found her, she winnied right back in her high pitched voice. We didn't have any problems getting Grace into the barn nor into her stall (this was the first time she was in a stall). Speaking of Mona, here she is with Grace.















Grace is settling in nicely. At this point, we're not really sure what color she'll turn out to be. At first we were thinking blue roan but now there's a chance she'll be grey. I guess we'll just have to wait to see. Whatever color she turns out to be, she's awfully cute!

Cleo had a bit of jealousy at first but that seems to have wained now. As long as she gets to eat first and gets first attention, she's fine.

Saturday it was on the warmer side and Sunday was pretty warm as well. Some of the snow started to go down (at least all the ice had melted) but then we got some rain on Sunday night and lo and behold, the ground started showing again. We literally lost 12-14" of snow overnight in some spots - without apparent flooding. So here we were all this time thinking we were going to have a white Christmas and now it's some white, some brown, and some green.

I received the following in an email from the Fr Corapi email list today and thought it was worth sharing.

CHRISTMAS GREETINGS 2007

I recently read some simple, yet profound, wisdom from two excellent sources: Pope Benedict XVI and Mother Angelica. They were both speaking about Christmas and the Christ child, and when either of them speak, I listen. One is our spiritual father, our “Papa” (Papal, Pope), the other is a spiritual mother to many. Both are reliable, both are holy, and both have remained faithful through the thick and thin of the Church’s recent history. Here are a few insights and perspectives that I gleaned from them.

Isn't it interesting, even amazing, that when God came to us He came as a helpless infant. He came as a baby so that we would not fear to approach Him. He came as a little child so that we might begin to understand Him. He did not come as a majestic King, although He surely is. He did not come on a warhorse with legions of angels at His command, although He could have. He came to us as an infant--poor, rejected, cold, and helpless. He came to us little so that we might understand Him, the Holy Father has remarked. Indeed, “God so loved the world that He sent his only begotten Son that whoever would believe in him would not perish, but come to everlasting life.” He sent His Son as a baby.

If you have been far from God, or just somewhat disinterested, don’t wait any longer. Approach the manger this Christmas and make room in the “Inn” of your heart.

In the midst of the incredible and sad commercialization of the holy day of Christmas, and all of the gifts and glitter, remember whose birthday it is. It is Jesus’ birthday. That is what Christmas is. What will you give to the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings on his birthday this year? Perhaps this year you will give him your heart and mind, all that you are and all that you do? Will you give him the gift of your time? Perhaps you will give him the gift of one hour in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament? Perhaps you will feed him, clothe him, house him, visit him in the hospital or nursing home? Perhaps you will visit him in prison? Perhaps you will love him in a thousand ways by loving the least of his brethren, as He instructed us to do?

May the infant Jesus bless you now and all the days of your life.

Not much that I can add to that, so let me close with the following reminder of the significance of this day and a prayer for peace for men of good will.

" And she brought forth her first-born Son, and
wrapped Him up in swaddling clothes, and laid
Him in a manger, because there was no room for
them in the inn. And there were in the same country
shepherds watching, and keeping the night watches
over their flock. And behold an Angel of the Lord
stood by them, and the brightness of God shone
round about them, and they feared with a great fear.
And the Angel said to them: Fear not; for behold I bring
you good tidings of great joy, that shall be to all the people;
for this day is born to you a Saviour, Who is Christ the Lord,
in the city of David. And this shall be a sign unto you:
You shall find the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes,
and laid in a manger. And suddenly there was with
the Angel a multitude of the heavenly army, praising
God, and saying: Glory to God in the highest and on earth,
peace to men of good will."
Luke 2:7-14

No news is ... a bummer

Well, instead of Grace today we got ... yep snow. Started out about 7:15 this morning and tapered off to rain at about 5:30. All in all, we got probably 8" on the ground. Started out as light and fluffy snow but got a heavier as the day went on.

Once we confirmed that we were gonna get weather today, Mona decided that she would try to bring Grace up on Saturday instead. However, as luck would have it she got tied up doing stuff around her barn and couldn't get out before it was gonna be dark. So sometime this week, we'll try to pick another time. It'll get harder and harder to plan long term with winter in full effect (even though technically its still fall for another week or so). Starting to see a few more trailers in Uncle Henry's so might be getting onto time to thinking about acquiring our own. I'm thinking that ideally, I'd like a 16' gooseneck combo stock trailer. That would be the best overall option to handle horses, cows, and hay.

Got some work done in the barn today. Fixed the outside door in what will be Grace's stall and started fixing a few other things that needed fixing.

Well, thats about all for today. Not much to say but thought I'd bring all y'all up to date on the continuing saga of Grace.

Receiving Grace

Finally got my paperwork back from the BLM this past Monday. I talked with Mona over the weekend and she has agreed to haul Grace up to us on this coming Sunday. Mona told me that Grace is leading better and is pretty good about picking up her feet. She's mostly over the nipping stage as well. She's also gotten a lot bigger than the last time we've seen her too.

This morning I was talking to a neighbor and she was telling me that we're supposed to get a doozy of a snowstorm on Sunday - possibly a foot or more. I've not been able to confirm that with any of the online weather places yet so stay tuned for more info as it becomes available. Hopefully we'll be able to get her but if the weather's bad, it might have to wait. She's about an hour and a half away, so its not a short trip and would be much worse in the snow.

While reading The Beginning Farmer's Blog the other day, I came across the following quote.

"As an entrepreneur I learned that you can commit yourself to a strategy if you burn the bridge behind you. Then you have to make it work." - Tim Young

Ethan, the owner of that blog was interviewing the owners of Nature's Harmony Farm. You can read the blog entry containing this quote on "Nature's Harmony Farm Q&A - Part 3" here. The owners of this farm quit Corporate America to live a simpler life closer to nature. They're setting their farm up to most closely mimic nature with grazing rotation, animal care, etc.

"Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Don't be afraid or discouraged by the size of the task, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you."
1 Chronicles 28:20

Words To Live By

Was reading the December issue of Western Horseman last night when I came across an ad for Stoecklein Photography. I took a closer look at some of the pictures and came across this poster.

Code of The West
1. Live Each Day with Courage
2. Take Pride in Your Work
3. Always Finish What you Start
4. Do What Has to Be Done
5. Be Tough, But Fair
6. When You Make a Promise, Keep It
7. Ride for the Brand
8. Talk Less and Say More
9. Remember That Some Things Are Not For Sale
10. Know Where to Draw the Line

After re-reading the list a few times, I got to thinking that those sure are good rules to live by. They will become the cornerstone of our youth program. Seems to me that folks can make things far too complicated sometimes, always trying to come up with grey areas when things are mostly black and white. Seems more often than not grey areas are often just a way out of making the right/hard/unpopular decision.

So then I turn the page (back to Western Horseman magazine again) and stumble across an interview with Sheila Varian, who amongst other things has this to say "You need to take loss with graciousness, but it should eat on you a bit".

Of course Michael Martin Murphy sums it up pretty good in his song "Cowboy Logic" - if you've never heard it, give it a listen and if you have, listen to it again.

Good news on the Grace front! I called Randy at the BLM yesterday to find out about the status of my application. He wasn't in but I talked with another woman in the office. She told me that I didn't need to wait for the application to be signed and returned - even though this is what Randy indicated in his cover letter to me when he sent me the application. That being said, she told me they signed and recorded it on 11/27/07 and that I should have already received it. Since I didn't, she was going to send me a copy in the mail. So tonight I called Mona and left a message with her to arrange for delivery of Grace to the Diamond G. Here's a picture of her from the mustang rescue site.










Got some more snow tonight - wasn't supposed to accumulate but we've got over a new inch on the ground so far.

What else but Snow

Well, winter came early and hard to the Diamond G this year. Late Sunday night into Tuesday afternoon we got about 16 inches of snow. Good snowball snow, too - not too fluffy but not slushball material either.















It's the pretty snow that sticks to the trees but doesn't bring down powerlines.
















In order for us to get snow, the temperature needed to warm up some. Most of last week the average high temo was about 20 degrees. It wasn't too bad when the wind stayed down but when it kicked up boy it was cold.

This year, due to reasons outside of our control (thanks Chip) we needed to get a new Christmas tree. We decided that we would like to get a live tree this year. This is the first real tree for any of us.

The snow came as kind of a suprise. I was checking out the weather for the week and saw they were predicting about a foot of snow. Nothing like the prediction of a foot of snow later on that day to kick yer butt into high gear. On the way into church we were a bit early so I stopped by the side of the road to take some pictures of one of the tidal rivers that had started to freeze. Tidal rivers are real amazing to me - the amount of water that comes and goes with them every day is huge.































Church was really good this week. Stacy and I got to light the advent candle during the mass. We had a substitute priest this week who gave a really great homily on the need to listen. His hard nosed preaching style reminded me of Father Corapi. After church, we went to Morse farmstand to pick out our tree and then we had to stop and buy a snow shovel - our old one wore itself out. Before the snow would start falling, I needed to hang a window in the barn that needed most of its panes repaired (fortunately I got the glass on Friday and had fixed the window on Saturday), bring in about a dozen stall mats that I had out to get cleaned off, bring in several buckets from the paddocks and fields, etc. By the time I had everything about done, dark set in. (Dark sure does set in early and hard these days - kinda like God throwing the light switch)

In the middle of all this Sunday activity, we had some friends from Oxford stop by for a visit. It sure was nice to see them and sit and visit awhile.

Then early Monday morning (about 2:00AM) the snow started but unfortunately during the afternoon, the snow blower didn't. Good thing I had a nice new shovel to break in. First time I got to move snow with the tractor, too. It's a little tricky to get the hang of but fortunately for me (and the farm) the ground was already frozen so it's less likely to tear up. Moving snow is a balancing act of angle and downward pressure on the bucket. Too much pressure and angle and you tear things up (and can't steer as the front end comes off the ground) and too little and you get a hard packed layer under the bucket. Unless of course you're back blading which has its own set of issues. :-)

Cleo doesn't seem to mind the snow much, except for the fact that it is covering all the grass. She kind of just mills about and occasionally paws the snow off the ground and tries to get a mouthful of grass. Laredo likes the snow, he jumps around in it.

Speaking of Laredo, he has learned a new trick, he's figured out how to open the sliding door. This afternoon I was parking the tractor (more snow cleanup) when I noticed Laredo was out in the paddock with Cleo. I figured someone had taken him out but nope, he just let himself out. First the fridge and now the door.

No paperwork back from the BLM yet, guess I'll have to call them and see what's going on.

We've got a new visitor on the farm, a snowy owl has been hanging around pretty close to the house and barn. I've seen him a few times but haven't been able to get a picture yet. The first time I saw him, he was sitting on top of the gate for the round pen. I was a bit suprised to see him in mid-morning so out in the open.

Well, thats about all for now. Hopefully I'll have some good news on Grace this week. If you happen to be local, check out our ads running in the Wiscasset, BoothBay, and Lincoln County newspapers as well as The Coastal Journal and Uncle Andy's. We're running a Christmas sale where we're offering 1/2 off your first two months of boarding if you contact us before Januray 7th.