Some people came down from Appleton to look at Monty. One of the women is interested in leasing an arab show horse. Even in the winter snow, Monty looked beautiful.

He did everything Maddy asked him to do from a beautiful extended trot to flying lead changes.

So, of course, the woman is going to lease him for six months and see how well they work together.

He will live in a fancy heated stable with a heated arena. They even have white picket fences. What  more could a spoiled horse like Monty want?

Maddy, perhaps.

We will miss him, but we will visit. A lot of my relatives live nearby the stable.

Yes, it is as cold as it looks.

DANE-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...MADISON
341 PM CST WED JAN 14 2009

...WIND CHILL WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 12 PM CST FRIDAY...

.TONIGHT...TURNING BITTERLY COLD. MOSTLY CLEAR. LOWS AROUND 19
BELOW. NORTHWEST WINDS 10 TO 15 MPH. WIND CHILL READINGS 34 BELOW
TO 44 BELOW ZERO.
.THURSDAY...BITTERLY COLD. SUNNY. HIGHS AROUND 4 BELOW. WEST WINDS
10 TO 15 MPH. LOWEST WIND CHILL READINGS 35 BELOW TO 45 BELOW ZERO
IN THE MORNING.
.THURSDAY NIGHT...BITTERLY COLD. MOSTLY CLEAR. LOWS AROUND
22 BELOW. WEST WINDS 5 TO 10 MPH. WIND CHILL READINGS 30 BELOW TO
40 BELOW ZERO.
.FRIDAY...VERY COLD. INCREASING CLOUDS. HIGHS AROUND 6. SOUTHWEST
WINDS 5 TO 10 MPH. LOWEST WIND CHILL READINGS 30 BELOW TO 40 BELOW
ZERO IN THE MORNING.

There are many great rooms in this house, but only a few I’ve taken photos of. But here is one of our favorite rooms — the kitchen. It is a great room to host a party, because everyone can end up in the kitchen.

What will we do with all this counter space?

This is one way to put it to good use — Chuck cooking up a storm.

We’re slowly decorating. As you can see, we have a long ways to go to dress that wine rack.

This is officially the dining room, but with that big kitchen, we really have no use for a formal place to dine. So we turned it into a second living room. It is a great place to hang out during the day because the sun pours through the window and warms the winter soul.

Another view.

And another view…our music corner.

Here is the t.v. room. There really is a t.v. in here.

And for all our friends who want to come and see it in real life, we have a guest room.

Here’s Chuck Bunyan (he is from Minnesota) cutting wood for our wood burning furnace.

He claims: a gallon of fuel oil produces as much heat as 25 lbs of wood. Right now fuel oil is $2.10 so he’s making $24/hr. taxed.

So, not a bad part-time job. Oh…did I mention the hard work involved.

Duke, the red ox, tries to help.

Here’s some of today’s haul that we stacked for tomorrow’s splitting. Life on the farm is full of fun and healthy stuff.

One of the most amazing places on this property is walking along the river. Technically it is a trout stream, but it seems more like a river. The DNR stock the stream in the spring. We have dreams of trout for dinner. But until then, we will enjoy the view.

Duke is another big fan of the river. I think he’ll make a good trout dog.

All the rooms in this house have amazing views. Here’s a sample of some that I’ve taken pictures of.

Kitchen view over the sink.

Broader view of the kitchen. We have since moved the table and chairs into a storage barn. They will come out for company in the Spring.

Kitchen side view

View from the north side door.

Living room view of the outdoor arena and a very skinny tree.

Front room view of the sunrise.

View from Chuck’s office window.

We brought four horses with us to the farm: Monty, Tabu, Ginger and Athena.

Monty

Tabu

Ginger

Athena

The horses first morning waking up to their new home

They seem to be happy in their new area.  Maddy has taken them on several trail rides, exploring the new land.

Hello World — I’m back in action. The software has been updated and posting will begin again. As many of you know, we moved to a beautiful farm down in the valley. We haven’t figured out a name for the place yet, but we will. Here are a few photos of the new homestead.

Here is a southwestern view of the farm. It is on 80 acres, so there are many views.  I don’t think I’ve even seen them all. You don’t really realize how big 80 acres is until to start to walk it, or look for a horse.

Here is a view from the west. We talk a walk at night with the help of the full moon. With all of this snow and the bright moon light is looked as if someone turned on flood lights.

One of our favorite spots is walking down to the trout stream. It runs through the pasture and is stocked with trout by the DNR. We imagine our summer meals of fresh trout, home grown vegetables, wild mushrooms and what…dandelion wine?

Here is the back of the house, although it is pretty much our main entry. There are four doors to this place. Two in the back, one in the front and one on the side.

This is a rather haunting photo of the barn. All of the outbuildings are in pretty good shape and freshly painted.

Here’s my new snow gauge.

The river is a natural fence for the horses on one side of the pasture. Hopefully they won’t decide the grass is greener on the other side.

It snowed a lot one day and gone went the driveway. It sure is pretty right after a big snow.

It took a little while to uncover the stairs, but I managed.