warmed by Windchill
Welcome to Raindance
'Breeding hope for a better tomorrow'
Home of 18 Tennessee Walking Horses, 2 spotted saddle horses,  and the memory and spirit of a little Walkaloosa colt named Windchill, and his half-sister Isabelle. This is also the home of Walker, an Australian Shepherd, 4 adult cats, a kitten, and a humungous garage frog.

Windchill updates are now located at:
The WindChill Legacy's Site
_______
Windchill's Page
(still transferring things to the new site so won't take them down entirely from here for awhile)

Located in South Range, Wisconsin, our herd enjoys lush pastures, rolling hills, fields, trails and forests giving us the room we need for all the training, boarding, breeding and riding. The variety of terrain in the surrounding area gives our horses a wider breadth of experience - everything from riding an open field to alongside a road, to trails, to climbing hills in the woods as well as riding alongside, through and over streams.  Combine that experience with kids coming to visit and dogs running alongside on our rides and you'll find our horses to be fairly 'laid back' and friendly!

           Windchill News & Info
 Links
The WindChill Legacy site
Windchill Memories - main page
The Windchill Story
A day in the life of Windchill
Windchill Videos
Windchill Photo Gallery (under construction)
Windchill in the News (media stories)
Donations
Windchill's Forum for Friends (current news & events)
Windchill's Thank you thank you thank you's!
Wisdom carried by the young- "Someday Windchill" 
Sign Windchill's Guest Book
See Windchill's Original Guest Book & Memorial
Windchill's letter to all the children who wrote him
More than a trainer

Webcam, Picture and BBQ Invitation Links

Raindance Barn Cam  (Now facing the girls pasture - Lily, Treat, Kisses & Sunday)
Raindance Barn Cam 2 (requires password) - now facing the pen so could be either Bonnie & Layla, or the boys - Legend, Fear or Jackson who will be appearing)
Layla Pictures and Videos
WindChill's Memorial BBQ - August 16th at Raindance, mark your calendars!

July 9th, 1:15pm:  WOOHOO! After several weeks in the making, we are pleased to announce the first phase of WindChill's website, the official website of The WindChill Legacy, Ltd.! The site is located at:

TheWindChillLegacy.org

A very special thank you goes out to Heather for her hard work on this site. She took the outline of what we wanted and turned it into art on the screen and she's amazing. Obviously there's a number of areas still under development - this will be a work in progress, just as it has been. This is the first phase of the website, the second phase is being worked on by a separate development team and the third phase (being worked on concurrently but will take a bit longer) is being worked on by a separate team yet.  Thanks to everyone involved and again, thank you to Heather for capturing what we hope is the spirit of WindChill on screen.

July th, 7:47pm:  Just a quick note for those still watching the cams and noticing you're seeing mostly empty stalls because, well, mostly they've been empty lately with everyone playing outside. We're moving the cams around to different positions, the two public cams are now facing outward so you can see the pen area and the north pasture when the doors are open so you'll get to see a variety of horses. The North cam will need to be moved for a better view but hey, it's public television so enjoy!

July 6th, 9:57am:  What a glorious weekend! I hope you didn't spend all of the 4th watching us have fun over the webcam, though I understand quite a few did. For those that actually went outside and enjoyed the day what you missed was grandma (my mom) coming out with my sister's kids (and sister), a great BBQ (practice for the one coming up later this Summer!), horseback rides (yes, walking in more circles in the sun...), 8 kids laughing as they got rides on Excalibur and had far too much sugar. My sister's kids (only 6 of them are her's, the others were spares brought in case one of hers broke down) are adorable. When I asked one of her youngest to say grace awhile back, he gave a benediction that was so eloquent (and long) that I was embarrassed afterwards at my own short missives to God which are generall along the lines of "Thank you Lord for the blessings we're about to receive and, ummm, for this beautiful day. Amen." No matter how I try to vary it, it generally ends up along that line. What an absolutely wonderful day though - sure makes you grateful to live in this great nation doesn't it? Something about the hot sun - how wonderful it makes lemonade taste...isn't that a part of the experience, it can't be in a plastic cup, it must be in a glass, filled with some ice cubes and then the lemonade poured over the top. Every degree above 75 degrees makes it exponentially taste better I think. We spent the evening then enjoying the soft breeze and the sounds of country life and the evening watching several different fireworks displays. Raindance sits atop a hill, the highest point in the area, and thus we have a view of Lake Superior and the firewords from Duluth/Superior, as well as surrounding community fireworks. In the winter we pay for it with a ton more snow than surrounding areas and pretty much constant wind. It's worth the tradeoff.

Well time for a breakfast that would make the less hardy cringe - black coffee, eggs over-easy fried in bacon grease (left over from making bacon yesterday, figured I'd give it a try) and of course to top our cholesterol-clogged menu, some slices of bacon. You're welcome to join me if you'd like, if you're not as brave, you're welcome to some good hot coffee and a bowl of oatmeal or some slices of toast instead? It's going to be a gorgeous day - time to get started enjoying it. I hope you all are having a fabulous 4th of July.

OHHHHH - one other thing before I go. There's a little pony needing surgery and the Legacy is stepping up to help the little guy. Details are posted on the forum - please consider helping if you're able. The thread is called "Help Rowdy" under the "Abuse and Neglect" topic on the forum.

July 4th, 9:54am:  Happy birthday America! What a beautiful day. Not too hot here, mid-70's, blue skies, time to get all of our flags flying. Today all of our equipment flies Old Glory, with Excalibur typically flying a big version of it off the hay spear (though today will fly smaller versions, I'm using the other big version to fly off the pole on the side of the house). The younger horses have been out racing and having a ball out there, somehow they seem to know the really good days. Maybe because so many of their days are good? I hope you all have a truly wonderful day - spend it dwelling on positive things. Some folks love to look back and dwell on negatives, you ever notice that? But why let them ruin such a beautiful day, huh?

And for those that love to dwell and watch life being lived, rather than live it - feel free to watch our various barn cams - gonna go outside and enjoy the sun, a good cigar, cup of coffee and a hug from each of the gentle souls wandering around our pastures (or if they're our ineffective rodent patrol, they're laying on blankets in the garage and barn giving the mice directions to get to the grain...cats...grrr!!!)

June 30th, 8:40pm:  Since the Legacy website hasn't launched yet, I'll post it here - we are very pleased to announce that Oregon artist and animal rescue advocate Deborah Sprague has accepted our invitation to join the board of directors. Deb joins our other board members - Gary Niemi, Polly Niemi, Kathi Davis, Barb Caskey, Paula Moore and myself (Jeff Tucker) in our mission to fight equine neglect and we're honored to work with such a diverse group of individuals committed to this cause. Welcome Deb!

June 30th, 10:10am:  The flag will stay at half mast for one more day here at Raindance in Issy's honor. Lily's doing okay for those that have emailed and worried. We're giving her lots of love and attention and she's in with Bonnie and Layla. We're leaving the barn and stall door open so they can wander in and out so off and on you may see one or the other in the stall.

Kathi announced the winners of the t-shirts on the forum (from those who guessed Issy's time of birth, coloring, etc.). We've gotten the sizes and addresses from a couple of the winners, please let us know your size and preference so we can get those out in the snail mail today. Some very happy winners - well deserved!

Special thanks to Blue County for some great lyrics...
"Knowin’ where you’re goin’ embracin’ where you’ve been
Being criticized for standin’ strong in a battle you can’t win
Livin’ in a moment you may never see again
Let your heart break some rules
Now that’s cool"

June 29th, 11:19m:  Enough's enough folks. You want to post negative things about us, hypocritically post one thing in one spot and in the same time frame post a negative commentary in another and then wonder why oh why am I suddenly being called on the carpet and being held accountable... and all the other juvenile crap - we're finally breaking our silence and responding - it's posted on the forum. Have at it. We turn our attention back to running this farm and maintaining the Legacy's focus.

June 28th, 8:01pm:  Hi folks. Just a brief couple of updates - the barn cams are back up. We felt it would be nice for you to see life continues, even when things are sad. We haven't moved cam 2 back to the other side of the barn yet so we put Bonnie and Layla in the maternity stall and asked them to keep you all company. Layla was thrilled, Bonnie had to be bought off with grain.

We buried Issy this morning. I put a little more details on that on the forum, I think it's under the Jeff News link but don't quote me on that one, it's been a long couple of days.

On a brighter note, tonight Kathi will be announcing the winners of the t-shirts from the contest to guess the foal's color and day of birth so we have some lucky folks that will be receiving t-shirts this week. Though the ending wasn't what we expected, we still want to celebrate the life and spirit of the little being we all knew as Isabelle and it feels good to do something like this to celebrate it. Thanks to everyone who made a guess. I still think I should get one for guessing it would be a baby horse but apparently that wasn't specific enough according to someone who shall remain unnamed, so we'll call her Kathi.

The designer is still working on the videos/photo area of the new Legacy website. The site itself is very nice, quite striking. Like I mentioned earlier, it'll be a work in progress as we have folks working on the educational materials and some designers in FL who have offered to help us with the children's section of the site when we start that phase.

Okay, so much for this being brief. Guess once we start talking it's hard to stop, huh? It's strange, I actually feel a little better after we've had this time together here.

June 28th, 1:06am:  For the second time this year I find myself having to write the words I never wanted to write and it's just as hard the second time I'm finding. We were forced to have Isabelle put down last night as a result of complications of hypothyroid that arose quickly. Her vet checks all went well this week - I asked the specialist why - why so quickly. He said this kind of thing can flare quickly - as quickly as a couple of hours to a day. We raced her to the equine hospital this afternoon. We returned home a short while ago.

There were a number of complications - each we futilely tried to argue with, solve, brainstorm, beg to be different and finally resign to. He explained why it wouldn't work, he explained using the Barbaro's legs example of what finally brought down that fine horse and Issy was destined to the same fate. Apparently no matter how far into debt you're willing to go to save a life, yet again we've found sometimes that isn't enough.

There are so many similarities with Issy to Windchill, it's eerie.  Her intense desire to stand, even after the tendon issue made that difficult (that was the one resolvable by surgery issue...), her gentle yet persistent personality, the round the clock shifts we pulled to feed her when she couldn't nurse from Lily... The resemblance physically. And the love we both felt for her and from her. And how people cared about her, watched her daily, and I dare say loved her from afar. What makes this particularly painful to me is that Issy was so much like a baby girl, a daughter - being a dad there was a time a LONG time ago it seems  like now when I awoke to bottle feed my kids. I had forgotten that feeling - their teenage years has that effect, doesn't it? But here I was a daddy again. A little filly called out each time one of us entered the barn, she waited for us to visit her, pet her, hug her, kiss her and feed her. She had her favorite spot - her 'room' at the end of the stall. I realize that made it tough to view her, maybe she figured that out just to be mischievous. Or maybe it was the coolest spot in the stall. But it was hers. From there she watched the activity around her, as Lily stood watch over her. I had nowhere near enough moments with her. She would eat then if she wasn't too tired, would nuzzle with her head. She was our baby. You know the feeling when your kids are young and you tuck them in and you listen to their gentle, easy breathing late at night - that was night time with Issy. Content after her snack she'd drift off and it was the peaceful feeling of being in a nursery...I can't put into words on this stupid screen the ache I feel inside my heart.

Our guess about the 'shadow' - that horse shaped shadow that appeared above her on the cam late at night that several of you saw and described - wasn't that Windchill was looking out for Issy - he was waiting for her. Waiting to bring her home to a place where she, like him, could finally run free. I honestly believe that. But you know what? It doesn't help me right now. We miss that little girl. Maybe tomorrow when we bury little Issy, it'll help then. I guess if anyone asks how long it takes to feel your heart break over a loss, tell them it takes 5 nights and days.

June 27th, 7:44am: Wow, apparently I crashed last night. Kathi ended up taking the night feedings. I've been working out of my home office the past three days so I could take the night feedings and be here during the day. Guess it caught up with me. Apparently I'm mortal. I was hoping to let her catch up on sleep with all the hours she's been putting in with the 'baby', plus work. Issy continues to gain weight and strength...unfortunately with the tendons in her legs not stretched correctly, she can't build the strength in her front legs as she should so the extra weight isn't helping - a catch-22. So it looks like we'll be taking her down for leg surgery in the not too distant future. She has the sweetest little personality, very affectionate and loves to be hugged and petted. Polly and Carrie have been coming over to help relieve us some of the feeding schedule. I was supposed to use the time yesterday to catch up on sleep but as you've already learned, I'm immortal (not!) and used my time to wisely stain the Raindance sign, stain the deck, trim around the house and pastures and move grain. I'm such a duh.

And I should be trying to get some sleep now but woke up for the 6am feeding to find the girls from the back pastures had let themselves out so they wandered through the barn, out the front gate and were (fortunately) enjoying what they had discovered was truth to the myth - the grass is actually greener across the fence. That will now be spread far and wide to horses everywhere, so horse owners beware - this is the real reason we have so little bandwidth, the horses keep using the internet to spread gossip. Anyway, after cajoling, authoritatively calling and finally begging and pleading, the horses are now safely back in their pasture. I know not all are able to access the forum for various reasons, I'll try to get some more pictures of Issy up here later today if we don't have another breakout of the inmates. And, and by the way all you Walker fans - while Walker realized something was amiss he apparently determined there was absolutely nothing he could do about it so went back to laying on the porch and watching them from afar. Some herding dog...had Olivia actually gotten up from her place in the stall next to Issy's, she would've been more help. Time to go out for Issy's next feeding...

June 26th, 1:15am: Aw man, what a horrible dad I am. Yesterday was my girl's 7th birthday! No, not that girl. Not that one either. I'm referring to my first mare and partial namesake of this farm - Rain! I registered her as "A Dance in the Rain." Can you believe I forgot to mention it, the reminder came up on my Outlook tickler and I meant to tell you. Rain's just a sweetie, very patient, we use her as a lesson horse because I've spent a long time desensitizing her to all kinds of things that terrify a horse like the garden hose...that plastic tarp...the garbage can...the truck it has seen every day of its life but only today just realized the truck plans to eat it...air... so after she's spooked at something she gets the "boo!" treatment the rest of that ride, after having to put her nose on whatever commonplace, everyday object terrified her today. She's learned it's just easier not to spook. We have a friend who boards her horse here who is wheelchair bound and Rain stands perfectly still as she's tacked up, and then led to a spot next to metal stairs where three of us help our friend onto the horse and put her legs into the stirrups. She cues the horse verbally and with her hands, she's a good rider and Rain's her patient steed. Anyway, happy birthday sweetie!

In other news I wanted to share something rather bizarre from last night. Since several of you have both emailed as well as posted about it on the forum, I feel a little less weird posting it. Last night at 2am a shadow of a horse appeared on cam over Isabelle. The shadow appeared to stand over her for some time, looking down at her. After awhile, the shadow moved up and to the right, off the camera. Kathi at first thought one of the cams had been knocked down and it was somehow catching Lily's shadow - except the cams are mounted on the rafters of the barn looking downward, and Lily was sleeping not far from where Issy lay and as the shadow moved up and away, Lily woke up and looked up and to the right in the direction that it 'left.'  The shadow was so real looking somebody asked if somehow Olivia could've been caught on cam. Again, not possible as the cams are mounted very high to avoid equine curiosity and the night lighting is mounted in the barn aisle. It's also not possible for there to be a shadow in that direction due to the positioning and height of the lighting. The only horses in that barn at the moment are Lily and Isabelle. Apparently Issy is being watched over by more than just her mommy and us. I believe in God above. I believe in angels. And I suspect I know the name of Issy's guardian angel.

June 25th, 2:05pm: Came back in from the feeding to emails saying the cams both went down - we're going to keep having that issue as there's quite a few watching and limited bandwidth. The reason for that is the router and cams in the barn are connected to a booster antenna mounted outside the barn connecting to the router via wireless in the house - so that's somewhat of a bottleneck for the number of people apparently watching throughout the day. Those leaving the cams up in their browser as they work, etc. are keeping the 'pipe' open which is filling it, limiting how many are able to log in and see the baby. Sorry, I'm working to make some changes in image size and frequency to try to fix and probably change how the viewing works as well.

June 25th, 1:25pm: Welcome back to the talk of the town! LOL. The most watched at work reality broadcast around apparently. Issy's adorable, isn't she? And still at the stage I think she'd fit comfortably in the backseat of my truck and probably have a blast going for a ride! I didn't realize her first doctor appointment was captured off the cam, thanks to a special friend for emailing it to me so I can share Issy at the doctor - see how good she was? Wish my kids were that good at that age! Time for her next feeding, man that little girl has gotten strong - watch how she leaps up now! Too cute. And I have to admit, it's really cool having a little whinny calling out when we call her as we enter the barn. Too cute!

June 23rd 11:25pm: You know what - there's an awful lot of downright eerie familiarity with the birth of this little girl. I just came in from her hourly feeding. Until she begins nursing off Lily (maybe tomorrow...hopefully...) we have her on an hourly feeding schedule. Hopefully Kat will get some sleep, she's been up 24 hours straight taking care of mom and baby. Izzie's getting stronger by the hour. I think some of that feeling of deja vu is how similar she looks to her half brother - bright star like Windchill had, dark coloring, same sweet personality and that same desire to stand. That feeling of dread kicks in unbidden and unwelcome - the fear she won't stand. But it's a fear unfounded, as the tendons in her legs stretch and her muscles strengthen she bounds up onto her feet and starts taking those shaky steps and then there's the relief. She even whinnies when she hears us open the door and call her name, just like her half brother (I feel weird saying half brother, how can you be half family?), Windchill.

I had hoped the feeling wouldn't be there after Layla was born but it was easier with her, she was a striking contrast with her bright white hair and petite, comical ways I think. I try not to miss the little guy so much, and try not to blur a happy occasion like the birth of a new baby girl with the loss of that little guy. I guess sometimes that's easier said than done, especially late at night like this. After Izzie's feeding, she immediately lays back down and goes straight to sleep. Lily stands nearby. It's a very peaceful time of the day. Nothing more to do but become one with the night. You just listen. You can hear the gentle breathing of the baby. The crunching of hooves in the dirt and gravel of the herd in various pastures surrounding the barn. Frogs in the woods. Walker groaning when he rolls over to have his tummy rubbed. The soft "mrrrr?" - Olivia or Tiger's way of asking if they can join for a moment before heading off to whatever cats do late at night. We've spent hours sitting in that exact stall waiting, watching, praying. And here we are again, doing a lot of the same. The cigar is much crisper tasting in the silence for some reason. The swirling smoke seems to carry some of the day away with it as it drifts off. And then here I am - I even find I had to come post to get away from the feelings, just as I did during those 20 days and beyond. I have no idea how many of you are left coming back here. Some places are hard to leave, aren't they? You go back, searching, looking - waiting for something, not even sure what that something may be. Maybe in our case it's that comfortable togetherness we somehow feel. Just so you know - you're always welcome. And if you are here tonight, I'm glad you are. (and if you're still around in another 40 minutes or so we get to experience all of the above all over again as I go back out for the next feeding...and then the next one at 1:35am...and on throughout the night...sigh. It's okay though - this is who we are and this is what we do, I wouldn't trade this for all the sleep in the world).

June 23rd 3:16am: Happy birth day Isabelle! That's right, Lily finally had her long-
awaited, much anticipated, finally finally here baby. Isabelle is a beautiful baby girl, black with a white star and snip. Mom and baby are both doing well, and resting as I type this.

(just kidding - this is Kat and cat)                                  

June 22nd 10:48am: We've done it! We've found God's recipe for pouring rain followed by hail. Yesterday was a big day of working around the farm, replenishing supplies, etc. I ran into town in the morning to pick up a ton of grain and while heading in I stopped to wash my truck - that's ingredient one. The sun will be shining and it will be clear of course when you do this. Shortly thereafter it will begin to cloud up a bit but you'll still believe you can go get the grain and be fine. After loading the grain bags and standing and talking with the folks at the feed mill for a bit, it will cloud up some more. Denial being such a powerful means of coping with the inevitable, you will then light another cigar and think to yourself "I have time to stop at the grocery store to buy some ice cream to help cure a partner who woke up crabby...(hypothetically of course)" and a good white zinfandel which will either help said partner's crabbiness later or help you cope with it - either route is fine for our hopeful cowboy...  It will begin drizzling shortly thereafter - the more you push on your accelerator, the more it will drizzle. It's amazing how much power a diesel truck has on the elements...  Arriving home just ahead of armageddon, there will be just enough time to unload all zillion of the grain bags - get the groceries in the house and put the wine to chillin' - and race back outside to fire up Excalibur and get several loads of gravel moved into the barn to continue leveling each stall - it will be while driving on an exposed diesel tractor, in cutoffs and a tanktop - thus providing the necessary exposure of skin that will complete the final necessary ingredient for God to finally stop restraining and let loose not only with a torrential downpour but mixing in hail. I've worked so long on discovering the formula for a summer thunderstorm mixed with hail that I think yesterday could be chalked up as a very successful day.  I'm going to head outside to help with a horse lesson shortly, again in cutoffs and tank top - today I'm working on the formula for a blinding blizzard probably.

Lily is SOOOO close to having that foal it isn't funny...yet keeps on holding it in. Somebody posted that they're sure the foal is a colt because he won't ask directions on how to get out. Apparently there's lots of folks that have been watching our Lily cam helping watch for that baby. We still have the contest going for free t-shirts to those that guess the day, as well as those that guess the sex and color of the baby.

The BBQ committee keeps churning away on the August 16th memorial BBQ and wedding reception. The wedding committee keeps planning away for the July wedding. On both committees I'm an honorary member, or at least I think I am. So far I only have to say "yes that sounds nice" to the various committee ideas. I know better than to say anything else.

And - version 1 of the official WindChill Legacy, Ltd. website is almost ready for launch. It will be a work in progress for quite some time but it will at least give an official landing place for the WindChill blogs, photo and video archives, the educational materials various folks are working on, and a link to the informal forum we launched in March to help folks deal with their grief at the time and which has become a place for friends to come together and stay updated on various things going on with the Legacy and the farm since lots of folks seem to love seeing the various equine/canine/feline residents and their antics.

June 19th 1:05pm: Holy smokes folks, the number of you watching Lily on the barn cam has been amazing - and a bit expensive! The computer company emailed to tell us we're using huge amounts of bandwidth. Oh well. It's such a beautiful experience it's hard to put a price on what experiencing it gives back. I know there are those who wonder why anyone would bring another being into the world - but every time I start to become jaded and cynical like that I look into the face of a newborn baby - and feel that soft warmth, the feel of their skin, that 'baby' smell and realize this isn't just another mouth to feed - it's God's purest way of telling us there's hope for a better world and a better tomorrow.

I feel the same way about our horses. We spend so much time being so careful to limit our breeding for something so specific, something so amazing - basically breeding for a perfection that will probably never be achieved, not by man anyway - that when the time finally comes for this little piece of perfection to be born I don't remember anything about the genetics, hours of research on conformation and all the rest that goes into the careful planning...I think about how adorable the little foal is. A baby, or a foal, doesn't know anything but what it feels at that particular moment - I guess it's our job to make both feel all the love in the world. And so we shall...when Lily's baby is born we'll be there to welcome it to a world that just got a little bit better because he or she is in it. Just like when my kids were born. Isn't it cool that we all can make the world just a little bit better - one being at a time.

Oh yeah! And hey you wild women of the Herd that Heard - thank you so much for the presents that have arrived from the virtual wedding shower - WOW. Thank you all so much for the warm wishes - and we hope to meet a lot of you at the BBQ on August 16th, YOU ARE ALL THE GREATEST!

June 14th 9:23am: Though a bit overcast, still a great day and a break from the torrential rains we've been having! No time to get the loads of gravel I had brought in spread into the barn, stalls, pen etc. Planning to do a lot of that today so if you're bored you can watch me and Excalibur on webcam as haul load after load of dirt around the farm.

Guess the baby contest! Woohoo, we're having a contest. Win a t-shirt for the closest guesses on: Date and time, color and gender. The contest is located under "Guess the date and time - win a t-shirt" thread on WindChill's forum, under WindChill's Friends & Family. Winners can choose between a Raindance Farms or The WindChill Legacy, Ltd. t-shirts). The excitement never stops! You're all welcome to post a guess - if people were talking about this contest, they'd probably say "Wow! The excitement sure never stops at Raindance Farms, LLC or The Windchill Legacy, Ltd."**

**Not actual quotes. Had they been asked for quotes, these could potentially be quotes, in whole or in part, except where prohibited by law. Absolutely no reproduction of these quotes may be reproduced, in part or in whole, without the express written permission of the quotees. Quotees do not actually own the rights to the quotation marks themselves however, so if you feel you must make a statement and need the use of these quotation marks, permission is granted on a limited basis pending confirmation of punctuation. Contents of this website may settle during shipment. Void where prohibited. Not valid on all planets. Neither Raindance Farms, LLC, nor the WindChill Legacy, Ltd., in part or in whole, jointly or severally, are responsible in any way for the misrepresentation, intentional or unintentional, as represented by the presenter of any of the joint or wholly  reproduced original reproduction representations made in part separately as a part of or as part of the wholly divided afore mentioned prior content. Brush after every meal. All rights reserved**

June 13th 6:24am: Morning folks! The flooding is done it appears - we almost had the ark finished! Man did we get pelted with rain. The barn cam is back online, click the Raindance Nursery Cam link above and help us keep an eye on Lily - she's close to having her baby!

June 11th 9:08am: As promised, some photos of Layla...I will try to get even more up in the next couple of days now that I've copied them to a disk to bring with me. I'll also try to get some more updates and posting done, the days have been quite insane these days with all the planning and work going on - the Summer BBQ, the Legacy materials, our wedding....

If you haven't been out to see Layla, she's good for your spirit. She has a sweet gentleness that's just adorable - she loves to give kisses and loves hugs. And like most babies, she's full of spunk so goes from rest to full tilt running in circles and leaping into the air for no other reason than she can. Too cute! We'll miss her when she goes, yes she's for sale and is going to make somebody a very special dream horse I think.

June 3rd, 10:51am: What an insanely busy couple of weeks for us. Kathi's been busy not only training our horses to get them ready for upcoming shows but working with several others to get them gaiting correctly. I have absolutely no patience for that. I like riding the rough edges off them, or riding the horses considered too "energetic" by others. She has the patience to make each horse be all it can be. I guess that statement holds true actually for me and the other beings at Raindance as well!

In other news...work on the BBQ continues. Lots of RSVPs have started coming in and lots of good people offering to donate items for the silent auction and baskets which we truly appreciate. Maybe we can find some way to have the BBQ on webcam so those that can't attend can make some stuff on the grill and eat at their computer screens. Watch - instead of it being too cold to keep a webcam going like when Windchill was alive, it'll be too hot to keep the computer out near the grill...

And finally for those wondering I popped The Question to Kathi this weekend. You'll have to email one of us to know what her answer was...grin....

Thanks for all the nice notes and support friends, you're all the greatest. We haven't seen some of you at the farm in quite awhile, hope to see you soon. Remember, we generally always have the coffee on!

May 30th, 10:51am: If you haven't seen the invites yet - there's gonna be a party! That's right, Saturday, August 16th at Raindance we're having a memorial BBQ for Windchill's memory - a chance to say "thanks" to all of those who remember the little guy and were a part of his life and who also made him a part of their life. Click on the link above to see the invitation. Please RSVP as soon as possible to help with planning.

On a separate note, the planning committee met at our house two weeks ago and I can't believe the planning that goes into this kind of thing. I was telling Kathi she was spending more time planning the BBQ than our wedding and this committee formed almost instantly! Thank you all for making this happen and thank goodness it wasn't left to us guys (Gary Niemi and me) to try and coordinate any of this. We're both former military and used to planning but I don't think any of our training prepared us for the crew that took this thing over, wow! Thanks guys, you're absolutely wonderful!

Windchill's goodbye message

April 29th, 10:04am: I know quite awhile back I promised to post what the communicators had said about WindChill's last words or thoughts/feelings were. Kathi had posted them on the forum so I didn't feel I needed to re-post them but through your emails learned that many of you have had trouble accessing the forum or weren't comfortable going on there. To honor my promise to you, I'm going to post what Kathi had posted on the forum:

"So many of you have asked about what WC had told the communicators, especially once he had passed on and I have found it very hard to actually get the words right, or to hold it together long enough to finish posting this........
Marcia came out the saturday after WC had crossed over and told us what WC had communicated to her after he had left us.
I have typed this up so many times since he has passed away and either the dsl has gone down or after I reread it, I realized it sounded cold and clinical and when I tried to make it more warm and fuzzy I couldnt find the right words, without changing the meaning of what he had said. So finally I typed it all up in word and have slowly been editing it as I could.
So here it is.
He said he was surprised, he was sleeping and then he was rising up and morphed into this magnificent stallion looking down on his broken body. He knew then that he had crossed over. (The communicator thought that his use of the word magnificent was an odd choice, but we would tell him every day that he was just too magnificent for words)
He said thank you thank you thank you to everyone for helping him and making his spirit whole again. He sent the communicator a picture of a circle of all the people who cared for him and Walker and Olivia and all the horses he had befriended standing in a circle around him. His family.
He said that he knew we did everything we could possibly have done and it wasn’t his choice to leave. His spirit was whole again and his body was just to broken. He said looking back now, he realized this was inevitable, and was so relieved that we had stood firm and kept him at the farm rather then taking him to a medical facility. He was finally with a family and he died loved more then he could ever have imagined.
He said for me to remember the imagine he had sent me, because that is who he really was, and that he would be back sometime in our lifetime and we would know it was him. Not to go looking for him, though, because he would find us.

For those of you have not seen this picture...I would like you to meet 'my baby boy' otherwise known as WindChill. (This photo is copyrighted, so please do not remove it from here, it is the logo for The Legacy)


 

Jeff's Blog - other ramblings

New Babies Blog continued

Windchill

May 28, 2007 - February 29, 2008

March, 2007: Raindance welcomes the new face of fear, Walker, Aussie South Ranger.

Walker is an Australian Shepherd, who will be stepping into some pretty big paw prints as he learns his new role of protecting the herd and becoming a working dog.

The country life:
"I live out on the backroads
Where I walk my country mile
And if it’s so good in the city
Why don’t anybody smile?
The traffic’s always heavy
And the air ain’t fit to breathe
I ain’t saying that it’s wrong for you
It just don’t make
sense to me.." (Toby Keith)

CAUTION! BEWARE OF VIRTUAL GUARD DOG

Well. Maybe just be careful not to trip over him as you peruse the site.

Raindance Farms is now powered ENTIRELY by renewable energy resources. Resources 'made' entirely in United States of America - windpower and biomass (cow power).