Clydesdales!!

There are some parts of winter that make the cold easier to handle. There is the first real snow fall. There is also the long, heavy snow that covers the earth in the blanket of white. Unfortunately, we arrived when the predominant landscape features related to the cold were frozen mud and the black, exhaust stained heaps of ice that remained along the streets. Not pretty. More than one person was baffled why we bothered to travel to Wisconsin at all during the time of the year when it was so ugly.

My other sister met my wife and I at a McDonalds off the interstate. She was our escort to a local Clydesdale horse farm( http://www.claysclydesdales.com/ ).They call them the gentle giants. If you take a look at the web-site I linked above, you'll see what I mean even if you have never come nose to nose with a Clydesdale.

It was windy and briskly cold outside so we spent most of our time inside the old barn. The horses were all in individuals stalls with the exception of the mares with their newborns. As we walked by the row of Clydesdales with their rear ends facing into the narrow aisle my first thought was, "I hope one doesn't get bugged and decide to kick me by accident! “ Instead as I walked deeper into the musty and “richly scented” atmosphere the more comfortable I felt.

Over the next couple hours we nuzzled noses, scritched withers, got licked and made a bunch a new four legged friends! A big highlight for my wife was when a day old filly fell asleep in her lap... and snored!

What can I say about the rest of the visit? Horses continually impress me and renew my wonder and joy. There are completely earthen and completely heavenly all in the same breath. It makes me wonder how Jesus didn’t wind up as a horse. Of course I know that is absurd. Instead of the harrowing part of the story line, the story of Jesus would have wound up with a roll in the fields and running off ahead of the rest of the herd.