I realized after I typed the title to this post that many of you would think it referred to a new Breyer mold. It doesn't - it refers to a new beeswax ornament mold. (Actually, it is a mold for making soap, but it works well for beeswax, too.)
The mold depicts Pegasus and Hawkeye Daughter Sarah sent it to me for my birthday.
One of the last minute Feast prep items on my list was to make a final batch of blackened beeswax ornaments so I set aside Saturday morning for the process. I was really excited to try my new mold out.
It takes three plus hours to melt and pour the ornaments, but it is relaxing and I enjoy it. Best of all is the lovely smell of beeswax and cinnamon that wafts throughout my home. I pour five or six molds and then melt more beeswax while those harden.
They are still warm and a bit soft when you remove them from the mold and you never know just how they will look when you remove them - sometimes there are bubbles that create holes. (Easy fix; just remove the string and melt and pour again!)
This is the first Pegasus and I love it! The brown in the wing is the twine peeking through the wax but that doesn't matter - when I blacken the ornament, it will not show.
Blackening them is done by dredging them in cinnamon. I fill a pie plate with cinnamon and then dredge the soft, warm ornaments in it.
Sarah wanted to see the process so I made this video for her. It's not the best - my hands were covered in cinnamon and dredging the ornaments is hard with one hand, but it will show you how I do them.
It is hard to get a good photo of the Pegasus; I'll try again later and will replace this one if I do. It actually turned out to be very pretty.
Yesterday's batch. I am still experimenting with how much cinnamon blackening I like.
The lion in profile almost always turns out well.
As does the horse in profile.
The roaring lion is really neat but very difficult to pour and blacken. He has so many tiny crevices that you have to be sure the wax and then the cinnamon get into.
You know that old song Dizzy, that was a hit in 1969? Yeah, I am feeling that way right now.
(Have fun watching this woman dance - it's a little monotonous, but she is really fluid and graceful.)
It's 5:30 AM as I type and I have been awake since 2:00. I have so much to do that I simply could not sleep and finally got out of bed at 3:30 and have been doing paperwork, organizing, and blogging ever since.
The Feast is a week away from today. Every time I think I am about done with my to-do list, I think of something else to do.
Plus...
- I just discovered that my driver's license expired on my birthday and I need to go get that renewed ASAP.
- I discovered an unusual wound on Pepper's inner leg that required a visit to the vet, application of a topical medication four times a day, and bathing her with a special shampoo.
- Speaking of bathing, I fell in the bathroom and went all the way to the ground, landing hard on my hip and arm. I was home alone, my phone was in the other room, and I had fallen so that I was wedged between the wall and the shower and could not get up.
I felt panic begin to well up as I realized that Craig would not be home for another hour or so and that I might have to lay there on the cold tile floor and wait for help. I took some calming breaths, did some thinking (and praying) and finally was able to wiggle around, flip over into a better position, and squeeze back and then pull myself up. Nothing was broken or bleeding, although I was very shaken up. I have a huge bruise on my hip for bragging rights. (Not that I am going to show it to anyone. Hah!)
- After a lot of abdominal discomfort, my doctor did some tests and I have been referred back to my Indianapolis surgeon. The hernia that I was aware of is now at 5 CMs plus the tests found two more hernias had opened up inside me. (That makes 5; I've already had two repaired.) I've been in contact with my pancreatic surgeon who repaired the other two hernias and am waiting to hear what he wants to do.
So, to keep this from being a full-on-Lynn-is-whining post, how about some Pony Pal and Stablemate pictures? (Nancy Kelly, two of these will look familiar - they are the ones you sent me!)
Pony Pal Julie chose the Appaloosa gaited horse,
while Kate asked for the Pacer,
and Susie chose the pinto Indian Pony. (His name is "Golden," in case you are interested, and he is a really good jumper and can go up and down and fly and zoom in to Pepper and... and... and... Boy, did that long winded dialog from Susie make me smile!)
So, dizzy may be an apt description of how I am feeling, but you know what? Things are good. I didn't break anything when I fell and I was able to extricate myself. Pepper is healing (and VERY clean since she needs baths every week for a month, LOL), I can renew my license online, I got to see some grands, I have excellent doctors, and the Feast is coming with only minor details left. Plus I am entered in the October Great Lakes Congress show and have that to look forward to.
I am blessed and am going to focus on the good things. Maybe I will even go back to bed and catch up on that sleep I missed, too.
Three cute Pony Pals from Tennessee dropped by last night on their way to Chicago for a wedding.
Needless to say, we are having a wonderful time despite the in and out nature of the visit.
Depending on when they leave this morning, I will be back with a post. If not, you can count on one for tomorrow. (Cross your fingers - I am hoping they have time to go out and meet Two Socks!)
Yesterday afternoon a freight train going over the downtown bridge from West Lafayette to Lafayette derailed and three cars fell off and into the Wabash River. (All derailment photos from Dave Bangert.)
The cars were carrying scrap metal so fortunately there were no people or hazardous materials aboard.
The weight of the cars was so great that the derailment literally twisted and pulled the tracks off the bridge.
Cranes are going to be needed to lift the cars and tracks up, and then there will have to be a clean up to get the scrap metal out of the river.
Train traffic will need to be rerouted for a long time and I would not be surprised if they decide to replace the bridge - it's well over 100 years old.
As I looked at the damage, I thought about my Grandpa Martin, the one who bought circus pony O'Boy for my father. He was a railroad conductor and once had a terrible accident on one of the bridges over the Mississippi River in St. Louis.
A new engineer misread his lantern signals and started the train. My grandfather ran to catch up, grabbed the railing to the caboose stairs, and tried to swing aboard. Grandpa slipped and fell, got caught on something, and ended up being dragged by the train all the way across the bridge. Needless to say, he was badly injured.
I got chills as I looked at those pictures of the train derailment yesterday. Our bridge is a lot less high and much shorter than the one Grandpa was dragged over. What a terrifying ordeal that must've been!
One of Grandpa's conductor's lanterns that is kept on a table in my living room.
I love trains and have taken Amtrak cross country many times to visit our kids in Colorado and Utah. I've crossed many rivers (including the Mississippi) on bridges just like the one here over the Wabash that are high and have no railings.
Having this derailment in my hometown is a sobering reminder that accidents happen.
I got Amy, my first horse, when I was twelve. At the time, I didn't realize that horses are herd animals and need companionship.
Amy and me when I first got her. Can you see why I cried when I first spied Abby and ended up bringing her home? (I still have that saddle, bridle, and saddle pad in Tim's tackroom.)
The arrow is pointing to Gossip Corner which is across the highway that split our property into two parts. (It's under the telephone poles in this photo.) Amy used to stand down there in that corner of the paddock and whinny at Scoj and Lass, two Quarter Horse mares down the road.
Gossip Corner should have been a big clue, but I was young and inexperienced and almost all of my know-how came from reading books.
One night after we had all gone to bed, a car speeding down the highway lost control and crashed through the fence at Gossip Corner, leaving a large hole behind. (Luckily Amy was not hurt.) The driver sped off leaving us unaware that she now had a way to go visiting.
Boy howdy, did she ever take the opportunity! Amy hightailed it down the highway IN THE DARK and soon the sheriff began getting reports of a loose horse on highway 43. Meanwhile, we slumbered on, unaware that my horse was gone.
Amy's jaunt - the top arrow points to our home and the bottom arrow to the place where she was finally rounded up and safe.
Two miles later, she had made it all the way to the edge of town. The sheriff caught her, and someone held her while he began looking for the owner. That meant driving north along the highway and stopping at places that looked like they might own horses.
At 5:00 AM he knocked on our door, shining his light on his badge so we knew it was safe to open the door. A quick check showed that Abby was indeed gone and the sheriff drove my father back to town so he could get her.
Since we did not yet have a trailer, Dad had a long, lonely, and scary walk back home. I'd like to think he got a police escort with lights flashing for safety, but I don't think he did. Amy went into the paddock and Dad repaired the damage from the hit and run driver.
We'd learned our lesson and soon our herd began to grow. But let me tell you, that's the hard way to convince your parents that you need more than one horse!
One evening last week I was in my jammies and heading to bed when I got a call from Tim. He was driving home from Indianapolis and had just heard from a barn neighbor that the horses were loose. I told him I would go out to the barn immediately and round them up.
Craig grabbed a flashlight while I got dressed and we zoomed out to the barn as fast as we could get there. Tim called again while we were driving and said that he'd also called Travis, a mutual friend and horseman from church, and that Trav was also on the way.
The door to the new barn was open and lights were on, so we headed up there first. The neighbor had grabbed Hokey and, not knowing which pasture the horses had escaped from, had put him in the indoor arena for safety. But where were the others? Craig and I headed outside to look for them.
Tim called as we were walking out to the north pastures and said the other horses were in the pasture of another barn neighbor. That was good news! And Trav pulled up just then, more good news.
Like any good horseman, he had several halters in the truck. I had grabbed Abby's from my trunk, and the three of us all hiked over to the neighbors' farm. There the escapees were, calmly munching grass, and greeting us happily when we walked up.
Abby came right over as soon as she saw me and I was able to easily halter her. (Although I put it on inside out in the dark.) Craig gave her some scratches since I had no treats in the car.
(She looks annoyed, but really she's not.) Together the three of us led the horses back home and we put them in the south paddock. Trav then went up to the new barn and brought Hokey down to join his buddies.
I thanked both Craig and Trav for helping, and then called Tim to let him know that all were safe and back home where they belonged.
The neighbors' pasture.
The next day Tim made sure the fence was secure in the pasture they had escaped from and things are back to normal with everyone staying where they belong.
Amy, Abby's predecessor, once had a nighttime jaunt herself. Stay 'tooned!
I was reading about the 2022 Agria FEI Jumping World Championships in The Chronicle of the Horse this weekend. Held in Herning, Denmark, Henrik von Eckerman on King Edward won the gold medal.
(Click here to watch King Edward's gold medal-winning round . The announcer is really rooting for King Edward to win! It's a Facebook video; could not find a YouTube one.)
Even though I rarely show performance anymore, I still look for reference pictures, and took a close look at the jump in this photo.
Whoa! Now that is an unusual jump!
Often the jumps in worldwide events are a nod to the country holding the event, so I figured there had to be a story behind the three seated men - probably statues somewhere in Denmark.
I was right - a quick check on Google brought them right up.
Take a look at the Man Meets the Sea sculpture in Esbjerg, Denmark.
Atlas Obscura states,
UNVEILED IN 1995, THE QUARTET of sculptural titans known collectively as the art piece, Man Meets the Sea is a timeless tribute to man’s contemplative nature. The piece was designed by Svend Wiig Hansen, and is meant to have a universal appeal to represent all of man as opposed to any one ethnicity. The huge, 27 foot tall figures recall Roman colossus’ and Egyptian pharaoh sculptures in equal measure. The stark white statues are completely devoid of decoration, allowing visitors to map their own contemplative thoughts on to the figures, and their own countenances across the statues’ blankly staring faces. Although the figures may look alike, keen observers will find subtle differences among them.
I've seen some unusual jumps over time, but I think this one has to be the most unusual ever. And if you show performance, this would be an eye catching, one of a kind jump to recreate.
If you do make a jump using Man Meets Sea, please send me a picture of it - I'd love to see it!
