Show Prep

I love the shows that Great Lakes Congress holds. The folks who put it on are friendly and knowledgable, and the show always runs smoothly. The competition is tough but fun, and those in attendance are nice and fun to be around.

I am heading up to Chicago this weekend for their December holiday show which features china collectibility.

I'm leaving at home most of my plastics and bringing some chinas that rarely come out of the china cabinets as I worry about breakage. Some, like my Breyer porcelains, will always stay home, as will a few of my Hagen Renakers. But I thought it would be fun to pack up my mini HRs and see how they do.

I'm also bringing a Royal Douton, a Goebel, some Lozas, and a Freeman-Leidy, just for fun. They may not win a ribbon, but I'll never know unless I try. And, since the china show is double judged for halter and collectibility, who knows?

All the horses are chosen and ready to be packed, and my documentation is done and printed. I still need to make a motel reservation for Friday night, buy some snacks, and pack my tubs and suitcase.

Today and Wednesday are uber busy, both at school and after, so Thursday night will be a busy one for me.

Horses and the Circus? At a Train Museum?

Friday we visited the Linden Train Museum with Cole, Emily, Kate and Julie. I have been there many times, but was surprised to see that the museum was branching out into circus memorabilia.

I guess that makes sense since circuses traditionally traveled by rail plus Emmett Kelly, a very famous circus clown, was from Lafayette and is buried here.

 Emmett Kelly in full costume as his character, Weary the Clown.

His grandson still lives here and visits the museum occasionally to talk about his famous grandfather.

Well, I collect circus horses and ponies, so when I saw the circus/train set up, you can bet I was checking it out for them!

 While it was quite elaborate, there weren't any horses that caught my eye.

 But I did see some beautiful vintage circus posters with horses on them. (I wish I had taken more pictures of those.)

We had fun, but just as had happened when I took Julie and Kate to the barn to see Abby...

... the rocks seemed to be their favorite attraction!

Slipping It In

Like any horsey grandmother, I slip in horses to my grandchildren wherever I can.

 Like a Rody Horse for the kids to bounce on at Thanksgiving!

Seriously, Girls, Rocks??

Well, I thought I was helping Julie and Kate develop their horsey sides while they visit for Thanksgiving. But I may have been wrong.

 We headed out to the barn yesterday afternoon, and the whole herd came up to say hello.

 Abby loves it when I bring children with me - she knows she will get some extra treats!

And Julie obliged her by giving her carrots...

 ...and candy canes.

 Boompa helped Julie get her hand flat so that Abby didn't catch her fingers in her teeth.

After seeing the horses, we went into the new barn to see Tim's collection of horse drawn vehicles.

And it was there that the girls discovered what they considered to be the best part of our barn trip - the pea gravel that covers the aisles of the new barn!

 Emily tried to entice her girls into the family buggy for a photo by climbing in herself.

 But Kate was NOT happy when Boompa lifted her up and onto her mama's lap.

 Tim's super cool 1822 paddy wagon? Forget it - the rocks had greater appeal.

Next we went into the office to show the girls his vintage pony saddle.

 Julie took a look but would not let us lift her onto it for a photo.

 And Kate let it be known that she was not interested, either.

 As we headed back to the cars the girls made a detour down an aisle...

... happy to see the rocks again.

They'll be here until next weekend. I guess I will keep working at home on helping them find their inner love for horses!

Goodbye, Time

No pun is intended with that title - Time is the name of a Standardbred that my sister, Leslie, got from Indiana Horse Rescue and took to The Farm at Prophetstown where she was used to help educate people about farming in the early twentieth century. Along with Rider, another rescued Standardbred, she was a terrific ambassador for her breed and was much loved.

Time came from a racing background but had not done well, developing leg problems that were unsuccessfully treated with pin firing and other methods. Somehow she ended up at Indiana Horse Rescue where my sister bought her along with Rider and was brought to Prophetstown.

After several happy years, Time's leg problems caught up with her, and she was taken to Purdue University where it was determined that she needed surgery or would need to be euthanized. A fundraising campaign was started, and Time went in for her operation last week.

The surgery was a success, but then she developed complications. An infection set in that rampaged quickly through Time's system. Purdue worked feverishly to save her, but she went into seizures and died.

She will be missed by our entire community. Godspeed, Time, and run pain free in those lovely heavenly pastures.

Julie and Kate and Horses, Oh My!

My son, Cole, and his family have arrived for Thanksgiving. Having them here is fun, and the girls are enjoying my model horse collection. (While I am enjoying introducing them to the joys of horses!)

I had two boxes of models that had come in the mail Saturday, and I let Julie help open them.

In the first box was my new St. Moritz. She fell in love with the model and named it "Frozen" since it is blue and pink like Anna in the movie. (A name that I plan to keep.)

In the other box was an eBay purchase, a silver filigree Misty.

Kate liked holding the Misty (who Julie has named Elsa, again from the movie Frozen.)

A while ago, afriend gave me some models that had belonged to her son. A couple of them were duplicates, so I got them out and let the girls play with them.

I love this picture of Julie playing with Legos while she has a Breyer and a Lego horse at her side. (It reminds me of myself when I was a child.)

Kate carried around the Halla and the Pacer (partially hidden behind her on the couch.)

 She also decided to take a nap with my stuffed Bullseye from Toy Story. Her dad, my son Cole, is holding her.

I have a whole week to play ponies with these girls!

Time Away from the Barn

I took on a new commitment at school this fall, and it has really cut into my barn time. But, I think it has been worth it as I see the growth and accomplishment of the girls. What have I been doing? Coaching a Lego robotics team!

I know NOTHING about robotics. Not a thing. But I knew enough that, when Caterpillar and The Society of Women Engineers offered me a grant to begin a girls team at my school, I jumped at it. Their goal was to introduce girls to STEM careers through FIRST Lego League, and FIRST Lego League turned out to be an excellent vehicle to accomplish that.

We only had seven weeks to prepare, but we participated in Purdue's competition for FIRST Lego League grades 4 through 8 yesterday. Thirty-one teams from around the state were in attendance - gulp!! 

 Former student Carl Landskron was one of the Purdue students in charge of the competition.

And Brooke Cederquist was helping out, too. It's always nice to see former students!

Our morning presentations about our project and the Core Values went well but our robot, which worked beautifully at school, proved finicky and in its three tries during the afternoon competition only accomplished one of its tasks. We knew then that we had probably lost the opportunity to move on to the next level of competition.

But there were some awards handed out for things like sportsmanship, too, and during the awards ceremony, the girls waited with the rest of the teams in the bleachers, fingers crossed that they might win one of those. With thirty-one teams competing, I did not know if we had a chance.

But, surprise! We did! The team erupted into cheers when it was announced that they were one of two teams to win the Core Values award, which means that they exemplified everything FIRST Lego League wants the girls to do (kindness, cooperation, team spirit, hard work, etc.) We were thrilled!

It was a long day, and I am still tired, but a good one, too. And even better, Caterpillar and The Society of Women Engineers told me that I would be receiving another grant to start a boys team at Hershey next fall. Yes!

And now that the season is over, I will be able to get to the barn on a regular basis. Win-win!

Here It Comes

It's that time of year; there's no denying it!

That time when the winds begin to blow and ice forms in the water trough, making it so you need to bring an axe with you when you check the horses, and search the barn for the heat wrap and tank heater. (We had our first snow flurries on Sunday morning. I was up early enough to see them.)

And even though the pasture still has some green to it, plant growth has halted for the year and it's time to feed hay to the herd.

Abby and her pasture mates have all grown their fuzzy winter coats and are ready for the long, dark, cold winter months.

I am not sure that I am, though!

Yes, You May Look, Mila!

Now that the china hutch in the living room has been anchored to the wall, I am much more comfortable when this happens.

 In the past, I  would push the loveseat up to it so that my grandchildren could not get back there, or I kept an eagle eye on them and would not let them go too close to look at the horses. Not only did I want to protect my chinas, but I did not want the kids getting hurt, either. The cabinet was tippy, and the glass panels are breakable. (I know because the first one I had broke when the delivery men brought it into the house - they accidentally broke out one of the panels coming into my home. This is the one they brought to replace it.)

 So, today, when Mila wanted to look at my horses, I felt comfortable letting her get close up so she could see everything. She spent a long time, squatting down and just gazing at all the pretties, and occasionally pointing one out to me so I could tell her what it was. (No, I did not say "Special Run Buckskin Spanish Horse from the Hagen Renaker Collectors Club," I simply said, "Circus Pony... Quarter Horse... Arabian..." which was still probably too much for two year old ears!)

Clearly, Mila enjoyed the experience of looking at Grammy's china pieces. And I am thrilled that now I can share part of my collection with my grandchildren. Hopefully this will help cultivate a love of horses in her!

New Faces at the Blue Barn

Tim has a new boarder renting the blue barn! When I arrived to visit Abby this afternoon, I saw three new horses out in the pasture attached to the blue barn.

 This black gelding is big-boned like Trouble.

He has white hairs sprinkled throughout his coat. I did not get any closeups when he came over to visit with me, but I would not be surprised if he has some Clydesdale in him.

 I am always happy to see an Appaloosa, especially a varnish roan!

 He, too, seemed friendly and came over to meet me.

I love his facial coloring.

Finally, there was a smaller black mare or filly. 

 She had a bald face and a blue eye.

I am not sure what her breeding is; it will be interesting to find out. She was a bit shy and definitely the lowest member of the herd hierarchy.

I have not yet met the owners or found out the horses' names, but I hope to do that soon.

Special Run Hagen Renaker Spanish Mustang

I received my Hagen Renaker Collectors Club special run Spanish Horse in the mail yesterday! And he is luscious.

Kristina Lucas Francis sculpted him, and only 125 were made. He was $50 to club members and sold out quickly.

I am not sure that I would call this color buckskin, though. Maybe a sooty buckskin? Chocolate bay? I'll have to do a little research as horse colors are not my specialty.

Regardless, I like him very much and am happy to have him!

Reorganizing the Chinas

Since I had some pieces out for Nancy Falzone's get together and would be taking more out for GLC's china collectibility show in December, I decided that it was FINALLY time to take everything out of the big china display case and reorganize it. And Craig is going to secure it to the wall while everything is out - something I have meant to do for years but just never done because I hadn't wanted to move all those pieces in and out. (I am always afraid I will break something.)

 I began by taking an "overall" picture to help me remember where everything was.

 Then I took pictures of the individual shelves.

Pieces are loosely grouped by manufacturer, but I will slide something into a space if there is no room with others like it. As you can see, there is very little space left!

 I took photos from the sides, too, again, to help me remember.

It took taking everything out to make me realize just how crowded this display case has become! I think I will get a new one and spread things out better. After all, you can hardly see things the way they are all crammed in together!

 It took a while, but finally everything was out.

 My dining room table is covered.

 As is my dining room buffet...

... and my good piano. (I have two; the other is an antique player piano and in the living room.)

Craig is going to work on it this week, and we have asked that our kids not bring their children over for a visit until all my ponies are safely back behind glass. (We will go visit them instead.)

I'm a little nervous at having everything out, but hopefully it will only be for a short time!