Goodbye to Skippy

Yesterday my sister had to euthanize Skippy, her Paint gelding. He'd suddenly begun to drop weight and had been diagnosed with cancer a while ago, so it was time.

He was thirty-two and she'd had him for twenty years, so Skippy had had a long, happy life.

Skippy was also blind in both eyes and had been from birth. He always had his head cocked so he could listen well, and as a result, the muscles on one side of his neck became quite large while those on the other side atrophied.

Skippy and my granddaughter, Trinity.

Blindness did not hold Skippy back. He was happy and friendly, and as the first picture showed, could even be ridden.

Lisa and Skippy.

Rest in a very well-deserved peace, Skippy You will be terribly missed.

Gentleness in Spite of Fears

Despite her terror at times, and the fear that can well up in her and make her bolt, Molly has NEVER, EVER growled, snapped, bitten, or acted aggressively toward any of us. Which is why I do not worry when Mila, who is quite enamored of Molly, crawls over and lays down with her on the big pillow.

 Molly is very gentle, and she lays quietly and allows Mila to touch and pat her.

 Mila talks to her (and sometimes brings over the doggy toys)...

...and they get comfortable together. Molly sometimes goes to sleep and never tries to get away from Mila or acts like she wants to be alone.

She has made tremendous progress in the two months we have had her, and still has a long way to go, but I am all the more protective of her because she does not act on those fears and threaten Mila or anyone else.

There is a very sweet personality in this girl, and we are seeing glimmers. I look forward to seeing more.

Ulysses is Here!

I have never been a fan of Chris Hess' Legionario III mold.

Until now. Wow!

 The first offering of the 2018 Vintage Club, Ulysses, is stunning!

These photos taken with my phone do not do him justice. He is much darker than he appears, a true black like Breyer's old blackest charcoals, and his gloss is heavy and even.

 I love that one of his ears is black and speckled with just a hint of pink poking out.

I thought his belly decal was blotched until I looked closely at it. If you look carefully, you can see the Andalusian silhouette outlined on the left.

I was disappointed when the 2018 Vintage Club offerings were announced. (And even considered dropping out, even though I have been a member since the beginning.) I like the Grazing Mare and Foal, the San Domingo is okay, and I'll just tuck the free Stablemate on the shelf. (I'm not much of a Stablemate collector.) But please tell me how on earth Weather Girl is vintage? Even dressed up in vintage colors? (I'll likely be selling mine.) 

Well, if the others are as nice as Ulysses, I will be very happy and glad that I remained in the club. I may even change my mind, like I did with him, and keep my Weather Girl.

A Snow Day is a Sew Day!

We had a surprise snow day today, although it was really for ice, not snow. No local or regional forecasts predicted the sleet and freezing rain that we received, and so none of the roads had any applications of beet juice, sand or salt in preparation. The roads quickly became very, very slick, and so almost all area schools canceled classes for the day.

Including mine. And let's be honest - what teacher doesn't love a snow day? An unexpected opportunity to sleep in a bit, read a good book, catch up on a few chores? I'll take it, and today I chose to make my snow day a "sew day."

My horse room also houses my sewing machine and supplies.

I cut and stitch away while sitting in the midst of my collection. It's hard to explain, but I feel very content as I work in my favorite spot in our home. I love looking up from my stitching to see a conga of Lady Phases or Huckleberry Beys, my glass cases with my Hagen Renaker Circus Pony collection, and all the other pieces in my collection. It simply makes me happy.

Today I was sewing Valentine pillowcases for two of my granddaughters, Mila and Kate, both of whom turn two this year and so will be getting their holiday pillowcase sets. The year a grandchild turns two, I make them a set of holiday pillowcases and send one to them in the mail a week or so before each holiday.

I make one for Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Memorial Day/4th of July/Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and their birthday for a total of eight per child. (I have never found New Year's fabric that I felt was child-friendly so I skip it.) We have thirteen grandchildren and two more on the way, so needless to say, I have sewn a lot of pillowcases!

We expect more icing tonight, so tomorrow may be another day of no school.

 If so, I'll be back up in my horse room, puttering around and sewing more pillowcases. And feeling very, very content.

A Surprise Gift

Yesterday when church services concluded, a little girl came running down the aisle toward me with a piece of paper clutched in her hand. "This is for you," she said with a shy smile.

She'd drawn me a picture of a pinto horse in a pasture!

I thanked Rowynn, told her that I loved it and would display it on my fridge, and gave her a hug. She trotted off to Sunday School with a big smile on her face. I had one, too - I was very touched that a five year old would take time to draw me a picture of my favorite animal.

Why the random horse picture out of the blue? The backstory is that Rowynn's mother, a friend of mine, had dropped by in December to give me something with Rowynn in tow, and while we were visiting, had told me that her daughter was a horse lover like me. So, I'd invited them both upstairs to see my horse room where we'd chatted about horsey things for a bit.

Rowynn had been stunned at seeing my collection - it turned out that she had a model horse or two, but she had never seen so many models in one place before. Apparently she went home and changed her Christmas list, adding more Breyer horses to it.

Santa obliged, and I got a gift from one horse love to another.

Together at Last!

Finally! A break in this terrible weather! The temperatures have risen above freezing and the snow has been melting for the past two days. Yesterday afternoon I figured that the lanes to the old and new barns might be clear enough to attempt a barn visit.

 I was right! The lane to the old barn was clear of its ice and snow. I could see Abby at the west hayrack, munching hay as I parked my car.

She heard the car coming and recognized it. Before I could even start my walk to her hayrack, she was eagerly coming up to the gate, softly nickering to me.

I'd brought some carrots and we had a lovely reunion of carrots, petting, soft breaths, and scritching.

 As I was returning to my car after our visit, I turned back for one last look. To my surprise, she was watching me, too. That put a smile on my face.

That is the longest I have ever gone without being able to get out to see her. Thank goodness for Tim who has four wheel drive and gets to the barn every single day so that I do not have to worry about her during my absence.

But even though I know she is checked daily and gets good care, it is still nice to be able to look her over with my own eyes, slip her some carrots, and hear those lovely low nickers of welcome. There is something about being with my horse that makes me feel happy and content.

Childhood Favorite Made in Japans

My brother has been in the hospital for the past few days and so my time after school has been spent there instead of at the barn or doing model horse related things. So, today I am posting some pictures of the MIJs I pulled out when I cleaned the hobby closet.

My very first pieces in my "play collection" (1963 to when I found out about Ellen Hitchin's club, IMPHSA in 1970) were Japan chinas. They were played with and very, very loved. Here are a few of my favorites.

Black Diamond, a Lefton Saddlebred. He was in pieces and I had him professionally restored about ten years ago. One of my favorites.

 Bobol, a gift in sixth grade from my friends Bobbie Sue and Carol (his name is a combination of theirs.) Unknown make.

 Counterpoint, a Little Bit sized Lefton and named for a horse in a childhood favorite book, Scarlet Royal.

Mollasus, a traditional sized Rossini piece. She has a special place in my heart and for years was the "mother" of my woodgrain running foal, Needles. (One of my first Breyers and a gift from my dad when I got braces.)

Old Maude, my sister's drafter and her favorite china, a Brinns/Inarco piece. This is actually a duplicate I found and bought, but I do have the original Old Maude, too!

When I stopped by to see my brother last night, he was no longer in critical condition, had been moved out of the ICU and into a regular room, and had had the ventilator and other tubes removed. I think it will be just a few more days and then he will be moved to a care facility for a while and our lives will return to a more normal routine.

Which means I will have time for Abby visits and hobby puttering. Stay tuned!

Sorting Out the Hobby Closet

I keep my hobby closet pretty orderly. The problem, though, is that so much is in there that if I want to get something, I have to move lots of things to get to it. And since I have been documenting my MIJ chinas who rarely see the light of day, that meant that I had to take 3/4 of the closet out to get to them. (Orderliness and efficiency have their place... until you need something. Sheesh!)

 The MIJs are in those two cardboard boxes on the top shelf way back in the far right corner of the closet.

In front of them was a lot of showing and sewing supplies. (Sewing is my other hobby. My horse room doubles as my sewing room.)

Nearly everything on the top shelf had to come down so I could maneuver the boxes that I wanted out of their corner and out of the closet.

And there are always distractions to slow me down!

Like this 1998 Made in Japan reference book! Since I was doing research on my MIJs, I simply had to stop and look through it.

This reference book which was tucked into the other's binder. I think it is a separate reference guide - if I remember right, you could buy different sections depending on your collecting interests. This section was about Marx, metals horses, clocks, and other more unusual horse collectibles.

I found my original hobby binder from 1971 when I formally joined the hobby (which was in its infancy.) That's when my 1960s play stable, Pawnee Stables, became my collecting stable, Windsong Stables. (Named for the sound of the wind in the cottonwoods on our property down by the Wabash River.)

Forty-seven years later, it is still the name of my stable.

I have it embroidered on my show tablecloth. (My colors changed from blue and yellow to orange about ten years ago.)

 In the binder were old records from photoshowing my collection in the 1970s. This is for Diamond Dindy, a Lefton foal that I still have (and love.)

Diamond Dindy was in those two boxes I pulled out. He is one of my earliest pieces in my collection, and was played with heavily (see that repaired leg and the chip on his head?)

Pace's Hi Hopes was a customized Hartland done by Sherri Cook in 1971 and was one of my best showers. I still have him and have shown him in vintage classes. Often he is the oldest custom at the show.

Pace's Hi Hopes at Hoosier Pony Live, April, 2016. Those are his old 1970s show photos - how far we have come in this hobby!

Among the distractions as I worked my way through the closet and boxes was finding the tiniest pieces in my collection.

A set of six horses that were produced for the railroading hobby. I have had these since the early 70s. (The Breyer is there for scale. And, because I am still so excited to have gotten him that I cannot bear to put him on the shelf with my other Semi-Rearing Mustangs!)

 Finally I got to the boxes of MIJs and took some photos of them and their labels and markings for documentation.

I love this old mini Lefton set. There's a standing foal that goes with it - I guess I'd better start checking eBay more frequently!

 This isn't from my childhood - I found it a couple of years ago on eBay and bid on it. (I have a weakness for the old charcoals and black and white horses, MIJs, Breyer, or otherwise.)

Pulling out those MIJs and going through their boxes took me two days. (Good thing we had a snow day Friday and I didn't have to teach.) It was so much fun to go back through some of my oldest hobby materials as well as look at some of my earliest horses in my collection.

Made in Japan Clinkies

There is a new collecting group on Facebook for those of us who like the old Made in Japan china horses. (It's called Collecting Japan Animal Clinkies.) Since my early collection consisted mainly of these MIJs (they were far cheaper than Breyers or Hagen Renakers back in the 1960s), I have been able to ID some of my oldest and most cherished pieces in my collection through this group.

And, I have been able to solve a puzzle or two, or at least get some more information to help me figure out the past history of a piece or two.

Like this one:

 I found it 25+ years ago for a couple of dollars in an Illinois antique shop. It's not very refined and has clunky legs. There is no sticker or identifying marks on it.

Except if you look very closely at its right hip.

The word "foreign" is cut into the clay and then glossed over. That gloss is so thick that you cannot feel the letters. In fact, I had this little foal for years before I actually saw the word. (And even then, it took me a while to decipher it; some of the letters are very difficult to see.)

I posted these photos last night on the Made in Japan Clinkies Facebook page and asked if anyone knew anything about this little horse. Two hobbyists have spoken thus far, one saying that she has had several pieces with that word in them, and another, a very respected hobbyist, who said this:

"'Foreign' was a required mark for imports to England at one time. I'm guessing it was in the early 1930s. I've had some German made mini figures with that mark."

Interesting! So this piece may have been imported at one time to England years ago and then somehow made its way to the United States! That is so cool!

I hope I can find more specifics about this foal and add to its history.

Found!! My Most Wanted Model!

I don't check out eBay as frequently as some collectors do, but every now and then I do searches for models that I would like to have. Last weekend I found my most wanted Breyer of all - the Semi-Rearing Mustang in woodgrain.

Recently he has been going for much more money than I can justify. But this one was at $230 with 22 bids and was still within the limits of what I was willing to pay. So, I put in a bid, not really expecting to win since this is a highly sought after model and already had many people bidding to buy it. To my surprise and delight, though, I won the auction! (Photos from eBay listing.)

 Diablo, Woodgrain Semi-Rearing Mustang, #985, 1963-1966.

He has some tiny rubs, but is in wonderful condition. I am thrilled as I fully expected to be outbid at the last moment.

Breyer's vintage molds such as this mold, the 5 Gaiter, and the Indian Pony are my favorites, but I also like other vintage molds including the Grazing Mare, Grazing Foal, Running Mare, Running Foal, Western Prancer, and the Stretch Morgan.  Now that I've found that "one" model I have wanted for years, I am not sure what is next on my list to look for. Hmmm... maybe the Stretch Morgan in woodgrain? Or a 5 Gaiter in a decorator color?

I'll think some more about it, but in the meantime, I am going to enjoy having found my most wanted model.

Molly & Millie Playing 1/8/2017

Molly is relaxing and starting to play! Her friend is our daughter, Lisa's, dog Millie, who is also a rescue and is usually too shy to play. These girls are good for each other!

Doggy Boots

The bitter cold here continues. This is this morning's temperature at 8:00 AM.

Poor Molly - when we take her outside, sometimes she begins lifting her paws in reaction to the cold weather!

My friend, Kathy Nimmer, loaned me something I had not heard of - doggy boots!

She explained that every guide dog comes with a set, but that she had gotten Nacho a set that had a fur lining. ("He's not spoiled!" she said sheepishly.)  And since she had a second set, she loaned me Nacho's first set for the winter.

Kathy and Nacho.

"Most dogs go crazy the first time you put them on, and they take some getting used to," she warned. Uh oh. That was not going to work for Molly. She is already skittish, and we are working so hard on helping her see that she now lives in a safe and secure spot where no one will hurt her. I think trying to put boots on her that we already know will upset her is not in her best interest right now.

So, I will hang onto them and see if we get to the point where I feel comfortable introducing them to her. And in the meantime, we are going for shorter times outside and staying out of the deeper snow which seems to activate the paw lifting.

She's come a long way in the month we have had her. It's been a lot of work, but we are making progress.