Derailment

My pancreatic surgery was scheduled for today but it has been delayed. I became ill with an upper respiratory infection that was bad enough to need an antibiotic, and the surgeon wants me as healthy as possible going into surgery. So I have to reschedule.

I understand his reasoning and agree with it. But that doesn't mean that I am not disappointed. I've had a rigorous prep of vitamins, probiotics, exercise, breathing exercises, and other things all intended to make my body as ready to go as possible, and that simple upper respiratory infection derailed the entire process.

The good news is that the surgeon feels that the possibly cancerous nodule that's inside the mass on my pancreas is not a threat that needs immediate action. That is very reassuring. But still, I cried when they gave me the news that the surgery would be postponed.

So now I become a hermit - I am staying out of public places in order to avoid catching something else. No church, no grocery, no running to Target or Meijer - just staying home and away from people so that I remain healthy and can have the surgery done. (I can go to the barn - yes!)

On a happier note, I got my BreyerFest Banner. It's a wonderful story about a hobbyist's generosity, and I will share it tomorrow.

A Pony Pal Rides at the Rodeo

Pony Pal Cambria's family moved to Utah in March and are embracing that western culture. Saturday they attended a rodeo and Cambria decided that she would compete.

No sign of a unicorn anywhere; not when she's entered in mutton busting!

Her dad was in the stock pen with her and gave her some last minute mutton bustin' advice.

Jessica filmed the ride from the grandstand. (We Isenbargers know how to cheer, that's for sure.)

Look at that girl ride! She earned a whopping seventy points on her first ever attempt and says she plans to compete in mutton busting again. Titan, her brother, wants to try next year when he will be old enough to participate.

I may have to take a trip out to watch them!

Stuck!

Parked in the big barn at The Farm at Prophetstown were two large hay wagons stacked with recently baled hay.  

 The kids quickly realized that something was underneath those wagons.

 Chickens! (They're hard to see, but look in the upper left hand corner in the shadows.)

Ian and Mila got down on their hands and knees and crawled right under the hay wagon to see if they could look at the chickens a little more closely.

This left Lukas behind. He hesitated a few moments, then crawled under the hay wagon after his siblings.

And promptly got "stuck" - when he realized he could not stand up when he wanted to, he froze in place and began crying.

Boompa to the rescue! Since my knees have been replaced, it is very uncomfortable for me to kneel, so Craig crawled under and helped Lukas out from under the wagon.

No harm done - Lukie's tears dried and he was off again in search of other farm animals.

 Like barn cats...

...and even better, miniature horses!

Pony Pals at Prophetstown

Craig and I took Ian, Mila, and Lukas out to The Farm at Prophetstown this week. It's a working 1920s farm located in Prophetstown State Park which is just a few miles from our home. There are all kinds of livestock at the farm, including things that make Pony Pals (and their Grammy) very happy.

It was no surprise that Pony Pal Mila gravitated right away to the miniature horses. This mare is named Hope.

And this is Bojangles. All the equines on the farm are from Indiana Horse Rescue (which is where Abby is from, too.)

My sister, Leslie, is the director of the farm, and she loves to have Ian, Mila, and Lukie come out. They believe that the farm is her home; I cannot convince them otherwise!

The Gibson Farmhouse, a Sears & Roebuck home, where we go visit "Aunt Leslie's house to see the animals" according to Ian and Mila.

Might I have another budding Pony Pal in Lukas? He had no hesitations in reaching through the bars of the gate to pet Hope.

 Both Hope and Bojangles are excellent animal ambassadors for The Farm.

There are also two Standardbreds.

 Daisy and Ryder, both off the track trotters who have found a new purpose in life.

Like the kids, I was hanging around the gate, too, and watching the horses.

After touring all the animals (chickens, ducks, turkeys, sheep, hogs, and cattle), we cooled off by going into "Aunt Leslie's house." It is decorated with items from the 1920s and you are allowed to touch things, sit on the couches,

and even try out the kids' rocking horse. Lukie loved it!

The kids hope we can go visit Aunt Leslie again soon. So do I.

Thanks, Aunt Leslie!

Finally! My BreyerFest Loot

I finally had a moment to unpack my BreyerFest loot, check it over, tag and catalog it, and put each piece onto their respective shelves.

Surprisingly, only one model was bought while shopping the rooms of the Clarion.

Yvonne Rott and me. Photo taken by Nancy Kelly.)

I have long wanted a bay Balking Mule to go along with my childhood seal brown one.

I'd found a few over the years but they were either too expensive or too dinged up.

This piece came from The Horse You Want and is the semi gloss version. I am so happy to add him to my collection!

As you may have heard, there were issues with getting the tent special runs as Breyer did not make enough pieces for the amount of tickets sold. (There was also another problem that is less well known. According to Liz Cory, they accidentally left 1500 models back at the factory, discovering their mistake on Friday. Those models were overnighted to the horse park right away.)

I wanted two pieces - Banner and the Andalusian in pearly rose grey.

I missed out on Banner, but I was surprised to open my blind bag and see that I had indeed gotten the pearly rose grey! I love him!

The Indian Pony is one of my top five favorite vintage molds, and I have been looking for as alabaster with warpaint for a very long time.

This gal is dirty and a little yellowed, but she has lovely shading and will look nice on my shelves when I get her cleaned up.

As I said, Banner was sold out when it was my turn in the special run tent line. I wasn't interested in any of the others offered, but I do think the Weather Girl mold is lovely and so I bought a Natasha.

I will sell her at cost if I know anyone looking for her; in the meantime, she'll be displayed on my shelves.

Since I'd bought a three day ticket, I received an Oliver, too. He's nice, but I don't collect him. He, too, will be sold or passed on to someone.

The one piece I was really hoping to buy was an alabaster Five Gaiter with black eyes, but I did not see any for sale. I'll just keep looking and having fun doing so.

A Major Curve Ball

Sometimes life throws a curve ball at you, and I had a pretty major one lobbed my way in June. I now know more about the pancreas than I ever wanted to know.

Right before Happy Trails in June, doctors discovered that a mass on my pancreas had begun growing. We found it by accident three years ago and it's been checked annually from then on. The tumor had been unchanged until this year's CT scan in June when it was discovered that it was now 4 CM in diameter. 

A few days after Happy Trails was over I went down to Indianapolis and had it biopsied, and the mass was even larger, having grown another centimeter in just three weeks. It was determined to be precancerous and had high cancer markers within the fluid. (It's called a Mucinous Cystic Neoplasm.) 

I have discovered that when your pancreas starts going awry, you get a lot of attention from people in the medical field and things happen fast. We got home from our trip to BreyerFest and Tennessee Monday night and then turned around on Tuesday at 6 AM to head south to Indianapolis to meet with my surgeon at 8:00 and then do my preops. We thought we'd be at the hospital two hours; I was with the surgical team for six hours! 

Because the tumor continues to grow, it is now too big for laparoscopic removal so I will need the open incision surgery to remove it. Within the mass is a smaller nodule with hard walls, and Dr. Schmidt, the surgeon, said that there was a 10% chance that the nodule was cancer. (Overall, those are good odds.) 

He discussed cancer protocols with me, just in case, and what he would do to remove any cancer that might be found. Along with half of my pancreas, he is also removing my spleen and lymph nodes, which means I will have lowered immunity for the rest of my life and need to be careful when I am ill. 

 After meeting with the surgeon, I had to have three vaccinations to boost my immunity going into surgery, blood work done, an EKG, and X-rays. I met with the team social worker who will coordinate home health care for me after I go home, and the team nutritionist who spent an hour going over what I need to be eating to build my body for surgery and recovery. I have exercises to do, a new vitamin regimen, and daily breathing practice to build up my lungs. I even have to brush my teeth four times a day to make sure my mouth is as bacteria-free as possible.  

The nifty case on wheels I was given to carry all my surgery prep items in. Won't it work well for model horse shows when this is all over?

The surgery will be done in Indianapolis and I will be in the hospital for 5-7 days, possibly more. Recovery at home will be 2-3 months. I had to cancel my entry to the August GLC show as I won't be able to drive that far or carry tubs of model horses. But I will be able to help out at The FAMulous Collectibility Show I am holding with Allison Pareis on September 14. 

I am more than a little overwhelmed by what is ahead but I LOVE the team that is in place to care for me - in fact, I got a call from one of them yesterday and was called "honey" twice and "sweetheart" three times. I also have the surgeon's and head nurse's cell phone numbers and been told to call any time and to not worry about bothering them. Clearly, pancreatic surgery is a big deal, bigger than I ever imagined.

 But I think I am almost ready to go. Wish me luck.

Guest Blogger - Kristian Beverly

Yesterday hobbyist Kristian Beverly posted an entry on her blog, Five Paws Studio, that made my day. I absolutely loved the aspect of helping children in school while introducing them to the joys of horses. Kristian's writing spoke about my most important passions - children and horses. With her kind permission, I repost it here today.


Bicycle Giveaway by Kristian Beverly

I traveled to Pittsburgh in June (which I just realized I never wrote posts about!).  I woke up early the morning after returning to help with pony rides at Youth 10X's Better end of school event. This has become an annual thing for me. Every year, kids bring their report cards and as long as they have a C or higher, they can receive a bike.

The kids also have an opportunity to ride a horse. I rolled up to the barn and helped load the horses. We took two horses--Lady, a quarter horse, and Sweet Pea, a pony. They're the most dependable of the herd, and Lady will keep anyone in line. Even the people.

And so it began.

Many kids participated. It took a little bit for them to realize there were horses. The pony rides took place across the street so that the horses were on grass and in the shade. I rode Lady over to the street so that the kids could see her.  Lady is a year younger than me--she's 22--and is a doll with kids. She's the boss of the farm otherwise.  A group of kids ran up and asked if they could pet her (which was an of course) and I started the children coming over.

For many it was the first time they'd ridden and there were a few that asked if they could go around again (which was a yes, as long as no one else waited). One little girl asked if she could walk Lady, and she stood barely higher than my hip.

It was adorable to help her lead Lady who plodded along quite nicely.

Even though this was my favorite moment. A little boy was on Lady and promptly said he liked riding and felt like he was in "Old Town Road." He and his band of friends broke out in song like an episode of Glee. And it was amazing.

After the kids rode, a few moms asked if they could have a pony ride which was another yes.
It was an amazing morning of introducing and sharing horses with kids.

Thanks, Kristian. I have no doubt that you made a difference in others' lives that day.

A Longing for Horses

How many of us have longed to be with horses? Or still do? When I was little and the opportunity arose to be around a horse, I was in absolute heaven. Many times I leaned on a fence, just watching them, breathing in that wonderful horsey scent, and wishing, wishing, wishing that I had one of my own.

A lot like this.

That's Pony Pal Mila yesterday at the Tippecanoe County 4H Fair. She's standing outside an exercise arena and watching the 4H kids work their horses. (The fairgrounds are undergoing major improvements and construction that were not completed before the fair, hence the temporary chain link fences.)

Vanessa snapped the photo and texted it to me, and I felt an immediate connection - I recognized that pose at the fence because that little girl was me many years ago. The text said simply, "Mila's loving the horses so much."

I may never know why that horsey pull, that longing for horses, is so strong, but I can recognize it when it happens. 

It happened last night. 

The 2019 BreyerFest Live Auction

This year's BreyerFest has generated a lot of chatter and some controversy on several topics. One of them was that the Breyer Live Auction had a blow out day with one piece setting a new record.

(I pulled the following two photos off social media and forgot to write down who posted the photos. If you know who took them, please let me know so that I can give them proper credit. Thanks!)

The prices on this sheet are fairly normal for the BreyerFest Live Auction, although that Silver at $10,000 is pretty amazing.

As are these, except for that jaw dropping selling price for the Alborozo! - $22,000! That set a new record for a piece sold at the BreyerFest Live Auction.

This Five Gaiter was the 2018 high seller at $5700. 

Photo from Breyer web site.

If you look at 2019's results, there are six models that went higher than that in this year's auction. As someone mentioned on social media, that is indicative of a healthy hobby economy this year.

The hobby has been buzzing about someone having paid $22,000 for a model horse. Some argue that it's an Alborozo so it's worth it, while others claim they'd never pay that much for a model. Rebuttal comes back that it's that person's money so let them spend it how they see fit. And so on.

Jennifer Buxton has an excellent write up that includes a video of the Alborozo auction. Go here if you'd like to watch it.

Do I have an opinion? Of course! But I've stayed out of the controversy. It is not my business how someone chooses to spend their money any more than it is someone else's as to how I spend my hobby money. Personal choices are just that - personal. I learned that as a mom of six kids - I'd go out in public with them all and strangers would come over, ask first if they were "all mine," and then ask IN FRONT OF MY KIDS if I knew about birth control. No words...

We never know the why behind someone's actions unless they choose to tell them. And for the record, we chose to have six kids and would have loved more, but in an ironic similarity to the Alborozo, Cole, our sixth, "broke the mold" so there weren't any more!

"You Can Hold It, But I Take It Home"

Pony Pal Mila arrived for Sunday dinner yesterday and made a beeline to me as soon as she saw me.

"Grammy!! Look what my grandma gave me!" she crowed. She was holding a large black Appaloosa model horse. (Her other grandma lives in town, too.)

Then she generously handed it to me and directed, "You can hold it all the time I'm here, but I take it home." (Haha, I had just been forewarned that it was NOT mine!)

Naturally we had to take our picture together after I had oooed and ahhhed over it with her.

I was further directed to braid its mane and tail, and I did keep it with me their entire visit, although I put it on the kitchen counter during dinner "to keep it clean." (Although it would not have been the first time I ate a meal with a model horse beside my plate!)

True to her word, Pony Pal Mila did take it home at the end of her visit, but I suspect I will get to hold her new horse again.

I've done a little research trying to figure out who made the horse. I could not read the stamp underneath it, and have done a search online, but nothing has come up yet. I suspect it may be an "Our Generation" horse sold at Target.

You know what else didn't come up during Pony Pal Mil's visit?

Unicorns. (Shhhhhh!!)

A BreyerFest Diorama Entry

In June, my friend Nancy Kelly slipped me some sneak peek photos of her entry in BreyerFest's diorama contest. This year's theme was a parade one, and (I think...) also supposed to incorporate past BreyerFest themes.

Nancy's entry paid homage to the 2006 BreyerFest appearance of Tommie Turvey and his wife, Chantel.

She repainted a Stablemate truck and used three Stablemate dolls in order to make her entry. (Two riders, one driving the truck.)

Tommy on the float.

The competition was fierce and Nancy didn't win, but she had a good time researching and creating her entry. Even better, she did something special with it after the contest was over. I'll let Nancy tell that story in her own words.

A young couple who run a Western tack store came through the room one more time. They weren't buying much, and it looked like funds might be tight for them. I offered them the diorama, for free. They looked at each other, puzzled at first. He said "You're the collector...it's up to you" to his partner. She said "You can put it in the store!" He then beamed, as he realized that HE was actually getting something at BreyerFest. They asked if I was sure, and I said I'd be honored. Yay! New home. :)

Those lucky folks! I hope they send Nancy a photo of the diorama displayed in their tack shop!