Sporadic Posts

Sorry for the sporadic posts - I just get worn out and don't get everything done that I'd like to do, including writing blog posts. Hopefully in a week or two I will have more stamina.

In the meantime, here is a photo I ran across the other day. Does the girl look familiar?

It's my mother around 1938 in Watseka, Illinois at her aunt and uncle's farm. I'd love to know more about the horse, the saddle, and even the puppy, but my mother passed away in 2016 and I can't ask her.

I wonder what breed the horse is. It definitely has some draft horse in it. Suffolk Punch, maybe?

NAN Cards & Show Donations

The FAMulous Collectibility Show is a NAN qualifier, and the NAN cards have arrived!

 Since this is collectibility show, the cards are yellow.

We have also been receiving some lovely donations.

 Audrey Dixon sent this beautifully done custom Stablemate.

 Someone who wished to remain anonymous sent us a hard to find Jolly Cholly insurance dog.

 Robin Hudson makes jewelry from Mini Whinnies

 and she sent us not one

 but three of her necklaces!

Teresa Rogers, a real vintage lover, sent us a mint in box set of older Stablemates

 and a vintage 7" Hartland Arabian set!

Jan Jordan donated a Breyer Sarafina unicorn that is really pretty.

We have other commitments for donations that are being delivered the day of the show or that are in the mail and on their way. It's been wonderful to see just how generous hobbyists are, and Allison and I really appreciate the support we have been receiving for our first show together.

Thank you, all!

Reunited!

At last! Together again.

Yesterday I finally felt strong enough to venture out of the house and so naturally I chose to go to the barn.

 Abby was very glad to see me again.

 Craig drove me out since I was still wobbly. I wanted to have him along in case the short drive or going out into the pasture were too much.

Abby quickly snarfed up the peppermints I had brought her, while Sultanna and Diablo crowded around.

Just the few minutes I visited with Abby wore me out. I was glad to get back into the car, close my eyes, and let Craig drive us home.

Our visit was short, but it still represents a step forward in my recovery. There is much to be said for a little bit of horse therapy and how it can lift your spirits.

The Show Must Go On

Last spring, long before I knew I would be undergoing pancreatic surgery in August, Allison Pareis and I discussed holding our dream show - the kind of show she and I wished other hobbyists would put on and that we could attend.

The FAMulous Collectibility Show was born and will be held September 14 in Muncie, Indiana.

Allison is a  huge fan of Breyer's Family Arabian Mare, so we decided to use her as our theme model, and the planning began.

The class lists reflect the classes we wish we could show our own pieces in.

Allison has a wonderful sense of humor and it showed in the names of some of the sections within the divisions.

Liz Cory is going to judge the Breyer Critters and Things Division, while Tonya Clapp will judge Just About the Horses.

Nancy Kelly will be our china judge. 

Cristine Holt and her daughter, Tara Oliver will round out the judges in Customs Collectibility.

Needless to say, finding out out that I needed major surgery in July really threw a monkey wrench into things, but Allison and the judges have all stepped up and assured me that they have things well in hand. (Thank you, ladies!) And I do plan to be there; Allison has already found a couch in the show hall for me to use should I wear out.

The show will go on!

Abby's Fine!

Tim is a great barn owner. He manages the barns, pastures, and herd very well, and Abby and her buddies thrive under his care. I have not had a vet bill in seven and a half years! (He gives the horses their shots and deworms them.)

He's also been thoughtful enough to keep me posted on how Abby is doing as I recover from surgery - I haven't seen her for nearly two weeks! I'd hoped to go out a day or two after I got out of the hospital and even sent him a text to find out which pasture the herd was currently in so that I could plan for any walking that I might have to do.

Tim responded with this text and several photos of the horses enjoying apples that he'd put out for them.

 Hokey, Trouble, Sultanna, Abby, and Diablo enjoying an apple treat.

While I miss my girl terribly, it is also a tremendous relief to know that she is well cared for and that I can wait until I feel up to visiting her.

Family & Ponies Lift My Spirits

This morning I made it upstairs and into my horse room!

It's been eleven days since my surgery, but I finally felt I had enough energy to get up the stairs and into my happy spot. It's amazing how a little bit of normalcy can lift your spirits and make you feel better.

Friends have been dropping by to cheer me up - look what my dear friend made me!

And family has come by, too. Pony Pal Mila, complete with a new, large, sequined UNICORN, dropped by for lunch on the patio the other day.

I can only have soft liquids to eat for a while, and Curt had thoughtfully brought me a Frosty from Wendy's. We all ate lunch together on a beautiful day under the patio umbrella. (Sorry for the photo quality. I was not up to moving into the sun at that time to get better shots.)

It feels wonderful to be back amongst the models and to be able to have the energy for a family visit and other things. And now that I can make it upstairs, blog posts should become more regular again. (While I have a laptop downstairs, I prefer to use my desktop as it is easier to write with.) I did write eight entries ahead of my surgery and scheduled them to post daily while I was in the hospital, but that wasn't enough.

It's good to be back.

Rough Times

It's been a rough, hard ten days since my surgery. Surgeons removed a mass the size of a baseball on my pancreas along with half my pancreas, my spleen, and some lymph nodes. The pathology report is not back yet, but my surgeon took clear margins, just in case, and thinks I will not be dealing with cancer treatments. Good news!

It's the hardest surgery I have ever had, and even though I did a lot of prep work ahead of time, it has still knocked me flat. (I can't help but wonder what I would feel like had I not prepared my body so well.)

I've  had so many ports and IVs that it seemed like everywhere I looked, there was some sort of tube. I lost track of how many I actually had.

 And there has been heavy bruising everywhere.

My sugar spiked at almost 400 and then bounced up and down for several days which meant I was getting finger sticks every two hours and insulin shots in my belly.

Fortunately my blood sugar has normalized as my pancreas has healed.

Tough as it was, I had excellent care during my six days in the hospital - everyone from the nurses, techs, food service, and custodians were kind and caring. If I rang the bell for a nurse, someone was there almost immediately.

One nurse even drew me a cute elephant to cheer me up. I had them leave it there my entire stay.

I'm home now and continuing to heal. I'm eight days post-op as I write, and I am moving around the house and even sitting out on our patio. Taking lots of naps throughout the day, but I am needing fewer as the days go by.  I haven't made it upstairs to my horse room yet as those stairs are too much for me at the moment, but I hope to do so in a day or two.

Pony Pals, Ponies, and Bunnies

I love it when my kids send me photos of their children doing something horsey.

Kyle sent me this one of Addie, Whitney, and Corinne at a church BBQ recently near their home in St. Augustine, Florida. (I once brought my horse, Indy, to a church BBQ years ago when we lived in Illinois. Go here to read about that.)

And mutton bustin' Cambria loves to go to rodeos. In this one, she reverted back to her love of all things unicorn at the face painting booth

and then schmoozed with a couple of the junior rodeo queens before the bicycle parade.

And then there's Pony Pal Kate who truly is a horse lover. But, her first love is bunnies. She just celebrated her third birthday in true bunny lovin' style. (I sent her bunny slippers and a Schleich horse play set.)

Which is fine by me - I understand having a passion for an animal, even if it isn't a horse. (Although I don't think that I will ever understand the appeal of unicorns!)

Still the Alpha

Abby and Diablo have been best friends ever since I rescued Abby and brought her out to Tim's in 2012.

This works to Abby's advantage - the geldings don't boss her around or chase her off when she has Diablo by her side.  But, every now and then, Diablo shows Abby who is boss, too.

"Why is she taking your photo and not mine?"

"Take me! Take me!"

Sometimes Abby is reminded of who's number one - and so am I.

Barn Life

We are in high summer here in Indiana, and days at the barn are slow and lazy. (Translated, that means WONDERFUL!)

Sultanna has returned from having been off to be bred, and resumed her place in the herd as the lowest in herd order. She still follows Abby everywhere and most of the time Abby tolerates her younger shadow.

The tree along the lane to the new barn that was damaged in the May storms has given up the ghost and died despite Tim's best efforts to replant it and stabilize it.

It's been hot and so animals are looking to keep cool, too.

Like this fat toad that I discovered in the new barn. I'd never have noticed him if he hadn't moved when I stepped near the rack of shovels.

We had a pair of red tailed hawks nest near the old barn; clearly they are still around even though their babies have fledged.

We are having lots of those cloudless summer days where the sky is an intense, beautiful blue. (I'm going to look at this photo again when it is -10 below and snowy. Brrr!)

Despite the heat, the pastures and hay field continue to grow and do well. 

And Abby is in good shape, happy, and enjoying our visits.

Barn life is the best!