July Give Away & a Derecho Barrels Through

Congratulations to Samantha Wiggins who guessed correctly that this year's BreyerFest Mystery Surprise Horse was Emerson/Winx!

For winning, she chose Karinthia, the Running Mare in buckskin which was produced 1996 - 1997.

Because we had so many entries, I decided to surprise everyone and do a second Mystery Surprise Blog Horse.

Marigold - a classic/Freedom sized decorator from BreyerFest 2017.

I loaded all those names into the spinner and...

Congratulations to Betsy in Wisconsin! 

Ladies, please send me your current mailing address (horsiemama8@gmail.com) and I will get these into the mail for you. (By the way, folks, Samantha is also a blogger. Go here to read it.)

Oh, and before I forget, I was incorrect when I said Emerson had never been done as a mare. Winx is a mare. Oops on my part!

It was wild and crazy around here last night. A progressive derecho blasted its way through our area around midnight. I'm not sure where it began, but it hit Hawkeye Sarah in Iowa and then Illinois before us.

I stayed up late to monitor (the derecho had also been producing tornados) and was texting with Curt who, too, was awake and monitoring the storm. (Lisa slept through it but has called this morning to let us know she is okay.)

These two baby birds were blown out of their nest and (lucky for them) down into Hawkeye Sarah's back yard. She gathered them up and took a quick post-derecho trip to a wildlife rehab center where they will be cared for. (They are mourning dove chicks.)

Derechos are fast moving with winds that can become hurricane force only they are straight line, not spinning. It was quite a ride as it passed over us, but the worst was over quickly and then we had thunderstorms the rest of the night.

Tippecanoe County (where I live) took a hard hit and there are a lot of trees down, power outages, and non-working stop lights at intersections. Winds at 75 mph were recorded at Purdue's Airport.

Damage in downtown Lafayette.

I heard a report of damage out by the barn which would not surprise me since there are a lot of big trees out there. Tim is checking on Hokey and making sure things are okay, and I plan to run out later this morning and check on things, too. (Memories of what happened just two weeks ago are very fresh.)

Craig, Pepper, and I are okay, although we had a scary couple of moments when our bedroom windows began creaking and squeaking when the wind was at its highest. That has NEVER happened before! They held, thank goodness, but I'm going to check them later this morning.

After staying up so late, a nap is on today's schedule - that, and packing up the give away models. I've gotten all the sheets and towels washed from last week's family gathering, now I need to fold and put them away. (Folding laundry is one of my least liked household chores.)

Hope ya'll have a good day and, if you were in the path of that derecho, you did not sustain any damage!