Coming to Indiana - Thursday, July 2

Second Post of the Day

At last! I got to meet Elsie Mae!

Daddy JC had told everyone that I got to hold her first when they arrived

and I was ALL IN for that honor! 

Craig was next and just as anxious as me to meet her. Dads o'six love babies just as much as Moms o'six do, doncha know!

Soon baby Mae Mae was being passed around to other family members, all anxious to meet and hold that sweet little girl.

Great Aunt Lisa and Elsie Mae.

Great Uncle Curt (with Gimmee just out of the camera range.)

Great Aunt Vanessa

Cousin Mila. 

We passed Elsie around the entire family, each person getting to hug and hold her and kiss those sweet baby cheeks.

We then let her have some fun in her new sit-me-up. (Craig and I did not think we'd ever buy baby things for our home again, but that and a pack and play are now in our home.)

Aunt Trinity had also flown in with them. She was a major player the entire visit in helping to care for Elsie Mae. (Thank you, Trin!!)

After dinner it was time to open the gift bag that had been sitting out all day.

Jayci and JC had no idea of what was to come.

Stay 'tooned!

Not Gone Riding, but...

I'm here, it's 10:00 AM and my guests have just left. I've not"gone riding" this morning; it's more like "gone sleeping." (Or "going to go sleeping" in just a minute.)

Here's a quick peek at one of my favorite moments from our visit with Sarah and her family.

Tammo brought Elsie Mae one of his favorite toys.

Look at his happy smile! He was so gentle and careful around her.

Good boy, buddy.

More tomorrow. Stay 'tooned!

The Foal Count: Traditionals

Let's talk babies!!

Okay, wrong kind of baby, but still, a great excuse to pop in a picture of Elsie Mae who is now four months old!

The announcement of Sentinel and Echo got me thinking about Breyer's Foal line-up. On January 30, I'd written,

The foals are a gambler's choice, but if I had a choice, I'd choose the Running Foal. (I have a conga of 17 Running Foals already.) It's a popular mold and I counted 36 different offerings of this mold from Breyer with the most recent one being Nestling in the Robin and Nestling/Birds of a Feather series in 2022.

Contrast that to the Scratching Foal mold.

The Scratching Foal has only been used 11 times since the mold was introduced in 1970 and hasn't been used in 18 years.  It was last seen as 4 different iterations in the Fun Foals Collector's Event in 2009. No doubt the Scratching Echo will be the more sought after piece of the two.

I began wondering, just which of Breyer's foals had had the most iterations?

I had a guess, and that was the Running Foal mold, but I knew that the Clydesdale Foal had to be a strong contender and might even be Breyer's must used Foal mold.

And so, since I had NOTHING to do on my plate and OODLES of extra time to do some research, I went through Identify Your Breyer and Breyer Value Guide and counted babies. Here's a list, in numeric order of releases, of Traditional Breyer Foals.

(All photos are of foals from my collection unless otherwise noted.)

1. Running Foal (37)

Not a surprise and by far the Running Foal is way ahead of the other Breyer babies.

2. Action Stock Horse Foal (27)

This surprised me. I was sure the next most-produced would be either the Clydesdale Foal or the Proud Arabian Foal, with the Family Arabian Foal a possibility.

3. Stock Horse Foal (25)

(Photo by Breyer/Identify Your Breyer.)

Another surprise to me.

4. Proud Arabian Foal (24)

Finally! And only separated by one from the Stock Horse Foal.

5. TIE Clydesdale Foal (23)

I really thought this prolific foal would come in second.

5. TIE  Family Arabian Foal (23)

6. Amber (20)

(Photo from Identify Your Breyer.)

Again, a surprise - I thought perhaps Stormy, Phantom Wings, or even Sea Star would be above Amber.

7. Ashley (17)

(Photo from Identify Your Breyer.)

8. Le Fire (15)

Introduced in 2002, Le Fire is very popular and the release numbers show that.

9. TIE Phantom Wings (14)

(Photo from Identify Your Breyer.)

9. TIE Stormy (14)

10. TIE Grazing Foal (13)

A vintage mold but overlooked for the most part now.

10. TIE Lying Foal (13)

 

As is the Lying Foal.  Its last release was in 2009, 17 years ago.

10. Andalusian Foal (13)

(Photo from Identify Your Breyer.)

11. TIE Scratching Foal (12)

Like the Lying Down Foal, this is an old vintage mold who, until Echo was released last month, had not been seen for 18 years.

11. TIE Suckling Foal (12)

12. TIE Sea Star (11)

(Photo from Identify Your Breyer.)

12. TIE Gilen (11)

(Photo from Identify Your Breyer.)

First released in 2009. Gilen is a popular mold and its numbers reflect that.

13. Lippizaner Foal (8)

14. Welsh Foal (6)

15. Camila (6)

I've often wondered if Camila was an experiment on Breyer's part. Were they testing to see if collectors would buy a 1:6 scale model line? She was introduced in 2014 and no mare was ever released to go with her and her last release was in 2019 as a BreyerFest auction piece. She seems to be a bit of an anomaly.

16. Hawkeye (4)

Hawkeye is my favorite of all the new foals Breyer has produced. I love his liveliness and sassiness.

17. Rhemi (3)

(Photo from Identify Your Breyer.)

18. Firestorm (2)

(Photo from Identify Your Breyer.)

I was surprised by several things when I did this count, and more surprises may be coming. We will next look at an outlier and Classics Foals, and possibly even Stablemate ones, too.  (You know, in my spare time as Kalamazoo rushes toward me. Hah!)

Stay 'tooned!

Cold, Cold, Cold!

Poppy is settling into her new home well. Her first night with Jessie's family, she went into her crate by her own choice around 9:30 and slept all night without any issues.

She is very people oriented - here she is asking Kyle for some love while he works. (In case you're wondering, she got that attention. Hah!)

https://youtu.be/0np7NDjR_PI

Playing with her new toys from Pepper and Tammo.

https://youtu.be/AHL9YMAKZhg

Greeting Cambria when she comes home from school. (Look at that tail - those circle wags!)

So far things are going very well and I hope that that continues, both for Poppy and the family.

Speaking of family... how can this sweet girl be almost three months old?

She smiles, she giggles, and she is just cute as pie. I can't wait to meet her. Maybe this summer? Fingers are crossed.

These two cannot be old enough to be grandparents. But here we are. And they are loving being Elsie Mae's grandparents.

The weather here has been cold, cold, cold. And it's going to get worse - warnings are already up for tomorrow for dangerous wind chills as low as -20 below. I'm thinking the schools will at least have a two hour delay if not a cancellation of classes. (I've been retired seven years now and I still watch the weather with kids in mind!)

It's been a rough winter and poor Tammo and Pepper are not getting much exercise. Truth be told, they really don't want to be out playing frisbee in this snow, ice, and cold temps.

They both enjoy snuggling and we don't mind a couple of warm puppies nestled against us. We're chilly, too!

Zoomies around the couch have to do for now.

In some ways, the weather has been a plus for me.

I finished my eighth chemise, a size 2XL.

This one has the gold and paste (rhinestone) sleeve buttons. 

I have an XL in progress right now, and then will make a size L as soon as the fabric arrives. (I have already gone through a 15 yard bolt of fabric for chemises this month!)

The burn from my carelessness around my iron is healing but still tender. It was worse than I'd thought. There is a shallow groove in my arm - I hadn't realized the burn had gone so deeply when I burned myself.

Today's plan? Nashie and Mama are coming for the day and that will keep us happily busy. I have a bone scan over at the hospital and then will run to the vet to pick up a refill of Pepper's meds. 

I also want to top off my gas tank before the temperatures plummet today.

And then I am going to snuggle with the dogs and Craig and let the storm hit.

Hot chocolate, anyone?