Camp Tecumseh Week: Playing with Ponies

My horse room is currently a mess with models off the shelves and out on tables.

 And I don't mind a bit. I am having just as much fun as Kate and Susie are. 

I've shown them how to carefully remove a model from a shelf and then put it back.

And then we set down the ones they want to look at and add names to the models' labels if the girls want to have it "some day." (Much better than Mila's "When you are dead, Grammy," right?)

They are older now but still feel the pull toward unicorns and Pegasi.

They really enjoyed learning about glowies and how some are intentional (Ichabod) and others are an accident. (Stella.)

Going home with them are two Toys R Us unicorn foals and the 1993 stallion from the Drinkers of the Wind set, another Toys R Us piece.

That piece still has its tag on it from when their dad showed it. 

He was five or six.

Kate fell in love with my Zulu, too.

Initially I told her that I wasn't ready to part with him yet, so she put her name on a tag for "some day."

And then I changed my mind - why hang onto him when she clearly was in love with the piece? Why not let her have him now so she could make memories with him and as a reminder of the summers she visited me and spent time in the horse room browsing through my collection?

My second Flinka arrived and they enjoyed looking at her, too.

After they headed off for their day at camp, I discovered that Flinka was looking festive thanks to a set of sleigh bells that Jennifer Buxton gifted me with a few years ago. I had the set hanging on the shelf where I can see and enjoy them; the girls lifted them off their hook and slipped them on over her neck. I think she looks great in sleigh bells! 

By no means in this post finished, but the girls are in here with me now and I got out my live show accessories for scene building for them. There are squeals of excitement and lots of questions and things like, "Look at this! It's so cute!"

I simply cannot get any writing done right now; besides, I wanna play with those things, too! 

More coming in tomorrow's blog post for sure! LOL

Stay 'tooned!

Doin's on a Cold Winter Day

Well, the snowstorm was a bust for us here in the Lafayette area. All over Indiana, the roads are terrible, schools are closed, and the snow is still falling, blowing, and drifting.

But not in Tippecanoe County. We ended up under a "tongue of dry air" as the local meteorologist put it, and all the snow that was over us dried up before ever hitting the ground. 

Although I do hear a snowblower as I type. Not sure why - I've been out with the dogs and while there is a dusting of snow, it's nothing. I could (and I will) sweep our walks off - no shoveling or snow blowing needed. 

Anticipating being stuck indoors all day yesterday, I spent a lot of time packing up the last remnants of Christmas.

I sorted the ornaments into piles

and then am putting them into clothes baskets to carry upstairs to Craig's library where the Christmas closet and tubs are.

It's currently in a state of chaos, but it is organized chaos, a chaos that is going to pay off in the Christmases to come. I am going through every single tub and box (10+ of them) and repacking each one. 

A list of what's inside is taped to each lid, and a note as to whether or not to use the things in that tub for future Christmases.

My goal is to have the things I want all grouped together and in clearly marked boxes so that I grab only the tubs I want in the years to come. Much better than opening every single tub and box and digging through them, year after year.

It's doubled the work of packing up for this Christmas, but it will make Christmas decorating (and packing up) so much easier in the future.

Yesterday I mentioned that I'd received new models, but horses are not the only thing that's come in the mail for me. Check out this pretty bluebird.

Marilou Mol and Linda Shawhan sell collections for people on Facebook.

In December they listed this very old Hagen Renaker Bluebird. The earliest HR birds had wire legs like this.

We have bluebirds in our neighborhood and they do not migrate - they remain here year round. For three years, some of those bluebirds wintered in a barn swallow's nest that was over our front porch. It was a treat to watch them come and go, and to know that they had chosen a very safe, secure, and warm shelter.

So, when I saw this piece up for auction, I took a chance and bid on it. I am thrilled to add it to my HR mini collection!

I don't see any BreyerFest or other news posted on Breyer's web site this morning. They do have the 2025 releases, and the dealer's catalogue can be found here. But the Christmas horses are missing. Triple Mountain Model Horses shows many of the Christmas horses and this box is a must have for me.

A 75th Anniversary Advent Calendar of 12 days containing Mini Whinny versions of Breyers and vintage colors!  (Screenshot from Triple Mountain website.)

I was disappointed to see that the 2025 Breyer Advent Calendar is a mix of horses and unicorns. I will probably skip it this year, especially since I will have that 75th Anniversary Advent Calendar as I've already pre-ordered it from Triple Mountain. (Screenshot also from Triple Mountain.)

Today's plans? Keep on keepin' on in the grand Christmas decoration sort-out. Spend some time sewing - Kalamazoo is coming up in ten weeks and I am woefully low on inventory. Get Pepper and Tammo to the park for some frisbee time (I think I can get my walker through what little snow we got. Fingers crossed.)

And chili sounds really good for dinner on a cold winter day.

Stay warm, all!

Cleaning and Rearranging

The time finally has come where I have added enough new pieces to my collection that I had to rearrange the shelves. (Oh, and dust the horses and those shelves, too. Hah!) That is always a daunting task, but I had models sitting out on my craft table who needed to be put away and I just could not find a spot for them.  The writing was on the wall - it was time to rearrange.

I always take pictures of my shelves before beginning.

 That way, if I have to, I can always put things back the way they were before I began.

It is so easy to forget just who went where and how you were able to play a sort of "shelf Jenga" and get all the models onto the shelves without anyone being rubbed or damaged.

 Since I have been sewing, I had my machine and cutting mat out, but I left them as is. That mat works well in protecting models that might topple.

I really, really would like to get rid of the tiny shelves - they were originally for DVDs and CDs, but I've found them useful for Classics and Stablemates.

This behemoth and the one in the last photo are about thirty years old. They are very sturdy and well built, and while I don't like their color, I have no plans to paint them.

I did not realize that I had this many Hartlands (and I have a tub in the closet full of more) so I decided that I would go ahead and box them up for storage.

 The sorrel Morgan set at the bottom right were my first Hartlands and a gift from Santa in the 1960s.

I decided to keep my woodcuts out on display - the ebony Thoroughbred Mare and Foal, the Three Gaiter, and the Mustang, the cherry Mustang, and the walnut Mustang, Three Gaiter, and Five Gaiter. Everyone else is now packed up and tucked into the closet.

Also packed and put away were my seven Breyer Tennessee Walkers. While I am opposed to soring and padding in real Tennessee Walking Horses, I did not put them away because of what they represent. I just got tired of their tippiness and always having them fall over and needing to be returned to an upright position on their shelf. After trying several different ways to keep them upright, I decided that I was done with that and packed them away.

I just put the last piece back on the shelf a little while ago. Now I am straightening up the boxes and tubs that I dragged out and will take pictures of the new arrangements when that is finished.

I'll post those soon!

Horse Room Sorted? Check!

I finished! It took a couple of weeks, but I have gone through every box and tub in my office, sorted out tons of stuff, and put everything back together again.

I bought a cube unit to help keep things organized and visible in the closet. All my reference books and binders are now easily accessible.

 One tub on the floor is awaiting a shipment of used trophies and awards that I got for a terrific price and will use for future Happy Trails live shows; the other is for some of the Star Wars and Star Trek items on the table that are going to be sold. I want to go through the comic books and organize them first.

 My craft table is clear once again (except for a box and three Hagen Renaker minis I just sold and will pack up tomorrow). I have three small sewing projects I plan to get done in the next few days, so I will be setting up my sewing machine on it soon.

And, while going through the tubs I found a bunch of ribbons that still need to be sorted. I keep a file for each model that receives a NAN card, and put its first and second place ribbons in that file. Other placings go into my used ribbon pile for Happy Trails. The ribbons that I found are currently stacked on my desk on the other side of my computer monitor.

It feels good to have one closet done on my retirement goal of sorting every closet before May 30, 2019. One down, nine to go, and if they all take several weeks, I am going to need a whole year!