Photo Call Out & Weather Woes

First, two requests for some help. 

1) I am nearly done with my research on B stamp Breyers and am ready to begin writing the blog posts. I only found seven B stampers in my collection and would love to have some more pictures of models who have it. If you have any B stamp models, I'd love to borrow your pics, one of the model itself and then another of the B stamp that's on it. 

2) I've started doing research on Glowies - Breyer's models that are made from (deliberately or inadvertently) plastic that glows in the dark. For example, some of this year's BreyerFest Celebration Horses, Athenian Lady, are glowies. Breyer has said that that was not intentional.

The Halloween Horse, Crane, is a glowie. (Mine is also a B stamper!)

Photos on glowies are also welcome. 

If you'd like to share your B stampers or Glowies, please send your pics to me at horsiemama8@gmail.com. Thanks.

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Yeesh! We had very high winds during the night and people in parts of town are without power. We have power but lost some other things.

Tammo looks a little bewildered in this picture, doesn't he?

I don't blame him. Our patio rug is gone and the outdoor furniture has been rearranged!

The chaise lounger is on top of the wildflower planter and our fire pit is missing. I briefly looked out into the yard for the carpet and fire pit, but it was too dark (and cold and windy) to see anything. I will have to wait until daylight to retrieve them.

Today is going to be a good day to stay indoors. Pepper would prefer to spend it like this:

Me in my recliner with my Kindle while she snoozes, cuddled up on my lap.

Actually, it will look more like this, although it won't be in a hospital setting this time. I happen to enjoy grading papers, and with Teacher Daughter Lisa having been so ill multiple times recently, she is letting me help her catch up on her grading.

But instead of a coke, I think I will be drinking hot chocolate - it's cold out there today!

Stay warm, all!

Christmas Horse of the Day

Crystal and Crispin were the last of a very short series of mares and foals with holiday themed blankets. (If it even really was a deliberate series. It may not have been.) I was disappointed when, in 2017, no mare and foal pair was offered.

Like the other two sets, Crystal and Crispin were web specials that used vintage molds. They were released in 2016 and their blankets are a pretty blue with white snowflakes. I've not seen any information as to how many were made.

Advent Calendar Reveal - Day 5

A stable hand!

I don't have enough pieces yet to really get a scene started, but I am getting close! 

Mid March - Saturated, Squishy, and Soggy

The old saying is that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb (although sometimes the lion and the lamb switch places.) But there isn't a saying about mid-March, and there should be. 

These photos don't do justice to the raw, blustery, cold, and rainy weather we are having right now.

Tim is out of town and so I am in charge of the horses. I enjoy it when that happens, but when I did yesterday's barn check, I did not even want to get out of my car.

We'd had heavy rains and the ground was saturated, squishy, and soggy. A wind advisory was up and those strong winds made it impossible for me to use my umbrella as I walked out to check the water trough and the horses. (Not that an umbrella does any good when the rain is being wind-driven sidewise and right into your face.)

Abby, Trouble, and Hokey were not in the old barn where I thought I would find them. They were waaaay out in the northwest field. I drove around the property to where they were and stopped my car so that I could observe them. They were fine, moving freely, and grazing on some of the new spring growth.

Over at the blue barn, Sultanna and Diablo also had chosen to be outside. Despite an open barn door inviting them to come in out of the weather, they were around the corner and standing alongside the barn together.

I find it interesting that, given the choice, all five horses chose to be outdoors in that wind and rain. Not me. I was happy to hustle back to my car, turn the heat up, and dry off my face and hands.

The forecast for today is for sunshine and temps in the mid 40s. It will still be squishy and soggy when I check the horses, but at least I won't be dealing with the driving rains and winds. And my guess is that the horses will be in the barns this time! Haha!

Tangled

I live in western Indiana in the "Till Plains" region. That's just a fancy way of saying that the ground is flat and good for farming. (It also makes it a lot easier to see a tornado bearing down on you.)

When the ground is flat and there's nothing to stop the wind, outside items can be blown around quite a bit. I regularly go out onto my patio and pick up the furniture and put it back where it belongs.

My poor wind chimes were a mess this morning! I've already untangled them at least once since I put them out for the summer.

This time when I untangled all the lines I could tell that some parts had been torn off. I'll go back outside and check the lawn and see if I can find them and maybe tie them back on.

Meanwhile, the chimes are back up and making pretty sounds as a light wind is blowing. I'm going to try and be a bit more proactive and take them down the next time that wind begins to blow.

Surviving High Winds

Years ago, my 4-H Horse and Pony Club leader stabled his horses in an old barn much like the one Abby and her friends use. Strong winds one night brought that barn down while the horses were in it (none were hurt, luckily.) I think of that sometimes when I am visiting Abby in the old barn and wonder, "Could that happen to this barn?"

I thought I might find out yesterday.

A big storm came through at midnight Wednesday night/Thursday morning with 100 mph winds. (Believe it or not, I slept through it all, but Craig was up and thought we might be having a tornado. He said our home actually shook, and that he heard popping noises on the second floor. Miraculously, aside from overturned patio furniture, our home was unscathed.)

I woke up to reports of heavy damage, especially to Bookston, a town a little to the north of us. My first thought was of Abby and the herd, also a few miles to the north, sheltering in the old barn from the storm overnight.

I texted Tim right away. He has herniated a disc in his back and I wasn't sure just how mobile he was that morning.

But Tim being Tim, he had already checked the barn and horses. (I am so lucky to keep Abby at his place!)

Then I turned my attention to Brookston - my mother owns property there. (An orchard and fifteen acres of woods.) News reports said the town was without power and that the two highways that intersect in it were closed due to downed trees and power lines. I drove up at noon to check the orchard property and see if we had sustained any damage.

Because 43 was closed, I had to turn onto S 200 E and go the back way to the orchard.

The grain silos at S 200 E and E 1250 S, just a mile from our property, had been damaged. 

 Two had been pushed to the side...

 ... and another completely shoved off its pad and crumpled.

Crops had sustained wind damage, too. Field after field had corn all leaning toward the east.

The woods my mother owns were in good shape, although I could see at least one tree had been snapped off at the top.

Sadly, some of the old apple trees had sustained some damage.

It is a little hard to tell, but these are more apple trees that have been toppled.

Surprisingly, despite the massive tree damage, the houses I saw had very little damage, even those surrounded by trees that had been destroyed. There was rotation documented over the area, but my guess is that this was not a tornado - it was either a macroburst, derecho, or straight line winds. (The National Weather Service will be out today and giving its opinion later. Update at 9:00 PM: The National Weather Service has determined that the damage was caused by straight line winds and not a tornado.)

In the meantime, Tim's old barn has weathered yet another Indiana wind event.