Unicorns - Mythical or Real??

If you have been a blog reader for a while, then you know that I really dislike unicorns. Like, REALLY. I'll buy them for the unicorn loving Pony Pals and I do have a few in my collection, but they are not my cuppa Vanilla Coke Zero.

Knowing that, and wanting to have a little fun with me, Denver Daughter Sarah sent me some references about unicorns existing. And not just any references, but references from the Bible.

Numbers 23:22 and again in Numbers 24:8 God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of a unicorn.

Deuteronomy 33:13 His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns

Job 39: 9 Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib? 

Job 39:10 Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow?

Psalm 22:21 Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou has heard me from the horns of the unicorns.

Psalma 29:6 He malketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.

Psalm 92:10 But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn

Isaiah 34:7 And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls

Having read the Bible, I had come across those references before, but never had I seen them all gathered together. (It did surprise me, though, to see just how many references to them there were in the Bible.)

I still don't like them. Nor do I take that as proof that they exist, now or in the past.

After all, there are references to dragons in the Old and New Testaments, too, and I don't believe in those, either. 

Take a look at Revelation 12:3-4, 7, 9; 13:4; 20:2 and  Isaiah 27:1 to check out a few of the dragon references.

So sorry, Sarah! Unlike the Cowardly Lion, I am not changing my mind.

 But that was a really nice try and you made your mama smile.

Tent Raising

The unicorn post is going to have to wait - I'm not quite done preparing it. So, in the meantime, here's a look at what I did on Labor Day - set up my new (to me) tent for period reenactments and The Feast of the Hunters' Moon!

It actually belongs to my sister and brother-in-love, Leslie and Rick. They have two tents and they are loaning me their smaller one.

There's a knack to setting it up

and Craig and Lisa came with me to Leslie and Rick's farm in Brookston

to learn with me. It takes at least two people to set up; more than that is better.

We got the corner poles up and then the ridge poles in the middle to give it height.

After that, we set in the perimeter poles

and put up only one side, just so we knew how the sides were hung.

I was intimidated by its size -

at 10.5 x 13.5 feet, it's bigger than I anticipated. 

But then, I will need some room for visitors, right?

Hopefully I'll be able to get my tent up and looking like this when the time comes - and it is coming soon. Back to the sewing machine for me!

More Models from Jean

Thanks to reader Carrie, the manufacturer of the mystery donkey is solved. She commented, "I have one of these, too! As far as I can tell the stamp reads, 'Made in Hong Kong.' The company is usually just called Diamond P and is known for making many similar styrene knockoffs like this going back to at least the 70s."

Thanks for sharing, Carrie! My friend Jean was curious about the donkey when she learned that it was not a Breyer and asked me to pass on anything I learned about it. She will be interested in hearing what you have to say.

I didn't buy all that Jean had, but I did purchase the Huckleberry Bey.

I already had one in my collection, but many people like him and I thought I would donate him to FAMulous for the raffle.

Unfortunately, his stand was missing with the peg still in his hoof, but I knew there were hobbyists who could get that peg out and fix his rubs.

 

I don't collect many Classics, but this Arabian stallion was with its original box. Or so Jean thought when she sold it to me.

It was a nice looking model

but as soon as I tried to identify it, I ran into a problem.

It turned out that this was not the right box!

He is number 640, not 647. Jean had several empty boxes in her daughter's room and had put him in the wrong one when she sold him to me.

That didn't really matter to me - while I have some models still in their original boxes, I don't keep loose models in boxes. Too many opportunities for rubs and damage.

I did buy the Misty that was still in her box but I packed her away before I got a file photo snapped so this one will have to do. 

Tomorrow we are going to look at (believe it or not) unicorns - in a rather tongue in cheek,  needling way from my oldest daughter, Sarah. (My kids love to poke the bear!)

Stay 'tooned!

Mystery - the Mystery Donkey

The donkey that I bought from Jean is clearly a knock-off. As soon as I touched him, I could tell that he was made of cheap, lightweight plastic - probably styrene.

The hooves were the second indicator that this was not a Breyer.

They were much longer and painted a very bright black.

The position Mystery is in is a mirror image of Breyer's donkey.

Here he is between two donkeys from my collection. Sizewise, he's bigger than either of them.

There is a manufacturer's mark on the right hind leg.

It was a bear to photograph but I can see a P in a diamond, and then MAR... on the first line, BON... on the next, and 669 on the last.

I did a little research and found a company in California called Diamond Injection Molds, but was denied access to the company's web site.

Breyer's donkey is a little quirky and I think having Mystery alongside the Breyer donkeys is fitting as he's quirky, too.

And cute.

There is no denying the cuteness factor on these donkeys!

Next up? Two more pieces from Jean, another one which was also a mystery.

Stay 'tooned!

The Feast Leads to a Find

Last year I volunteered on School Day at The Feast of the Hunters' Moon. I checked in the teachers who were bringing their students there for a field trip and in between checking people in and answering questions, I got to know the other volunteers, Whitney and Jean.

I had no idea that that stint of volunteering would circle back to model horses.

Fast forward to July, 2022 and BreyerFest. (Whitney and Jean at the Feast.)

I had posted on my Facebook feed that I couldn't go to BreyerFest and that Liz was going to pick up my models. 

The next day I was surprised to get a message from Jean saying she had not realized that I collected and asking if I might be interested in buying some models from her daughter's old collection.  

This photo of them was included with her message. 

Jean told me that there were other models in storage that I could look at, too. 

We made arrangements for me to go over to her home the next day so I could look at what she had for sale.

I was intrigued by the photos of the donkey - it looked odd and I suspected it was either a copy or possibly a custom.

Turns out it was an oddity and home with me he came (along with several other pieces.) I'll talk more about him tomorrow - stay 'tooned!

Identify Your Breyer is Back!

Yesterday I received a notice from Triple Mountain Horses, and it was a DOOZY. (And very, very welcome.) Here is the full text (with Eleda's permission to post.)

Identify Your Breyer Update - I Can Finally Share This Good News!

Posted by Eleda Towle on September 1, 2022

We are happy to announce that Identify Your Breyer (and its sister sites) are being updated!  Janice, who started IDYB, passed away unexpectedly in 2021.  Going forward, there will be three curators working together to manage the sites. We have been working with her family to carefully transfer all of the websites and set up things behind-the-scenes, and now that everything is finalized and we’ve been able to bring IDYB up-to-date, we’re pleased to announce this formally.  The curator group consists of three collectors:  Stephanie Michel of Minnesota,  Stephanie Van Horne of Quebec, Canada, and myself:  Eleda Towle of Maine.  We each bring a different skillset, but we all agree that Janice’s work and memory should be respected.  IDYB will always be her baby, and now it will live on in tribute to the twenty years she spent building it.

Please be patient with us, as we’re still learning how she coded the sites, and it will take us time to get everything organized (including new email addresses for questions and submissions), but you can look forward to the site being kept up-to-date going forward.  Having three people involved should provide stability for the site in the event one of us is unable to update it.  Future plans include making the site more user-friendly for new collectors -- without changing what we long-time collectors love about it. 

For the next several weeks, though, we'll be working on the important "framework" behind the scenes to make sure the code is brought up to date so it doesn't "break" as it has been doing for some viewers for a while now.  We also will need to set up new email accounts, as we don't want to access Janice's private emails, so we'd like to ask that you please hold off on sending emails and submissions for the time being.  We'll announce on the site when we're ready to take questions and submissions of photos and information.  This is a huge project, and we want to go slowly to do it well.  We hope you’ll support us as we take on this responsibility, and we look forward to hearing your feedback as we make progress.

For me, and I know I speak for the Stephanies as well, this is a huge honor.  Janice stayed out of sight for the most part, so few people realized how many hours every week she put into the site, until she passed and it sat untouched.  We feel like we're picking up the torch she had carried for so many years.  Going forward, updates will be posted to IDYB's homepage, so stay tuned.

Yes, you read that right - Identify Your Breyer is back!

Later in the day, Eleda added some content to the original post.

I just received a message saying that there was a rumor out there that "the new people" would be charging people to access the site.  I hate rumors.  To put that to rest: NO,absolutely not - There will never be a fee to access IDYB while the three of us are involved.  The rumor may have been based on a different site, owned by the owner of Stonehorseref, who charges to use her Stone site and talked about setting up a Breyer one and charging to use it. 

We are not doing this for money, and we're all volunteering our time.  Currently I'm paying all the hosting fees.  Janice built the site out of love for the hobby, and that's how we'll carry it on.  Information should be accessible to everyone, both lifelong collectors and new collectors just starting out. 

We *may* in the future someday, include a donation button somewhere on the site for those who have asked if they could donate toward paying the hosting fees, but that hasn't been seriously discussed yet.  If we do add one someday, it won't be promoted - It would just be there if anyone wanted to put a few dollars into the hosting account.  But no - Access will always be free, as Janice intended.

 ~ Eleda :-)

Here is a link to the post so you can read it and any updates that follow.

 https://triplemountain.com/blogs/news/identify-your-breyer-update-good-news 

Thanks, Eleda, for letting me share your good news here and best wishes as you and the Stephanies get IYB back up and current again!

Finding An Old Horsey Friend

Recently I saw the name of a deceased gentleman in the obituary section of the local news that jogged my memory. It took me a moment to remember why the name was familiar, but then it came back to me.

 He was the father of Jackie, a girl I used to show my horses against when I was in high school.

Jackie loved Paints, was experienced and well trained, and usually placed at the top in whatever class she entered. 

The day I took the blue over  her in a Western Horsemanship class was one of the proudest days of my life - it was an affirmation that you can be self-taught and still succeed. (I am also a self-taught seamstress.)

That obituary contained information that let me track Jackie down on social media. She is still involved with Paint horses, has a family, and lives in the southwest. (Photo from social media.)

I've not contacted her and have no plans to do so - it has been over forty years since we last saw each other. And while we were in 4-H together as well as showing against one another on the local circuit, I doubt she would remember me.

Still, it was fun together a glimpse into who she is today and even better, to know that, like me, she too is still a horsey girl.