Sunday, October 23, 2022

My Animals

A suggestion was made that I write about my animals, which I don't think I had done in a while - even before my latest blog hiatus.  So, here they are!

First up is Bo, he is a 2001 APHA stallion.  He's solid black, "a Paint that ain't" and is, by far, the best horse I've ever had or worked with.  I first saw him and agreed to buy him when he was only 1 month old.  We've been together for a long time and have had many, many adventures together.


Next is Tealight, my kitty.  I adopted her from a shelter in South Dakota about 12 years ago, when she was about 2 years old.  She went with me to Japan and back.  She's a little world traveling former street cat.  She is very sweet, super soft, and always knows when I'm upset.  One of her nicknames is "Empathy Cat".  


Then there's Jabba.  He is a tiger salamander I've had for probably 13 years and I estimate he was 2-3 years old (or older?) when I got him.  I joke that he is the world's oldest salamander.  He got his name because when I first got him I was overfeeding him and he became quite..  Jabba-like.  He is a super cool, chill little dude.


The most recent addition to my menagerie are my chickens.  I have a bunch of them.  I had way more, but split up my flock when I sold my farm in North Dakota and moved to Minnesota.  Here's a quick look at where most of them are right now, in my back yard.


Most of my chickens are rare or unusual breeds, here is my group of French Black Copper Marans, hanging out in the yard.  Everyone mostly stays penned up here, because this place is on a very busy highway.  Also there are a lot more predator concerns here.


One of my favorite breeds are the Polish, with their silly hairdos.  Here's a recent conversation at the water cooler once morning.


Here are the most recent additions to my flock.  I ordered a bunch of rare breed chicks from a breeder and they arrived just a few days ago.  Baby chicks are one of the cutest things ever.  I'm very excited about these wee poof balls.  


While not my pets, I have absolutely loved how much wildlife there is here in my new home (even if that means more predator concerns for the chickens).  One thing I've seen a TON of, right here in my yard, are frogs and toads, many of them very little.  This is probably the smallest and cutest one I had found.


I hope you enjoyed meeting my little zoo!

Tuesday, October 18, 2022

New Things

 I don't even know where to start. 

Yep, I fell off the blog train and laid in the ditch for months, but I'm..  back?

SO much has happened.  Divorce, a massive move, saying goodbye to one big dream, taking many more on the road with me, crying, swearing, hopelessness, followed by more happiness than I ever thought possible, and the cherry on top: an unexpected, incredible new relationship.

Rather than dig into all of that (maybe later), let's move forward, shall we?  Perhaps at the speed of a FLYING trot.

Constantia, the newest Breyer Premier Club horse, arrived here at my new home today.  She is, in a word: EPIC.

I did an unboxing video of both Zafirah (2022 PC horse #1) and Constantia (2022 PC horse #2) this morning.  



I'm very impressed with both of them.  When I was a kid getting started with Breyer horses, I couldn't even imagine OF Breyers looking like either of these.  

That being said, I've decided to take the leap into being an artist who customizes the new hotness, so stay tuned for custom horses on both of these molds.  I have a few of each mold on the way, or already here.  I will pick the best for my OF collection (though I still try to say I'm not an OF collector, they can also be tack models!) and then start prepping the others.  

For Zafirah, I plan to do an appaloosa colored Half Arabian repaint on one, undecided on the other.  I'm leaning toward a resculpt on the second one, still not sure on color.

For Constantia, I will do a liver chestnut repaint on one, undecided on the other.  If I was REALLY brave, I'd attempt a dapple grey.  Or a portrait of Greyhound ( I would looove to do that).  I'm not sure I'm that brave yet.


It's good to be "back", I certainly have a LOT to share.  To narrow it down I thought it'd be fun to ask you, my dear, patient readers:

What would you like me to write about in an upcoming post?