A Case for the Bridle Rosettes

Ever since I began collecting bridle rosettes, I have been looking for a way to display them. Shadow boxes didn't work well - the rosettes have a raised bar on the back so that they can be used on a bridle, and that made them roll around in the little cubbies.

Sorry for the photo quality - the sun isn't up yet as I write and there is glass in the cover of the box.

That bar on the back made it so that anything I tried for displaying them simply didn't work. Finally, I just put my rosettes into a box and set them on the shelf. I was resigned that I was going to have to have to go down to the frame shop and see what they could figure out. 

Then, a friend posted on social media that she had bought a ring case to display her horsey jewelry and rings. Since I have a lot of horsey jewelry, I clicked on her photos to see if it might work for me. And in doing so, I solved my own problem.

Photo by Myla Pearce. Don't her things look great displayed like that? And how easy to find what she wants to wear!

I hopped onto Amazon, found a similar one, and ordered it. It arrived this weekend and I began inserting my bridle rosettes. It looks pretty good thus far!

I also included a photo of my father with his circus pony, Oh Boy. I have Oh Boy's bridle and there is one rosette remaining on it, so I plan to pop that one into the case, too. The plain silver one is from my first horse, Amy's bridle. 

Dad's Slides: The Cowgirl Outfits

Yesterday afternoon a loud, cowgirl YEEHA!! could be heard coming from the Isenbarger home. Leslie had sent me a photo of us in the cowgirl outfits that our mother had made.

Jenny with her stick horse, Bluey, Leslie, and me.

Recently I had found a pattern during an online search that looked like the one that I remembered our mom had used. I wasn't totally sure if it was the same one but I thought it was pretty close. Turns out that I was right; it was the same pattern.

Finding that photo was a bright spot for me, especially as I shelter in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only is it a reminder of some very happy times, but even better, it was more hugs coming from heaven.

Dad's Slides: I Found a Horse!

As family lore has it, I began pestering my parents for a horse when I was a toddler. So, it is no wonder that they did not believe me early one morning when I told them that I had found a horse.

I was four and we lived on Prophet Drive in a small neighborhood on the edge of town. Directly beyond us were farm fields and woods. I had woken up before anyone else and wandered into the kitchen. The kitchen had sliding glass doors into the back yard and to my surprise, I could see a horse grazing on our lawn just outside those doors.

Running into my parents' bedroom, I gleefully told them that there was a horse in our back yard. Mom came with me into the kitchen, not really believing what I was saying, saw that it was true, and ran back into the bedroom to get Dad. He responded (as the family story goes), "Nice way to try to get me up, Fern." But he, too, soon discovered it was true, and so he caught the horse and put it on Benny's dog tie out under our crabapple tree while he tried to find its owners.

 Leslie and me, feeding the horse carrots, ecstatic that we finally had our own horse.

We were pseudo horse owners for a week before we finally located its real owners. And that was a week of heaven as far as I was concerned. Dad would put us up on the horse's back and lead us around the yard, neighborhood kids stopped in frequently to pet it, and, if they were lucky, go for a ride, too.

Sadly (for me), the owners were located and they arrived in a station wagon to retrieve their horse. They did not have a trailer, and I remember a teenage boy with his arm out the back window holding the horse's lead rope, the horse walking beside the car as his father drove slowly down the road. 

I wish I had more information about the horse. Was it a mare or a gelding? Looks to me like a large pony, not a horse. (Although I remember thinking that it was huge.) Why did it take the owners so long to reclaim it? What was its name? Why is its halter in front of the ears? (My father had had Oh Boy and knew how to care for horses, so why is it not on properly?) What's with the oddly colored tail?  And many more.

I'll never know the answers, but that's okay. It is enough to have these wonderful memories of my very "first" horse.

Dad's Slides: An Early Breyer Horse

Leslie recently began going through several large boxes that are stuffed full of our dad's slides. Dad was an amateur photographer with his own dark room, and my brother and sisters and I are very familiar with his films as we watched those frequently as a family. But, we never saw the thousands of slides that he took and then tucked away. Until now.

My sister bought a slide scanner and has been going through the first box, digitalizing the slides and then sending them on to the rest of us. I've been in tears more than once at seeing people, pets, and events that I did not remember until the photos brought them back.

As you might imagine, many of the slides of my sister and me have a horse in them. I'll be posting some of those in future blog posts. Here's one to start with.

This is Leslie opening her birthday gifts in April, 1969. That's a glossy grey Appaloosa Fighting Stallion, one of the prettiest colors Breyer has done on that mold. And he has a blue ribbon sticker!

That piece is still around and displayed on my shelves with my other Fighting Stallions. (Leslie gave him to me when she stopped collecting.)

And he's in great condition, especially considering that he was played with as much as he was.

I've seen people post photos on social media of themselves as kids opening now-vintage Breyers under the Christmas tree or for their birthdays. I never dreamed that there might be photos of me in that same situation. My fingers are crossed that among the thousands of slides Leslie has, there will be one of those.

But something much, much better than that is also happening. As I look at all these old slides that she is sending me, it is very clear that Dad loved his family. It feels as though he is sending me hugs from heaven. 

And that is the best thing coming out of those big brown boxes.

Rescheduled

I got a call yesterday morning from Indiana University Health/Simon Cancer Center, my hospital in Indianapolis, and my surgery (scheduled for this Thursday) has been postponed. It was not unexpected. Local hospitals are doing the same thing, and Sunday night I had heard that another major Indy hospital, St. Vincent, was canceling all non urgent surgeries starting today.

So, when I got a call at 9:00 yesterday morning from the hospital, I had a pretty good idea what was coming.

I am scheduled now for surgery in the summer, and luckily was able to work around some other plans we have. I'm still working on rescheduling a visit to Sarah's and Jessica's homes, but right now the times I have open and am not in recovery do not work for them. 

I'll be honest, a part of me is very relieved that the surgery has been postponed while another part of me wishes to just get it over and get through it. I'm not excited to have it hanging over me for the next couple of months. But, I am in agreement with what is being done to try and contain the COVID-19.  

Surgery Prep

As my surgery approaches, I have been following the news about COVID-19 carefully. Since my surgery is not an emergency, it is considered elective, and some hospitals in the area are no longer performing elective surgeries in order to free up rooms and doctors for patients ill with this newest coronavirus.

I went down to Indianapolis to meet with my surgeon a couple of weeks ago and had my preops done while I was there. They expire a month after they have been done; if my surgery has to be postponed, then I may have to do them all over again. (Would my insurance cover that expense? Or would I have to? A question to ask, for sure!)

The rolling bag containing all my preop/preparation devices and prescriptions that they gave me along with my purse while I was at the surgeon's office. 

Some of my preparation materials.

Yesterday, the surgeon's office called me to let me know that my surgery was still scheduled but I was cautioned that, "Things can change quickly." I asked if I should begin drinking my Impact Immunonutrition, a prescription drink that is very expensive. I am supposed to drink three of them a day. I was directed to go ahead and start.

I do hope that I can have the surgery as scheduled. While I am a little self conscious about the "baby bump" (as Craig and I call it) that is so visible, there is a bigger issue than that. The bulge is so large that, while I can still snap my jeans, pants, and skirts, it is VERY uncomfortable when I do so. That makes it hard to go out in public. (Although I am staying home most of the time in order to stay healthy for the surgery. I don't want to postpone it like I had to in August.)

I guess time will tell; in the meantime, I am on pins and needles as I prepare. Wish me luck!

Here We Go Again!

In January, I had one of those weeks we all have occasionally. One of the things that had happened was that I had discovered a swelling underneath the incision from my pancreatic surgery. After having it checked here in town with my own doctor, I was told that I had developed an incisional hernia and needed to see a surgeon.

It's large enough to see under my clothes. Craig and I call it my baby bump.

I had a choice to see a surgeon here in town or to head down to Indianapolis and have my pancreatic surgeon do the repair. I decided that I felt more comfortable returning to Indy. (As Dr. Schmidt's nurse breezily put it, "After all, he already knows what your innards look like." Alrighty, then!!)

Tuesday Craig and I spent four hours at Simon Cancer Center meeting with my surgeon, various nurses, doctors, and case workers, and having blood drawn, x-rays,  an EKG, and other things done. I was a bit dismayed to find that the surgery would not be simple. Not only will Dr. Schmidt have to reopen the incision, but he will need to make two other cuts, one on either side of my abdomen. The reason? The opening inside is too big to just pull closed; the sutures would tear the tissue if he did. Cuts on either side give leeway for pulling things together. (And then those must be sutured, too.)

Me with my hospital carry bag of supplies, a prescription needed for prep, and my purse waiting to be called back in x-ray.

Surgery is scheduled for later this month, and I have to do the same prep regimen of exercise, vitamins, spirometer, Immunonutrition drinks, and so on. I will be in the hospital for three days, and was warned that this surgery would actually be more painful than the pancreatectomy/splenectomy done last August. That was something else I did not expect - I didn't think anything could be worse than that.

Here we go again!

Overwintering Bluebirds

Earlier in January, I discovered that some bluebirds were overwintering in our neighborhood. When I would step outside with Pepper first thing in the morning, I would hear them singing. That surprised me - I thought that they migrated.

Then, I saw something else that surprised me - a pair began spending nights in the barn swallows' nest above the arch on our front porch!

The photos aren't the best because they were taken either through a window or from the ground right underneath them.

I observed them several days before verifying that they were truly bluebirds. It just didn't seem like normal bird behavior to me for them to roost in another species of bird's nest.

But I caught them one morning as they left the nest for the day, and that brilliant blue of their feathers was unmistakable.

We do indeed have a pair of bluebirds spending the winter with us. What a treat!

My Penpal Pepper: Life is Good!

Hallo, Mom!

I hope this finds you doing well, especially with all this COVID-19 craziness going on. Lynn has assured me that we have enough toilet paper to get us through, so we have just been hanging around the house and enjoying the peace and quiet! You know, like this!

Me stretched out on my back, legs akimbo and sound asleep, on Craig and Lynn's bed.

Millie and Molly come by a couple of times a week and spend the day with us, and usually during that time, Craig cooks us each an egg while later in the day, Lynn gives us our own personal kongs with some peanut butter in them.

 Me, Millie, and Molly all lying on the living room floor, hard at work on our kongs.

Lynn and I usually go up to her office early in the morning so that she can write while I sleep on the bed next to her desk. Sometimes she gets so involved that I have to remind her that it is past breakfast time. (She says my clock is WAY off but I disagree.)

 Me sitting up with my paws on Lynn's legs.

Sometimes I make good use of my puppy eyes - she can NEVER resist those!

Me with my chin on Lynn's leg and showing her my big, beautiful eyes. (Nacho says that they are my best feature!)

I am really enjoying my life with Lynn and Craig and they tell me all the time how much they love me. In fact, they love me so much, that they installed my very own outdoor water fountain for me! It only works when the snow is melting or it's raining, but still, isn't that thoughtful of them? Lynn says it is actually a rain gutter, but the water from the melting snow that comes down it is irresistible!

Me in the front flower bed (so I can access my water fountain) drinking the icy snowmelt.

I hope you, Dad, the kitties, and Ursula are doing well. I miss you all! Please tell Ursula to give you some licks from me!

Love always

Pepper