If the Doggos Could Talk

As I was looking at the day's pictures on my phone last night, I saw a story emerge. But while there are snippets of truth in it (Lisa does call Pepper a princess), the story is totally made up. As for the supposedly missing green snake (which really is Tammo's favorite toy), it was never missing and he played with it all day.

Oh, if the dogs could talk! Their conversations yesterday might have sounded like this:

"I can't find my favorite toy, the green and blue snake. Have you seen it?"

"I asked Nash and he said he hadn't seen it. Guess I'll keep looking."

"It's been a hard day of playing and running and barking and snacking and back yarding... Boompa, I sure could use a good paw massage. My paws are tired."

"Oh, that's feels so good."

"Now, how about I stretch out on my other side and you knead those muscles. Oh, yeeeaaahhh..."

"What, Nash? Of course I am lying on the green and blue snake. I always have your back."

"Boompa doesn't want his pillow or his blanket. He put them down here in my spot at the foot of the bed just for me."

"Lisa, stop calling me 'Princess Pepper.' What?? No, I am NOT a diva. Or spoiled. Beloved? Well, yeah, I guess that is true." Yawn. "I am so comfy and need to catch up on my beauty sleep. Your Nashie has worn me out today."

"Sigh. I never did find my green snake. Where could it be? I thought for sure I'd gotten it out to play with when I heard Nash and Mama were coming over."

"Guess I'll just sleep here in this spot. Hmmmm. I wonder why Craig isn't lying here like he always does. Oh well, I got here first so I'll just stretch out and... Zzzzzzzzz....."

 

One More to Go!

Goodness!! Who'd have thought that the sound of 30 some Stablemates falling over at once would make such a loud noise?

Loud enough to cause Tammo to hightail it out of the horse room and not return. And he wasn't even the cause - it was Pepper who inadvertently bumped the table.

No harm done, but it was a reminder that I really need to make some decisions about which Stablemates are being boxed up and which are staying on display. I keep putting it off; I know I am procrastinating, but  there you have it. (And there they sit. Or lie.)

Three BreyerFest pieces have been announced this week with the last due to be shared today. Most likely it will be the crystal and I am hoping that it will be a vintage mold. Fingers crossed!

Hoopla was announced Monday. 

He is a Limited Edition which means that he will be available to all ticket holders.

Produced on Morgen Kilbourn's Bristol mold, I think this piece will be highly sought after. 

(Has anyone else noticed how, piece after piece, the eyes on the Traditional models this year are exceptionally well done?)

Tuesday, the Stablemate Shindig was revealed. 

He, too, is a Limited Edition and available to all ticket holders.

Sculpted by Brigitte Eberl, Shindig is on the shrunk-down Rhenish German Draft mold, another highly popular mold among collectors.

Finally,  the BreyerFest plushie Party Pal was announced yesterday.

Modeled off of Breyer's mascot, Pal O' Mine (who is celebrating his 25th anniversary as Breyer's mascot this year), there are two different hat versions on this guy. He, too, is a Limited Edition and available to all.

I'm off to sort out those Stablemates. Wish me luck. And if today's reveal is a vintage mold crystal, you may just hear the shriek of delight all the way from Indiana!

Stay 'tooned!

Music, Matching, & Mutts

The past week or so has been busy musically for Cambria and Titan.

They wrapped up their final performance in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Cambria taking a photo of some of the kids in the children's chorus. That's Titan in red.

Two days later Titan was back in the studio recording tracks for another song and video for composer Angie Killian.

Next up on their schedules was a rehearsal for a song and video that both Cambria and Titan are recording for Easter with The Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square. 

Jessica sent me this picture of them rehearsing but I have no idea where Cambria and Titan are.

Jessica used to sing in an ensemble that was conducted by Ryan Murphy, the same man who is conducting this production. After the rehearsal, they got to chat and he took a photo with Titan and Cambria.

This past Sunday morning the Tabernacle Choir, Orchestra at Temple Square, and the children's choir recorded the song all together. I can't wait to see it! (It's for Easter so I doubt it will be released before April.) I will post a link here when I get it.

I've gotten two more trade shirts completed for Kalamazoo. 

This is a 2XL with horn buttons. I like the geometric pattern that is interspersed throughout the print.

This is a Medium. I don't do checks very often even though they are correct for the time period. It can be is a real bear to get the checks all matched at the seams before you cut the pieces out. 

An example of checks (in this case, plaid) that do not match.

It is a sign of quality workmanship when plaids, checks, and stripes match - the next time you are looking at clothing with checks, plaids, or stripes take a closer look. If they match, then it is a better quality piece of clothing.

In the "Nash, you are SUCH a goofball" department, I was startled to see this when he visited the other day:

(Judging by the toys scattered around, clearly he had been playing hard.)

Nash had flopped down on his belly and was leaning against the back of the couch. His back legs were extended just a bit past the edge. I didn't know he was there and so I was pretty taken aback when I came around the corner and saw them sticking out!

Another picture of a hard-playing and tired Nashie, this time up on the couch. No one can flop like Nash does! 

Breyer has already announced two more BreyerFest Limited Editions this week and said that they will announce something "cute" later today. My guess? The plushie.

Stay 'tooned!

Make that 109

I found the missing Eire and Rosemary!

And a, "What on earth is that?" box. Navigator?? Who is that?

I could tell from the box that it was a 2023 BreyerFest Stablemate but I had no idea what I'd find inside.

Navigator is lovely.

I had to go back through my blog to figure out how this piece landed in my collection. 

He is back in his box again and all those other boxed Stablemates are now neatly stacked in the curio cabinet. The rest of the Stablemates are still scattered across the table in my office.

Eire and Rosemary were already tallied in yesterday's count of 108 Stablemates; adding in Navigator brings my collection count to 109.

But there are some more "Tiny" pieces that I have not included in the count.

My Hartland Tinymites. I have 8 of those but I don't consider those Stablemates. 
 

The Tinymites are about a decade older than the Stablemates - I got mine around 1968.

They are a smaller scale than the Stablemates.

Plus, if I were to include them, then I'd really need to include the Hagen Renaker minis in the count.

They came before both the Tinymites and Stablemates, and as most collectors know, the original Stablemates were Hagen Renaker mini molds.

So, for now, the three are all considered separate collections within the collection. (Although now I am wondering just how many Hagen Renaker mini horses and ponies I have...)

More BreyerFest Limited Editions are being announced this week. Stay 'tooned!

108?!?

108!?! That's how many Stablemates I have. I think. I suppose it's possible that some are still squirreled away someplace, but I've gone through all the likely spots and I've searched the shelves. (Sometimes I put a mini me with its Traditional sized mentor. Nevermore and Mini Nevermore are case in point - I almost missed the Stablemate one!)

Here's a look at what I found in my (former) I-don't-collect-Stablemates collection. I started with a box in the closet that I knew had a lot of Stablemates stored in it.

Back in 2020 I bought a case of Stablemates - the 70th Anniversary ones. There was a blue filigree Indian Pony to be found in one of every 12 cases and I was hoping I'd get that Indian Pony. (I liked the woodgrain Clydesdale and the charcoal Fighting Stallion, too.) I knew my chances were very slim, but I had a coupon and the case was on sale...

To my surprise and great excitement, she was in the very first bag I opened! 

As time has gone on, I've given away most of the pieces in that case, but I kept at least one of each that was in there. (The exception was the black Croi. I'm not a fan of the mold, Traditional or Stablemate sized. The palomino Smart Chic Olena, too.)

And what was right on top and visible as soon as I lifted the lid?

The green filigree Croi from the 2020 Holiday Festive Filigrees set! The red filigree Smart Chic Olena was also in there. I'd thought I'd given both pieces away so they were a surprise.

From my stack of sales boxes and tubs, I pulled out my JAH 1998 Stablemates Gift Set. 

You hear Special Run and Limited Edition a lot; how often do you hear Special Edition?

I've shown them a time or two but for years they have just been boxed and in storage.

I love this next set although it stays in storage most of the time, too.

There are four versions of the Belgian (gold, silver, pink, and blue) with 375 having been made of each color.

After the Stablemates in the closet and sales boxes were out, I checked all the display shelves and emptied the Stablemate barn in the sewing room.

Then I remembered that I had some boxed Stablemates on the bottom shelf of the mini Hagen Renaker curio cabinet in the sewing room.

There is one that I can't find and I know I still have it.

Rosemary, the 2018 Vintage Club Stablemate freebie. She's in her box and I thought she was with the other boxed Stablemates.  

After they were all out, I started sorting them into groups. My earliest Stablemates that I've had for decades.

Oh, my heart! When I found this one, the memories flooded back. I'm never removing that tag.

More Vintage Club pieces that I'd unboxed.

Decorators in the Stablemate racks in the back, keychains, customs, and more assorted pieces.

Now that I have found them all (I think), it is time to figure out what is going to be displayed and what is going back into boxes.

My favorite Stablemate mold, the Indian Pony, already has its spot on the shelves.

I know I want the Donovans out, the decos, and the already-unboxed Vintage Club pieces. The ones from my early collection will be boxed up (with the possible exception of the black foals) and the customs, too. (Sultanna and Hokey may stay out.) It's going to take a while and I am sure I will need to order more of the Stablemate Racks.

Wait!! Where's my Eire?? The one where I first heard Mila's infamous phrase, "Grammy, can I have this when you're dead?" He's in his box somewhere like Rosemary. I've got more looking to do and I just changed that 107 to 108.

More fun for another cold winter afternoon!

 

New Stablemate Racks

A few days ago I posted a photo of something that had arrived in the mail. Several astute readers knew exactly what they were.

Horse racks for my growing Stablemate collection. (There. I admitted it!)

After doing some research, I narrowed my choices down to two different styles. I did like the one I didn't buy better - its poles are much thinner and it is far less obtrusive - you can see the models much more easily than you can with the sets I bought.

But their design made it difficult for all Stablemate molds to use the rack plus the thinness made me wonder if they could withstand a bump or a bobble on the shelves. And the whole purpose of getting some racks was to prevent that from happening.

So, I went with the thicker sets.

Like the racks I use at shows for my other models, these expand and contract to fit the models using them.

And they have plastic tubes on each post to protect the models from rubs or scratches.

Those can be easily removed if you prefer. (I'm leaving them in place.)

One thing I did not like was that there was lots of "fuzz" all over them.

I'm pretty sure that that is filaments or threads from the printing process.

I bought four sets and every one of them had this on them to varying degrees. I picked most of it off, but I was surprised that that was not done before the racks were packaged for sale.

Having said that, I would still buy these and plan to get more.

Currently I am experimenting with them and where I'd like to start displaying my Stablemates. 

My Stablemate barn is stuffed full; I'd like to remove the pieces that are too big for it.

This is a photo of a display I had a few years ago, but I got tired of the horses falling over and taking others with them. I may try putting the racks on those tiers and see how that works.

We shall see. It sounds like a fun putter for a cold winter afternoon.