Getting things done

Again I have been silent, but still doing things! I have two projects that are making progress at a lovely pace, and I'm learning things along the way. And in case you're wondering, yes I've had "help" from the Bengals.

Behold the ever helpful DeEtta putting her trademark kitty staple holes in my spray box! Since she was 11 weeks old she has had a fascination with my model horse hobby and tries to help in her kitten ways, including chewing on the newer models. (Something about the smell of fresh plastic with these guys drives her berserk...) Gizmo has been helping her little sister in the eat horses department, but doesn't discriminate and goes for any and all of them. Their hobby has named one of my project ponies, get ready to meet Bengals Find Me Tasty in her early stages!!

Not too shabby so far. I'm trying a new method for her, which is using matte sealant between each layer. I found out real quick that whatever Breyer uses for a primer doesn't hold the paint too well against my twitches so I had to find a way to protect each detail. So far the only downfall to this method is the fact that I have to step out onto the porch to seal each layer, and Alaskan weather can be far more unpredictable than me after a week off my meds. Let's just say that is not a story to delve into.

I have another project pony making good progress but I'm not ready to show pictures of her yet until I get the giant hole in her belly exposing the speaker parts in her covered up and closer to painting. I have tested the sound and it's great! Best thing is the kittens are too confused to chew on her.

Perplexing

Good 'ol eBay knows how to drive me crazy. Here's the recent confusion.

Flocked Rearing Stallion. Says that it's the Classic scale (aka Rex). The problem is to date the two rearing stallion molds made by Chris Hess have only been confirmed to be flocked once. And it was King (the Traditional scale) as a white circus horse. So I'm having trouble wrapping my head around this black flocked Rex as a circus horse. I almost want to get him to see in person what the blazes is up with him, maybe a possible custom....

I also have acquired one thing that is a few different weaknesses of mine in one. He's rather beat up but I love him because a) he's the vintage style dapple b) a Maureen Love mold c) an oddity. Behold a mislabeled Arabian stallion!

I got him with scuffy alabaster Arabians from the same time period, a mare and stallion (in his proper mold). Plus side to getting vintages is that DeEtta isn't too interested in eating them. I also have a dapple PAF on it's way to my mailbox; sad part is the cutie got shipped with standard shipping so we are on day 6 out of possibly day 8-12 for the journey through Canada. Also eagerly awaiting some reference books for vintage Hartlands and Breyers. Finally got my first Traditional scale Peter Stone horse! He's the older morgan mold in a seal bay coloring and is nearly flawless. At the price I paid I thought I was getting a Chips scale, so it was quite the surprise. He came with his tag from live showing with the name Dracula, so I decided to keep that as his name.

In the subject of names I have someone who will be needing one soon. Since it is the first day of working on her I'm not too worried, I have hopes of her becoming a pretty appy.

Little this, little that

Okay, that was a longer than expected hiatus. Got bit by a cat, had to get a tetanus shot the next day, then a couple days after that the doctor decided to take a bit of blood from me (different reason). All of this happened on my right arm, so it is a little sore. I also got involved in redoing a fanfiction I was working on a few years ago, never got too far in it so there isn't much to tweak. Those things along with being on an antibiotic that my body doesn't take kindly to kept me from opening my laptop-the fanfiction is on my phone so it was in easier access.

First things first, I told y'all that I would show off my childhood holy grail. Here he is!

 

Northern Lights was the first decorator I was introduced to back when I was eight, and my mom would only buy me Stablemates, so I was out of luck. I now have him, 14 years later, and he is still in his box, fat white zip ties and all! DeEtta has already tried to nibble at the box, so I'm definitely keeping him in there for now. He sits on my dresser where I see him when I wake up and giggle at my fortune. If only it was that easy to find all my childhood holy grails...

I also got around to photographing my little Hartland foals.

 

They're so darn cute!

They are both the Arabian foal mold unpainted, but they have a few differences. The color is the most obvious. Little pale fella's head is also facing downwards more than its darker companion. then there's these mold marks I know nothing about.

 

"D"

 

 

"A"

I know nothing about Hartlands, so it might be something simple. For now I don't know. In a way they do remind me of the youngest and most rambunctious kitties of the house, and I managed to get a picture of them together without them moving. They are both alike, but have their own unique quirks.

 

DeEtta is quickly catching up to Gizmo. 

I have other things I've been working on, but will save for another time when I don't have hormonal kitties crawling all over me. (Gizmo is in heat, and Bear is acting like she will be soon also...)

 

One crazy week

Well life threw a few twists. The weather has been causing my nerve endings and other neurological tweaks to go haywire to the point of my non medical remedy for my sleep seizures to not work. I've thankfully gone three nights without one, but very exhausted nonetheless. I ripped my pants picking up Snoopy (the 18 pound bundle of ornery at the shelter), and he seemed to find it amusing.

 

Here he was telling me that he had nothing to do with it.

Work was bustling like crazy, I thought I was going to have dreams of all the customers who were saying "We're from Fairbanks!" "Do you have a Fairbanks special?" "Why don't you guys open an Arbys up in Fairbanks?" (There was an Arbys in Fairbanks, but it got no business at all so it got shut down), and then the good 'ol "I'll have (insert multiples of 10) roast beef sandwiches/sliders." I'm still not sure what in the world was going on to have alot of people from Interior Alaska down here, but it was nuts. With how often we get asked for a Fairbanks special, which is something we stopped doing 8 years ago, I have strongly considered doing a group of decorator custom stablemates and call them "The Fairbanks Special."

I have also managed to create jeweled Egyptian Arabian halters, nothing too fancy but they turned out way better than I expected. Honeysuckle and Sundown really like them.

 

Honeysuckle's bald face does not like my camera at all.

Spot also gave us a huge scare. She started acting lethargic and uninterested in everything, and the Bengal kittens were watching over her intently. Because she's the leader of the little "colony" and was showing a great deal of weakness, Bear kept on attempting to attack her but was foiled by DeEtta's speed and Gizmo's size every time; so my service animal in training decided to be Spot's body guard. We started to get worried when she stopped grooming herself and was turning down the offer of treats, and started wondering if she needed a vet visit on Friday.

Between Friday night and Saturday morning things took a very bad turn. Spot had been sleeping on my bed since Wednesday by DeEtta's beckoning so I got used to sleeping like a corkscrew. Around the midnight hours going into Saturday I woke up to a very upset and distressed DeEtta who was mewing up a storm and worriedly mothering Spot with Gizmo sitting on the floor upset also. I turned on my light and found Spot bleeding all over my bed and herself and barely responding to the Bengals. Fast forward to a few hours later and we had the vet telling us she has pyometra, basically the cat form of endometriosis, and they were giving her a very small chance of survival. For those who don't know what pyometra and endometriosis are, and are too lazy to look, they are basically infections of the uterus and are very life threatening.

The vet told us the recommended choice was surgery that had a 30% chance that was out of our budget despite getting paid the day before, and there was a smaller chance with how weak she was of it being successful. She did give us the option of trying antibiotics, but told us it had just as much of a chance of being successful, but was way cheaper; so we took that route knowing that if she wasn't better in 48 hours we had to take the sad route of euthanasia. Saturday was still scary with her, but Sunday morning we found her eating and moving around. Since then she's been improving wonderfully, and is strong enough to not need a guardian kitty and swiftly reminded Bear of her place. She still seems a little tired, but I don't blame her. Here's to hoping the next week goes smoother!

 

Sunday night she was being herself trying to make Jason stop playing Division.

Struck by stars and stripes

Guys, I am screaming. Look at this fella!

 

 He is so awesome! I've never been attracted to the translucents much, but something about this guy just draws me to him like ants to sugar water. For those who haven't heard or don't follow me for my model horse obsession, World of Model Horses revealed the 2016 4th of July Breyer horse on their Facebook page this morning, and he (maybe I should mention his name is Patriot) is a 3000 piece run that they have pre orders of already. I am just purely awestruck by him, the red points, the stars on his hindquarters like a blanket appaloosa pattern, the blue, oh that blue....I know for sure that if he's giving others such happy vibes like he is with me the pre orders will be filled quickly and he won't be cheap on the secondary market for a while.

Speaking of the secondary market, eBay has had some interesting gems. I'm not a big fan of the Breyer elephant, but these pieces are in great condition and rather neat.

 

If I was to pursue getting one, it would be a decorator like this cutie.

And here are some more with some info on them. They all were clearly from the same person who was a collector that tended to their models very well. 

 

There was also this. Not too special, but one of the "custom ideas" in this auction really threw me off and made me ask myself why someone would do such a weird idea...

 

Welp, that's all I really got for today. For those who were hoping to see kitties, I will give you eye candy of a couple of the cats I was working with at the shelter.

 

Finn and Holly were placed in the community room together since they were both declawed and possessed passive personalities. They couldn't agree on who could sit with me; Holly won until I got up and stretched then Finn did a victory prance as she hid on a shelf.

 

Sawyer was a lovebug who wanted to be everywhere but his kennel. The full time vet got a kick out of hearing me tell him we weren't going to play "The Adventures of Tomcat Sawyer"

 

Zara was one of Tuesday's transfers from the stray room, and not even a half hour later I had people wanting to adopt her. I love knowing there's people who can find room in their hearts to adopt adult kitties, makes me look forward to going back next Tuesday.

 

Unique little ponies

Why hello strangers I'm still alive! Just been busy and sick, but doing things nonetheless. Been spending alot of time on eBay acquiring horses and wishing I could get others...

 

 I am really coveting this guy, his shading is beautiful! But alas, I am already at my horsey budget for this pay period, so I had to say farewell to possibly giving him a home with me.

 And then there's this beauty that is far too above my budget. I feel honored just being able to see that he exists, very mystifying coloring for the Adios mold. Backstory included!

 

I might have missed out on some beauties, but I still have become victorious. I had two unpainted Hartland arabian foals come in the mail, each one very unique on its own, along with a couple more models en route. One is a model I identify as one of my "childhood holy grails," and I will definitely be showing him off when he arrives, and I got an older Peter Stone model coming also. Once they arrive I will be taking a respite from adding to my collection until I can get a DeEtta proof display cabinet to put them in. Something about the smell of the newer Breyers seems to scream "eat me" to the cute terror, so thankfully my vintages are safe...for now. They do have a new toy to keep them occupied for a while, I already woke up a few times last night to them enjoying it.

 

Finally a picture of all five! Sabbat at the top, Bear to the right, Gizmo on the left, DeEtta on the new toy and Spot at the bottom. The Bengal babies love it.

Speaking of Bengals, DeEtta has been getting restless and wanting to go on an adventure lately to the point of trying to walk out the door when I go to work, and Gizmo has been very clingy to me. It's almost like they know that I'm struggling with this infection with how Gizmo soothes me to sleep, DeEtta wakes me up when I stop breathing, and they greet me as soon as I get home. I even have an editor for tonight's entry, but it might be because I'm extremely exhausted from the day. On that note, I better rest up and get ready to help the shelter kitties tomorrow get love until they find forever homes.

 

Yeah, Gizmo doesn't look smug at all.

Feline shenanigans and a scary little machine

Last few days have been a hit and miss with my health, and the antibiotic was wreaking more havoc than the sickness, but I am still alive! And let's just say there were a couple kitties that kept sticking close to me, so I caught them in their "natural habitat." Please forgive the horrendous photo placement.

   




Gizmo was "helping" me braid...

    

I was also front row to a Bengal battle! DeEtta was having a good time lounging back, even while slapping Gizmo's paw.

I love this shot, it shows how close in size they are. Gizmo still has more muscle tone than DeEtta.

I also started working on my pony pouches again, and with a new method. It is definitely one that I'm still trying to figure out, and it has bite. So far it has pricked my innocent thumb and nearly mangled a piece of material. Who knew a handheld sewing machine could be so scary....it took me an hour to make one pouch for one stablemate. One. Hour. I would be better off hand sewing them unless I can get better at not getting attacked by the machine and making giant snarled messes somehow. It would be nice to get the pouches made for at least the stablemates so that they can quit chafing against each other in their storage tote. One step at a time, or else I will trip and fall.

 

So cute, but also intimidating...

And don't forget, tomorrow is pi(e) day!!