Operation pony rescue

Speaking of post-Jennifer Show adventures, here's the second chapter in the story of Darleen's lost roller bag. Thank you,Teresa, for rescuing it, and also, for saving me from driving to the airport!

Operation Pony Rescue

by Teresa Buzzell

When I saw Darleen Stoddard’s post on The Jennifer Show Facebook group regarding her lost carry-on, I had to comment. Losing things at the airport is scary - I know, I’ve done it myself. Denver International Airport is not exactly a small airport. It's actually one of the five busiest airports in the county and in top twenty for the entire world. There are a LOT of places to lose things, and to make it even worse, the airport is a bit of a mess right now with construction in the terminal and concourses.

Jennifer Buxton had graciously offered to pick up Darleen’s carry-on if it was found at DIA, but why make Jennifer drive to the airport when I’m already there, five days a week, working for TSA? It was a no-brainer to offer to pick up her bag.

Before the Jennifer Show, Darleen and I knew each other vaguely. We were friends on Facebook and had exchanged a few messages over the years, but nothing more concrete. It was fantastic to actually meet Darlene at the show, see her lovely collection and do some in person chatting about the trials and tribulations of airport security. As I told her, I have ALL the good stories!

As chronicled earlier, Darleen’s husband had contacted DIA’s Lost and Found and located the lost bag. On Tuesday, Darleen messaged me about picking it up. We exchanged information, and I told her I’d figure out the best time to pick up the bag. Lost and Found closes before I get off work, and had moved locations in the airport. Then we got side tracked with other conversations, and she forgot to give me her address until a few days later! 

I decided it would be easiest for me to pick up her bag when I did my biannual shift bid. TSA at Denver bids for the summer and the winter time periods and, as with everything related to the government, it’s all about seniority. Seniority determines if you get to get up at 1:00 am to be at work by 3:00 at the busiest check point or if you can roll in at 11:45 am and have a leisurely day at the quietest check point. But even more importantly for me, seniority means I should able to a weekend day off. Seniority = social life, riding time, hobby event days off and actually seeing the hubby for more than three hours a day! 

The bid process started the Monday after The Jennifer Show, but my quite excellent seniority (69 out of 212) was not high enough to allow me to bid then. I had to wait until the following Monday, so I concocted a plan. I would “princess park," make my bid, find Lost and Found, grab the bag and go on my merry way.

“Princess Parking” is what we call parking in the garage. It’s at least twenty five dollars a day to park there - which some people do when they are running late or if the weather is complete crap. Otherwise, TSA pays for our monthly parking pass, or a public transit pass. The parking pass costs very little compared to what I've had to pay to park downtown, and it's a benefit I am happy to take advantage of.

My plan went off without a hitch. Monday came and the alarm went off at 6 am. Usually I don’t bother with an alarm, since I work from 12:30 pm-9 pm-ish. Seriously, the last time I checked the DIA website, that’s what they listed for a closing time! The sunrise was lovely on the drive in and I thought to myself about how I don’t see the sunrises and sunsets most days of the week. 

I got to the airport and even figured out, appropriately, the best place to park to be as close to the bid location, which was upstairs from my work location. It’s rather fun to look down on the check point and recognize the people working.

I went into the bid process fairly positive that I should be able to get what I wanted, and I did. 11:30 am-9 pm, Friday/Saturdays off with every other Thursday off. Woohoo! I will have to work Thanksgiving, but I can show at BreyerWest and will have better Stock Show attending possibilities. Now if we can have some Saturday shows this upcoming year, life will be perfect!

With that done, it was time to find Lost and Found. It used to be across from the North check point, near International Arrivals. It was easy to find, but not so much with this new move. A friend, who works South in the mornings, let me know what door I needed to use on the fifth floor to take the elevator to the first floor. DIA is weird, from the cones that are supposed to mimic the mountains and the blue horse who killed the sculptor, down to the hotel shaped like a mustache. It can be confusing!

There was no line at Lost and Found, and getting the bag was easy. I flashed my SIDA badge (airport ID), gave the Stoddard name(s), signed some paperwork acknowledging I had picked up the bag and BAM!​ Bag acquired. 

Some not so random comments based on other questions and statements made on social media.

• TSA does not look for drugs. We are not the DEA or Customs. That does not mean that we do not find them, however.
• The working dogs Darleen saw *do* work for TSA but they are looking for explosives. TSA is more worried about items that may bring a plane down, not any recreational stuff you may be bringing home with you.
• Darleen went through the South check point the first time and the North check point the second time. I know this based on the fact that I’ve seen the dogs on North once.
• I have no idea why the models in her bag were flagged for a bag search on North but not on South. Each X-ray is operated by a different person, and different people make different judgement calls.
• If, at any time, you are concerned about something you need to fly with, I recommend checking out TSA’s website first. There are also links there about how to get an answer regarding specific items. If you would like to see some items that passengers bring that obviously did not do their research about? Check out the TSA blog. I especially enjoy the week in review.

Bobbie and Bo's post TJS adventure

Earlier this summer, my friend, Bobbie Allen, and her husband, Jeff, moved back to the United States after spending four years in Japan. The first order of business upon arrival was BreyerFest buying horse property in their new home, Grand Forks, North Dakota. That took a little longer than expected, but they finally moved into their new place in early September.

Then Bobbie got in the truck and drove to Aurora, Colorado for the Jennifer Show.

After the show, she got back in the truck and drove on to Arizona to pick up her horse, Bo, who had been living with a friend while she was overseas.

Bobbie loaded up Bo and drove back to Colorado. They stopped to visit family along the way, and arrived back in Aurora Tuesday afternoon. Bobbie had arranged to keep Bo at Kenlyn for a few days, so I headed over there as soon as they landed. 

Bo was a little stiff after so much time in the trailer. Bobbie hand-walked him a bit, then turned him out and let him sniff and roll.

After that, we tucked him into his temporary stall with a flake of hay. He settled in as if he'd lived there forever. What a nice boy!

He was much sounder the next morning so Bobbie got on him for a quick spin around the ring.

This is the point where I feel compelled to tell you that Bo is an eighteen year old stallion who has been used for breeding. He had not been ridden in more than four years, and Bobbie just hopped on him bareback and off they went. No big deal.

What a wonderful partnership!

Bobbie asked if I wanted to ride him, which was pretty much a rhetorical question.

I would ride this horse any day, anywhere. 

He is a total love. Thank you for sharing him with me, Bobbie!

We also snuck in another quick bareback ride on Thunder. Bobbie had never ridden a gaited horse, and clearly that was an omission that needed to be corrected.

The non-barn parts of the day included a lot of arting. Like everyone else, Bobbie and I were both feeling the post-Jennifer Show creative boost. Together we designed a camel costume for Iamafam...

and on Thursday, we visited Denver's best art supply store.

NaMoPaiMo is coming, and we are (almost) ready!

Fabian joined us for dinner on Thursday night, and then we all went to the barn to pet Bo and hook up the trailer.

Yesterday morning, we went to the barn at dawn. Bobbie collected Bo...

and loaded him onto the trailer. 

Then they headed out on the next leg of their journey.

Safe travels, my friends. You and Bo are welcome here anytime.

Jenniferpalooza

The last Jennifer Show Performance class was the last class of the Jackpot Performance Division and the last performance class of the entire show. 

In its original conception, this class was intended to be a way for showers to use their Jennifer Show winnings in a performance entry.

Some people did exactly that. 

Awwwww.

Other people put up entries with lots of Jennifer Show branding.

I love this. 

I also love this.

And, you know, Jennifer Show IPA should totally be a thing. 

Maybe next time. 

Barb Diannibella set up a Jennifer Show souvenir stand.

Some of the wares included "plaques,"

t-shirts, key chains and...

dinosaurs! 

Darleen Stoddard created a Jennifer Show win photo, complete with trophy saddle.

Not going to lie, I covet that trophy saddle!

Erin Corbett and Leah Koerper pooled resources to create a big and little wOrKinG pAiRS entry.

This included some Jennifer Show logos on the arena wall, but mostly it was a case of "Here's an entry I could only show at the Jennifer Show." 

Ditto for Leah's solo "I needed a reference photo for a model horse show so my real horse friends and I staged this scene and took pictures" set-up.

Other entrants also opted for the big-and-ridiculous, only-at-the-Jennifer-Show approach. 

 Sue Rowe's wagon had everything from skulls to giant guinea pigs to Ronald McDonald...

 and Niki Hertzog had a golf cart filled with George Morris, dogs and a wide selection of other 1:9 scale treasures.

I can't imagine what inspired this.

The Jennifer Show was an amazing show, and the Jennifer Show Performance class was an amazing explosion of performance creativity and awesomeness. I loved every single entry!

All the dinosaurs!

The single most anticipated class of the entire Jennifer Show was Jackpot Performance class number four, Dinosaur Performance.

In the months leading up to the show, the TJS Facebook chatter was often dominated by dinosaur talk.

There were times when it drove Jenn a little bit crazy, but what can you do? 

People like dinosaurs!

I always knew that this class would be a success.

Still, I didn't expect this level of awesomeness.

WOW!

In several cases, the best part of the entry was not the actual dinosaur set-up...

but the documentation.

Check out Elaine Lindelef's bipedal dressage test. It's a classic.

As with all the Jackpot classes, it was hard to pick a favorite, but if you really made me choose...

Laura Skillern's dinosaur on dinosaur freestyle reining entry was the most perfect blend of traditional model horse performance elements...

and more dinosaurs than you could shake a stick at.

So awesome! 

 Sorry/not sorry, Jenn.

I know the whole dinosaur thing got a little bit out of control, but I have no regrets!