Mini Brands mystery toys

I knew Mini Brands mystery capsules existed, but I'd never come across them in my travels, at least not until Christmas Eve. I was last minute, panic buying Seth a gift at his favorite RC hobby shop, and I happened to look over at the impulse purchase items next to the cash register.

Crap.

I bought a couple, but didn't crack into them until today.

Unwrap, peel and reveal!

Not going to lie - I enjoyed this way more than I should have.

And look at all these toys!

Scale is a little bit random, but most of these will fit nicely into a 1:9 scale hobby room. I especially like the Robo Alive reptile!

I haven't decided yet if this was a good or bad discovery, but I have a feeling it won't be long before I visit that hobby shop again!

Christmas 2022

If Christmas was a holiday based solely around pets, yesterday might have ranked as one of our best Christmases ever.

Erin Corbett's adorable Italian Greyhound, Ruth, sent the girls a big box of goodies that included three Choco Tacos...

(they all belong to Emma now),

a bag of Smart Bones...

and an IQ test.

Darcy solved it in less than a minute.

It's possible that her sisters are not rocket surgeons.

Olive also had a good day. Seth gave her a beautiful new noseband for her hackamore. She was thrilled.

Thrilled.

As for the human part of the day... I'm not going to go into details, but that was complicated. It will probably be a funny story someday, but not yet. Definitely not yet.

Happily, things did improve as the day went on, and we ended up having a nice dinner with both boys and Ryan's girlfriend. Here are a few pictures.

Anyway, I'm glad that's over. On to the next!

Kitty Grubka

This morning I woke up to the sad news that Kitty Grubka had died.

I met Kitty through NaMoPaiMo. She was one of the original members and participated every year from 2017 through 2022. 

Original finish Swaps, Kitty's 2017 NaMoPaiMo Swaps and Kitty's 2020 NaMoPaiMo Swaps

This is her 2017 horse with its first place ribbon from that year's BreyerFest Open Show.

Kitty's participation wasn't limited to painting. She also hosted parties...

Kitty with Stephanie Hicks

and in 2018, she sculpted, cast and distributed a medallion to our youngest participants.

photo by Zoja Makovec

No surprise, those medallions were a big hit.

photo by Leslie Osborn

Although we chatted occasionally, I can't say that we were close. Still, every February, I knew I could count on Kitty.

I knew I could count on her enthusiasm, energy and generosity.

Also, her talent.

Godspeed, Kitty, and thank you for being part of the NaMoPaiMo family. This February will be a lot quieter without you.

The horse wreath

I don't usually take pictures of bathrooms, but I did at Drifter's Hearts of Hope.

It's a perfectly nice barn bathroom, but that's not what inspired me to snap this photo. My real interest was the horse wreath hanging above the toilet.

Every December, my non-horsey friends tag me in horse wreath photos, and every December, I think that I should make one of those in 1:9 scale. This has been going on for the better part of a decade. I didn't really intend to make one this year, but as I was sorting photos for yesterday's post, I decided now is the time. I dug through my Christmas tubs, found some appropriate supplies and came up with this.

Construction was a little trickier than I'd expected, and there's definitely room for improvement. Still, I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

And look! After weeks of procrastination, I finally managed to take a few new model horse Christmas photos!

Happy holidays, everyone. I hope your Christmas is merry and bright.

DHOH barn tour

An anonymous reader asked, "Can you do more barn raising challenge posts? Plllleeeeeaaasseee?"

The truth is, I would love to write more barn raising challenge posts, but first I would need the time to work on some barn raising projects. Alas, time is in short supply these days. Blame the holidays, blame the job, blame the weather, blame my general lack of organization... There just aren't enough hours in the day for me to get to everything.

So while I can't write a barn raising post today, but I can share barn pictures. Here's a look at the beautiful main barn at Drifter's Hearts of Hope in Franktown, Colorado.

My friends and I visited DHOH last weekend for their Christmas fundraiser. The barn aisle was filled with tables and gift baskets. 

In addition to shopping, we also peeked into every stall.

Each stall had an attached run, and predictably, most of the horses were outside sunning themselves.

We also looked at the feed room...

rescues go through a lot of food!...

the lounge...

and the indoor arena.

Wow! That's big and nice!

I'm sad to report that we didn't find the tack room, but the grooming stall more than made up for it.

I love all the grooming totes and products.

If I ever have time to fully participate in the Bridletree Barn Raising Challenge, I would like to make a pair of grooming stalls just like these.

That won't be this year, however. Sorry, anonymous friend. This is all I have for you right now.

Christmas ponies, part three

Every year, my barn friends and I get together for a Christmas photo shoot. This year we had a lot of scheduling issues, so instead of one big picture party, we had three little ones. Here are pictures from the second and third photo days. Enjoy!

Scarlett

Scarlett

Scarlett with Snezana, Bojana, Marija and Mary Jo

Judge

Judge

Judge

Judge

Saphira

Saphira and Reece

Thunder

Thunder

Thunder

Thunder

Thunder

Therese and Thunder