Darn you, Breyer!!!!

A year or so ago I had a "Darn you, Stone" post, but I've never done one for Breyer. Never had a reason to. Until today. Yesterday I blogged about the new Stablemate Collectors Club they'll be starting up in the new year. That's fine. It's inexpensive. But then today someone on Blab posted a picture of another goody. Or Goodies, as in plural. The first is the Vintage Club. I've never been a member of that club because it seemed too expensive to me and I didn't like the models they had in the past. But then, I saw the offerings for 2016 and it's full of all kinds of wonderful

I really like the 3 Cantering Welsh Ponies and definitely the Lady Phase on the 2nd shelf.  Initially I also liked the black appaloosa Man O' War, but the more I look at him the less I like him because of the white mane and tail and the white socks.  It looks off-balance.  The article says he's painted reminiscent of Stud Spider, but Stud Spider didn't have all that white.  Anyway, unfortunately the CWP models are Gambler's Choice so you won't know which one you get until it arrives.  Well, I want all 3!  Ugh!  The Charlie is a neat addition, but I'm not a huge fan of this new mold and will likely sell it along with the Western Prancer on the top shelf, should I decide to join.

Also leaked out, was the final model for 2015 Premier Club

Yeah, I'm not a real fan of it right now.  The pattern is a little odd to me, but I don't know yet if I want to try to find a buyer for him.  When I saw the offerings for the Vintage Club I figured I'd join that one and not the Premier Club again, but then the first model for the 2016 PC was leaked and I really like that one

So what do I do, then? I might be able to afford both the PC and the VC, but I don't know if I want to attempt it. Not with me trying to go to Breyerfest next July. It's a hard choice, really. On the surface, since you don't know what each PC model is going to be until a short time before its release, the VC seems like the best bet since those are all revealed ahead of time.

I still have time to decide. Neither the PC nor the VC have been opened up for joining yet so I will think on it some. But really, the VC has more that I'm interested in. Oh well. I'll figure something out.

I've been goofing off much too much lately and need to do more work and less playing. I hope everyone is having a wonderful Wednesday.

Exciting Breyer Collector News and a Car Update

A few months ago one of the people on Blab started a Facebook page to try to get Breyer to start a collector club for just Stablemates.  Last I saw, there were more than 300 members, but it wasn't very active.  The person has been in touch, off and on, with someone at Breyer to keep her updated on our numbers to show Breyer that there really was enough interest to have a club.  Fast Forward to Saturday (or was it Sunday?) and a conversation on one of the bus trip during the Sweet Home Chicago event.  Someone asked the Breyer employee about the possibility of having a Stablemate Collector Club and all Breyer person would say was to keep an eye on social media for an announcement that would make Stablemate collectors very happy.

Today, it happened.  Not on social media and, in fact, it hasn't even been mentioned by Breyer yet, but someone got ahold of the new JAH issue that is about to be mailed out and there it was...

It looks like Breyer listened to us on a lot of things we wanted such as an affordable price, older molds, newer molds and drawstring bags like the big guys get.  It's very exciting and I'm looking forward to joining.  I will need to renew my Collector Club membership in order to join, but I'm due to renew in December anyway so I'll just do it sooner to make sure I don't miss out.  So far, I really like the looks of the first model (I believe it's the one in the picture) and am excited about getting it. It's an interesting color. I don't know when the first model will ship, but probably not until after the first of the year so there's still some waiting to be done, but that's okay since we know it's going to happen now rather than hope and speculation.

On the car front, I was able to pick mine up yesterday after work from the Progressive Service Center. They did a GREAT job on it and you can't even tell it was dented. Plus they gave it a good bath both outside AND inside. I'm quite impressed and would have no problem recommending the body shop to anyone who needs paint or body work done and lives in the Phoenix area (the shop is in Mesa). I'm just happy to have my car back, I tell you what! They told me not to wash it for 7 days, though, and we ended up getting hit with another monster storm last night. Strong wind and heavy rain. I was worried it would not only dirty my car back up, but also wash some of the paint away, but it did neither so I'm happy about that.

Well, I've been goofing off too much today already so I'd better get back to work. Until next time!

Padma...

Well, Breyer has released another model in the Big Cat Series.  I think this one is the best one so far.  The mold they chose was a good fit for the cat

My only real gripe, other than the cost of $175, is that they painted completely different markings on each side of her face and real tigers have more similar ones.  They're not identical, but close enough that you'd think they were identical until you looked real close and saw the small differences.  What Breyer did is more than small differences

Oh well.  I don't plan on entering for her because I don't like the idea of model horses painted to look like big cats.  I wish they'd just done a series of big cat models that were the shape of the actual cats.  Does that make any sense?  Instead of a horse painted to look like a cat, just have the cat.  hahaha.  Oh well.  I still think they did a really good job on this one.

We had another little storm last night.  Some rain.  A little wind.  Nothing major.  I think our monsoon is giving us a good soaking at the last minute before it leaves until next June.  Now, if the temperatures would just come down some more.  On Saturday it was 107 and yesterday it was 103, I think.  I'm looking forward to when it's down below 100 degrees for longer than 2 seconds.  hahaha.

I'm still trying to find a Four Stars from the Sweet Home Chicago event over the weekend.  I had someone offer me hers, but since she'd bot it on the secondary market she'd already paid a mark-up and was offering it for the same price she paid.  I had to politely decline.  I'm not interested in paying more than twice the original cost.  And I'm not toally 100% sold on whether I like the paint job or not.  The body is nice, but the tail is what is bothering me.  I might see if I can find me a Ferris, though.  Who knows.

Happy Monday, All!

Breyer Event: Sweet Home Chicago

When  Breyer first announced through the 20 15 issue of JAH there would be a Collector Event in the Fall, there was lots of speculation on Blab over where collectors thought it would be and where they hoped it would be.  Since the last event, Big Easy Bash had been in New Jersey, the obvious location would have been the west coast, even though Passage to the Pacific had been in San Diego in 2012, us west coasters figured it would only be fair since they also get Breyerfest.  Well, eventually the location was announced as Chicago and after seeing the list of activities, I decided I wasn't interested in going, especially since Friday's activities included an aftenon at the Arlington racetrack.  Also, because I have never been to Chicago before, I wasn't sure I wanted to devote my entire weekend to the event because I'd want to visit the zoo, some lighthouses and maybe take that river tour.  Even if I had decided I wanted to go, it was limited to 200 people so there's no guarantee I'd even get selected in the drawing of people to attend.

Anyway, the event is going on right now and aside from some minor drama at dinner last night about seating and such, everything seems to be going well.  I believe today is when people have access to the Special Run Store.  The exclusive models were on the tables at the dinner last night along with a handout of what models are available and I gotta say, I àlmost wish I'd entered for the chance to go.  Almost.  Hahahaha.  All of these photos were taken by Blabbers...

This is the one I want most 

Eventually I hope to find the glossy Desatado down the road for a decent price, even at cost preferrably, but I think that one is going to be like Zydeco from BEB.  I have yet to see one go up for sale, but it looks like they increased the quantity, which is good.

In addition to the store speciaĺs, each attendee was given a special Stablemate and I was able to find one on MH $P so I have one of those coming

I can't wait.  He's more than I normally like to pay for an SM but I learned from BEB and Moon Pie , the prices don't always come down and if you don't get one shortly after the event, you may be waiting awhile before they show up on the market again.

Today my mom and I went to my local Breyer dealer.  The Grulla AQHA has finally started hitting the shelves and I was hoping to find one, but no such luck so I got the bay plus the tack for the Polo Pony.  I have the doll, too, so once I get it all set up I will take a picture and post it here.

Our temperatures here have still been pretty high, but they're slowwwwwly coming down.  Now it's only 457 degrees rather than 502.  Hahaha.  We've had some good storms lately, too.  I don't remember if I mentioned the one we had last Monday that knocked our power out overnight.  It also kjockey over one of our fences in back.  It wasn't a perimeter fence so there was no danger of a dog getting out, but it provided them access to a small part of yard we don't want them in because they would be able to escape from that part.  I took off Tuesday because we didn't know when power would be restored and I didn't feel comfortable leaving my mom here alone.  So we went and had my tires looked at then I took her to see the wild horses she's been hearing so much about on the news.  We didn't see any at first but as we were leaving to go check out a spot another regular told us she'd seen them at, we saw them in the parking lot.  She was quite impressed and kept saying how healthy they look.

Well, I guess that's about it for now.  I hope everyone is doing well.

What a "great" way to start a 3 day weekend...

Okay.  So.  I got a new car back in October, right?  My wonderful little Nissan Versa Note SV.  My very first new car.  It still smells like a new car much of the time, too.  I love my little car.

at the dealership

I was so happy to make it through that first day of driving without anybody hitting me, because you just know new cars are magnets for idiot drivers. When my parents bought a new pick-up truck years ago, someone hit my dad while he was driving to work the day after we bought it. So I considered it a major thing that I made it to work and home the first day with no problems. That one day became two and then a month and when I reached the 6 month mark in April, I was quite happy. No, I didn't think I'd make it "forever" without any damage, but I was hoping to go as long as I could. Well, 10 months later, that all came to a screeching halt. I was at work (still am) when two ladies I didn't recognize came down the aisle. They passed me then turned back and one of them said my name. She then said "You're the one who drives the little red car, aren't you?" A sense of dread came over me. I knew it couldn't be good. She said someone in the parking garage hit my car. He was backing into the spot next to me and backed right into my car. In front of 4 witnesses. She said he left a note so I went down there (our garage is underground) and found the note, encountering the other 2 witnesses. It was someone I see almost daily because we work the same hours. Usually he rides a Harley, but he'd had to take someone to the airport and had taken her car and drove it to back to work. The damage isn't horrible, but it's bad enough.

At the very least they'll have to replace the front fender and the bumper.  <sigh>  I'm so bummed.  I went from laughing and carefree about it to shaking with anger to wanting to cry and now I'm kind of numb.  There's nothing I can do about it, but I'm just sick over it.  He has already turned the claim into his insurance company so now I'm just waiting for them to get in touch with me so it can get fixed.  I live near a claim center so that will be convenient, but that's about the only thing that will be convenient.  I don't think it will take long for it to be fixed, but they'll have to get me a rental and it's just a whole lot of hassle.  The ironic thing?  I told my mom and brother that the first accident I get into with this car will not be my fault.  And it wasn't.  <sigh>  I just don't know...

Well, hopefully everyone else's weekend goes better than mine has started off so far.

New Toy

Some of you mat have read my post  few weeks ago about my incident with my tablet when my car door hit my hand and caused me to drop my tablet.
http://bcdesertlife.blogspot.com/2015/07/when-things-fall-down-and-go-boom.html

My tablet ended up with a crack along one corner that I knew would eventually cause problems with the usability of the tablet.  I didn't know when it would happen or what the issue would be, but I recently found out.  The touch screen recently stopped being as sensitive.  I would enter one letter but it would put in something else.  Initially I thought it was just me typing to fast or something, but the mistakes were appearing a lot more often and I knew it had to be because of the screen.  Another indicator was when I was trying to play a game.  I would touch one item to pick up but something else was picked up instead.  The final straw, the event that led me to venture to Barnes & Noble in this 500 degree heat, was when the screen image started jumping all over thelace, opening new windows without my wanting it to and images jumping all over.  When the screen first cracked I went ahead and did some research into what my next tablet would be.  I like Samsung and B&N  had them for  a good price so I decided to get another one, but the 10".

It is significantly larger than the 7" I was using.  It's a little difficult to do any speed typing because of it's size, but I can turn it vertical (the default design in horizontal) and that makes it easier.

Today the Arizona Humane Society is having a fund-raising telethon and so far they have raised more than $130,000!!!  It's quite cool.  Someone is matching the donations, which is awesome.  We have a dog, Bear, who came from the Humane Society (Dyna&Harley came from a rescue) and my kitty Abbie did, too (Temecula&Royal came from a no-kill shelter).  Bear came from the shelter itself while Abbie was adopted through a "satellite" facility.  About 10 years ago we had another dog from the Humane Society as well and a former roommate adopted from Rabies Animal Control.  TW  was a throw-away I found at a grocery store one night and CC was a feral cat.  Sadie, my dad's dog, was pretty much abandoned by her owner and was lower to run back and forth across a fairly busy highway in Star Valley.  So I guess you can say my family has a thing for unwanted animals.  I should donate something.

We've had some pretty good storms come through here this past week.  Dust.  Thunder and lightning.  Rain.  We managed to escape losing power, which is good.  Tomorrow it's supposed to be 110 degrees.  Ugh.  When will it finally cool down?

I HATE ARIZONA!!!!!!

Did I  say that loud enough?  No?  How about this...

I HATE ARIZONA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, it has it has good points...no blizzards, no mudslides, no tornadoes or hurricanes.  We are home to one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World and have beautiful places to visit such as Sedona, Painted Desert and more Indian Ruins than you can shake  stick at.  What we lack in natural disasters, however, we more than make up for in unbearable weather.

We were  fortunate this year in that it didn’t  start getting really hot until the end of June.  Well, now the surface of the sun I call home, also known as Arizona, is making up for it.  Look at this graphic for proof

Our normal for this time of year is 105.  Today we matched a record.  If it hits 115 tomorrow it will be setting a new record.  Yeah.  That's  not the kind of record I'm  looking forward to.  Now, try doing that heat without air conditioning...yup.  I got home from work yesterday and noticed it was a little warm so I  looked at the thermostat and it read 84.  And it was quiet.  As in the thermostat said it was on, but I  couldn't  hear it going.  Not good.  I always say it's  good we only rent because we don't  have to pay major repairs, but it also has its  drawbacks...mainly waiting for the landlord to respond to your texts then calling the repair guys out.  That didn't  happen  last night and by the time we went to bed it was 90 degrees.  I probably woke up 4 times last night and had a hard time getting back to sleep because it was so hot.  During one of the times I  was up my poor kitty Temecula was panting.  He's  a short-haired cat, but it was just super hot.  Abbie didn't  seem to be quite as bothered by the heat although her body was pretty warm to the touch, too, and she meowed every time  I  touched her.

Got home today and the thermostat said 97.  Not.  Good.  Not even a little.  My mom said the repair guys were here for an hour then got called away and sid they'd  be back, but never did.  My brother got in touch with the landlord who claimed the repair guy said the a/c wasn't  getting any power and suggested flipping the circuit breaker.  Would you believe that did the trick?  Gaah!  The temperature is slowly going down, but it's  got a ways to go.

Did I  mention how much I  hated Arizona?

I don't  want to even think of it being 115 degrees for the next 2 days so I'll  share a picture of my fuzzy butts Temecula and Abbie.  Abbie is the grey tabby in the front.  She's  TINY.  This picture makes her look about the same size as Tem, but they're  not.  He's  twice her size.  And if you've  been  following  my blog for awhile you might notice the tabby is a different color than the one I've  shared here before.  I don't  know  if  I  mentioned it before, but I  lost my red tabby Royal back in January.  He was diagnosed with diabetes and the vet believed that was just one of his medical problems.  I couldn't  put him through daily insulin injections and trips to the vet every two weeks so I  made that tough decision nobody wants to make.  I still feel guilty about it, but I  know deep down it was the right choice.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.  My brother is supposed to be going to a music festival in Irvine with a buddy of his so my mom and I  might go have dinner at our favorite restaurant Saturday.  We haven't  eaten there in  more than a year.

*just a quick little note*  98% of my blogging is done on a 7 inch Samsung tablet and sometimes it has a mind of its own and it often results in misspelled words.  I  usually proofread what I've  written, but sometimes I  miss something here or there.  Now, you might think it's  no big deal that it says "tje" instead of "the" and in the grand scheme of things, it doesn'tm but it bugs me so if I  see it I have to fix it.   And the last sentence of this post...it had originally said "we haven't  eated there i more than a year"...that one is a bit embarrassing  to me.  The missing 'n' for 'in' is no big deal, but the 'eated' is the biggy.  Hahahaha.

Oh, and the heat has claimed another victim...me.  Yesterday  I  was out looking for the horses and even though I  spent most of the time in my air conditioned car, when you pair that with not having a/c in the house and the high temperature  in general...I woke up this morning feeling under the weather so I  stayed home.