Ace goes to the Model Show...

Saturday, April 18th was the date for the International Plastic Modelers Society-Seattle chapter spring model show... As many of you know, I have been building models for over half of my life. However, other that entering one at the Puyallup Fair last year, I have never entered any of my models in any show or contest - ever. Some of the guys in my model car club (Puget Sound Auto Modelers Association - PSAMA) convinced me that it is fun and that my models are at a level to be somewhat competitive. So I decided that I would take a few down and see what happened. I didn't have any expectations of anything since it was my first time and I would be "learning the ropes" so to speak. The show was held at the Renton Community Center just off I-405 and Hwy 169. Registration started at 9 AM and the show opened to the public at 10. Judging started at noon and awards at 4 PM. I got there about 9:30, signed in and went and set up my cars on the table. ". There were not a lot of car categories as this was not just a model car show, it was a show for all sorts of models as you will see in a bit, so I entered all my models in the same category, class 503 - Custom Automotive. I took three cars with me, my 67 Impala and Mercedes SLK Tuner, both of which you have seen in earlier blogs here, and also the little PT Cruiser Sedan Delivery that I made for our "farm vehicle". Once I got them all set up and on the bench, it was time to look at all the models. The IPMS-Seattle Show is touted as the largest model show in the PNW, and after seening how many were here, I could believe it. The variety of things to see was amazing!!! I filled up the memory chip on our camera in about an hour :) Here are just a few of my favorites in no particular order:




The next thing to do was to cruise all of the vendor booths :) There were models and supplies of all kinds. It was hard to control myself, but I limited myself to two purchases, both of which you will probably see in future blogs, so I'll keep them secret for the time being :) Then outside for a while to enjoy the great sunshine and shoot the breeze. Once we made it back in, judging was underway so I stayed away from the car section to give them time to do their thing. I know from my own judging, I don't like it when folks joggle my elbow, so I try not to do it to others.
Once the judging was over, we mostly hung out around our models and did a bit of bench racing and more breeze shooting :) You guys all know what it is like hanging around with folks when you share a common interest with them. Same thing here. I guess that it was about 3:30 or so when the judges came around and started placing the ribbons on the table. So, one more look at the Impala on the table because...:


IT TOOK SECOND PLACE IN IT'S CATEGORY !!!!! Talk about knock me over with a feather :) There were some really nice cars in that class and I still can't really believe that happened. I was already out of space on the camera and it was back out in the truck so I didn't get any photos of it on the table with the ribbon... And just for your information, here is the first place winner in the custom class... He had several cars entered in the class and they were all as nice as this one in my opinion. I am looking forward to the next show now, the PSAMA Show on May 10th in Puyallup. It is only a model car show, so it should bring out more cars that didn't attend the IPMS show... Heh, now one MORE thing to occupy my time :)
-Dave

Like we don't already have enough to do....

Looks like our ewes are running long on their pregnancies this year, we are trying to get our garden spots cleared off and tilled, I am working way too many hours at my day job, my back has been all screwed up for the last three weeks and now this... We needed to make a trip up to Whidbey Island to get some more hay for all our hungry sheep. Franna made a run to Del's a week or two ago to get some straw as we have the Barn and the Hilton full of pregnant ewes now. While clearing the remaining straw bales out of the horse trailer, guess what she found...

Kittens !!!! And I mean LITTLE kittens... They appeared to be healthy and in good shape. They are young enough that their eyes are not yet open, but their ears are up. We guestimated that they are about a week or so old. Anyway, she brought them in the house and made some calls to get ideas on raising kittens. Thanks to all the websites and real folks who gave us ideas and to Julia who came over in person and showed us what to do... So now, in addition to everything else we are doing, we are also feeding and taking care of kittens every 4 to 6 hours all day. Thankfully, Franna is staying up for the late shift and I take the early shift before I go to work. I made a run to PetCo (I needed to get Winnie food anyway) and so I picked up several cans of kitten formula and a few odds and ends for when they get a bit larger. Mom cat was still around the day that we found them so Franna put them in a box and back outside to see what would happen. But then she got to thinking that they would probably have about a zero percent chance of survival as we lose lots of cats and small critters in our neighborhood to coyotes so she brought them back in... As you can tell from the photo, there are two of them, a small calico female (my personal favorite when it comes to cats) and a tabby male. Franna named the calico "Miley" and I named the tabby "Toby". We are discovering that one of the tricks for raising kittens by hand is getting them to go to the bathroom. They are not able to do so by themselves and it is something that the mom does via stimulation when she bathes them... We have been doing it ourselves with cottonballs, but Franna had this great idea, - we have three female Labradors, maybe one of them will take on a little of the mothering role. First we tried using our yearling lab, Villa. She really didn't want anything much to do with the kittens and never got with the program at all. Next, we tried it using our older chocolate lab, Kiss (well actually Bryan's lab). It was pretty funny watching Franna put drops of formula on the rears of the kittens and Kiss would clean up the kittens, but only till the formula was gone. Of course, the kittens were less than thrilled :) Hmmm, still better than nothing so we left it at that last night. Today Franna called me at work and told me that she tried using Winnie and that she did such a good job that she is now the "surrogate" mom for two little kittens. And that is at 4 months old herself :) So, we'll see how things go. Franna lost her old housecat, Griz, last fall and I have not had a housecat for 20 years or more. We'll see how things work out having two kittens rip-raring around a house full of Labradors (and Clifford). Should be a lot of fun...