A Post-Valentine Surprise

We've found our first +6/6 wild horse for 2019! It's only February, so we're already off to a more promising start than in 2018, when our only +6/6 wild came to us in August (Hugo the dark brown Percheron). Can you guess which one of these lovely mares it is?

Is it...

A. This red dun Missouri Fox Trotter with a surprisingly light mane?

B. This stealthy dapple gray Shire?

C. This piebald Argentine Polo Pony who dared approach a Dwobbit dwelling? (She really did choose to be there - she wasn't fluted.)

D. This ocean-loving light brown Irish Draught?

The










answer










is









D! Felicity and Vivaldi fluted her on Dumbbell Isle, our first +6/6er from that island. That makes two browns in a row!

She's the most common color of the bunch (of course), but she's about as pretty as browns get. Her points are such a deep chocolate that she almost looks like a bay. She has adorable markings, including a star, a snip that shouldn't be there according to her Gen Markings, and a short sock with a dark spot just like Palladium's!

Pal

She's also the same height as our first Irish Draught mare, Galena.

Galena

We've now captured 3 +6/6 Irish Draughts. That means we've captured more +6/6 Irish Draughts than any other breed! <3 This mare has the highest stats of the 3, an impressive +82! She's a keeper for sure!

Still curious about the other three mares we've recently caught? Here they are:

As gorgeous as she is, it's kind of a relief that her stats don't make the cut. Two dictators in the herd is plenty! Her profile also makes it more understandable why her avatar's mane is so light. I love the two-tone effect some dun horses' manes get!

Aw, aren't ginormous Shires great? Her avatar is pretty great too. Here's a better look at what that tree was hiding:

Since we don't have any Argentine Polo Ponies in the herd yet and since this one is a pinto besides, I was really hoping she'd have herd-worthy stats when she caught her. No such luck.

Really, though, one +6/6er is plenty for right now, especially since Bethany is so adamant about that definitely not +6/6 Florida Cracker mare she's already calling Coquina. *Sighs*

Tropical Dream

The wild winter weather continues. This week featured back-to-back mornings of freezing rain, followed by an overnight flash freeze and more snow. We are not among the thousands without power, thank goodness!

Here are some pics of artistically iced plant life. (Fortunately, it melted off before the new snow came)

It's around this time of year that many residents take vacations to warmer, sunnier places like Florida, the Caribbean, Arizona, Mexico, and Hawaii. We're going nowhere as usual.

PepsiSummer has been doing quite a lot of traveling for her quests, though. Sadly, she hasn't come across a single wild horse - the only ones we've seen lately are the ones we've fluted.

When I was in the auction house selling one of those fluted horses, I found my own little touch of the tropics: a Florida Cracker mare in one of my two dream Florida Cracker mare colors!

Her stats are not impressive, but her personality sure is! Not only does it have the "investigator" label, but it is also eye-pleasingly triangular and symmetric! Because of that, I couldn't help myself. I had to try! I outbid the one player who'd placed a bid (probably because of her 2000+ experience points?) and then logged out.

My evening was too busy for me to go back online and check, but the next morning I couldn't take the suspense any longer.

It rained gold dust and I had won the auction? Now that's what I call a great morning! =)

(Ha ha, also note that at 5 am there were only 9 players online!)

Here is her lovely coquina-colored avatar!

coquina: a soft whitish limestone formed of broken shells and corals cemented together and used for building

Is she the one? Coquina, my dream horse? If her stats were higher, there'd be no questioning it. But really, I am so tired of waiting for one with great stats - there hardly ever seem to be Florida Crackers for sale, especially these days with fewer active players on the game. I doubt we're going to be shelling out big bucks for a super horse token anytime soon. I think she's it. Now it's just a matter of breaking the news to Lily... wish me luck! 

If she does stay, those random song lyrics in her profile are hitting the road. I may keep the butterfly rump art, though. I do love purple, and it looks quite nice with the purple embroidered saddle blanket.

Goodbye, Polar Vortex

Well, the lake effect snow machine did indeed switch back on this week, and with gusto. On Monday, a widespread snow dump began. Then a polar vortex dropped down and made temps plummet well below zero. While snow tapered off over most of the region, a bubble of lake effect ramped up in the western chunk of the Mitten where we live.

Literally 4 days straight of constant snow, wind, and bitter cold wreaked havoc on traveling conditions. Snow melting agents weren't effective. Plows couldn't keep up. Most schools were closed for the entire week. Flights were grounded. Tons of businesses shut down for several days. Mail delivery stopped. But did the place where Mom works shut down? Ha, dream on.

Mom's drive home on Tuesday afternoon was like something out of a movie. Much of the time it was snowing and blowing so hard that it was hard to tell where the road was, and sometimes she couldn't even see the cars around her. She was forced to drive so slowly that snow continually built up and froze on her wipers and windshield. Non-main turn-offs were unplowed, which meant pulling off to de-ice wasn't really an option in Mom's little front-wheel drive car. So, she just kept going, peering out a little strip of non-iced windshield. She was so relieved to make it home safely that she spent several minutes sprawled and shaking on the couch.

So, yeah, when the news was saying Wednesday was going to be worse yet, Mom took the day off. Here's the view out her window when she got up:

It wasn't a very fun day off for her though, because it snowed all day long, and she was already dreading Thursday's drives. She spent most of the day snuggled in a blanket on the couch watching tv and movies with Grandma and Nala.

Nala also was not thrilled with sub-zero temps and snow deeper than her belly. (Grandma shoveled trenches for her in the backyard.) She probably liked having people around and being out of the crate 3 out of 5 workdays this week, though. 

She also enjoyed playing keep away with gloves... and de-pompoming Grandma's hat.

On Thursday evening, the snow finally tapered off. The sun even came out on Friday! Roads remained snow-packed and icy though, as it was still bitterly cold.

I wonder how much of this will melt when it gets up near 50 degrees and rains tomorrow?

Is all this drama really necessary, Michigan?

Nothing very dramatic has happened on HI2. We've been working on some of the Angled Isle quests and fluting the occasional wild, and that's about it.

Here is our most recent wild, a handsome black Lipizzan:

<3 What a bummer about that endurance stat!

Let's end on a happier note. Enjoy these cool horses I saw in the livery this afternoon!

My personal favorite is the smoky black manchado. =)