Another Quiet Pre-Christmas Greeting. . .

Squirrels are not everbody's cup of tea, especially when they find their way into the attic, but I find them fascinating to watch outdoors. Especially in the snow. A bold and very large red squirrel once stole a cookie from my brown bag lunch as I picnicked on Bascom Hill at the University of Wisconsin-Madison about 18 years ago! I wisely chose not to pursue the culprit. The family story goes that my maternal Great Grandmother "Myrtle" had a pet squirrel as a girl.

Another quiet, dark, foggy morning with a bit of rain here in Lower Michigan today. Snow would be nice, but I'm not complaining. The delivery of our new Sears Craftsman snowblower is scheduled for later this afternoon, and I finally found our Nordic/cross-country skiing boots two evenings ago, so we are probably now jinxed and destined to have a snowless winter this (El Nino) year.

In any case, I am enjoying another mug of coffee with the cats nearby following the Young Master's breakfast before I dress, order a Christmas centerpiece for my sister, and wrap a few gifts before the Grand Duchess returns home. This sticky f-key on my keyboard is driving me to distraction!

I've also recently sent my Move 2 orders to Greg Horne in Australia, who is umpiring the 'Raid On Fickmuhlen' Christmas play-by-email game between Ross MacFarlane in Nova Scotia and myself. I would, of course, share my plans for the battle here, but there may be spies everywhere, in the form of a washer woman, or a serving wench at The Elector's Arms tavern -- where the good General von Tschatschke is enjoying a second tankard of ale at the moment -- who will transmit my intentions to the other side. The walls have ears you know.

-- Stokes

The Eventual Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment. . .

The Anhalt-Zerbst regiment musters in the drill square to sort themselves into platoons and companies during the coming weeks Fall maneuvers if you will. A large dose of real life the last few days with the start of classes next Monday, various preparatory meetings, and finishing up a few other things this week. But, I managed to sort out 60 or so Minden Austrian infantry from the pile and get 'em stuck to temporary painting bases. Must carefully drill out the hands of several NCOs for flagpoles and pole arms this weekend before the usual basecoat. I'm thinking of mixing the usual white gesso with the usual light gray to kill two birds with one stone so to speak. Applying both base- and undercoat in one fell swoop as my grandmother used to say. In the meantime, the recently finished squadron of Saxon cuirassiers has been placed carefully in one of the clear acrylic boxes on my shelves until I have the suitable flag to affix. -- Sto...

Presenting the Anspach-Bayreuth Kuirassiere!!!

Here they are, with the rearmost nine figures still drying, three squadrons of the Anspach-Bayreuth Kuirassiere, now in the service of the Grand Duchy of Stollen. And now, it's onto that artillery!

Continued Regional Map Revisions. . .

F ooled around a bit more with the revised map just before and after dinner this evening, using the Fotor app to reinsert missing text . I also removed a few other things using the 'Magic Eraser' function, which works surprisingly well. Now, we're getting somewhere. I just have to figure out how to ensure that the text is all a uniform font style and maybe figure out a way to add a few bunches of trees to suggest forested areas, Ninja AI is not always entirely cooperative to the tune of "I'm sorry Dave. I can't do that." -- Stokes

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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