Skip to main content

Central Illinois Under Blizzard Warning!!!

Well, the Grand Duchy of Stollen has shut down today due to an area blizzard blowing through the area! We may possibly get 12" of snow out of the storm by the time it's through. Winds have already picked up, and temperatures will drop to below 0 degrees Fahrenheit by tonight. Windchill temperatures will be even colder.

All area schools, colleges, and universities as well as libraries, shelters, etc. are closed today, so the Grand Duchess Sonja is having a deserved lie-in and awaiting breakfast in bed at 10AM. As for me, I'm enjoying a mug of coffee at the moment and listening to the weather alerts on the National Weather Service Radio.

This is exciting and reminds me of all of those bad winter storms we used to get in Eastern Pennsylvania when I was a child in the 1970s. During the 1977-78 school year, we had snow days beginning before Thanksgiving through March and were in school, making up the missed days, until the last week of June!

I have many happy memories of sitting with my mom and grandparents at the big picture window in the kitchen and watching the snow pile up on days like these as we talked about this and that and drank hot chocolate or tea. There were lots of large Hemlock trees (evergreens) on my grandparents' place, and these always looked so pretty when they were weighted down with new snow. Sigh.

Of course, most importantly, our blizzard in Illinois means that skiing will remain good for a little while longer. We won't head out today, but possibly tomorrow or Thursday and of course the weekend is looking good too. :-) I haven't been able to ski like this since living in Norway -- Hurra, hurra, hurra!!!

On the figure painting front, things are looking good. Squadron B is all finished execpt for the horses. I painted the metallic parts last evening and will let the silver oil paint dry for a couple of days before doing the horses. Tonight I'll undercoat the final dragoon squadron with a coat of black acrylic paint while the others dry. I also base coated, undercoated, and painted the green base on the miniature I'll enter in the Golden Grenadier painting competition.

Last, I traced and cut out 30 thin oval card bases for the 4th (Trakehnen) Dragoons and glued each figure to its base. I've done this because the figure bases on Revell 1/72 cavalry are all different sizes and I wanted a uniform base size, so the unit looks better when all lined up. And it does if I do say so myself. The final thing I'll do before varnishing the 30-strong regiment is to touch up these bases with a coat or two of GW Goblin Green paint. You might say that last night was an especially productive time. I'll try to post a photo or two of the current state of the regiment later this afternoon. Stay tuned!

Comments

Bluebear Jeff said…
Enjoy your blizzard! Sitting sipping hot chocolate while watching the snow pile up sounds wonderful.


-- Jeff
MurdocK said…
Best place to be while the snow has everything else stopped dead.
M McCown said…
Wow! I had forgotten about that year of make-up school days! Remember the snow covering the cars? I don't miss having to contend with driving winds and stinging snow, but I miss a crackling fire and the way the snow would cling to the hemlock trees. Thanks for the memories :)

Popular posts from this blog

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!

And It's the End of September!!!

  Saxony's Ploetz Cuirassiers, an illustration lifted from the Kronoskaf website, which has thus far guided my spectacularly glacial painting of 30 28mm Eureka Saxon cuirassiers purchased all the way back in October 2016. A gray, cool Saturday here in Mid-Michigan with rain in the forecast. The Grand Duchess is away at a conference, so it's just "The Boys" here at home. The Young Master (almost 15) has retreated to his room for something or other following breakfast while I have stolen back down here to Zum Stollenkeller (masquerading as my office) with a second mug of coffee and both cats comfortably ensconced nearby. Enjoying the late morning and still in my pajamas! Not much planned for today beyond designing a couple of promotional flyers for workshops my department is presenting (small parties we will throw?) in October and November.  With maybe a bit of on the next podcast script. More important,  I am toying with the idea of returning for an hour or...