Consolation Smoky

Weekend plans did not go as planned because a slightly fluffy dog of small stature decided to (a) take a romp in the weeds in the wooded area behind the house and then (b) get cuddly with me shortly afterwards.

Hello poison ivy, my old friend.

I’m pretty sure it was revenge for putting her on a diet earlier this week. ("No more marshmallows? I’ll show you!") Mission accomplished, Vita.

Since antihistamines make me very groggy, not much work of any sort got done, other than a pleasant but uneventful trip to the flea market: just a few odds and ends and a Clydesdale body to add to the body stash. That was fine by me: I’d rather have more money coming in than going out right now.

It seems as good a time as any to introduce you to the Reissue Smoky Sample that I mentioned in passing earlier. He’s significantly different from the original issue, on a number of fronts:

The first thing that I noticed – that I truly didn’t see before – was the complete absence of the Rocking R brand; I believe the Tractor Supply Special Run Nevada Joe Sterling was the first brand-free release, in 2002, but mine is currently unavailable for inspection.

The stockings are cleaner and more distinct, the hooves are a slightly different shade of gray than the body color, and the blaze has been shortened and cleanly masked. The body color is more richly shaded than the Regular Run #69 Smoky, too, who ran from 1981 through 1985.

He bears very little resemblance to that original Smoky, in truth. Considering my fondness for models of that era (my personal “Golden Age of Collecting”) I wouldn’t call the Reissue better, just different. But in a good way.

While in some ways I think of him as my “consolation sample”, the more I look at him, the happier I am that I rescued him.