Kids Corner
Reprinted from "Crown Jewels of the Wire", February 2003, page 20
Contest for Kids: We are inviting kids to design a logo for "Kids
Corner". (You can also choose a different name.) The prize for the winning
design will be this fun shaped "Micky Mouse" insulator, a CD 257
Hemingray in near mint condition. It is aqua blue with a cool amber swirl in one
ear.
The contest rules are as follows: you must be under the age of 18; the logo
design must be no more than 1.625 by 4.5 inches in size (for the page header) or
1.75 x.1.75 if designing something for the corner. It needs to be easily
modified to work on either side of page. Entries must be submitted by March 1st.
The winning design will be revealed in the April issue.
We want to dedicate
pages in each issue for kids to show off their collections, hear about hunts
they went on, read reports they wrote about insulator related subjects, or see
pictures of art work they created. For every entry that we publish we will send
something from our collection of insulators for kids that have been donated by
collectors from all over the United States.
Mindy & Gary Michener on a hunt.
How I Became Interested in Collecting Insulators
by Mindy Michener
"I think it was Dale Guidry who first got me started on insulators. My
dad bought a collection of them from Dale and his mother. I have always known
about insulators, but until then, I had never owned a single one! I asked my dad
if I could help him. He agreed, and I started playing around with the
insulators. I dutifully oohed and aahed at each nice piece my dad dug out of the
boxes, and at the few bad ones too.
But then my dad lifted up to the light a beautiful olive green pony!
"What's that? I gasped in delight. "That one is really pretty!"
Then my schooling began! He began telling me all about ponies. He showed me
the embossing, a little diamond on one side. He told me that it was a a CD 102,
and compared it with a CD 103, showing me the differences between them. He
described all the different defects or rarities ponies (and all insulators)
could have.
My dad gave me that first beautiful, olive green pony that sparked
inspiration in my heart. He presented me with a few other ponies, all of which
captured my mind. Later on he decided to expand my small store of knowledge to
include other models of insulators.
But I was stubborn, perhaps more than a mule. He tried to teach me about his
Hemingrays, and his Beehives, his Brookfields and all the other insulators that
danced around in his hoard of knowledge, but it was like a wall had come up. I
listened patiently to his tidbits of information, and absorbed some of it, but I
liked ponies so much more! Then I think he realized how much I loved ponies. He
began teaching me all the things that he knew about them. Happily I listened and
learned from his wonderful lessons!
Then one day we were cruising the internet. We came upon a cute, clear
insulator painted with a black cat lounging on a fence. This gave me the idea to
paint my own insulators. He found me some clear ones and I got to work. I
painted birds, flowers and telephones poles with a rainbow of colored
insulators. I began selling some of them on Ebay and some at club meetings. It
was fun! It combined my love for insulators and painting...and I could make
money, too!
About a year after I received my first pony, Dale suggested a design for a
display for the Western Regional Show in Medford, Oregon. It was a diamond
shaped piece of plywood with posts to support the ponies. I had collected about
twenty by then. In the center was a poster reading, "Diamonds are A Girl's
Best Friend!" My dad and I got to work and made it. When we got to the
show, my display won first prize in the Junior division. I was so proud and
happy!
A lot of different things have happened since then, all of which have stamped
themselves upon my memory. I am so grateful that I know about insulators,
especially ponies. I know there is much more to learn.
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