BLUE HORSE NOTEBOOK PAPER (published 9-24-2022, article #359)

Introduction

Howdy, y'all! Yesterday, in this neck of the woods, the low was 46F, about 7 AM. The sky was crisp and blue. Fall is in the air finally! It's about time. Today, I hope that the clouds bring some much needed rain.

As a side note, on 9/21/2022, “Microcrap” presented an update, which I installed successfully, in the late afternoon. The next morning, however, my “Winders” Live Mail 2012 wouldn't create or reply to emails. (The software had been working fine before the update.) Yesterday morning, I uninstalled the 9/21/2022 “Microcrap” update. My email software works fine again. I won!

Getting back to the topic, do my northeast Tennessee readers, who have some age on them, remember Blue Horse notebook paper? I hear some readers saying “yes!” To my readers who don't know, please read on! Well, those who know may want to read a while longer.

Inspiration for this Article

I'd started this draft, on 7/29/2022 (a Friday). That morning, Phil Williams (on The Phil Show, NewsTalk 98.7 FM), talked about Blue Horse notebook paper. (I listen to him, at times, while I'm conducting my morning ritual.)

That brought a few memories, from my mental backwaters, to the forefront. I thought: “Blue Horse notebook paper. Hum. What can I find on the 'Interweb?'”

Blue Horse Notebook Paper on the “Interweb”

After my morning ritual, of 7/29/2022, I searched the “Interweb” for “Blue Horse notebook paper.” After scrolling past all the advertisements, the first actual article (that didn't want money) was on the Johnson City Press (Johnson City, TN) website.

The article is: “Remembering when Montag's Blue Horse galloped across the country dispersing Blue Horse label notebook paper,” by Bob Cox, Johnson City Press, 9/7/2019.

The article denotes an old Blue Horse notebook paper advertisement, to girls and boys, for various prizes. The image, below, is from that article.

A photo of the Blue Horse emblem and some advertisements for the big contest the brand put on. Contributed/Bob Cox.

Montag, which started in 1945, made Blue Horse notebook paper. Montag & Caldwell's website article – M&C Celebrates A 75 Year History: The Story Behind Montag & Caldwell, 11/16/2020 – mentions Blue Horse notebook paper, as a note in their historical details.

Deeper “Interweb” Digging - Bob Cox

The 9/7/2019 Johnson City Press article includes a link to: Bob Cox's Yesteryear: Documenting the Nostalgic History of Upper East Tennessee. His latest articles are three, from 8/8/2019. His website isn't active.

But wait! Box Cox has an active “Bob Cox's Yesteryear” personal blog on Facebook! If you have a “Farcebook” – as I call it – account, then you will find him, still writing and publishing, there. I'm glad that he's still active somewhere.

My Blue Horse Coaster

On 8/12/2022 (a Friday) -- while I was shop vacuuming Molly's “basement condominium,” to suck up all the doggy sheddings -- I decided to look through a storage box, where I thought that my Blue Horse coaster was resting. I found it, exactly where I'd stored it, before we moved to Russia (on 10/1/1994).

Well, Tuesday (9/20/2022) was another wonderful shop vacuuming experience. I brought my Blue Horse coaster from the “basement condominium” to my home office. Yesterday, I took the photograph, below, in my office.

I got my coaster as a boy. I don't remember how or when. That coaster has a good degree of wear. At the homeplace, in my teenage years, my coaster sat on my antique dresser – which I had inherited, as I recall, from an ancestor, on Mom's side of the family. Over those years, I'd placed many cups, glasses, and bottles – of warm or cold beverages (i.e., water, milk, buttermilk, tea, Cokes, hot chocolate, etc.) – on that coaster, to protect my dresser. The coaster took the wear.

Conclusion

Thanks, Phil Williams, for inspiring this article! Thanks, Bob Cox, for allowing me to “meet” you on the “Interweb!” I trust that both men know the Good Lord. I've heard Phil Williams state so. Bob Cox writes as if he does.

The inspired Old Testament includes Psalm 90 – A prayer of Moses the man of God.

Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. (Psalms 90:10, NIV)

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Psalms 90:12, NIV)

As a teenager – with a cold Coke resting on my coaster, I'd thought about the number of decades that I had left to live. It seemed like a long time.

At age 62 – with my coaster in my home office, I realize how swiftly those decades have flown by, to now. Only the Good Lord knows how many hours, days, weeks, months, years, or decades that I have left, in this temporal existence. I number my days. I have a heart of wisdom. I am ready to go Home!

Many readers know what I mean. Some may not. If you don't know what I mean, and would like to know, you are welcome to contact me – on my Contact Form. I'm just one poor beggar, trying to help other poor beggars find the Bread of Life.