Roadside treasure: light-up noisemaking horse mirror picture

(Click on thumbnails for enlargement) Life is full of surprises, but nothing quite matches the thrill of finding an abandoned treasure on the side of the road. Earlier today, I had just such an experience. Behold the wonder of the light-up noisemaking horse mirror picture!

I spotted it on the side of the road right after I pulled out of our driveway to run an errand. The picture was propped up against a stump when I spotted it. I experienced a flash of delerium. Clearly, someone had set it there as a giveaway. My two daughters, age 2 and 7, were in the back of the car, and I pointed it out to them. "Look at that!" I said. "I think it's a light up picture!"

I pulled the car over and got out to inspect it. It was covered in shrink wrap, but somehow a bunch of earwigs had gotten under the plastic wrap and had either laid eggs or crapped all over the surface of the mirror.

I took it and put it in the back of my car. When I returned home, I took it out, removed the plastic, and wiped off the dried up bugs. I was afraid they'd be glued to the glass surface, but they came off very easily. Once it was clean, I stepped back to admire the photo of white horses running through blue water.

I took it into my 7-year-old daughter's room and set it on her bookshelf. When I turned on the light, my daughter gasped with delight. I noticed a knob of the side of the box. I assumed it was a dimmer, but it turns out to be a control to adjust the volume of an audio loop of horses whinnying and galloping and splashing! And so you can share in our delight, here's an MP3 of the soundtrack. If you play it while you look at the photo of the horses, it's almost like having a real one of your own.