INTRODUCING ROSCOE...

*See note at bottom.

My son snapped this picture of Roscoe sleeping in a basket with the lamp shining down on him. All the cats like to sleep in this basket when the lamp is turned on. I say they're sunbathing whenever I see one there.

I always meant to introduce my animal family on my blog and thought I'd start with Roscoe. We don't know where Roscoe came from, but he showed up as a skinny cat at my son's apartment door. Keith put out a dish of food and he quickly ate it all. The next day he was back for more. Keith kept feeding him and after a few days decided to post signs around the apartment complex asking if anyone had lost a cat. No one responded.

One of my proudest accomplishments as a mother was instilling in all my sons a love and compassion for animals. Keith already had two cats, and that was all the apartment complex allowed. One of his cats was one that had been hanging around our yard and when no owner could be located Keith agreed to take him in. So, Keith now pointed out that it was my turn to take in a cat he found. And that is how Roscoe came to live here.

The first thing we did was take him to the vet to be tested for feline leukemia and to be fixed. Then we brought him home and fattened him up. :) Not intentionally...it just happened.

Roscoe has the sweetest personality. You couldn't ask for a nicer cat. He gets along well with the dog and all the other cats. He never causes any trouble. We enjoy having him as part of our family

*Note: I'm ready to scream. I've saved and published this post three times and every time the double spacing between paragraphs disappears. I'm going to try one more time and then leave it. Could it be because I changed the font?

RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL...

How I would have loved to have been at Radio City Music Hall in New York City this past weekend. To see the Rockettes? No, to attend the NFL Draft. I'd even rather go to the Draft than the Super Bowl!

I don't enjoy college football. I'm just an NFL football fan, so I don't even know much about the players being drafted except for what I read in newspapers or magazines. However, that doesn't stop me from getting excited about the draft. When the Commissioner says, "The Houston Texans are on the clock," I start fiddling in my seat with anticipation.

On Saturday we attended the Houston Texans' Draft Party at Reliant Stadium. In my opinion it's the next best thing to being at Radio City Music Hall. The Texans had the 15th pick in the first round and chose Brian Cushing an OLB from USC. We were surprised to learn that he's from NJ and grew up only a few miles from the town my husband and I grew up in. Talk about good vibes...huh? Here's a picture of my husband standing in front of the Draft Party sign. I know it's a little dark, but it's the best I could do.


Here are some more pictures from the draft party...

This is one of the cheerleader hopefuls being interviewed by Don Nelson of ABC 13. The fans could vote and help decide who makes the squad, so there was some campaigning going on by their friends and relatives. I didn't vote because I think grown men don't need cheerleaders. That's just my personal opinion. My husband and many others voted. :)

And here they are signing autographs...



And this is Mr. Bob McNair the owner of the Houston Texans. I respect Mr. McNair because he has certain standards for his players and would not put winning above character.

Here's a picture of us with Andre Johnson. That's about as close as we'll ever get to the "live and in person" Andre Johnson. There were some players there signing autographs, but I no longer stand in those lines. I've got a bunch of autographs and someday they'll end up in the wonderful estate sale my kids will probably have, so I really don't need any more. Of course, if one of the players wanted to give me his autograph on a check made out to me...that would be a different story. :)

When I'm in the car I usually have the radio tuned to Sports Radio 610. No music for me...just talking heads discussing sports and in particular the NFL. Here they are broadcasting live at the Draft Party. That's Eric Winston on the left. What a big guy...he's an offensive tackle.

For information on the rest of the Houston Texans draft picks click here. Come on...you know you're really interested. :) Be sure and click on all my links. You never know...there might be a test later.

LET'S BE FRIENDS...

A while back I received this award for my blog from Kim over at My Domestic Bliss. I was thrilled, but still very new to blogging at that time (although I've had this blog for a couple of years I only started posting regularly this year) and couldn't decide who to pass the award on to. So, I decided to take my time and think it over carefully.

This is what was included with the award:

Description: "Let's Be Friends"“These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.” Also put a link to their blogs and then let them know they have been selected!

Immediately, some of my old friends came to mind. (And I don't mean old in years...just older friendships.) People I've known online for a number of years...Loretta over at House Of Houben, Karen at Sew Primitive Quilter, and Linda at Linda's Chatty Blog. I met all of them a while back on vintage doll collecting boards. Meanwhile, I've met a whole bunch of new people over here in blogland that I now consider friends too. So, I hope it's OK if I break the above "rules" and invite all my new friends to help themselves to this friendship award. I enjoy visiting your blogs on a regular basis and consider you all good friends.

SO SAD...

Yesterday morning I went out to the garage and found an injured baby possum on the floor. He was raising his head and putting it back down, but he didn't appear able to walk. There were spots of blood on the floor and I surmised that he probably had fallen off a beam to the hard concrete floor.

Last weekend during a torrential downpour my husband had spotted a large possum up there. Possums don't hurt anything and we come from the live and let live school of life, so we chose to ignore him/her and let it be. Now I suspected that the grown possum was this little guy's mom. I had an appointment and assumed the baby was almost dead, so I reluctantly closed the door and left.

When I arrived home I checked the garage for a body and there he/she was walking around a little in circles. A big improvement in four hours. My son noticed that his one eye was badly injured and almost gone. So, we put him in a cat carrier and drove to the Wildlife Rehab. Center in Houston.

Sadly, the lady thought he probably wouldn't make it, but at least he'd have a peaceful ending there. She suspected he had more serious injuries that weren't as visible as the eye, but a veterinarian was with him when we left. Poor little thing. I hate to see injured animals.

JERSEY FALCONS

Some years back I read about a couple of Peregrine Falcons that nest on top of a building in Jersey City, NJ. I was intrigued and have been following them ever since. (I am a Jersey girl at heart.)

Within the last week the female has laid four eggs. At least it looks like four to me. Anyway, check out the site and be sure and read the Nest Box News.

http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/peregrinecam/

It's exciting when the eggs start hatching, but every year there's some kind of disaster. I believe it was last year that only one baby survived. The site is maintained by the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife.

I feel like a grandmother when the eggs start hatching. :)

FINALLY - OUR RETIREMENT HOME

I think I've finally found a home out in the country that we might be able to afford. A little fixer upper for our later years.

Seriously, driving around in the rural areas we see so many places like this one. Abandoned for years and rotting away. It's kind of sad. Maybe there was just not enough money in farming or ranching and the owners had to move closer to the city for job opportunities? Perhaps the owners were elderly and no longer able to live alone or maintain the property? Why didn't somebody want the place? If only the walls could speak.

APRIL IN TEXAS CAN ONLY MEAN ONE THING...

...drivers slamming on the brakes and pulling off the highway,

people completely ignoring no trespassing signs,

and interrupting the peace and tranquility of the locals (what must those poor cattle be thinking?),

all in their quest to get the perfect photo.

Yes, it's wildflower season in Texas and the bluebonnets were blooming along 290 on my ride back from Austin last weekend. It wasn't raining, but the sun wasn't shining either so the pictures don't really show the beauty of the day.

Soon it will all be gone until next year.

PINK SATURDAY ADDENDUM -- WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES

I just took this picture of the backyard to show what a difference less than 24 hours makes. The pictures of the yard in my Pink Saturday post below were taken on Friday afternoon. You can see the hanging planter in this picture that appears in one of the pictures below.

Talk about rain!! We've had a lot today. My husband went out in the backyard to try and clear the drains we have so the water can drain from the yard. They get clogged with leaves and debris, but sometimes the rain comes down so fast that the drains can't carry it off fast enough, or the street in the front floods and that's where the drains take the water and it backs up.

I know the picture is dark, but the sky was as dark as midnight and it was pouring. You can see how deep the water is on my husband's legs.

Now continue on to the real Pink Saturday post below. :)

PINK SATURDAY GREETINGS!

Another week and another Pink Saturday!

I was away last Saturday and had my Pink Saturday post done in advance and scheduled to appear automatically on April 11th. Then for some reason I was unable to reply to Beverly's weekly E-mail from my son's computer. When I'd try the E-mail would bounce back. I couldn't even contact her through the E-mail link on her blog. I have a feeling it had something to do with being signed on to AOL from their home screen and my son's Windows Vista. I never have trouble from here. So, my Pink Saturday post was up, but wasn't on the list. If you'd like to see last week's post just scroll down below this one.

For this week I thought I'd show you my pink piggy bank. It sits on a shelf in the kitchen...

And then I thought I'd show you some pink in my backyard...

And some pink that I saw along the side of the road on my ride home from Austin last week...

You have to look closely, but there are a few pink wild flowers in there.

For information on Pink Saturday and a list of this week's participants head over to Beverly's blog by clicking on the Pink Saturday logo on my sidebar. Thanks Beverly!

ANOTHER HAPPY PINK DAY!

I'm actually writing this a week ahead of time since I'll be visiting my son in Austin this week and won't have access to my computer. I'll just shedule this to post on April 11th and hope all goes well.

These pictures were taken on April 3rd somewhere near Round Top, Texas during the big antique fair. I don't recall the name of the town, but when I saw pink I had to stop.

This sign caught my attention.

I'd love to have a trailer like Punkie. See the pink curtains?

And the table and chairs are a nice touch.

And inside her tent there was a lot of pink for sale... including this old gal.

Thank you to Beverly for hosting Pink Saturday. For information on how to join in the fun and to see a list of this week's participants visit Beverly's site. Just click on the Pink Saturday logo on my sidebar.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. Happy Easter!

ROUND TOP AREA REVISITED...

I'm away from my computer while visiting Austin for a few days. I uploaded some pictures to blogger so I could post while I was away. I'm having a little trouble using my son's computer, but here it goes...

Last Friday we went back out to the Round Top, Texas area and walked around looking at more antiques, collectibles, and junk. We spotted this place along the side of the road. I think most of this stuff stays outside in his yard year round. I did find an inexpensive set of bronzed baby shoes for my bronzed baby shoe collection. I don't think they had been outside for too long.




Fortunately, he doesn't have a lot of neighbors nearby to complain about his yard.

He had rabbits for sale. They looked cute sitting among the Bluebonnets.

Later on in the day I spotted this vintage piece. "One ringy-dingy, two ringy-dingy." Are you old enough to remember?

That's my husband standing by a vintage washing machine/planter.

You see a little bit of everything...even a dog wearing sunglasses!

When I was a child growing up in the 1950's we used to go to Atlantic City. I think this is one of the things they had on the boardwalk. You paid for a certain length of time and a man would take you for a ride. Does anyone remember what these were called? I want to say jitney, but I think that's probably wrong.

Talk about an unusual item. This is about the only horse this old Jersey girl can ride. I'm getting ready and practicing for a Texas nursing home.

These are a cross between a motorized wheel chair and one of those horses that kids ride outside the grocery store for 50 cents or a dollar. (With inflation it might be $5 now.)

And this is my husband again. He's lugging a metal armadillo that we bought to keep "Tex" company in our backyard.

And now I just have to wait until next October when we can do this all over again!

Note: I'm editing this post just to say that I had it all set up with the pictures and description spaced the way I wanted it to appear. I hit Publish Post and that's not how it appeared.

This has happened to me before and it's frustrating. I guess I shouldn't spend so much time trying to space everything neatly. :)

PINK SATURDAY PANIC

I haven't been able to participate in Pink Saturday the last couple of weeks and didn't want to miss again. So, I wrote and told Beverly to count me in for this week. YIKES! Time to PANIC! I have nothing ready.

I've always liked vintage pink kitchens, so I did a google search. Lo and behold, I found this really neat site. It's for people interested in doing retro decorating. Isn't that neat?

And here are some pink kitchens...

And look at the neat retro wallpaper:

Back in the 1960's I worked with a lady that had a pink kitchen and a pink bathroom. She had bought the house new and her husband told her it was a princess house.

Now I'd like to find my own princess house. Something built in the 1950's-1960's. Wouldn't it be fun? I'd have to junk everything I have now and start over, but now I know where I can go for help. If you're interested in doing a little retro decorating yourself...here's the link: http://retrorenovation.com/

For information on Pink Saturday head over to Beverly's blog. Just click on the Pink Saturday icon on my sidebar for a list of participants and information on how you can join in the fun. Thanks Beverly!

OUR LITTLE FRIEND...

He's been with us for probably a year now. I kind of hoped he'd move on when Hurricane Ike came through, but he rode out the storm in the comfort of his home beneath our deck. In the past, my husband would occasionally run into him when he took the dog out first thing in the morning.

I've always believed that we should make an effort to coexist with the creatures that claimed this land long before we were here. I did have to draw the line with the rats that were feeding at our bird feeder when one decided to come inside. Because of him we no longer put out bird seed for the backyard wildlife. I just can't coexist with rats.

However, I was willing to coexist with our nocturnal friend. I knew he was there, but I didn't have to see him. In the last couple of weeks he's begun to violate the nocturnal rule. It seems he's decided on a snack before bed in the morning and I've been running into him in the backyard between 8:30 and 9:30 AM. We've had some rain and the ground is soft. He's been digging holes all over the yard. We've tried having a regular lawn with St. Augustine grass, but because of all the shade the warm weather grass doesn't grow and it's too hot for something like Fescue. So, I've been letting the monkey grass, violets, and weeds fill in the yard. Unfortunately, our little friend must spend the entire night digging everything up.

I think he's kind of cute and I've named him Tex.

It must be getting terribly crowded under our deck. Our feral cat and a couple of the neighborhood cats like to hang out under there. I wouldn't be at all surprised if there's a possum or two under there too. Here's MaMa peeking out.

Of course, poor Sophie is going crazy. She knows Tex is under there. She's chased him back under a couple of times. He'll run under the deck and then he sticks his head out to see if she's still there. She wouldn't hurt him. She just enjoys the chase.

I've gone online and read all about humane trapping, discouraging him with moth balls, putting down something to kill the bugs that he eats, etc. The problem is that I don't want to do anything that would harm MaMa or drive her away. So, we've decided to welcome Tex to the family and try not to break an ankle in the backyard.

FINALLY!

Last Saturday my husband and I drove out to Round Top, Texas. I'm afraid my heart wasn't in it. I still wasn't feeling 100% and then after lunch I felt even worse, but I persevered for as long as possible. Traffic was backed up and I never made it down to one of the areas I usually enjoy. In the interest of time we stopped at another spot instead.

I didn't buy much. Now I have regrets. Why didn't I buy that dresser scarf with the cute embroidered dogs? And there were a few other things I passed on early in the day thinking I might see something better later on. I did buy another set of bronzed baby shoes for my bronzed shoe collection. (People collect everything...don't they?) And I got one of those tacky bowls or baskets made out of Christmas cards and sewn together with yarn. Anyone remember those? And I like to buy old recipe boxes with the recipes. They're few and far between. When I see them they're usually empty. So, I was pleased to get two boxes filled with old recipes. I also got a few other odds and ends, but ended up calling it a day earlier than I wanted. I'm hoping to convince my husband to drive me back out there on Friday when he has the day off. (Wish me luck!) I wish I didn't have so much trouble driving after dark. I hate waiting for someone else to take me some place. It cramps my style. :)

I did manage to snap a few pictures...

Here's my husband walking along. (No, that's not our dog.)

You see just about everything...

And here's something I never even thought about. Most of the dealers are there with their RV's and campers. They tell me once a day this truck goes through and takes care of necessary business. (You don't have to see the truck to know it's there.)

And this was an interesting booth. I can't help but wonder how many doll heads she actually sells. Most of them looked like they were dragged through the mud.


Yes, there's a little bit of everything for the discriminating buyer.

We'll be gone on Saturday...

We're heading up near Round Top, Texas on Saturday. It's time once again for the Round Top Antique Show, but I don't go to that one. I prefer to traipse through the free ones held in the surrounding area in empty cow pastures. Lots of good junk. Way too much to see in one day. I would have gone up for a day earlier this week, but my eyes no longer cooperate and I just can't drive on the freeways in the dark anymore. In order to have a full day I'd have to either leave in the dark or come home in the dark. So, my husband will drive tomorrow while it's dark and I'll take over when it's light enough for me to see (that way they'll be no arguments about where to stop...I'll be making the decisions). :)

We usually take I-10 out of Houston and get off at Sealy so we can stop at the bakery in Bellville, Texas. The only bakeries we have near us here are in the grocery stores, so stopping in Bellville is a must for us. Besides, by Bellville we need a pit stop. Then we head towards Shelby and make a couple of stops there and then over to SH 237. I've got all my favorite stops marked on the map.

I try and go dehydrated since I hate those Port-a-Potties. If we're lucky we'll find a place for lunch that has restrooms...primitive as they may be.

Anyway, for me it's always a fun trip down memory lane even if I don't buy much. And I'll probably be very selective since I've been on a mission lately to declutter this house. Wish me luck!

Pictures to follow in the next few days.

SEE WHY I WORRY?

Do you think I should worry? Yesterday, I read my E-mail and then tried to shut down AOL by pointing the TV remote control at the monitor and clicking. After three or four clicks I regained my sanity and put down the remote. I went back to doing it the old fashion way with the mouse. I hope someone will leave a comment saying they do this all the time.





I've been busy the last couple of weeks. My Dad's brother, sister, and nephew came for a visit. Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling well while they were here and had to stay away most of the time so no one else would get sick. My Dad lives nearby in assisted living with round the clock aides. Unfortunately, his Alzheimer's is getting worse and at times he doesn't know us. It's very sad and depressing. My Dad was a very smart man who loved politics and the Chicago White Sox. I showed him a picture of the President wearing a Chicago White Sox cap. A year or so ago he would have been thrilled beyond belief. Now I get no reaction. I miss the conversations we used to have, but speaking is very difficult for him now.





Here's a picture taken last week.

My dad is seated at the table and his brother is next to him. In the second row is Cindy (my cousin's friend), my dad's sister and me. My cousin is in the back. My Dad is 90, his brother is 87 and his sister is 84. My Dad is actually smiling in this picture. He used to smile all the time, but now he usually has a blank look on his face. It's good to see him smiling.

HAPPY SPRING!

I thought I'd share this picture with you today. I took it a couple of weeks ago on one of my walks around town. It kind of says, "Happy Spring!"

OH DEAR...

Oh dear, I feel bad that I didn't visit but a few blogs last Saturday on Pink Saturday. I do enjoy the opportunity to see all the pretty pink things and visit some new blogs, but I haven't felt well since the weekend. I'll have to skip Pink Saturday this week, but I'll be back next week.