Well I said I was going to post more Photos of ours "Back Road Junkies" and that's what I want to do  -  



 This was an amazing find .... I love History and knowing that other people go out there to make a statement or point such Amazing things is just a Feel Good Feeling.

 

Five Oaks

This cluster of threes has weathered hundreds

of years of lighting strikes, strong wind, dry

spells, followed by wet spells and cattle rustlers

once hanging on a rope from its limbs, and

yet still stands like a silent sentinel to the

early pioneers who blazed this historical trail.

 

 

This "The Rock Park"  so beautiful and so much fun.

It is a natural park of Rocks.(Hugh ROCKS.)

 

 

 

This is an amazing and Historical Town in Texas..   I know you would love this Place if you ever have the opportunity to visit.

 

I have a ton of Photos - We have been visiting this town for  *wow*  about 15 years now and it is as amazing as the first time.

 

 

 

 

 

                                "Back Road Junkies"

We love going for rides on weekends in the country maybe take a few photos or do some geocaches.  I call us the "Back Road Junkies."  This weekend,  actually Saturday we headed east from home,  had a great day found 13 caches and took a couple of photos.

Here are two photos I took both of the same tree one is a close up of the trunk --

Not quite sure what kind of tree this is,  but was amazed at the Beauty of it.  And how old it could be.
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Last weekend we headed west to Glen Rose - "Dinosaur Capital of Texas."   As the "Back Road Junkies."   We took a lot of Beautiful Photos.  We also did a lot of geocaches.   Here are just a few of the photos we took.

The River is "The Paluxy River"... there is no excess to the side where the Beavers have been so busy.  And yes I can't wait to go back and see how far the have gotten.   NATURE what an amazing thing.   I have several more photos I plan on posting tomorrow. 

"SPRING"

I want to attract the Bluebirds to my backyard.  I think they are so delicate looking and Beautiful.  Anyone have them in there yard???


It’s easy to see why eastern, western and mountain bluebirds are among the most beloved backyard visitors. With their gorgeous colors, musical voices and gentle habits, who wouldn’t want to welcome these beauties into the backyard? Attracting bluebirds can take some time and patience. But once you’ve won them over, they’ll bring their special bluebird pizzazz to any yard or garden.
Seven Tips for Attracting Bluebirds

Bluebirds love mealworms!Pat Piercey

1. Open it up. Bluebirds prefer open areas with low grass and perches from which they can hunt insects.
2. Leave it alone. Dead trees provide important nesting and roosting sites for bluebirds and a whole host of other cavity-nesting birds. Leave dead trees standing (or leave dead limbs on live trees) when it’s safe to do so.
3. Plant native. In winter, bluebirds add berries and other fruit to their diet, so planting trees and shrubs native to your area is a natural way to attract them.
4. Just add water. A simple birdbath is often enough, but bluebirds are partial to moving water, so even a small fountain or dripper will make your water feature more enticing.
5. Go chemical-free. Between spring and fall, a bluebird’s diet is mainly insects gleaned from the ground. Pesticides and other lawn chemicals are dangerous for birds that feed this way.
6. Beware of roaming cats. Each year, cats kill millions of songbirds. Newly fledged nestlings are especially susceptible, so be a good bird landlord and keep your cats indoors.
7. Offer mealworms. Feeding live mealworms can pose some challenges, but bluebirds find them irresistible, even eating them from people’s hands.

And Look at this .... This is repurposed bowling balls..   I want to do this TOO.

 

SPRING HAS SPRUNG
"I got the Fever"

                 What's for Dinner???

I went to the Fridge to get left overs for my backyard chicks - Nothing.    So I decided to make cornbread and share with my pets.  While in the pantry getting the cornmeal I noticed three sweet potatoes that were getting soft. Had leftover rolls from the week end. And I had already taken out chicken breast out to thaw.  At this time I needed a cup of coffee, found two packs of chicken seasoning form roman noodles(noodles my chicks luv) where my coffee filters are.    That's when I decided I am going to make a mini Thanksgiving Meal since we have a small cold front on its way.   I made ""Roast Chicken Breast & Two Leg quarters,  mashed Potatoes,  Sweet Tater Casserole,  some awesome cornbread and white bread Stuffing,  Gravy from Chicken drippings,  of course beans..  I had a white Boston cream pie(cake) topped with strawberries I had in the freezer.

Was a wonderful Meal everyone luved it.   I started this procedure at 12 noon and was done at 4:30....
Very Proud Momma and Granny..... 

Wished it was that easy everyday....    Gotta Luv Life and Family....

Then It Was Nap Time.......

Looks like an Empty Nest

WOW what a morning.  My daughter Jess told me she is moving out!!!!  She has two kiddos (my granbabies.)   They have lived her since birth.  Emily Grayce will be 7 this June and Brantley just turned 2 in Feb.  I am Blessed to have been  able to stay home with my children and then was so excited to be here for my Grandkiddos too. 


   Jess has just finished her MA schooling while working at a clinic and will be certified middle of April.  She plans on finish schooling to become a RN  this fall.  In the mean time She and her Beau  are moving in together.  She is going to stay home and spend the summer with her children before going back.


Like I said WOW.   What's a granny to do?  Talk about a total life change....

"Happy Saint Patrick's Day"

Ahhhh you after me lucky charms!!!
Monday March 17th, got your green on? (Yes I do) What to do to day about food -- what to make green?

So.... how bout cabbage, brisket with GREEN bar-b-que sauce?, fried potatoes with GREEN onions, green banana pudding we have to have pinto beans here in Texas and maybe some jalapenos and cheddar cheese GREEN corn bread.

Have a wonderful Saint Patrick's Day.

There's Irish in us all.



~ OH DANNY BOY ~


Our ST. Patrick (Swayze) from the state of TEXAS
Ethnicity: English, a long with Irish/Scottish



Patrick Swayze was born on August 18, 1952, in Houston, Texas, the second child of Patsy Yvonne Helen (née Karnes; 1927–2013), a choreographer, dance instructor, and dancer, and Jesse Wayne Swayze (1925–1982), an engineering draftsman.[4][5][6] He had two younger brothers, actor Don Swayze (born 1958) and Sean Kyle (born 1962), and two sisters, Vickie Lynn (1949–1994) and Bambi.[4][7] He was a sixth cousin, once removed, of news commentator John Cameron Swayze, and a relative of noted Texas Revolution soldier, Henry Karnes.[8] Swayze and his siblings were raised in their mother's Roman Catholic faith.[9]
Until the age of twenty, Swayze lived in the Oak Forest neighborhood of Houston, where he attended St. Rose of Lima Catholic School,[10] Oak Forest Elementary School,[11] Black Middle School,[11][12] and Waltrip High School


"A Little Bit of our Texas Irish History"
IRISH. Natives of Ireland were among the first settlers in Spanish-ruled Texas, and the story of the Irish in Texas is in many ways coincident with the founding of the republic and the development of the state. The heritage of the Irish seems in retrospect to have peculiarly suited their migration to a new land, for the English dominance of Ireland must have been to the new colonists in Texas a close parallel to the oppression they eventually found in the new country. It is not surprising that as many as twenty-five Irishmen probably signed the Goliad Declaration of Independence, that four signed the actual Texas Declaration of Independence, and that 100 were listed in the rolls of San Jacinto, comprising one-seventh of the total Texan force in that battle. Probably the first Irishman in Texas was Hugo Oconór, who became governor ad interim of Texas in 1767. Though his national origins are uncertain, Oconór was almost certainly Irish, as his name suggests. His success in reinforcing San Antonio against raiding Apaches was a notable contribution to the further settlement of that region. Philip Nolan, a native of Belfast, Ireland, was said to be the first Anglo American to map Texas. Whatever his real mission in Texas, Nolan's activities so aroused Spanish authorities that he was killed by a force sent to arrest him in 1801. James Hewetson and James Power, along with John McMullen and James McGloin,^{qqv were the first Irishmen to receive empresario contracts from Mexico, successfully settling the areas now comprising Refugio and San Patricio counties. Hewetson accompanied Stephen F. Austin to Texas on his first trip in 1821, and many Irishmen were counted in Austin's Old Three Hundred. De León's colony at Victoria also included several Irish families, and it should be noted that all of these contracts, except that to McMullen and McGloin, called for the settlement of Mexican as well as Irish families, specifically Catholics. Some writers have maintained that the southern grants were made only to the Irish to form a buffer zone of devout Catholics between Mexico and the northern Anglo settlements, but it now seems clear that the McMullen-McGloin colony was adjacent to the Power and Hewetson colony only by sheer coincidence. During the days of the republic the two colonies were on the frontier that saw the worst possible hardships for settlers. In the Texas Revolution such Irishmen as Francis Moore, Jr., John Joseph Linn, Thomas William Wardqqv and the four empresarios named above all played important roles. James Power used his influence to seat Sam Houston at the Convention of 1836. Eleven Irishmen died at the battle of the Alamo and fourteen were among those with James W. Fannin, Jr., at the Goliad Massacre. Appropriately, Refugio and San Patricio counties were among the first established in Texas after the revolution; the date was March 17, 1836, Saint Patrick's Day}

The 1850 census listed 1,403 Irish in Texas; ten years later the number was 3,480. Notable Irish-born Texans in the nineteenth century included William Kennedyqv, whose book The Rise, Progress and Prospects of Texas (1841) encouraged immigration to the new republic; ^{Richard W. Dowling, whose company of all-Irish Confederates repulsed the Union fleet at Sabine Pass; Peter Gallagher, a Texas Ranger and later an organizer of Pecos County; Samuel McKinney, an early president of Austin College; and John William Mallet, first chairman of the University of Texas faculty. Irish colonists in Texas endured the same problems of education, farming, and economic hardship as did other settlers, though perhaps with better success, considering their proximity to hostile forces. The descendants of generations who had long fought and died for their civic and religious liberties, the Irish were quicker than most to recognize incursions upon their rights and to defend against them. In 1980 572,732 Texans described themselves as of Irish descent. The Irish were third among those claiming European ancestry, following English and German. See also SAN PATRICIO MINUTE MEN; SAN PATRICIO TRAIL}

Saint Patricks Day

                                             
                                      Who is Saint Patrick

  At the age of 16,  he was captured from his home in Great Britain and taken as a slave to Ireland, where he lived for 6 years before escaping and returning to his family.  After becoming a Cleric, he returned to Northern and Western Ireland.  In later life, he served as an Ordained Bishop, but little is known about the places where he worked.  By the 17 century he had already become to be respected as the Patron of Ireland.


It is observed on the 17th day of March -- the day of his death.  It is celebrated inside and outside of Ireland as a Religious and Cultural Holiday.

The National Flower of Ireland is SHAMROCK:  A type of clover with 3 leaves.  St Patrick compares the leaves to the Holy Trinity."Father, Son and Holy Spirit"   Occasionally shamrocks are found to have 4 leaves.  These are rare and considered to be very lucky for the finder..... the odds of finding one is one in 10,000.




Another Celebrated figure besides St. Patrick is the Leprechaun.
Leprechauns are magical mini-people that have been in Irish tales and myths for years.  Old stories tell the tale of the leprechaun who is a shoemaker that protects gold.  Whoever discoveries the gold can keep it as long as he also watches the leprechaun.  The leprechaun has evolves numerous times and today includes a cereal mascot, WWE professional wrestler and horror movie icon.
  


People wear green so the won't be pinched.  It's a punishment that began in the early 1700s in the United States.  There are two explanations that illuminate the customs:

First - It's a punishment to those who forget to honor "The Emerald Isle."

Second - Is based on the superstition.  Leprechauns (and other pixies) pinched anyone they could see.  However any one who wore green was invisible to them.

Celebrants mark the holiday with foods such as corned beef and cabbage,  green food color in almost anything (like beer), events, games, performances and songs.

The first Saint Patrick Day's parade was held in the United States on March 17, 1762.  The Irish soldiers who were serving in the British army marched in New York City.


One more thing I would like to share......
My Husband and I quit smoking on March 17, 2001


Happy Saint Patrick's Day

             ~big hugs~

     "Better Than Gold"

 

Better than grandeur,  better than gold,

Than rank and titles a thousandfold,

Is a healthy body and a mind at ease

And simple pleasures that always please.

A heart that can feel for another's woe,

And share his joys with a genial glow;

With sympathies large enough to enfold

All men as brothers,  is better than gold.

 

Better than gold is a conscience clear,

Though toiling for bread in an humble sphere,

Doubly blessed with content and health,

Untried by the lusts and cares of wealth,

Lowly living and lofty thought

Adorn and ennoble a poor man's cot;

For mind and morals in nature's plan

Are the genuine tests of an earnest man.

 

Better than gold is a peaceful home

Where all the fireside characters come,

The shrine of love,  the heaven of life,

Hallowed by mother,  or sister,  or wife,

However humble the home my be,

Or tried with sorrow by heaven's decree,

The blessings that never were bought or sold,

And center there,  are better than gold.

 

                                              -Abram Joseph Ryan

 

 

 

The insert from one of my favorite books

"BETTER THAN GOLD"

 

 



Not Sure About My blog?????

I am not sure if my posts are out there or not....   I have a new computer and I am getting errors every time I open my blog or add a post.  I'm posting this one time to see if my blog is working or if there is some thing missing.  I would really appreciate if someone would let me know.   
   Thank You So Much
                           Cherie

~ADVISE~

I wanted to post a poem from one of my Favorite Books "BETTER THAN GOLD" .... I love to read one of the poems from this book everyday.  It is Heart warming and a Feel Good Feeling for me.
This one is -ADVISE-     Hope you enjoy.

~ADVISE~

 

Stand straight;

Step firmly,  throw your weight:

The heaven is high above your head

And the good gray road is faithful to your tread.

 

Be strong:

Sing to your heart a battle song:

Tough hidden foemen lie in wait,

Something is in you that can smile in Fate.

 

Press through:

Nothing can harm if you are true.

And when the night comes, rest:

The earth is friendly as a mother's breast.

 

                                    -EDWIN MARKHEM