Cowtown Oddities

As with a lot of my topics, I have to have a post with oddities or 'outtakes' from the outing. This day in the Stockyards is no different!

Here is an animal oddity that we saw in the Stockyards - a triple decker pet sandwich! A dog, with a cat harnessed on top of him and then a rat on top of the cat. So bizarre, but very cute at the same time...They attracted quite a little crowd.

I thought this bumper sticker was odd, but I loved it - I want one!

This truck was parked outside of the place where the animal auction was taking place. Heehee!

This was what we found on the ground outside one of the biker bars. You can drink outside in front of the bar and I guess this was the garbage can.....

And the last stop of the evening was Filthy McNasty's bar to see a band play. It was fantastic!

Longhorn Lesson

On my day in the Stockyards last weekend, I learned even more about my beloved longhorns! For some reason, I am obsessed with them....They are officially called "The Fort Worth Herd" - they even have their own Facebook page!

Anyway, here is the official 'brand' symbol for the Fort Worth Herd:

The symbol has a backwards "F" that points to its past, and a "W" that flows into its future.

And here is a sign that shows the layout of a cattle drive...It's like primitive football formations!

And here are some of the cuties of the Fort Worth herd - relaxing after their cattle drive down Exchange Ave.

About a week or two ago, I saw on Facebook that it was 'branding week' and I saw the evidence on this longhorn! It has the "Fort Worth Herd" branding symbol and some shaved fur. Cool!

Here's a black beauty chilling in their pen.....

I think this little lady was batting her eyelashes at us! She must be the slutty one.... HAHA! (Oh wait, they DID tell us that all of the longhorns here are males). Well, I guess he's the one with 'game'.

Our tour guide told us that this turnstile was over 100 years old - we got to go through it!

Here's the longhorns' home when they aren't strutting their stuff in the little cattle drives (2x per day). Here they are eating dinner:

I just had to take a picture of this cute braided horse tail....Cute!

Here are the cattle pens - they used to go all the way back to that stuff in the distance. HUGE back in the day. The heyday of cattle driving was back in the 1800's, so they've downsized since then.

Cowboys & Motorcycles

Last weekend I went to one of my favorite places in Dallas-Fort Worth: The Stockyards! All of my visitors know what this area is like since I take everyone there. It just never gets old to me and I usually find or learn something new every time I go.....this time was no different.

It was definitely the most crowded I have ever seen - because of the SuperBowl coming in a week and also the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo going on....oh, and the fact that it was about 70 degrees and absolutely gorgeous out.

It's such a crossroads between cowboys and bikers - so bizarre to me! And there were LOTS of both the night we were there!

I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to find the owner of this bike and ask for a ride! It's such a beautiful red and oh so shiny!

While we were there, we took a walking historic tour of the Stockyards which was super interesting. We hit a lot of the spots that I was familiar with, but it was cool to hear all of the history associated with each area. Here's the Cowtown Coliseum - built in 1908 and holds the world's first indoor rodeo (still operating today). Teddy Roosevelt did a speech in this building and while he was speaking, there was a huge fire that broke out across the street in the barns. Teddy himself helped the firefighters put the fire out!

As part of the walking tour, we got to go in the building that houses the animal auctions.

That day, they were auctioning off horses and we got to hear and see the action! Here are the auctioneers:

Here are the owners/potential buyers:

Here's the horse up for auction:

It felt like I was in a movie like "Pure Country" or something!

We had dinner at Riscky's Steakhouse right on Exchange Ave. at the heart of all the action in the Stockyards....

The Stockyards at night is just so beautiful! I love the atmosphere, the people, the horses, etc.

There were a lot of people out that night, but not too many where it was annoying. They even had little bands playing along Exchange Ave.

I found this hotel up the street from the main action - I love it! Hotel Texas - I need to stay there!

List Friday

My Favorite Restaurants!

1. Genghis Grill

2. Cheddars

3. PF Changs/Pei Wei

4. Angeno's Pizza (Minneapolis)

5. El Camino Real (Toledo)

6. Hard 8 BBQ (DFW)

7. The Elephant Bar (Toledo)

8. Sweet Tomatoes

9. Old Spaghetti Factory (Minneapolis)

10. Gloria's (DFW)

Thankful Thursday

This week, I am thankful for having a job. Work has been stressful in the last couple months and I sometimes let that get to me, but I have to remind myself that it is a BLESSING to have a job these days! Every job/company is going to have stressful times and situations, so you'll never outrun that....you just have to take it in stride and persevere through it.

When I dated Chris, he was going through the major upheaval of a layoff (which included losing a company car and computer too). He went through all of the emotions - anger, disappointment, fear, discouragement, etc. And at the same time, I would find myself complaining about stupid little things at work. How ridiculous!

So today, amidst the stress and sometimes frustration of work, I am very thankful that I have a job to go to every day and can live the life that I have.

Ping Pong Living

This article is so freaking cool! Enjoy!!

Tiny Apartment Is Made With 25,000 Ping-Pong Balls

Daniel Arsham’s apartment in Brooklyn is the only pint-sized place we’ve ever wanted to live in. It’s a mere 90 square feet -- that’s about big enough to fit a toothbrush -- but the decor’s so sleek and minimal, we’d trade in our own sardine can in a heartbeat.

The apartment’s a loft attached to the offices of Snarkitecture, the cool-kid architecture firm where Arsham is a partner, and it’s basically just a room that serves two functions: sleeping and dressing. But oh, what a room it is.

The walls look like great big, pixelated screens that fade from gray to white as you approach the ceiling. On closer inspection, the pixels are actually ping-pong balls -- a whopping 25,000 of ‘em. We half expect someone to come out and call a Powerball winner.

The rest of the place is a study in simplicity. Arsham’s got a bed with some built-in shelves and a dresser, where he keeps a few clothes. To enter the loft, he climbs a ladder through the office’s employee bathroom.

The apartment -- which Snarkitecture designed -- was built in two months for less than $100 a square foot. That’s about $50 cheaper than your average loft. Impressive. Then again, by the looks of it, all they really had to do was shop at the local sporting goods store.

[Images courtesy of Snarkitecture]

7 Years

Today marks my Maggie-girl's 7th birthday! She was born on 2/1/04 and I adopted her just 10 weeks later on Easter weekend in April 2004. She was just 4.9 pounds and a ball of naughty energy! She tested every single last ounce of my patience for about 3 years, but I loved her to pieces, so it didn't matter.

In those early days, she chewed through cords, ate woodwork, went potty in her crate (and everywhere else), pooped in my shoe (I discovered this when I put my bare foot into the shoe.....with a toe ring on), ate post-its, ate matchbooks, dug in the dirt in plants, chewed on my glasses, destroyed every single toy she was given and the list goes on and on. Really, how much damage could a tiny little dog do??? Oh, she was on a mission to show me.

Here is the evidence that she ate a pack of gum while I was in the shower (and the pack of gum was in a zipped up purse!)....

Here we are in Toledo with the Wienermobile!

But on the flip side, she has been my friend, my rock, my companion, my travel buddy, my comfort and the only thing that was consistent in my life at times. Maggie was just 10 months old when my ex left and I moved the two of us up to Toledo to start a new life. She was also the ONLY familiar non-new thing when I moved to Texas (new state, new job, new house, new friends, etc.). Wow - what a blessing she was to come home to every day!

And now that we welcomed Owen into our little family, she has really stepped up and been a great 'big sister' to him and taught him how we do things. She is 'the mature one' - never thought I would say that! HA!

At any rate, today I wish my sweet Maggie a very happy birthday - and MANY more!