Today we celebrate a very special day, the birthday of our own dear Puddy. We don’t know which of her nine lives she’s on (that’s catfidential information) but we wish her the very best. Puddy has many important functions here in the Tree. She and her sidekick Wee provide the highest form of comic relief. That we can never do without. She brightens our day, brings us our smiles, and makes us belly laugh. Her wit is famous and unequaled in all the world. However, her roles behind the scenes make the Tree function smoothly and with a professional touch unique among blogs. She is the producer, director and artistic consultant on many Treehouse productions. Her talents, humor and giving spirit are a big part of what has made this Treehouse a virtual home on the internet for the wild and woolly crew we have assembled.

News of this event has spread far and wide. We have plenty of extra kibble, cake, and of course, our own spirits, brewed just for Puddy on a moonshiner’s ridge in the Georgia hills. Puddy has friends in all the good places!

She was also a hired assassin for the world famous Mossad in one of her past lives, and this year they offer her birthday cake for our celebration! (more…)

One year ago today, the world was made a little brighter by the birth of a special little girl named Sadie. She arrived on a blustery early spring day, staring intently, if not quite focused, at the window full of strange people waiting to greet her, family members from both sides, and many friends as well. Held in her father’s arms, she watched as we danced around, angling for a better view, what seemed like dozens of cameras making the first pictures. That was the start of a love affair that will last my whole life long. No matter what happens, Sadie owns a piece of my heart, and she always will. I was unprepared for the blunt force of love that hit me when Sadie was born. I had always thought that one of my gifts was my ability to love, and to love well and faithfully. Along came Sadie, and I learned that love cannot be contained, and it cannot be measured. A life and a heart filled with love can expand and grow, infinitely, as love comes from the one who is love.

Being the mother of sons, it was a new and wonderful experience for me to have a little girl to enjoy. It wasn’t too long before she learned to smile, and she does it with a radiance that lights up her whole body. When she smiles, she glows, and she smiles all the time. She laughs with her whole little body. She seems to have been crafted from pure joy, and every moment is sunshine to her. From her silky blond hair and shiny blue eyes to the tips of her tiny little toes, she is a blessing, a gift to be savored, loved, treasured as the greatest of gifts from God above, the gift of love. (more…)

   By Elvis Chupacabra

The old timers said that a dry, chill wind was blowing out of the northwest, right from the heart of the Commancheria, that dawn of March 6, 1836. It ripped the palls of black smoke billowing from the old Alamo mission into ragged tendrils and hurled them away, as if trying to clear the air of the sickly sweet smell of burning flesh and the acrid stench of gunpowder. By the time the sun broke above the horizon and cast a golden light over the old mission-turned-fortress, gunshots still sporadically rent the air, but the main sound was that of an enraged mob. (more…)

HERE’S the link to USTREAM. (I took down the live feed due to the incessant auto-play ads. Thank me. 😉 )

Texas Independence Day

March 2, 1836

    By Elvis Chupacabra

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When I was a mere lad, Texas Independence Day was celebrated in schools with patriotic songs, readings of the Declaration by schoolkids and grave lectures on our role as Texans by our teachers. Even the Mexican kids participated, because anyone who’d read the  hallowed rolls of the Alamo and Goliad dead knew that there were plenty of martyrs with Spanish surnames. We also knew of Lorenzo de Zavala and Juan Seguin, both Texian heroes of the Revolution.

It was understood by the youngest of us that Texas went from being just the mostly empty northern part of the Mexican state of Cohuila-Texas to the independent Republic of Texas with the signing of this document. Like the beloved United States, from whence the spirit -and some would say impetus – of revolution had come, we won our right to be free through the force of arms, wielded by brave and bold men. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the despot which our Texas Forefathers overthrew was ever bit as evil and prone to predations as Britain’s George III. His one saving grace, that he invented that most American of oral fixations, chewing gum, was more than off-set by his cruelty and duplicitous nature. The self-proclaimed Napoleon of the North, he boasted an army well-officered and well-equipped that had spent the past couple of years putting down rebellions in Mexico. It wasn’t just the Texians who longed for the return to a government who respected the liberal Constitution of 1824.  (more…)

Dear Friends,

Last year, I wrote a small piece about what it means to me to be a Texan. My friends know it means about damned near everything. Anyway, this fella asked me to reprint what I’d wrote and I didn’t have it. So I set out to think about rewriting something. I considered writing about all the great things I love about Texas. There are way too many things to list. I can’t even begin to do it justice. Lemme let you in on my short list.  (more…)

……………………Click HERE for the live webcam from the Alamo…

   Guest posted by “Texan59”…

Today, February 24, marks the 177th anniversary of what many would say is the most important letter ever written in the State of Texas.  On February 24, 1836, Lt. Col. William Barret Travis wrote his “Liberty or Death” letter requesting additional troops be sent to the Alamo in their battle against Mexican General Santa Anna.  While history has been more amenable to some of his compatriots, most notably Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie, Lt. Col. Travis was tasked with leading this disparate group against the formidable Mexican army.  For the first time since he penned his  immortal words, the letter is back at the Alamo.

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I’ve been to many a wedding, but I’ve never heard anything that comes close to this father’s expression of love and joy for his daughter.  No one that attended this wedding will ever forget what it meant to this man to be a father.   Entertainment value = priceless!

H/T…You Got To Be Kidding’s Blog

This series of articles is guest posted by Elvis Chupacabra!

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February 23, 1836:

General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna reaches San Antonio with a large body of his troops, mostly cavalry. Much of his assault infantry, engineer troops and siege artillery are strung out along the road back to the Rio Grande. Of these, many of his native troops, lightly dressed for the warmth of Mexico, have suffered in a late and particularly harsh winter storm along their hasty, forced march towards the rebellious province of Tejas. (more…)