Texas Tartan & Feathery Friends

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Americans of Scottish descent have played a vibrant and influential role in the development of the United States. From the framers of the Declaration of Independence to the first man on the moon, Scottish-Americans have contributed mightily to the fields of the arts, science, politics, law, and more. Today, over eleven million Americans claim Scottish and Scotch-Irish roots -- making them the eighth largest ethnic group in the United States. These are the people and accomplishments that are honored on National Tartan Day, April 6th.

The Texas Bluebonnet Tartan was conceived and designed by June Prescott McRoberts (1922-1999) . She designed a pattern to represent the state flower, the Bluebonnet, using the colors and symmetry of the flower itself. She received much help and guidance from the Scottish Tartan Society Museum in Scotland and later registered the Bluebonnet Tartan with the STS Museum, the official register for tartans.

~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~

The first official recognition of the McRoberts tartan came in 1986 when the Sesquicentennial Committee of Texas adopted the Bluebonnet Tartan as the official Sesquicentennial Tartan. In 1989, Texas Representative Schlueter became aware of the Texas Bluebonnet Tartan and one of his last acts before retiring was to put forth the motion that the tartan be officially adopted as the State Tartan. In May 25, 1989, by In-House Concurrence Resolution #242, the Texas Bluebonnet Tartan became the official State Tartan for the great state of Texas.

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It looks like all the girls are having tummy troubles due to the new flea medication. Izzy was really sweet this morning, wanting to sit beside me and just being so quiet... until the other dogs starting barking and she promptly joined in.

She and Abby both are scratching again, too. Maddie got a little bath today, so only Abby is left. Unfortunately, it takes two people to bathe Abby so I think her bath is gonna have to wait.

And then there's my Wendy Kitty. What can I say about my little cat except that she's lost a lot of weight in just the past couple weeks. She still has an appetite and everything, but I'm at the point now where I can't pretend anymore that she's a young gal. She's sixteen years old... almost 17 this summer... so I can only hope her last months/years with us will be comfortable one's.

The same goes for Tiger Lily, aka Kitty Girl. She's Wendy's Mom and is 19 years old. (Just FYI: They have a rocky mother-daughter relationship. Wendy started bullying Tiger Lily a few months ago so they have to be separated these days. Wendy's turned into quite the rebel in her old age. Of course, I should have known. What is it that they say? Don't trust the quiet one's?)






I simply had to update this post with some bluebird videos I took this afternoon. The camera batteries died on me - surprise, surprise - but at least I got to film both bluebirds together first. They've been really busy keeping those babies fed. Mom saw them the other day and said they're huge. They should start learning to fly soon.







And here's a video of one of our cardinals.



I tried getting video of a bunch of other birds, too, but they never hung out in our trees and in the feeder long enough for me to film them. I almost got one SWEET video of a tiny little purple finch that perched itself on the chair behind me. I didn't have time to snap video though because Abby saw it, then ran to it to try to make friends.


(Larger pic HERE)

Izzy chases off the birds on purpose, and Abby chases them off from trying to be friendly. Maddie on the other hand... she doesn't give a twit about the birdie kingdom. I've seen her dive-bombed on the bottom by a bird once, and she completely ignored it.

In worrisome news, Mom saw that darn hawk flying overhead earlier. It might be one beautiful bird that I would LOVE to get a photo of, but I don't want it hunting any of our birds.