The Rooster Crows

We are super proud to announce that our new website is up and running!  Call your family and friends and check it out. www.therockinrooster.com

Twice a year, the city of Cleburne hosts Antique Alley.  Locals clear out their closets and vendors set out their crafts, candles and all manner of crap (collectibles rare and precious) for miles and miles of sales.  The majority of The Rockin’ Rooster employees were in attendance last weekend.

We all met up at the Liberty hotel in downtown Cleburne.  It’s a beautifully restored building owned by the  Choice chain.  The rooms were very nice and cozy with plenty of room for a Bicknell Cousin Jamboree later in the evening.  The Bicknell’s have lived in and around Cleburne for 100 years and have a special bond with the town.  They remembered walking downtown and getting candy at Duke & Ayres for only a nickel and told me stories as we browsed through several antique stores near the square.

As the storm clouds gathered in the central Texas skies… so did the Bicknell cousins.  We made a grand tour of the cemetery in search of  their four-legged Great-Grandmother Bicknell.  With directions from Gary, we were able to locate her grave.

Another cemetery and another search for family members and we worked up a powerful hunger so it was off to Susannah’s for fine family dining and a surprise contingent of even more Bicknell’s joined in the fun!  Uncle Gene and Aunt Sheila joined Lynda, Theresa, Robbie, Shelly and I.  Uncle Gene reminded me so much of Lynda and Theresa’s daddy, Joe, that a think a few noses started to hurt a little bit.  Dessert was crustless cobbler and even more cousins.  Little one’s this time.  Funny little ones.

Stories, competitions and some questionable brags were exchanged back at the hotel.  The little cousins were very entertaining.  It was fun to get them all riled up and then send them on their way.  I wonder if they ever slow down?

Rise and shine and hit the booths.  Check.  I was a nervous nelly driving between the cars parked on the sides of the road, but we made our way bravely to the first stop.  I believe that Theresa made the first buy of the day.  But Lynda made the first friend!

Our newest best friend was in the next stop and her name was Peggy.  She told us all about her booth and how many times she’s been there and how nice the people are and how much money she makes and that’s her son across the path and he does really well and a man two booths down from her was not going to come back for the one in September and who to contact to see if we could get a booth and how clean they kept it there and lots more.  So we called and we got a booth RIGHT NEXT TO Peggy for the next Antique Alley!  Drinks for everyone!

We all found something that we couldn’t live without and packed up our treasures and headed to Glen Rose for lunch and then home for lots of rest because a ROOSTER WORK DAY was on the calendar for the next day.

Rise and shine and get the banking done.  Check.  Stop by the raging Paluxy River and skip stones with a little rooster.  Check.  

Meet up with everybody at the Rooster’s coop to exchange ideas, work on technology, mow yards, work in the shop, laser leather and play video games.  Check.  We even made a quick trip to Hico to pick up branding irons and eat at Lilly’s!  Discount Double Check!

We have had a great start of 2015 for sales and are very grateful for our new customers.  We have learned more than we knew before.  We have made plans and adjustments and dreams for the next few months. 

JimBob doesn’t much care for big expanses of water.  He was shipwrecked at an early age in the Gulf of Mexico and also suffered a near-miss shark attack for which he gets no respect.  So we went on a cruise.

Big sister is an experienced cruiser.  I’ve watched The Love Boat.  JimBob gets ocean nerves.  One couple has to switch to another reservation but we send our payments in and it’s all yar!  Then big sister cancels her booking and an ice storm hits North Texas and speeds up our departure.  Bibi sent detailed directions and who, what, where, when, whyfores in an email.  Down to it’s ok to give your bags to the Hawaiian-shirted porters.  And she fed and watered us and calmed our nerves while answering last minute questions on cruise eve.

“On Board: Once you’re on the ship, they will direct you to the pool deck.  The ship just came in to port the same morning, so they’re still cleaning the rest of the ship.  At the pool deck, they’re serving drinks and the buffet will be open.  Relax, have lunch, watch for dolphins.  Enjoy the crazy people. Deck 10 where your room is, is the same deck the pool is on I think.  you can peek down the hall every once in a while and see if the rooms are ready yet.  They’ll have the whole hall blocked off, so once those doors are open, you’re free to go to your room. Safety briefing: About an hour before sailing, they have a safety briefing, either on the deck with the lifeboats or someone told me they had theirs in the main theatre.  Figure out where it is and mosey that direction before time, because they won’t let you use the elevators.

Getting around the ship: We got really confused the first time.  We were on deck 10, so we had to go downstairs to dinner on deck 3.  But deck 3 doesn’t go all the way through.  We had to go up to 5, then back down to 3.  Figure out which deck(s) go all the way front to back.  It’ll be a lot easier to navigate that way.  It looks like Deck 4 and 5 have access from front to back. There are elevators at the front and back, and stairs front, back, and center.  Go exploring.  You’ll have no trouble getting your steps in. Most people on the cruise are really helpful too.  Notice the key-card colors.  Blues are first time cruisers.  Red are up to 24 nights cruising.  Gold is next and silver after that.  So blue people may be as lost as you are, but other colors have some experience.” Vivian Walker 2015

We found our way to the food and I don’t think we were ever too far from it.  For five days.

As the cell service grew fainter and fainter we explored and ate.  We slept and ate.  We watched people and ate.  Met new friends and sent a #jimbobble to India.  And ate.

We felt very fancy.

We ordered room service sandwiches and wrapped them in napkins for a picnic in a Mayan ruin.  Favorite part of my cruise.  In Progresso.  Ask me later to show you the pictures of what some of our party got into while in Mexico.

Washer Pitch Tuesday 9:30 am Tournament Champs and their pieces of ship.

Donna and I danced and learned way too much about the woman dancing with us.  And we met a 60-year old professional trivia playa just airing out his parents between matches.  He was a friend to all around the bar.  I named him Chip.