100 Words - 5 Crows

Life Cycle of a Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos):

At hatching, newborn Crows have naked skin, devoid of feathers and hair.

Shortly thereafter, feathers and other body coverings are added which turn black and the Crows develop an iridescent shine.

Between the ages of two and four, Crows reach sexual maturity and begin to breed.  Multiple smaller Crows are born in each hatching, bearing a resemblance to their parents.

The average life-span of a Crow in the wild is eight years.  Crows are susceptible to West Nile Virus and Ulnar Collateral Ligament problems.

The Crow in his natural habitat.

CAW!  CAW!

I've Been Framed!!

Guys, you've got to help me -- I've been framed!

No, not like that.

And no, not like that, either.

Like THIS.

Robert from $30 a Week Habit offered these to me on Twitter and I jumped at the chance.  They are the blue framed parallels from this year's Gypsy Queen...showing off the majesty of the WORLD CHAMPIONS OF BASEBALL (for now.....).  They arrived at my casa this week and will be inducted into their permanent home.  Thank you so much, Robert!

3 Cards a Week Habit

I got an unexpected envelope this week from Robert at $30/Week Habit. We had talked about a trade awhile ago, but it somehow got put on the back-burner.  It was great getting stuff from him that I needed, and I packed up a return package with some "Insanity" cards and Jays that he has already posted.  Here's three highlights:

2012 Topps - Walmart Blue Parallel - Salvador Perez

Salvador Perez has been excellent at catcher this year for KC (once he got off the DL).  As I mentioned before, I don't have access to Walmart or their delicious blue parallels, so it was a very nice treat to see this in the package.  Looks like the two blue parallels I have for 2012 are Perez and Brayan Pena -- both catchers.  Maybe I should mix in another position on that....

2008 UD Baseball Heroes - Charcoal - Luke Hochevar - #259/399

Oddly enough, this card was for sale on COMC at some earlier time.  I know that because when I looked it up on Zistle, I came up with a picture this specific card!

2011 Allen and Ginter - Portraits of Penultimacy - Sancho Panza

I was just telling my wife last week, "I really need more squire cards.  My 'page' and 'second' binders are nearly full, but my 'squire' binder is pretty sparse."  I'm glad to add this in with my Squire Trelawney in there.

Thanks, Robert!!  It is all much-appreciated.

Who is a Winner???? THIS GUY.

This guy....meaning me.

Part of what I love about blogging is everyone who gives away cards.  Did you hear me?  PEOPLE JUST GIVE AWAY CARDS. I don't see any of the personal finance bloggers giving me cash or any of the political bloggers giving me extra votes.  To get more than one vote you have to live in Chicago.

I recently won contests on two blogs, JABO and $30 A Week Habit.

JABO sent me this guy:

2008 Allen and Ginter N43 Ryan Braun

 And Robert sent me these two (among others):

2011 Bowman Chrome Mike Montgomery & 2011 Topps 60 Danny Duffy Auto

Thanks so much, guys!  I'm looking forward to winning and running many more contests in the future.

30 Royals a Week Habit

(I wish I could get 30 new Royals every week!!)

A couple weeks ago I sent some cards over to Robert at $30 a Week Habit.  It was some 2009 O-Pee-Chee for the set he is putting together, one serial-numbered card for the Insanity, and a bunch of random Jays.  I've enjoyed his blog over the past few months, and he is always friendly and usually responds to any comments I've posted there.

He was kind enough to send me a great package in return.  Lots of Royals, especially some from recent sets/seasons, which is great because I don't have a ton of recent stuff in my collection.  I don't buy much retail these days, so it was great to get them.

Here's some of the highlights:

Some of the 2011 Heritage:

2011 Heritage Lorenzo Cain #341 and Billy Butler #275

A Couple Topps 60 from this year:

2011 Topps 60 Billy Butler #T60-28 and Danny Duffy #T60-141

Some coolness:

2001 Fleer Futures Mike Sweeney #175 and 2009 O-Pee-Chee (Black) Jose Guillen #303

And my favorites from this pack...a sweet 2-Pack of Hosmers:

2011 Topps Update Eric Hosmer #US188 and #US155

Thanks so much, Robert.  Everything was cool and packaged really nicely.  I hope we can come up with another good trade in the future.