Better Late Than Never

In high school one of our teachers used to have a phrase "Better late than never, but better never late". He used to say it all the time to one of the kids he called ''Never Sweat'. This was the one kid in the class that almost always seemed to show up a few minutes late to class.

What does any of this have to do with baseball cards you ask?

Just before Christmas I got in two different packages from a blogger I've traded with many a time. That man is Duff who runs the great blog Bleedin' Brown and Gold. As those who trade with Duff know he sends out some incredible packages for Christmas. This year was no different as first came a PWE which contained two Christmas cards. 

First was your typical Christmas card with Santa, and the note from Duff.

Second was the much more fun Wilin Rosario auto for the player collection. Currently Rosario is a free agent with rumors of him as a possible signing in the future to become a DH. What teams if any have interest in him as a DH, 1st Baseman, or Catcher are still unknown. Hopefully he will get picked up somewhere soon, possibly even my second favorite team the Mariners would be cool.

Arriving a day, or two later I can't recall was a white box dropped off at the doorstep. Sitting inside the top of the box was another Christmas card.

Inside is the reason for the name of this post, and the high school memory. The note simply stated that the contents of the box were a year late in mailing.

Eager to see what was inside I went right to work, and came across this treasure.

It's no secret that not only are we fans of NASCAR here at The Cat House. We are fans of the candy man Kyle Busch, and his M&M's car. Everything still looks to be wrapped in its original packaging so odds are I'll find some M&M packages inside. That is unless in the future I open it, and find Duff did some secret work, and tossed something else inside. Right now I will say candy is the winner on its contents.

At this point Duff went even bigger, and dropped an even more surprising NASCAR goody

This is a 1:24 sized Casey Mears National Guard car. I can't tell you too much about the car other than it is cool looking, and will look even cooler on a shelf with my other 1:24 cars.

All this leads me to believe that maybe that teacher was right. It is better late than never, and Duff is the living proof.

If I Could Vote For The Hall, Roger and Sylvia Would Get My Vote

While many a fan of the two players elected today to the Hall-Of-Fame are sharing their thoughts. I have a pair of collectors who may never get into the Hall-Of-Fame, but still has my vote. Roger, and Sylvia who do all their work at the online trading group TradingBases.

 Not long ago another post thanking a member of the group got a couple trade offers. One of those offers came from Roger, and Sylvia. Despite my slow moving, and coming up with very little to send their direction. The two hit me up with a batch of cards that have me screaming their praises from the rooftops.

Starting things off were these nine very rarely hit 2008 Documentary cards for the Rockies. Those cards alone would have been an amazing trade. Luckily for The Cat the pair weren't finished there.

Something I hadn't though of when building the Rockies set was collecting the cards for the other team. Roger, and Sylvia were one step ahead of me. Included in the mailer were seven cards for the games Rockies played in, but were for the team they played against.

The Mariners got their share of goodness as well as the Rockies. Showing that they aren't one trick ponies the duo added in five Mariners cards from the same set.

Not satisfied with the previous damage done to both teams sets. Much like the Rockies, and the cards for the other teams popping up. Seven cards for games played by the Mariners joined in on the party.

Like all the players in the actual Hall-Of-Fame showed they could do more than one thing. Roger, and Sylvia showed that they were well rounded traders. Closing out the trade were ten 1995 Collectors Choice Special Edition Silver Signatures.

I can't say thank you enough Roger, and Sylvia for all these great cards. Sorry, that I took this long to give you your due for sending these fine treasures. What it has done is gotten me thinking that maybe I do need to make one resolution for 2016. I need to get my butt in gear, and get back to people much faster than I currently do. Then once things are completed I need to give thank you's faster than I have been recently. 

My Day Summed Up In Cardboard (History)

On Sunday when we woke up there was what around here is referred to as snow. If you were to ask my opinion it was a thick frost. The problem is later on in the day that snow turned into freezing rain. Monday morning came, and while taking the dogs out I felt like this.

Why you ask? Monday's are my day off, and so I didn't get forced to leave earlier than normal in what is unsafe conditions to drive to work. So no hopping in one of these.

Anyone who did probably felt like they needed to do this before going on any drives today.

I know that I did when the wife announced we needed to head for the grocery store. By then it wasn't as terrible outside, but I still wanted to see everyone following me like this.

It didn't happen though as other drivers didn't care it was slick outside. Two stops later at the post office, and the gracery store. We made it back home where I was feeling.

Now all that is left is to thank Billy the head man over at Cardboard History for 51 awesome Kyle Busch cards. Without those cards I wouldn't have been able to sum up my day in cardboard.

As for the remaining cards that didn't get their time today. If all goes well I want to get back to summing up Kyle Busch's NASCAR season each week. During that time those cards will make appearances in those posts to be done every Sunday evening, or Monday morning.

2016- Forging Ahead

While most have already posted either bloggerlutions, or plans for the new year. Here at the cat house we are running behind as I was still being hit with working. This was a far cry from the days off I had hoped for to watch bowl games, and hopefully do some blogging.

Much like last year I am going to go the route of giving an overview of things I plan on accomplishing this year. Doing this last year worked quite well except I didn't have the trading goal, or post goals. This led to less trading, and later in the year my posting amount took a serious slide. Trading's big drop was due to the increased focus on doing artelopes. This year I need to get it together, and find a way to balance both trading, and artelope requests. One of the most fun things about blogging is the trading, and interaction with fellow bloggers, and readers who enjoy your work.

Originally I was planning on doing this post by breaking things down much like last year. Back then I laid out a road map each hobby was going in. This year I am going to mix it up, and do it by the blog.

--The Prowling Cat--

Being the main blog, and the one I enjoy doing posts at. That will continue only with some minor, and major tweaks that have already started. The major thing will be a huge change in the things, and way I write.

Since day one I had spent most of the posts sharing things that were bought at thrift stores, or swap meets for the hobby room. While it's fun to share the treasures I've found in these journey's. The problem is starting to arise that the room is really coming together. What that means is the amount of times I find anything has taken a dramatic dive. Yes, I have lots of work still to go on the room, but purchases for the room is at a crawl. I do have a post, or two for sharing, but not like it has been in the past. Another is I need to do a little more trading, and get a better mixture between the two worlds.

One direction that is a possibility will be sharing the room once it is completed. Hopefully by summertime that will be a reality. Who knows though as not long ago I started to change the plans I had for the room. Those plans included a change in the cabinets, and more room for pictures.

Another of the huge changes will be coming in the collection. I have some big plans in my head that will once again freshen up my enjoyment of baseball cards. As crazy as it sounds the best thing about having three hobbies is when a hobby starts to fade I have another to focus on. In my mind that keeps me from getting bored. Honestly I think I have some form of hyperactivity that has never been diagnosed. Business cards has been my favorite for many years now, but baseball cards, and schedules keep rotating.

So, my idea is this. I am going to go through the few binders that my baseball cards currently sit in. Do some reorganizing of how things are set up. Add in some sets that are currently just boxed up, and not in binders. I'm just starting to feel that what fun are these sets if they are sitting in a box, and not where I can enjoy them. Seeing the pictures of other bloggers, and their binders full of cards has inspired me to do the same. Luckily I still have the unopened box of 100 nine pocket pages bought over a year ago. Odds are the thing that I won't have enough of is the binders. Those are always plentiful at the local Goodwill so not a problem there. The problem will be figuring out what color binders I want to find. If you've followed long enough you know that I like to color code my binders by what is in them.

The wantlists will be getting some changes too. Lingering out there are a couple cards that I picked up in the past at a card show. Those cards are for sets, or subsets that I've wanted to try, and complete. I plan on sitting down, and bindering these before making a wantlist.  I know this will include atleast three new sets, and it might even be more.

 Even bigger will be a huge undertaking that will be making an appearance on the site eventually. As a kid I collected the Fleer Team Action Football cards. Almost all the cards are gone except a select few that might make one set. The stickers I know are long gone, and I'd be lucky to find maybe one or two laying around in a box. Most people like to collect  50's, 60's, or 70's baseball sets because of the nostalgia. To me these football cards, and the original Star Wars cards do that. I will be thrilled to death any time I can even find one of these cards as I know they aren't the most popular cards ever made. That seems to be the story of my collecting life though. I'm always trying to build the stuff that had very little interest, so adding any cards are quite an adventure.

--The Prowling Cat's Hobbies Madness--

Going into 2015 I had big plans for this secondary blog. Odds are you won't recall, but my plan was to do a post a day. That fell apart real fast, and ended setting a bad trend. After the year was over I had only done 32 posts overall. In 2016 I will do better, and that I can guarantee.

If you are one of the few fans that either enjoy the artelopes project, pocket schedules, or business cards. You will need to visit the blog, and follow, bookmark, or put it on your blog reading list. Right now its only link is on the sidebar here under 'My Blog List'. As a treat you can click on the logo above to go there right now. It's not a blog that I will be promoting the crap out of, but it will get mentions here every so often.

For those that don't know about the artelopes project here is a simple rundown. Not long after starting 'The Prowling Cat' I came across a post about how a certain baseball player would respond faster to letters that had drawings on them. Inspired I thought why not start doing this with the teams I wrote to for pocket schedules, and business cards. The hope was that these would increase the odds of getting a business card from the teams still missing in the collection. By sticking out, or being something memorable to the teams these are sent to. Some have taken a couple different attempts before getting results, but if you asked me I would say it has been working.
         In the posts about these I show the artelope, and give a rundown of what the idea was behind the drawing. Finishing up the post with what the return was. They aren't the longest of posts, but are fun to share. 

Much like the road map for 2015. Hopefully these are all things within reach as I feel they will help enjoy the three hobbies more. The trading will hopefully become easier if I can hit a couple more card shows this year. The longer I blog it seems the more I am able to keep other bloggers interests in mind when visiting either a card show, or card shop. Sometimes I even do better in hitting others wants than my own. No complaints though as the trading has been fun, and is the thing I enjoy most in these hobbies. So, here is to another year of hobby fun in 2016.