I'm skeered! Somebody come and save me!!

I don't want to sound like a chicken...I am a mouse, after all! But I've run across some really scary things lately at the shop. Take this for instance:

Cats! The number one enemy of mice!! And not one cat, but THREE! The big tall one is the scariest, but if you'll look in the lower right corner of the picture, you'll see a couple more. I nearly had a heart attack when I stumbled across these felines....and I do mean stumbled! I accidentally stepped on the paw of the biggest one and it was kind of 'cushy.'  And can you believe it? I literally stepped on one of 'em and they didn't even chase me!

If those cats weren't enough to get my blood pumping, while I was beating a fast retreat, I ran straight into this...

Now, I've heard the expression 'a fox in the hen house' before, but I've never heard of one in an antique shop! I swear, I think the whole place is being taken over by animals. They're everywhere!  And I do mean everywhere!  Check out this bad boy...

A tiger!  I probably would've had another heart attack, but about the same time I saw this ferocious beast, the light hit him just right and I realized he's enclosed in a glass cage and can't get out.  Whew.   Lucky me.

Since I keep talking about the store and all the stuff that's in here, maybe I should give you an idea of the layout. When you first walk in, there are a whole bunch of shelves and tables filled with stuff like this:

I know the picture is kinda fuzzy, but when I snapped it, I was still shaking from my encounter with those dad-blamed cats and tigers! But aren't these people a hoot? I heard somebody say they were 'shelf sitters' and that's all I've ever seen them do....sit on the shelf. (Unless they're going out the door in some customer's shopping bag, that is!) These shelf sitters are all decked out in university colors and emblems. The ones in this picture are a couple of University of Texas fans. They have 'sitters'  for Texas Aggie fans, too. If you have a team you like better than the Longhorns or the Aggies, I bet Mike will order them for you. He's a pretty nice guy...or he is as long as long as he keeps those dang mouse traps in the closet where they belong! There's also a big wall filled with all kinds of other university paraphenalia. Koozies, signs, flags...you name it, Mike's got it.

Right beside the big checkout counter, there's a door that leads to a HUMONGOUS room that's divided into all these smaller rooms. Above the door is this sign:

Pretty funny, huh? Makes me giggle every time I see it.  Once you pass under the sign, that's where you find all the dealers' booths. And there are a ton of 'em! If I walked all night, I doubt I could make my way from one end of the building to the other. There's this one booth that has this crazy sign. Here's a picture of it...

Now I've heard of some pretty dumb stuff, but a palace for cows?  Who thinks of this stuff?!  Right at the front of the Cow Palace booth is where I had my second major heart attack of the night.  There's this round table with an orange tablecloth with all this creepy stuff on it.  Ghosts and spider webs and all these black thingys....  Ah, heck.  It'll be easier if I just show you what I'm talking about.

Wait!  Do you see what I SEE?  Right there in the front.  Candy corn!!  My favorite Halloween treat.  Uh, excuse me, but I gotta go.  My mouth's watering and I need to snag me some of that candy before it's all gone!

Until the next time, this is Vinnie Mouse saying, "Au revoir!"