Posted on 10/14/2005 3:43:58 PM PDT by phatoldphart
When you're from Texas, people that you meet ask you questions like, Do you have any cows?" "Do you have horses?" "Bet you got a bunch of guns, eh?"
They all want to know if you've been to Southfork. They watched Dallas.
Have you ever looked at a map of the world? Look at Texas with me just for a second. That picture, with the Panhandle and the Gulf Coast, and the Red River and the Rio Grande is as much a part of you as anything ever will be.. As soon as anyone anywhere in the world looks at it they know what it is. It's Texas. Pick any kid off the street in Japan and draw him a picture of Texas in the dirt and he'll know what it is. What happens if I show you a picture of any other state? You might get it maybe after a second or two, but who else would? And even if you do, does it ever stir any feelings in you?
In every man, woman and child on this planet, there is a person who wishes just once he could be a real live Texan and get up on a horse or ride off in a pickup. There is some little bit of Texas in everyone.
Did you ever hear anyone in a bar go, "Wow...so you're from Iowa? Cool, tell me about it?" Do you know why? Because there's no place like Texas.
Texas is the Alamo. Texas is 183 men standing in a church, facing thousands of Mexican nationals, fighting for freedom, who had the chance to walk out and save themselves, but stayed instead to fight and die for the cause of freedom. We send our kids to schools named William B. Travis and James Bowie and Crockett and do you know why? Because those men saw a line in the sand and they decided to cross it and be heroes. John Wayne paid to do the movie himself. That is the Spirit of Texas.
Texas is Sam Houston capturing Santa Ana at San Jacinto.
Texas is "Juneteenth" and Texas Independence Day.
Texas is huge forests of Piney Woods like the Davy Crockett National Forest.
Texas is breathtaking mountains in the Big Bend.
Texas is the unparalleled beauty of bluebonnet fields in the Texas Hill Country.
Texas is the beautiful, warm beaches of the Gulf Coast of South Texas.
Texas is the shiny skyscrapers in Houston and Dallas.
Texas is world record bass from places like Lake Fork.
Texas is Mexican food like nowhere else, not even Mexico.
Texas is the Fort Worth Stockyards, Bass Hall, the Ballpark in Arlington and the Astrodome.
Texas is larger-than-life legends like Michael DeBakey, Denton Cooley, Willie Nelson, Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings, Janis Joplin, Kris Kristofferson, Tom Landry, Darrell Royal, Rick Husband, Eric Dickerson, Earl Campbell, Nolan Ryan, Sam Rayburn, Lyndon B.Johnson.
Texas is great companies like Dell Computer, Texas Instruments and Compaq. And LOCKHEED MARTIN AEROSPACE, Home of the F-16 Jet Fighter and the JSF Fighter.
Texas is NASA.
Texas is huge herds of cattle and miles of crops.
Texas is skies blackened with doves, and fields full of deer.
Texas is a place where towns and cities shut down to watch the local High School Football game on Friday nights and for the Cowboys on Monday Night Football, and for the Night In Old San Antonio River Parade in San Antonio. Texas is ocean beaches, deserts, lakes and rivers, mountains and prairies, and modern cities.
If it isn't in Texas, you probably don't need it.
NO ONE DOES ANYTHING BIGGER OR BETTER THAN IT'S DONE IN TEXAS.
By federal law, Texas is the only state in the U.S. that can fly its flag at the same height as the U.S. flag. Think about that for a second. You fly the Stars and Stripes at 20 feet in Maryland, California, or Maine and your state flag, whatever it is, goes at 17 feet. You fly the Stars and Stripes in front of Pine Tree High in Longview or anyplace else at 20 feet, the Lone Star flies at the same height - 20 feet. Do you know why? Because it is the only state that was a republic before it became a state.
Also, being a Texan is as high as being an American down here. Our capitol is the only one in the country that is taller than the capitol building in Washington, D.C. and we can divide our state into five states at any time if we wanted to! We included these things as part of the deal when we came on. That's the best part, right there.
Texas even has its own power grid!!
If you are a REAL TEXAN you won't even need to be told to pass this on!"
I lived 5 years in Texas as a child, and moved back to Lafayette when I was in 6th grade. I never lost the desire to move back here, and when I got my degree in Electrical Engineering, my wife and I raced to Texas in a matter of days.
East Texas reminds me of my home state of Louisiana, only slightly better.
HEY! Don't disrespect Iowa.
Iowa has great public schools, for public schools.
Iowa has incredible corn, ham, watermelon and porkchops. The milk is fresh. The eggs are always local.
If you want to work hard, you'll have a job in Iowa.
If you want to relax, there are streams everywhere where fish will bite a bare hook, just to make you happy.
You can take your best dog and go hunting for cornfed pheasant in a farmers dormant field.
The snow in November is beautiful. In December it gaurantees a white Christmas. In January, it tests your manhood. In February, it helps you appreciate the summer that much more. In March, it gives you something to look for...the spring in April.
The mid-July two-week long heatwave gives you an excuse to get off work early and go swimming. It also helps you long for the cooler days of November.
The tornados keep you close to God. The beautiful surroundings let you know He is close by.
Wow, I think I will copy this to my blog, after I get over being homesick.
"No offense, but Texas weather is so %#* hot and humid I about died from drowning in my own sweat when there. It was like being on the scorched surface of Venus, except with dripping humidity."
You must not have been in West Texas (G-d's Country)
dry heat :)
"I may now live in the truly great state of North Carolina, and I may have lived here for ten + years."
Some of the myths about Texans are funny. After moving to South Carolina (the Low Country) from Fort Gates, Texas (working in the healthcare industry) I had a physician approach me making the statement "You're from Texas, why aren't you wearing a cowboy hat, boots and driving a Caddy?" My response was "Yosh doc, you're from South Carolina...I'm surprised you're wearin' shoes." Didn't hear too many comments about Texas after that.
Thanks!
Anyone who knows beans about chili, knows chili ain't got no beans!
Tex Scofield 1976
I'm off to the Texas Aggie football game.
Sorry, I crawled off to bed and missed your reponse. Is it an error? I grew up thinking this was Gospel truth, and never questioned it. Off to finish this thread and see what I can learn.
That says it all, right there.
I live about 3 miles north of SouthFork. We have been there, but only because my son competes in Taekwondo tournaments there. It's nice, but not as nice (or as large) as the set they really used for TV.
FYI, Juneteenth was the day the news of emancipation reached the slaves in Texas.
My daughter attends Southwestern in Georgetown, and it also claims to be the oldest college in Texas. The operative words here may be "continuously operating". SWU has quite a colorful history. She's home for the weekend and when I mentioned your post she demanded I defend her university's honor, lol. By the way, she visited Austin twice during her college search (along with Trinity and Southwestern), and it is a wonderful school. Your daughters are proof of that.
I'll agree to that. There are even more angles too. The Constitution says that you need the consent of the state legislature and the consent of Congress. It doesn't mention the President. So could it pass without a Presidential signature? Could the President veto it? It doesn't need Supreme Court permission either since it says only "Consent of Congress." So is the Supreme Court excluded from review? If the West Virginia procedure is the standard, (a separation to which Richmond obviously never consented), can Congress for instance get the consent of a group of friendly folks, say in Bakersfield, to "consent" to a break-up of California and recognize a new West California in addition to the other California in Sacramento?
Glad to see you back buddy......
The 1824 has to do with the treaty of 1824. There was a flag with 1824 written on it flying above the Alamo as a reminder to the Mexican army of the 1824 treaty.
And there is no Maryland flag hanging in the Alamo today... It is one of the Six Flags over Texas... specifically... Spain.
I've cooked it for people all over the world and they love it. A German neighbor ate tacos, crisp and soft, until he was ill. It's great with German beer.
My Zulu housekeeper, after her first pan of enchiladas, informed me that "Texas people don't cook like other white people. This is good!" A white South African neighbor told me that "those Mexicans must be wonderful, crazy people" as he filled his plate for the third time.
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