Yup, that pretty much sums up Texas

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
61

Houston in August is hell. I can’t imagine anyone arguing with that.

But…

As opposed to all those poor folks with the shivering blue fannies north of here, I spent my day today driving around town with the Miata’s top down, wearing a short sleeved shirt. I will have many opportunities to do so this “winter.” Except when it snows a measly half inch, then I get to take the day off from work, because nobody expects us to get out on the roads in such dangerous conditions.

Yay! My first successful link to another thread!

62

Are you from there too?

63

I’m not sure what you’re referring to. “Tejas” means “tiles.”

64

“Tejas” or “Texas” was the Spanish rendering of a Caddo word for “friends” or “allies”.

65

According to this site:

http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/namerica/usstates/tx.htm

It comes from the Caddo Indian word “Tejas” meaning friends, or allies

66

You know, we did invent the microproccessor, the integrated ciruit, the microcomputer, and the laundramat.
Ok, so were responsable for John Denver and Dubya…But you cant hold that against us.

67

Hahaha! You’re slayin’ me, NoClueBoy. Nothing could be further from the truth. Houston is CONSTANTLY overcast, and the intense light pollution goes for miles. On a good clear night (not common in H-town), I can see probably 1/4 the stars that I can in Austin, and 1/50 the number that can be seen in a rural (60+ miles from cities) area at night. The majority of nights, I’d say you can see less than 200 stars with the naked eye.

68

What some of y’all apparently don’t seem to grasp is the fact that most of us (country folk) DON’T LIKE ANY TOWNS. It’s not that there is anything “wrong” with the town, it’s just in town! The guy wasn’t demeaning the town when he said what he did.

The fact of the matter is this: Much of East Texas, esp. the city of Palestine was in trouble in the 80’s. The oil fields were shutting down, the railroad was moving, the industry went elsewhere, overseas mostly. Mom and Pop businesses went bust. The union went bust. They looped downtown and killed it. If the prison system didn’t hire so many folks here, (several thousand) and Wal-mart hadn’t built stores and warehouses, the city of Palestine might have perished.

Since then, through the mid-late 90’s the local small towns in East Texas are making a comeback, but the demographics have changed a lot. The old rancher is seeing his way of life disappear along with the people he grew up with.

Is he ignorant? In what sense? He’s made it through some tough ass times. That old man has probably forgotten more than many of us will ever know. Think about it, he’s lived through most of the 20th and the beginning of this century. Another thing, I’d be willing to bet he can buy and sell most of us. These old timers are tight…I could tell y’all some good stories.

You know what they say about judging a book. Plus, Lots of these ol’ boys “dumb it down” for the townies too.
P.S. Grandma taught me to be quiet when I didn’t have something nice to say. Especially in times of sorrow!
ie: I might not like where you live, esp. if it’s in town. But, why in the hell would I talk bad about your home. It’s your home, not mine…and beside we can’t all live at my house. So, where’s the beef?

69

I don’t understand the hostility toward Texans! I worked for a short time in New Jersey. Just a 2 month ordeal!
I was subjected to UNBELIEVEABLE scorn!
We stopped a burger king one night right outside Newark and I ordered a mustard whopper with cheese, The lady behind the counter announced it to the back as a muuuuustrd whopper with cheeeese. Ah need a muuuustard whopper with cheeeeeese! Obviously she thought it was great fun to make a joke of my accent. BTW I DO have an accent but I can park it if I so desire, which I did most of the time I was there.

There was even one night we went to a club(beer joint is what we call em) Some guy wanted to whip my ass just because his girlfriend enjoyed talking to me about Texas!

Good god Y’ALL lets TRY to get along??

70

You’re talking to a fifth-generation Texan here.

There’s a reason we haven’t left yet.

Seriously, I work at a tourist-oriented bar in downtown San Antonio–the #1 tourist destination in Texas–and I get a lot of people with built-in prejudices against Texas. One of 'em–a guy from Philly–was waxing particularly poetic about the many reasons and ways in which Texas was inferior and ripe for abuse. (Gun control–or lack thereof–and Dubya and rodeos and twangs, etc., etc. yawn)

And so I told him something to which he had no reply. (Him, or any other Texas-bashing two-bit tourists I’ve run across.)

I said, “You’re from Philly, and yet you’ve obviously spent all this time thinking about Texas. The funny thing is, Texas hasn’t spent two seconds thinking about Philly!”

He couldn’t think of anything in response that wouldn’t prove, even further, how much more time he’s spent thinking about my birthplace than I have about his.

The #1 question I get over the bar from tourists is: “Why don’t you sound like you’re from Texas?”

I’m from South Texas. Texas is so big there is no “Texan accent.” There’s South Texas, North Texas, East Texas, West Texas…and all of them have their own unique twang, or lack thereof. We’re all entitled to be proud regardless.

We’re Texans.

And for the record, Texas is the only state which is allowed to fly its state flag solo. And we do.

And anyone who doesn’t like it is more than welcome to kiss my Lone-Star flying, y’all screaming, Deep-in-the-heart-of-proud-to-say-it Texas ass. :wink:

71

“You’re talking to a fifth-generation Texan here.”

Newbie!

Seven generations here. I wonder if any other state’s people even bother to keep track.

Does anyone have a link to a song I’ve been looking for by Jerry Jeff Walker? It is a great song about the love of Texas (JJW is originally from yankee land, but he sings good songs about us so we will let him stay). All I can remember is the song asking “You ask me what I like about Texas…”. And there are lots of lines about specific things like “It’s the Llano Estacado, its a cold Lone Star in my hand”. and so on.

72

I think that warm weather in winter should be outlawed. Of course, I think hot weather in summer should also be outlawed, but that’s just me. Gimme cold weather anytime!

73

Well, neuroman, when I lived there (actually a little bit out of town, towards Pearland) I could go outside almost any night I wanted and have clear skies to look through. A few rapidly passing Gulf Coast clouds doesn’t equal overcast in my book. The light pollution problem IS severe, but like I said, eyepiece filters can go a long way towards fixing that.

FTR, I lived there over 14 years. If you have different skies over your house, I’m sorry.

And, as always with subjective statements, YMMV. :slight_smile:

My biggest gripe while I lived there was bugs. Bugs everywhere! Big ass spiders that I would run into while mowing the lawn. Freakingly huge roaches that looked like refugees from a bad sci-fi movie. I kept my sugar and coffee in the fridge. No bugs in the fridge. And that same stupid wasp!.. everyday he would accidentally get inside and then BUZZ BUZZ ZZZZ BUZZ at my screen door, trying to get back outside.

74

Storm door. Not really a screen door. Still a stupid wasp, though.

I do miss the amazing color green we had down there. The most vibrant, living shade of green. You know what I mean if you’ve ever seen it…

:::sigh:::

I like the OKC, but I miss my birth place (Baytown). I’ve lived in Denver, LA, Atlanta, Sioux City even. Henderson was a cool place to go through grade school. New London. K -12. Big as a university. Before NASA became a money charging theme park, I used to go there just to wander around for an afternoon. Buying shrimp and fish straight from the boat in Kemah… I can’t eat the seafood up here.

Oh well, at least, no matter where I go, I’m Texan!

75

Yeah, I move around alot. My family thinks I’m a gypsy.

76

Well, in somewhat of a defense to the OP, I don’t care what friggin state your from, anyone who says “Wal Mart keeps them going” is…shockingly ridiculous, in my humble, Chicago opinion.

And any state that closes school for an inch of snow is filled with wussies :wink:

77

Wussies?!?

I’ve seen the eyewall of a hurricane!

Now THAT’S weather!

78

NCB I’m gonna guess friendswood is where you lived?

79

Close. Craneop I was actually in a little used (at that time) area between Sagemont and the Pearland/Freindswood area. Had a Houston PO Box. Little old rent house up on blocks. Window A/Cs. Surrounded by big trees. It seemed like I was in the country, even tho I was surrounded by city. I wonder how built up it is now. I left in '89. I should’ve bought that place and built a real house… Oh well.

80

If it was only snow, there’d be no problem. The thing about Texas is when it “snows” we usually have a wet snow. This results in a thick layer of ICE on top of everything. The ice can be so bad it actually bends trees over to the point where the tops freeze to the roads.
Powerlines fall under the weight as do many other thing. Then maybe we’ll get some actual snow on top of the ice. This is a very dangerous situation. Since most people here don’t have a LOT of experience driving on top of ICE. We usually have the good sense to at least close our schools out of concern for our children’s safety.
Most of these ice storms come without warning. Snow plows are useless in this type of scenario. So, until the trucks can spread some sand and/or salt to assist drivers, we usually try to enjoy the day off.

Talk about wusses…come on down next August and let’s you and me go roof a few buildings together. I’ll probably have some square bales of hay that need stacking in the barn. and of course I’ll be splitting firewood for next winter as well. Oh, I do everything the hard way too. No damn hydraulic splitters or auto hay stackers 'round here.

I’ll even share a cigar and shots of Cuervo w/ ya.