And I think t-keela’s response to me actually DOES sum up Texas.
I can take jokes about Chicago (my personal choice for best city in the world) all day…but you make one joke about Texas and you hear about it for weeks.
(An inch of ice? Give me a break. And if you don’t think it gets hot in Chicago, talk to the seven hundred people who died in 1995 when it was 108 for about ten straight days)
No one will admit that “Wal Mart Keeps Me Going” is a silly if not hilarious statement? Come on!
J
Opal and Jarbabyj, I think anyone who prefers cold weather to hot must be insane. I’ll take a month of summer hell over a winter’s worth of blue fanny any time. But, there you have it: One woman’s hell is another woman’s heaven.
I think the rancher actually said that Wal-Mart keeps the town going. No, I don’t think it’s silly or hilarious. Re-read t-keela’s remarks above regarding small, dying towns. Many folks who have lived in rural areas for generations live in relative poverty, and would be forced into abject poverty or relocating if not for Wal-Mart, etc. Not everyone wants to live a city lifestyle, and the employment dollars of a prison or a Wal-Mart might just be what allows them to stay home. What’s silly or hilarious about that?
But I can put layers upon layers of clothes and blankets on until I look like Ralphie’s little brother, and I’m still cold. And I’m very happy being naked in hot weather. Like I said…
…but being naked and still roasting sucks. I hate heat. I hate the feeling of sun on my skin. I hate wearing shorts. On the other hand, I looove bundling up.
jarbabyj…I got the joke, I just thought I would explain a little about WHY Texans and winter don’t quite jive, there are several casualties every winter due to icy roads.
Kinda like Chicago and HOT weather, although I won’t make a joke about people dying from the heat!
As far as the invite, you’re still welcome to come down…see, that was my little joke. or didn’t you notice that I offered the smokes and the drinks…Hell, I’ll even BBQ somethin’ for ya’.
How’ bout it…Cabrito fajitas, fresh guacamole, and plenty of ice cold Margarita’s…maybe some Stevie Ray playin in the background…
Semper Fi
Houston is pronounced with an H by every Houstonian I know including myself. Also 15 miles outside of Houston are the suburbs, like the one I grew up in (thankfully not in hell, I mean Kingwood, but in Spring). They are pretty much identical to any suburb in the United States. Almost everyone that grew up there after 1970 didn’t even have southern accents. Even small towns like Tomball or Hepstead, which are a bit further ouside of Houston, aren’t really timewarps to the past.
I’ve always got that impression as well, and I’ve only had a passing acquaintance with anyone from the state. Say what you will about Texas, at least I don’t hear about towns threatening to secede from the state. http://www.hippopress.com/beat13/beat13_080901.html No, you’ve got to leave that sort of special stupidity to people in my state…
I second that. I have never heard it called anything but Houston or H-Town. Now the town"Humble" on the other hand I have heard “umble”.
I live in Tomball. No time warp here, unless you are in the mood to shop for it ! We do have about 35 old Antique / Re-sale shops here in town. Most of the small shops are converted old houses from the 30’s. They are kinda cool. People come from surrounding towns to shop here (including Houston). It is funny to see some of the things people look high and low for from their childhood on-line, when I have browsed in the stores and seen things in the little shops for cheap!
They also have the same amount of new stores so you get a great mixture.
I have lived here 5 years, but before that was born and raised in Houston. In my 5 years in Tomball, only two people have actually been “rude” to me. A doctor (of all things) and yesterday, the telephone repair man. Thats purty good odds I reckon!
The ugliest part of my job is dealing with people who come from cooler, dryer climates…when it’s about 85 degrees and, in a Texan’s mind, a “cooler summer day,” all these horrendously stinky sweaty tourists come to the bar for a margarita.
Yes, I know they’re my livelihood, and yes, I can’t really blame them for not being acclimated to our kind of hot, sticky heat…but as my Grandpa would say, DADGUMMIT, why can’t they bathe in a pool of deodorant before jaunting all over the Riverwalk and then stinking up my bar?
I have had stinky sweaty Europeans when it’s a balmy seventy-five degrees outside…a beautiful spring day…and they’re still coated in stench, whining about the oppressive heat, wondering how we can stand it.
Are they space aliens, then? Oh, sorry, I just can’t wrap my brain around the idea that there are places on earth where high temps don’t go hand in hand with high humidity. I’m pretty sure “dry heat,” when not talking about heating your house in the winter, is a myth. <scratches TX off the list of possible areas of mythical dry heat summers>
The only example I can say I experienced concerning “dry heat” was in Denver in Summer of '90 or '91, can’t remember which. It 100 a couple of days in a row. Hot,yeah, but it didn’t even come close to feeling like a Houston Summer day. (I have no recollection of the reported relative humidity.)
But, since I couldn’t switch from one city to the other to see if was really different, I’ll just have to say this observation of mine is highly subjective.
