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 hear ya'
I'm not sure Dallas even belongs in Texas - it's all about the image. Strange place.
I guess every family has it's embarrassing relative...
Thanks for the ping! You bet'cha we're a proud bunch! Double for you with your two Texans! :o)
You also learn that asphalt has a liquid phase.
You also understand why buzzards carry a lunch-box.
OK! I finally found it - this was NOT written by Bum Phillips. Bob Wheeler wrote both the piece originally posted in post 1 on this thread by phatoldphart, and the piece I posted in 138.
This is confirmed in thread 122 posted last year here on FR:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1124396/posts
Purchase Bob Wheeler's book here:
http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?isbn=0-595-29077-9
Here's another post that says Bob wrote these, not Bum:
http://longhornmafia.blogspot.com/2005/03/texas-happy-169th-birthday.html
Bob is one colorful fella. He ran the Hornfans and LonghornFanZone website for many years, and held a big tailgating bash before every Texas football game, no matter where they played. I went to some of the tailgates, and got to talk with Bob a few times. He wears a big cowboy hat, and always struck me as a smart, straight shootin' Texan.
If I recall correctly Bob helped start hornfans.com, then had some kind of beef with somebody there and started LonghornFanZone. Hornfans had a head start, and Bob got tired of messing with LFZ, so eventually he shut down LFZ. Hornfans is still going strong, it's a great website. Bob was famous for his pre and post-game write-ups on Texas football games, they had plenty of home-spun humor yet full of spot on analysis. Not sure what he's up to now.
Here's a toast to Bob Wheeler, just one more person I'm proud to call a fellow Texan.
Hook-em, Ted
LOL!
It is true.
Hell, I've lived here 25 years and I didn't know that.
Ok, I'm going to try one more time, and then I give up.
Texas has ALREADY been divided into 5 states -- New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Oklahoma, and Texas. That's why the northern border of the panhandle is at 36 degrees north and thirty minutes. The Missouri Compromise said states north of that had to be free states.
Thanks.
My answer was "We got all the allies we need right here, we got Texas."
Wonderful photos! Breaktaking. I've only been to Big Bend once, but I long to go back. Santa Elena canyon is beautiful.
I guess we'll have to have differing opinions on what the situation is.... It would be an interesting court test if it could ever come to that. I haven't really searched but it would be interesting to see other stated opinions from law groups on what would be required.
I live in Texas, have plenty of guns, but no horses or cows :( ....yet!
There is just something about Lukenbach isn't there? We live 35 - 45 minutes from there. Haven't been in a while but it IS a lot of fun on a pretty weekend afternoon...
I heard once when I was there that Waylon had never been - and until a few years ago Willie had only been maybe once. Then he got on a kick having his 4th of July picnic there. He doesn't anymore tho'..
For years the "sheriff" was Marge... a tough kinda cookie who truly had a heart of gold. She passed away a year or so ago.
I'd heard that Marge died - it truly made me sad. While she had a "tough broad" look to her - she was truly a sweetheart. If you went enough.. she didn't know your name - but she sure knew what you ordered.. laugh...
Turkey Peak, Enchanted Rock State Park
One of my favorite spots in all of Texas
Don't forget that all of old Greer county was Texas also, before they got the Red River wrong.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~okgreer/ogrmap.htm
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