Texas. . .Galveston after Ike

Hurricane Ike blew into Galveston and the surrounding areas and left destruction in its wake. The people along the Texas coastline will be working for years to get their town, homes, and property back into any semblance of what it used to be. Yet there is an air of vitality in the workers and the people that live in and around Galveston. Everyone is working to get their city back into shape and have their streets and shops open and business thriving once again.

Galveston’s beautiful coastline has changed. The piers with the quaint little tourist trap shops where sea shells, T-shirts, cups, and whatnots have been sold for years and that have been part of Galveston’s history for many, many years, are no more. The fishing pier where my husband has fished on for well over thirty years, and our grandson since he was three, looks lonely, torn up, and an abandon wreck.

Galveston residence displaced from their homes, jobs, and way of life will remember Hurricane Ike. Yet in a year or two, the city will once again flourish and enjoy it’s summer trade and winter tourists. And Ike will be but a memory to the world, but a stain upon the heart of the residents that decide Ike was the “one” and we’ll move on.

But to the hearty people, the ones that are made of sterner stuff, they will rebuild and stay on the island to face the future in a town they call home. Maybe even face another hurricane, but they are what makes Galveston the fun tourist town for families to come and seek a few hours or days of pleasure.

I look forward to the day the Island of Galveston is up and fully running maybe not in it’s former glory, but a whole new look for a splendid old town.

Texas. . .Dr. Pepper Anyone?

Have I mentioned Texas has a lot of firsts. Yep, I thought I had. Well one of those first just happens to be Dr. Pepper. You know 10, 2 & 4.

I actually visited the first bottling plant for Dr. Pepper. Well, actually. . .I visited two first bottling plants for Dr. Pepper. Not sure which was first. One in Waco, Texas, and the other in Dublin, Texas. You get conflicting reports by both places, but I do know that the Dublin Dr. Pepper Plant is the only plant still making the drink with pure cane sugar. . .the original way of making the soft drink.

My eleven-year-old grandson loves Dr. Pepper. When one of his school chums told him he had visited the Dublin Plant, and the pop was bottled with pure cane sugar well—that’s all she wrote—he had to go too.

Now you have to understand, Dublin isn’t just around the block. That little town is out in the middle of nowhere, but smack-dab in the middle of God’s country. For a scenic drive, you couldn’t ask for any better. It sits in Texas hill country, where you see rolling hills, trees, prickly pears, beef on the hoof roaming, and the people are good-naturedly friendly and speak with even more of an accent then you’ll find in the big cities. (But I’m getting sidetracked. . .back to Dr. Pepper.)

The bottling plant is well worth the drive. For a price you can tour the facility with a guide telling you all about the bottling process, how Dr. Pepper is made, some museum pieces of Dr. Pepper’s past advertising props, and about XXX Root Beer, not bottled any place else but there. In fact, the crux of the matter is if you don’t own any of the original bottles from years ago, you can’t buy refills of XXX Root Beer. They will only fill the original bottles and there’s not many of them left to fill. The way the guide talked, people take pride in being among just a few of a hand full of individuals left that can actually buy XXX Root Beer.

Back to the Dr. Pepper part. . .

The original shop is where you buy your ticket for the tour, buy souvenirs, and stand up to an old-fashioned soda fountain with a real soda jerk. They sell sandwiches, sodas, floats, and ice cream. You can stand and watch them squirt the flavor in the bottom of a glass, then fill the glass with soda water and stir. I still can remember the old drug store soda fountains of years ago. When I was small, I loved placing my dime on the counter, watching the soda jerk fix my pop right in front of me.

In Waco, you will find the Dr. Pepper Museum and a soda fountain also. The museum has three full floors to explore, again for the price of admission. In the museum you’ll see all the different types of soda pops, pop machines, and all sorts of memorabilia for bygone years, featuring the Dr. Pepper of course. Waco boasts of being the place where Dr. Pepper was born (invented by a pharmacist).

So, if you’re a Dr. Pepper lovin’ type of dude (or woman) mosey on down to Waco or Dublin. You can help but find some fascinating and interesting things and facts from Dr. Pepper’s past that are sure to please.

And if it’s Dublin you take in, then don’t forget to buy a case or two of the original sugar cane Dr. Pepper. Folks swear by the stuff and say it’s the best Dr. Pepper you will ever drink. In fact, they come from miles around Dublin, just to buy the pure cane Dr. Pepper.

Texas. . .Places To Go and Things To See--Texas Rangers

Texas can boast of a few firsts and one of them is the Texas Rangers. I’m not talking about our infamous baseball team, although they are well loved and lamented. I’m speaking about a group of men that is one of the oldest state law enforcers in North America. The late Col. Homer Garrison, Jr., long-time director of the Texas Department of Public Safety said, "They were men who could not be stampeded.”

That’s our Texas Rangers. The men in white hats and cowboy boots. One writer, giving an account of the Texas Rangers was known to say, "they ride like a Mexican, trail like an Indian, shoot like a Tennesseean, and fight like the devil."

Stephen F. Austin, considered the father of Texas, was responsible for the Texas Ranger’s existence. In the beginning, 1823, the Texas Rangers were organized to “act as rangers. . .for the common defense. ..” and continue today as an intricate part and much coveted position by many of the Texas Law Enforcement individuals.

The Texas Ranger creed: “One riot, one Ranger” pretty much sums up the Texas Rangers. They are a very elite and respected group of law enforcers and their history is notorious for stopping riots and catching the bad guys.

If you would like to learn more about the Texas Rangers, visit the Texas Ranger Museum in Waco, Texas, where history abounds. It’s about 100 miles south of Dallas/Fort Worth, and well worth the investment of time, gas, and money.

The Texas Rangers have been idolized and immortalized in movies and television series. One of the more famous Texas Rangers is the legendary, non-official Texas Ranger Chuck Norris, aka Cordell Walker, seen in the Walker, Texas Ranger television series.

You can learn more information and interesting facts about the Texas Rangers online.

Their history is legendary. Their pursuits are notable. Their men are colorful. The Texas Rangers are among some of the most famous law enforcers in the history of fighting crime and keeping the peace.

Take a trip down south on I35 and be sure to stop in at the Texas Ranger's Museum of History. You'll be glad you did.

Texas Ranger Museum has some of the most outrageous guns, assault rifles, sub machine guns, sawed-off shotguns, and beautiful tooled pistols you will ever set you eyes on. There are pictures of ancient history, respected lawmen, and reputed criminals. Artwork, saddles, chaps, spurs, badges. . .a vast collection of memorabilia that you will not find any where else. And it all surrounds the history of our famous Texas Rangers.

Foxes

For some reason, a mama fox wondered into our backyard and took up residence under my husband’s workshop. Early spring we noticed the mama fox had a big belly (or at least for her it was). Then around March or April, we saw three baby foxes with the mama fox. We really enjoyed watching their progress.

Everyday my husband and I would look out our sunroom windows for a glimpse of the babies and mama and most times we weren’t disappointed. The foxes would come out to sun or frolic around in the yard with one another, just like little puppies do. When the baby foxes were just about full size, mama left, and the babies were left to fend for themselves, which they seemed to do quite nicely.

We have a birdbath that sits about halfway between the house and the workshop. One morning I looked out the window and there standing on the edge of the birdbath drinking water was the largest of the three baby foxes. I took the opportunity to walk out on my patio deck. I stood within 25 feet from the fox, camera in hand taking pictures. He stood on the edge just watching me then eventually jumped down and ran off with the other two.

The foxes called our backyard home up until around October, then, just as their mama, they were gone. We missed being able to watch them and take pictures of their antics.

We often look out our back windows hoping for a sign of the foxes, but they’ve never returned. How they strayed into a populated area, we’ll never know, but we enjoyed their visit while it lasted. And who knows, maybe one day another fox will claim our backyard as home for a season.

Texas Weather – Just Wait A Minute!

In Texas, you can always depend on one thing—weather. Sometimes good. Sometimes bad. But never indeferent, we always have weather.

Our TV programs are always being interrupted because of weather reports from our diligent weathermen. The first thing you check before going out the door is the weather. The last thing you check at night, before going to bed, is the weather. Before you send those kiddos out the door to school or play, you check the weather. As you can tell, our weather is an intricate part of most Texan’s lives.

We have spring storms. We have winter storms. We have fall storms. We even have summer storms. You can generally take a look at our skies and tell if there is a storm looming on the horizon. To say our storms are fierce, is a pretty accurate description. However, our storms are often awesome to witness. And I can’t tell you how many times golf tournaments, baseball games, outdoor activities in Texas have been interrupted because of our spring/summer storms.

We have hale storms the size of peas up to larger than overgrown baseballs falling from the sky through roofs of houses, cars, windows, you name it. Peppering the ground making it look like snow has fallen.

We have seen tornados that run havoc throughout the countryside, towns and cities, destroying everything in their path. The town of Wichita Falls tornado of 1979 was a mile and a half wide and stayed on the ground for over an hour. The small town of Jarrell was similarly hit by tornado activity, destroying pretty much everything in the town.

You can lay odds our storms will be accompanied by high winds. Not just a nice breeze, but a thrusting, leave-branch-downing event. Sometimes lowering large trees to the ground by the sheer force and magnitude of the winds.

Our wonderful coastlines have hosted some of the most spectacular hurricanes ever noted. The Galveston Sept. 8, 1900 hurricane was reported as the hurricane the reshaped the Texas coast. More than 6,000 men, women, and children lost their lives on that unforgettable day. But we have had several other less notable hurricanes do quite a bit of damage too. You don't won't to hang around for one of those events, regardless how brave you think you are. You just don't mess with nature and a fiece hurricane.

We have rains in all forms—gentle rain, driving rain, torrential rain, pounding rain, gully washers, deluge, even heard tell of it raining cats and dogs. I personally can’t attest to that last statement, but our rains do a good job of getting you not just wet, but soaked through and through within seconds.

Our winter storms can be just as fierce as our spring/summer storms, but in a different way. I’ve left home for work without a jacket or coat because it was so warm, but by the time I was ready to leave work and go home the temperature had dipped below freezing. Our winter temperatures can drop within an hour’s time 30 plus degrees. So you watch the weatherman’s report and try to be prepared for such shenanigans by our infamous Texas winter storms.

We will see snow from time to time, but where I live, it’s a hit and miss situation from year to year. The snow doesn’t stay more than a day or two, then we’re back up into the 50’s, 60’s, or even higher in the daytime. Now the panhandle of Texas? That’s a whole nuther thing. They do get cold—freezing cold. They do get snow—deep snow. They do get locked into deep-freeze from time to time, however those folks know what to expect and seem to love it. Their a breed unto their own.

One thing I can say about our Texas weather, it’s never boring. Oh, it gets hot, and the heat stays too long for my liking. It will get freezing and I bundle up. The storms are fierce but spectacular at the same time. But our weather is the stuff of poets and writers alike. And would I trade it for another state? Never!

Where but Texas can you get such a variety of weather and enjoy every minute of it. And as the old saying goes and can often be heard coming from Texans…if you don’t like our weather, just wait a minute, it’s bound to change.

We Texans Are a Proud and Friendly Lot

On days like today, a beautiful spring day, I can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t love living in the state of Texas. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the breeze is a-blowin’, and the weather you couldn’t ask for better.

I do know that in the next three months I won’t like the heat that is inevitable. I’m the type of person (very warm blooded and always have been) that if it gets over 95 degrees I stay inside in the air conditioned house drinking tea. And, please don’t ask me to go to any amusement park or do any outdoor activities until the sun goes down and then that's even iffey if I’ll go.

Going to the beach – maybe. Getting into the pool – certainly. However any activity that is going to take place in the hot sun and make me perspire (sweat to y’all that don’t know what perspire means), forget it. But thankfully the hot weather will only last about four months and I can outlast those four months for the other eight months of pure joy.

I have relatives that live in other states and for the life me, I can’t understand to this day why, if I even mention the word Texas it raises the hackles on their back. If I might happen to mention our weather is beautiful today. They want to remind me it was over a 100 degrees a few years back in April. (We did set a record of 100 degrees in April, and that was very, very unusual for our state). They will say I don’t like Texas, but they never come up with any real concrete idea why.

I think one of the reasons people don’t like Texas or Texans is because we are a proud lot. We’re proud of our state. We’re proud of our accomplishments. We’re proud to be a gun tot’n individuals. (And yes, some of us still carry rifles or shotgun in the back window of our pickups. You just never know when you will find a squirrel for dinner) And we will defend our property and our country if necessary.

We believe in God. We’re down-right proud to be patriotic. In case you haven’t noticed, Texas is a very patriotic state. And last, but not least, we take great pride in being called Americans.

Maybe that’s why people don’t like Texas, we’re a proud lot. But I’ve noticed we’re not too proud to be concerned about our neighbor and lend a helping hand if needed. Nor are we too proud to take a meal over to a neighbor or dear friend when they are sick or a loved one has just passed on. Nor are we too proud to lend a hand to our older Texans, maybe clean the house or mow the yard, paint, fix-up around the house because they are unable to do it any longer for themselves.

Yes, I guess you could say our southern roots are still in tack and so are our manners. Men still open the door for women and other folks regardless of age. We have a habit of saying yes, ma’am, yes sir, no, ma’am, no sir, and generally we’re a friendly lot.

We are respectful of others and their rights as individuals. Most of our men still take their hats off inside of a building, house, church, and when prayer is being offered. (Yes, quite a lot of us Texans still pray and honor God, along with country.)

Now I will say, not everyone in Texas is that way. Over the past few years we’ve had quite a few out-of-staters move in. But we still have plenty of folk with manners and teaching their kids manners too. There’s still a southern charm about the people in Texas. You may not find that southern charm so much in the big, inner cities, but you will definitely find it in our smaller, not so metropolitan, towns.

Well, I got little windy today, I guess I was letting off a little steam because of the bad rap that is all too often tagged to Texas and Texans. But I just had to let you know, we Texans are a proud and friendly lot.

Don’t Believe It – It’s Not True

I can’t remember the last time I saw a woman with big hair. (For all of you who don't know what that is, it's a big, over-teased hairdo women used to wear.) But if you listen to the talk shows, watch any modern-day movies, or catch the out-of-state news on TV or read an out-of-state newspaper, Texas and/or Texans are portrayed as stupid, dump hicks with their women weary over-teased, out-of-date hair styles. It’s just not true. They apparently have been watching too many reruns of “Dallas.”

Well, I’m here to tell you Big Hair, just like Big Foot, went out of style quite a number years ago, even in Texas.

And as far as the ignorant, syrupy, fake southern drawl goes—I haven’t heard someone sound that awful since the Dukes of Hazards or Daisy Duke.

Texans don’t talk with a slow, dumb sounding twang in their voice. Yes, we do have a southern sound of genteelly when we speak, but it isn’t long, brassy or country hick sounding. It’s soft and sweet like a southern breeze with a hint of the south in it’s tambour.

And another thing, if you think everyone in Texas is wearing cowboy boots and hats, than I’ve got a piece of swamp land in Arizona I’d like to sell you!

Cowboy hats and boots aren’t the norm, it’s the exception not the rule, especially in the city. Men that wear cowboy boots and hats as everyday attire, as a rule, are working ranchers, farmers, ranch-hands, farmhands. A big brim hat is a necessity to keep the sun out of the eyes and off the neck. However, you will find men dressed in jeans, boots and hat in other states also, so it’s not just a Texas thing.

The best place to get look at a large number of hat and boot wearers is to attend the state or county fair, the Fort Worth Stock Show, rodeo, or a western days function. There you will get your fill. So if you make a to visit Texas, don’t be disappointed if you don’t see very many men wearing cowboy hats and boots–it’s a myth and perpetrated by the old show “Dallas.”

I might add, in the smaller communities around Texas, you will find the County Sheriff and most of his deputies wearing a cowboy hat, cowboy boots, and a BIG silver buckle. Why? I think it goes with the territory and may have something to do with the Texas Ranger image. They are the “good ole boys” and you don’t want to mess with them. They will say howdy, be respectful to women, and even hold the door open for a person to pass through. But don’t dis them or, you could find yourself looking out on the other side bars or something worst.

We Texans aren’t ignorant or simple folk as we have been portrayed. And, we’re not a bunch of country bumpkins that just fell off of a turnip truck either. We are intelligent, educated, fun-loving, hard-working, and family-oriented, just like most people in the world, and maybe more so. We honor God, our country and our flag. We are proud to be known as a US citizen and proud to be called a Texan.

Come visit our big state and meet some of the friendliest and proudest people in the world—then judge for yourself.