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TEXAS EYES' TERRITORYCome On In & Stay Awhile
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Quick NoteJust want to let any of you who stop by that this space is due for a serious re-do. I'm sick to death of looking at the same ol' stuff when I come here & I'll bet those of you who come by fairly often are too. So be patient with me because it will probably take several days & I can only sit in this position for limited amounts of time. Plus I have to make up my mind exactly what parts I want to change or delete as well as whatever I may want to add.
So if you drop in and things look stranger than usual, it's probably still "under construction" because I have serious doubts about getting it all done at once! Birds & Bees, Cacti & Trees - And A ShotgunTexas is in the midst of its rainy spring and I've been sitting here with door wide open (hey, it's a small change from my usual view) while the weather is cool. So, it's just me and my flyswatter for the time being. The sickly mesquite tree that makes up most of my view is drooping, either from all the rain or because of that dang cactus that grows in a four foot radius all around it. The cactus itself look like a dog or something of that size took several dives into the middle. They're squished back from the surrounding leaves (?). I don't know what the individual limbs on a cactus are actually called. At any rate, it could have been one of 4 roaming dogs from some of the "way over there" houses, or a wolf, fox, or bobcat since we have all of those. Geez, I'm STILL a city girl. I've been enjoying what view God gave me which also includes little clumps of wild flowers because when my landlord mows the refuses to mow down any time of flower. There must be at least 10 acres out here and all over the place one can see clumps of dead grass (because he was gone 2 weeks and it needed mowing before he left) and little clumps of flowers. I have yet to see any of the hummingbirds drinking from said flowers, but yesterday one kept trying to drink out of a large painted ceramic flower. Poor little guy, but no, I am not hanging up a feeder for the little critters.
We have a family of bunnies in that huge cactus too. Four new baby bunnies this year. I see them come out just before dusk and frolic back and forth in front of the cactus. At first the white on their tails was just a tiny spot but now their little bunny tails are white as snow. I never see Mama nor Papa Rabbit, just the playful little bunnies.
Sometimes I get a glimpse of one of the many mocking birds, some sort of scissortail, lots of sparrows, and today there was even a cardinal. Oh how I miss the days Mama and I sat out on the deck with our bird book and binoculars. We had mocking birds, starlings, wrens, sparrows, cardinals, blue jays, wax wings, pairs of robins, dove, crows, hummingbirds, and even some little colored finches. I miss those days so much this time of the year that it's almost impossible not to tear up from remembering. Yesterday my landlords discovered a bird had built a nest on my right front tire. Little sparrow going back and forth collecting his little bundles. She wanted to get a picture of it but Ken wiped it all off before she could get the camera. My first thought was, "Oh, I can't wait to tell Mama." Such is life.
Of course, once the cool, cloudy weather leaves, out come the yellowjackets we fight all summer. Last year I hung a couple of those traps for wasps, yellowjackets, hornets, etc. It helped some but I still didn't go outside without my handy can of Raid. Got an email today that said using Bounce Dryer Sheets will (among all the other uses) deter yellowjacks if you just stick it out of your pocket. I'm considering the creation of an entire outfit made from them, but lazy as I am these days will probably just carry a couple in my hands. Or maybe I'll nail them up around my door (know the landlords would appreciate that).
They've been gone for the past two weeks in the RV and are supposed to leave again today and stay gone till the weekend. Kenneth always tells me to "keep an eye on the place" but he flatly refuses to leave me his shotgun. So if I see a bobcat chewing his precious bushes or a wolf nosing around the door, I'm supposed to do.....what, exactly? Throw myself on top of the critter and go for its throat? Burglars could completely strip their house clean (and it's a BIG house), but all I could do would be to call the Sheriff's Dept. all the while knowing how few deputies patrol this county. Perhaps I could slither out far enough to take a picture of their U-Haul, but then I haven't slithered in years so I'm not sure how much good that would do. So what else am I supposed to look out for? A tornado? Ha! If a tornado came near, this little room would blow clear to Oz before it blew a shingle off their house.
Guess it'll be just me and our friendly (albeit somewhat scary) hoot owl with the nearest neighbor out of yelling distance. When it's dark I usually don't step a foot out there. Am I scared to be way out here all alone? Ha! I spit in the face of Fear! (Right before I run for cover).
Step By StepFound this tucked away in my Bible today. Don't remember when I put it there, but it made me think of my situation now.
He does not lead me year by year,
Nor even day by day;
But step by step my path unfolds,
My Lord directs my way.
Tomorrow's plans I do not know,
I only know this minute;
But He will say, "This is the way,
By faith now walk ye in it."
And I am glad that it is so,
Today's enough to bear;
And when tomorrow comes, His grace
Shall far exceed its care.
What need to worry then, or fret?
The God who gave His Son
Holds all my moments in his hand,
And gives them, one by one.
~~ Author Unknown Favorite MemoriesI visited a web site today that had a blog about favorite childhood memories. I was astounded at some of the comments from other people talking about their favorite memories. Have to tell you these kids were obviously from families with more money than mine ever had, or maybe they were written by people much younger than I am. Some of them listed trips they'd taken (Disneyland, Disney World, Aspen to ski, going to their summer home), some listed favorite toys (their first go-cart, video games, iPods, cell phones). I know that group is younger than me because other than go-carts none of the rest had been invented when I was a child.
Mainly what struct me about the many comments left was that they were all about an object or a place. No one mentioned memories of people. Maybe I'm the only one that finds that strange but every one of my favorite memories contain another person. I have many memories of my childhood, some good, others bad (don't we all?) so to name just some of them, I would have listed my favorite childhood memories as:
1. All those times Daddy picked me up from the baby sitter (my grandmother) and as soon as we arrived home my older (by 7 years) sister would run up to the car, open my door, drag me across the yard to a clover patch & begin tickling me until our laughter turned to tears! At least mine did.
2. All of those games my mama made up to entertain us when we didn't have a television, such as "I'm thinking of something blue!" The object had to be in the room where we were and my sister & I would race to see which of us could find the particular "blue" object Mother was thinking about.
3. The stories Mother read to us. We grew up on the "Bobbsy Twins," "Uncle Remus," and "Lou-Lou, Alice & Jimmy Wibblewobble, the Duck Children," and anything about "Uncle Wiggly."
4. Any time my sister was in a good mood & treated me like her friend instead of her bratty little sister!
5. Trips to the drive-in movies when she & I would spread a quilt outside the car & sit on it to watch the movie. We'd listen to "Cross Over the Bridge" (I can't remember who sang it) on the speakers & giggle a lot.
6. The picnics we took to the cemetery where most of our family is buried. We'd use great, great granddaddy's headstone as a table!
I could go on forever but my point is that when listing favorite childhood memories, mine don't include "things." They include my two favorite family members! Texas, My TexasI know this is long, but I received it in an email today from 2 different people. I'm going to try
to adjust the spacing but as we all know, Live has a mind of its own!
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, get
up on a horse or ride off in a pickup. There is a little bit of Texas in everyone. 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 Davy 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 Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana at San Jacinto. Texas is huge forests of Piney Woods
like the Davy Crockett and Sam Houston National Forests. Texas is breathtaking mountains in the Big Bend. Texas is the unparalleled beauty of bluebonnet fields in the Texas Hill Country. Texas is floating the rivers of the Hill Country on a hot summer day. Texas is the beautiful, warm
beaches of the Gulf Coast of South Texas. Texas is beaches you can drive on and have many memorable bon-fires with close friends.
Texas is that warm feeling you get when someone asks where you're from. Texas is the shiny skyscrapers in Houston and Dallas & Fort Worth. Texas is world record bass from places like Lake Fork, Possum Kingdom, Lake Travis and crappe from Fort Phantom lake. Texas is Mexican foods
like nowhere else, not even Mexico. Texas is chicken fried steak, calf fries and world famous Bar-B-Q. Texas is the Fort Worth Stockyards, Bass Hall, the Ballpark in Arlington, Gruene Dance Hall, and the Astrodome. (Guess now the Reliant Stadium too).
Texas is larger-than-life legends like Michael DeBakey, Ann Richards, Denton Cooley, Willie Nelson, Buddy Holly, Gene Autry, Audie Murphy, Tommy Lee Jones, Waylon Jennings, Farrah Fawcet, Janis Joplin, Sandra Bullock, Matthew McConaughey, Kris Kristofferson, Tom Landry, Eva Longoria, Darrell Royal, ZZ Top, Eric Dickerson, Earl Campbell, Nolan Ryan, Sam Rayburn, Howard Hughes, George H. W. Bush, Lyndon B. Johnson, and let's not forget GEORGE STRAIT, the Big Bopper, Tex Ritter, George Jones, Clay Walker, Mark Chestnut, to name ONLY a few.
Texas is great companies like Dell Computer, Texas Instruments, EDS and Compaq, Whataburger, Southwest Airlines, Bell Helicopter and LOCKHEED MARTIN AEROSPACE, Home of the F-16 Jet Fighter and the JSF Fighter, Valero. Texas is NASA. Texas is huge herds of cattle, beautiful horses and miles of crops. Texas is home to the world famous King Ranch. Texas is home to the most amazing sunsets of gold over an empty field. Texas is hundreds of deer running around rural neighborhoods and fields. 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.
To drive across Texas is to drive 1/3 the way across the United States. Texas is ocean beaches, deserts, lakes and rivers, mountains and prairies, and modern cities. If it isn't already in Texas, you probably don't need it. 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 Klein Oak High 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 can become a republic again at any time the voters of Texas choose, and we included these things as
part of the deal when we came on. That's the best part, right there. And don't even lie to yourself... Did I mention Live Music Capitol of the world? Texas even has its own power grid!!  GOD BLESS TEXAS !!!!!!!!!! |
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