The voting ends tomorrow, and you can vote once a day - So get to it!!
Monday, March 7, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
175th Anniversary of Texas Independence
Here's my little tribute to Texas and to every proud Texan out there, enjoy!
Flower: Bluebonnet
Tree: Pecan
Bird: Mockingbird
Song: “Texas, Our Texas”
Fish: Guadalupe bass
Seashell: Lightning whelk
Dish: Chili
Folk dance: Square dance
Fruit: Texas red grapefruit
Gem: Texas blue topaz
Gemstone cut: Lone Star cut
Reptile: Horned lizard
Plant: Prickly pear cactus
Insect: Monarch butterfly
Pepper: jalapeño pepper
Mammal: longhorn
Small mammal: Armadillo
Flying mammal: Mexican free-tailed bat
You see more Texan flags than American flags.
You probably know someone who ate the 72 oz steak and got it for free.
We attend a formal event in our best clothes, finest jewelry, and cowboy boots.
We prefer Whataburger to McDonalds!
We're disappointed when a food doesn't come in spicy flavor.
We can tell a rock from an armadillo 300 yards away.
Our local grocery store sells cactus in the fresh produce department.
When we watch the movie Urban Cowboy, we laugh at the phony Texan accents.
We choose a brand of Mexican salsa with the same care that another might use to select a bottle of fine wine.
You know whether another Texan is from North, South, East, West, or Central Texas as soon as they start talking.
The Blue Book value on your truck goes up and down depending on how much gas it has in it.
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?"
Have you ever looked at a map of the world? Look a Texas, and 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. 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.
In every man, woman and child on this planet, there is a person who wishes just once he could be a real Texan and get up on a horse, or ride off in a pickup. There is a little bit of Texas in everyone.
Have you ever heard anyone say, "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 - 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)
Texas is Sam Houston capturing Santa Ana at San Jacinto.
Texas is the unparalleled beauty of bluebonnet fields in the Texas Hill Country.
Texas is the shiny skyscrapers in Houston and Dallas.
Texas is Mexican food like nowhere else, not even Mexico.
Texas is places like the Fort Worth Stockyards, Bass Hall, Gruene Hall, the Ballpark in Arlington and the Astrodome.
Texas is larger-than-life legends like George Strait,George Bush Sr. and Jr., Willie Nelson, Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings, Janis Joplin, Kris Kristofferson, Patrick Swayze, Tom Landry, Darrell Royal, ZZ Top, Eric Dickerson, Earl Campbell, Nolan Ryan, Sam Rayburn, Lyndon B.Johnson - Just to name a few...
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 tailgate all day Saturday before their favorite college game.
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 any place 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 The capitol opened May 16, 1888 and is the only one in the country that is taller than the capitol building in Washington, D.C. - 7 feet to be exact.
"Vacation" means going to the family reunion.
We measure distance in minutes.
We know several people who have hit a deer.
We've had school classes canceled because of cold weather...
You've probably had to switch from Heat to A/C in the same day.
You see people wearing boots and jeans at funerals and weddings.
You see a car running in the parking lot at the store with no one in it, no matter what time of the year.
We use "fix" as a verb. Example: I am fixing to go to the store.
Festivals across the state are named after a fruit, vegetable, grain, or animal.
You've install security lights on your house and garage and have probably left both unlocked.
We know what "cow tipping" is
The local papers covers national and international news on one page but requires 6 pages for sports.
Texans think that the first day of deer season is a national holiday.
Texans find 90 degrees F "a little warm."
There are our four seasons: Almost Summer, Summer, Still Summer, and Spring/Fall/Winter for about a month.
There is a Dairy Queen in every town with a population of 500 or more.
You describe the first cool front (below 70 degrees) as good chili weather.
We have cattle & oil wells. That's what they smell like to you. They smell like money to most Texans.
Guys open doors for women. That is applied to all women, regardless of age.
It's rare to find a "vegetarian special" on the menu. Order steak. Or you can order the Chef's Salad and pick off the 2 pounds of ham & turkey.
Searching for colleges? Try Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Baylor or University of Texas. They come out with an education plus a love for God and our country, and they still wave at passing pickups when they come for the holidays - Me and Scott tried it every time to help pass our 8 hour drive to Houston to Lubbock :o)
Texas is Texas Tech. With 1,839 acres, it has the second largest contiguous campus in the United States and is the only school in Texas to house an undergraduate institution, law school, and medical school at the same location. The U.S. News & World Report's 2011 edition of Best Colleges categorized the university as a "Tier 1" national university with a "selective" admissions policy.
Our great governor Sam Houston once said: "Texas can make it without the United States, but the United States can't make it without Texas!"
Texas was the 28th state to join the Union.
On March 14th 2003. It snowed in Amarillo and was 103 in Brownsville.
"Texas is a state of mind. Texas is an obsession. Above all, Texas is a nation in every sense of the word." - John Steinbeck.
The official state flag of Texas, the Lone Star Flag, was adopted in 185 when Texas became the 28th state of the US. The colors represent bravery (red), purity (white), and loyalty (blue). The large white star was first used on Texas flags in the 1830's during the battles between Texas and Mexico.
Texas is the only state to enter the United States by treaty instead of territorial annexation
Caddo Lake is the only natural lake in the state
Texas is 6th Street - Austin is considered the live music capital of the world.
Dr Pepper was invented in Waco in 1885. The Dublin Dr Pepper, 85 miles west of Waco, still uses pure imperial cane sugar in its product.
The first suspension bridge in the United States was the Waco Bridge. Built in 1870 and still in use today as a pedestrian crossing of the Brazos River.
Texas has the first domed stadium in the country. The structure was built in Houston and opened in April 1965.
The Houston Comets are the only team in the country to win four back-to-back WNBA championships. 1997-2000 Cynthia Cooper remains the only player to win the WNBA Championship MVP.
The worst natural disaster in United States history was caused by a hurricane that hit Galveston in 1900. Over 8000 deaths were recorded.
The first word spoken from the moon on July 20, 1969 was "Houston"
Texas possesses three of the top ten most populous cities in the United States. These towns are Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio.
El Paso is closer to Needles, California than it is to Dallas.
Texas includes 267,339 square miles, or 7.4% of the nation's total area.
Texas' most populous county and third most populous in the US is Harris country in Southeast Texas (Houston), with 3.4 million residents.
The least populous county in Texas and the US is Loving county with roughly 67 residents.
The King Ranch near Corpus Christi is bigger than the state of Rhode Island - Includes 50,000 head of cattle and more than 2,000 miles of fence.
The state's cattle population is estimated to be near 16 million.
More land is farmed in Texas than in any other state.
More species of bats live in Texas than in any other part of the United States.
Laredo is the world's largest inland port.
Port Lavaca has the world's longest fishing pier. Originally part of the causeway connecting the two sides of Lavaca Bay, the center span of was destroyed by Hurricane Carla in 1961.
The Tyler Municipal Rose Garden is the world's largest rose garden. It contains 38,000 rose bushes representing 500 varieties of roses set in a 22-acre garden.
Amarillo has the world's largest helium well.
The world's first rodeo was held in Pecos on July 4, 1883.
The Flagship Hotel on Seawall Boulevard in Galveston is the only hotel in North America built entirely over the water.
The Heisman trophy is named for John William Heisman the first full-time coach and athletic director at Rice University in Houston.
Brazoria County has more species of birds than any other comparable area in North America.
The Aransas Wildlife Refuge is the winter home of North America's only remaining flock of whooping cranes.
Jalapeno pepper jelly originated in Lake Jackson and was first marketed in 1978.
Is that enough to prove how proud us Texans are?
Have a goodnight!
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