Tidbits and thoughts

I did a little digging into the Texas State flag yesterday; I was surprised when I found out the flag we know of today was not the original. The first flag was a single star on a blue background. I also found out that that Texas did not have an official state flag from 1871 to 1933; 1933 is when we came to have close to what we have now. I say close because the dimensions and colors were not defined, these small issue were not corrected until 1993… I am writing this from memory so some of my dates may be off, I need to check them. Tidbits of history are really neat to know.

The State Flag of Texas

Here are the flags:

First flag of the Republic of Texas

 

 

 

 

 

Second flag of the Republic of Texas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Third flag of the Republic of Texas

 

This old story out of Texas.

This old story out of Texas. —-

Seems a guy cruises thru a stop sign, or whatever, and gets pulled over by a local policeman.

Guy hands the cop his driver’s license, insurance verification, plus his concealed carry permit.

“Okay, Mr. Smith,” the cop says, “I see your CHL permit.  Are you carrying today?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Well then, better tell me what you got.”

Smith says, “Well, I got a .357 revolver in my inside coat pocket.

There’s a 9mm semi-auto in the glove box.  And, I’ve got a .22 magnum derringer in my right boot.”

“Okay,” the cop says.  “Anything else?”

“Yeah, back in the trunk, there’s an AR15 and a shotgun.  That’s about it.”

“Mr. Smith, are you on your way to or from a gun range…?”

“Nope.”

“Well then, what are you afraid of…?”

“Not a damn thing…”

Texas Cities

Only in Texas
This is a must read for all Texans, used-to-be Texans, adopted Texans or wanna-be Texans:

Just Texas Pep , Texas 79353 Smiley , Texas 78159 Paradise , Texas 76073 Rainbow , Texas 76077 Sweet Home , Texas 77987 Comfort , Texas 78013 Friendship, Texas 76530	No need to travel to Washington D.C. Whitehouse ,  Texas   75791 We even have a city named after our planet! Earth ,  Texas   79031 We have a city named after our state: Texas City, Texas   77590 Exhausted? Energy,  Texas   76452 Cold? Blanket, Texas   76432 Winters,  Texas 79567
Love the sun? Sun City, Texas 78628 Sunrise, Texas 76661 Sunset, Texas 76270 Sundown, Texas 79372 Sunray, Texas 79086 Sunny Side,  Texas 77423	Like to read about History? Santa Anna ,  Texas 76878 Goliad ,  Texas 77963 Alamo ,  Texas 78516 Gun Barrel City ,  Texas 75156 Robert  Lee ,  Texas 76945
Want something to eat? Bacon , Texas 76301 Noodle , Texas 79536 Oatmeal , Texas 78605 Turkey , Texas 79261 Trout , Texas 75789 Sugar Land , Texas 77479 Salty, Texas 76567 Rice , Texas 75155 Pearland , Texas 77581 Orange , Texas 77630 And top it off with: Sweetwater , Texas 79556	Why travel to other cities?  Texas has them all! Detroit , Texas 75436 Cleveland , Texas 75436 Colorado City , Texas 79512 Denver City , Texas 79323 Klondike , Texas 75448 Pittsburg, Texas 75686 Newark, Texas 76071 Nevada , Texas 75173 Memphis , Texas 79245 Miami , Texas 79059 Boston , Texas 75570 Santa Fe , Texas 77517 Tennessee Colony , Texas 75861 Reno , Texas 75462 Pasadena , Texas 77506 Columbus , Texas 78934
Feel like traveling outside the country? Athens , Texas 75751 Canadian, Texas 79014 China , Texas 77613 Dublin, Texas 76446 Egypt , Texas 77436 Ireland, Texas 76538 Italy, Texas 76538 Turkey, Texas 79261 London , Texas 76854 New London, Texas 75682 Paris, Texas 75460 Palestine, Texas 75801	Other city names in Texas , to make you smile…… Frognot , Texas 75424 Bigfoot , Texas 78005 Hogeye , Texas 75423 Cactus , Texas 79013 Notrees , Texas 79759 Best, Texas 76932 Veribest , Texas 76886 Kickapoo , Texas 75763 Dime Box , Texas 77853 Old Dime Box , Texas 77853 Telephone , Texas 75488 Telegraph , Texas 76883 Whiteface , Texas 79379 Twitty, Texas 79079
Need Office Supplies? Staples,  Texas 78670 You guessed it. It’s on the state line. Texline ,  Texas   79087	Want to go into outer space? Venus ,  Texas   76084 Mars ,  Texas   79062
For the kids… Kermit , Texas 79745 Elmo , Texas 75118 Nemo , Texas 76070 Tarzan , Texas 79783 Winnie , Texas 77665 Sylvester , Texas 79560	And our favorites… Cut and Shoot, Texas 77303 Gun Barrel City , Texas 75147 Ding Dong, Texas West, Texas (it’s in Central Texas ) and, of course, Muleshoe , Texas 79347
And last but not least, the Anti-Al Gore City Kilgore , Texas 75662

Texas Facts

This is from an email my Dad sent to me… You just have to Love Texas.

Here is what Jeff Foxworthy has to say about folks from Texas

1. If someone in a Lowe’s store offers you assistance and they don’t work there, you may live in Texas ;
2. If you’ve worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you may live in Texas ;
3. If you’ve had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you may live in Texas ;
4. If ‘Vacation’ means going anywhere south of Dallas for the weekend, you may live in Texas ;
5. If you measure distance in hours, you may live in Texas ;
6. If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you may live in Texas ;
7. If you install security lights on your house and garage, but leave both unlocked, you may live in Texas ;
8. If you carry jumper cables in your car and your wife knows how to use them, you may live in Texas
9. If the speed limit on the highway is 55 mph –you’re going 80 and everybody’s passing you, you may live in Texas ;
10. If you find 60 degrees ‘a little chilly,’ you may live in Texas ;
11. If you actually understand these jokes, and share them with all your Texas friends, you definitely live in Texas..

Here are some little known, very interesting facts about Texas.

• Beaumont to  El Paso : 742 miles
• Beaumont to  Chicago : 770 miles
• El Paso is closer to  California than to  Dallas
• World’s first rodeo was in Pecos, July 4, 1883.
• The Flagship Hotel in Galveston is the only hotel in North America built over water. Destroyed by Hurricane Ike -2008!
• The Heisman Trophy was named after John William Heisman who was the first full-time coach at Rice University in Houston.
• Brazoria  County has more species of birds than any other area in North America
• Aransas Wildlife Refuge is the winter home of North America’s only remaining flock of whooping cranes.
• Jalapeno jelly originated in Lake Jackson in 1978.
• The worst natural disaster in U.S. history was in 1900, caused by a hurricane, in which over 8,000 lives were lost on Galveston   Island.
• The first word spoken from the moon, July 20, 1969, was “Houston”, but the space center was actually in Clear Lake City at the time.
• King Ranch in South Texas is larger than Rhode Island..
  Tropical Storm Claudette brought a U.S. rainfall record of 43′ in 24hours in and around Alvin in July of 1979…
• Texas is the only state to enter the U.S. by TREATY, (known as the Constitution of 1845 by the Republic of Texas to enter the Union) instead of by annexation. This allows the Texas Flag to fly at the same height as the U.S. Flag, and may divide into 5 states.
• A Live Oak tree near Fulton is estimated to be 1500 years old.
• Caddo   Lake is the only natural lake in the state.
• Dr Pepper was invented in Waco in 1885. There is no period in Dr Pepper.
• Texas has had six capital cities: Washington -on- the Brazos, Harrisburg, Galveston, Velasco, West Columbia and Austin.
• The Capitol Dome in Austin is the only dome in the U.S. which is taller than the Capitol Building in Washington   DC (by 7 feet).
• The San Jacinto Monument is the tallest free standing monument in the world and it is taller than the Washington monument.
• The name ‘Texas’ comes from the Hasini Indian word ‘tejas’ meaning friends. Tejas is not Spanish for Texas.
• The State Mascot is the Armadillo (an interesting bit of trivia about the armadillo is they always have four babies. They have one egg, which splits into four, and they either have four males or four females.).
• The first domed stadium in the U.S. was the Astrodome in Houston.

Cowboy’s Ten Commandments: posted on the wall at Cross Trails Church in Fairlie, Texas:

1. Just one God.
2. Honor yer Ma & Pa.
3. No telling tales or gossipin’.
4. Git yourself to Sunday meeting.
5. Put nothin’ before God.
6. No foolin’ around with another fellow’s gal.
7. No killin’.
8. Watch yer mouth.
9. Don’t take what ain’t yers.
10. Don’t be hankerin’ for yer buddy’s stuff.

Y’all git all that?
Lord, keep Your arm around my shoulder
and Your hand over my mouth.

Cinco De Mayo and being an American

The holiday of Cinco De Mayo, The 5th Of May, commemorates the victory of the Mexican militia over the French army at The Battle Of Puebla in 1862. It is primarily a regional holiday celebrated in the Mexican state capital city of Puebla and throughout the state of Puebla, with some limited recognition in other parts of Mexico, and especially in U.S. cities with a significant Mexican population. It is not, as many people think, Mexico’s Independence Day, which is actually September 16. (http://www.mexonline.com/cinco-de-mayo.htm)

Explain to me why this is celebrated in the USA? If you are of Mexican heritage from the region of Puebla then I can understand some pride but why the hell has it become a defacto celebration in the USA? I would be willing to bet that most of the Mexicans (used to represent those here legally) are not from the Puebla area.

This is the USA where we have one National flag.

Absolutely no other flag should fly above it and only one can fly equal to it, the Texas flag.

All this “the flag is offensive” crying is nothing more that a load of crap.  Does anyone remember these words an KNOW what they mean?

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation under God, indivisible, With Liberty and Justice for all.

I Pledge Allegiance: I Promise to be faithful and true (Promise my loyalty)

to the flag: to the emblem that stands for and represents

of the United States: all 50 states, each of them individual, and individually represented on the flag

of America: yet formed into a UNION of one Nation.

and to the Republic: And I also pledge my loyalty to the Government that is itself a Republic, a form of government where the PEOPLE are sovereign,

for which it stands,: this government also being represented by the Flag to which I promise loyalty.

one Nation under God,: These 50 individual states are united as a single Republic under the Divine providence of God, “our most powerful resource” (according to the words of President Eisenhower)

Indivisible,: and cannot be separated.   (This part of the original version of the pledge was written just 30 years after the beginning of the Civil War and demonstrates the unity sought in the years after that divisive period in our history)

with Liberty: The people of this Nation being afforded the freedom to pursue “life, liberty, and happiness”,

and Justice: And each person entitled to be treated justly, fairly, and according to proper law and principle,

for All.: And these principles afforded to EVERY AMERICAN, regardless of race, religion, color, creed, or any other criteria.   Just as the flag represents 50 individual states that cannot be divided or separated, this Nation represents millions of people who cannot be separated or divided.

The bottom line is simple: This is the United States of America not some middle eastern country, not Mexico, etc… If you come here LEGALLY you are welcome but you must become an American and not try to change the ways of the USA to that of the country you left. If you wish to change it the go back to where you came. There is a very small number of people that can trace their ancestry to ONLY the USA, most of us have roots from other countries but choose to be Americans and call it home.