posted 02-08-2005 12:30 PM         

Beaumont to Chicago, IL: 770 miles

El Paso, TX is closer to California (557) than to Dallas, TX (633)

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.

The Heisman Trophy was named after John William Heisman who was the first full time coach for 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 8000 lives were lost on Galveston Island.

The first word spoken from the moon, July 20, 1969, was "Houston."

King Ranch is larger than Rhode Island

Tropical Storm Claudette brought a US. rainfall record of 43" in 24 hours in and around Alvin in July 1979.

Texas is the only state to enter the U.S. by TREATY, instead of by annexation.
(This allows the Texas flag to fly at the same height as the US flag.)

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 after Dr in Dr Pepper.

Texas has had six capital cities:
1. Washington-on-the-Brazos
2. Harrisburg
3. Galveston
4. Velasco
5. West Columbia
6. Austin

The Capitol Dome in Austin is the only dome in the U.S which is taller than
the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. (by 7 feet).

The name Texas comes from the Hasini Indian word "tejas" meaning friends.
Tejas is not Spanish for Texas.

The State animal 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.
(Well...I thought it was interesting anyway!)

posted 02-08-2005 02:10 PM         

"Texas is the only state to enter the U.S. by TREATY, instead of by annexation.
(This allows the Texas flag to fly at the same height as the US flag.)"

I always thought that Texas could fly it's flag at the same height as the US flag because it had been it's own Republic / Nation.

posted 02-08-2005 03:00 PM         

Next question is WHY?

posted 02-09-2005 01:02 AM         

quote:

---

Originally posted by GenoTex:
Things I learned in Texas:









Coldbeer is one word. TRUE

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posted 02-09-2005 09:22 AM         

quote:

---

Originally posted by jmcant1:
Jalapeno jelly originated in Lake Jackson in 1978.

Next question is WHY?

---

posted 02-09-2005 01:33 PM         

we will be moving back to our home state of Texas soon.....

posted 02-09-2005 02:44 PM         

My little slice of Heaven

posted 02-09-2005 03:39 PM         

And I so want to tease Randy about NC basketball, but they whupped us this year so I can't!

posted 02-14-2005 05:51 AM         

You only know five spices--salt, pepper, Ranch dressing, BBQ sauce and hot sauce.
You design your Halloween costume to fit over Wranglers and cowboy boots.
The mosquitoes have landing lights.
You have more miles on your tractor than your car.
You have 10 favorite recipes for deer meat.
You've taken your kids trick-or-treating when it was 90 degrees
outside (or put up Christmas lights when it was 80 outside).

Driving is better after it's rained because the potholes are filled
with mud and you don't have to take those backroads to go "mudding."

You think sexy lingerie is tube-socks and a flannel nightie with only buttons.
You owe more money on your bulldozer than your car.
The local paper covers national and international headlines on ¼ page,
but requires 6 pages for local sports.

You can write a check at Dairy Queen for 2 Hunger-Busters and fries.
At least twice a year, the kitchen doubles as a meat processing plant.
The most effective mosquito repellent is a shotgun.
Your leaf-blower gets stuck on the roof.
You think the start of deer season is a national holiday.
You frequently clean grease off your barbecue so the coyotes won't prowl on your deck.

You know which leaves make good toilet paper.
The major county fund-raiser isn't bingo - it's sausage making.
You find 70 degrees Fahrenheit a little chilly.
The trunk of your car doubles as a sauna.
You attend a formal event in your best clothes, your finest jewelry, and your cowboy boots.
You know 4 seasons - Almost Summer, Summer, Still Summer and deer season.

------------------------------

A Texan's Guide To Life

Don't squat with your spurs on.
Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.
Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier 'n puttin' it back in.
If you're ridin' ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it's still there.
If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin'
somebody else's dog around.

After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt so good he started
roaring. He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot him...The moral: When you're full of bull, keep your mouth shut.

Never kick a cow chip on a hot day.
There's two theories to arguin' with a woman. Neither one works.
If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'.
Never slap a man who's chewin' tobacca.
It don't take a genius to spot a goat in a flock of sheep.
Always drink upstream from the herd.
When you give a lesson in meanness to a critter or a person, don't be surprised if they learn their lesson.
When you're throwin' your weight around, be ready to have it thrown around by somebody else.
The quickest way to double your money is to fold it over and put it back in your pocket.
Never miss a good chance to shut up.
There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.

-----------------------------

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'll get it maybe after a second, 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 little rock the Good Lord put us on, there is a person who wishes just once he could be a real live Texan and get up on a horse or ride in a pickup.
There is some 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 Big Bend. Texas is shiny skyscrapers in Houston and Dallas.

Texas is world record bass from places like Lake Fork. Texas is Mexican food like nowhere in the world, even Mexico. Texas is the Fort Worth Stockyards, Bass Hall, and the Astrodome. Texas is larger-than-life legends like Willie Nelson, Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings, Janis Joplin, ZZ Top, Eric Dickerson, Earl Campbell, Nolan Ryan, Denton Cooley and Michael DeBakey, Sam Rayburn, George Bush, Lyndon B. Johnson, and George W. Bush.
Texas is great companies like Dell Computer, Texas Instruments and Compaq.

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 cities shut down for the Cowboys on Monday Night Football, and NIOSA 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 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, or California, or Maine, and your state flag, whatever it is, goes at 17. You fly the Stars and Stripes in front of Pine Tree High in Longview at 20 feet, the Lone Star flies at the same height - 20 feet. Do you know why? Because we place being a Texan 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 if we want to! We included these things in as part of the deal when we came on.

That’s the best part right there.