This is Texas

When I hear ice pellets hitting the windows (especially at night), I know it isn't really ice, it is June bugs. We have been overwhelmed with June bugs lately. Well, a little while ago those taps on the window really were ice. The ice fell fast and hard, then suddenly stopped. Because of the high temperatures (75+ F) the ice melted right away, the sun came out, and you'd never be able to tell we had a hail storm.

599 Miles

Yesterday I drove 599 miles.  All in the great state of Texas.  It wasn't bad.  The first part through the Hill Country is actually really nice.  I had fun critter spotting. I saw: lots of deer, cows, horses, goats and sheep.  I saw a great deal of roadkill including: deer, coyotes, so many racoons, opossums, at least one fox, a couple of porcupines, and lots of unidentifiable fur.  I didn't see any roadrunners or armadillos yesterday.  The drive took me almost exactly 9 hours--including 3 pit stops.

Driving on I-10 is boring. So I took some photos.

 It's a little blurry--at 80 miles per hour.

 We have wind farms overlooking oil derricks.

Okay. So every time Ross and I drive to El Paso together---which hasn't happened in a long time--Ross plays this joke on me.  He starts to act very sick.  He says his stomach hurts.  He groans.  And when I ask what's wrong he says he has Balmorhea!  I fall for it almost every time.

p.s. I had fun playing with these photos in Gimp.  I don't have a super fancy camera, so I thought I'd edit my photos to look cooler.

How I Know

How do I know I'm in Texas?

1.  The smiles: People are much more friendly here.
2.  The waves: Drivers here are a little more courteous.  They let you change lanes, and they wave when you let them in.
3.  The prices:  Food here is cheaper.  Gasoline here is cheaper.  Unfortunately the houses in the city aren't cheaper.
4.  The weather:  The high today was 90.
5.  The boots:  I see cowboy boots everywhere.
6.  Access roads:  Here there are roads next to the freeway.  That's the way it should be.
7.  Dedicated U-turn lanes: The freeways have dedicated U-turn lanes, so if you missed your exit, you can easily flip a U-y and get back on track.  Even without the U-turn lanes it is a lot easier to switch directions on the freeways.
8.  Big trucks:  Actually, there are less of them than I thought there would be, but enough that I think that Smart Cars shouldn't be allowed on the roads here.  Don't get me started on how "safe" a Smart Car is.  That kinetic energy has to go somewhere.
9.  H-E-B!:  H-E-B is a grocery store.  They actually don't have them everywhere in Texas, but we have one within walking distance.  When I moved to Fort Worth 12 years ago I cried because they don't have H-E-Bs there.  The selection is good, the prices are good.  They also have an upscale version--Central Market.  H-E-B and CM make me happy.
10.  The restaurants:  There are Mexican restaurants everywhere.  And we have lots of BBQ.  We have lots of restaurants period. And the pizza parlors here serve pizza--not pizza and subs and pasta and Greek food.
11.  Taxes: sales tax here is 8.25%, but there isn't any state income tax.
12.  The space between:  Between cars--people don't tailgate here--as much. Between houses:  Some areas have just started building rowhouses, but most homes here are single family, with a lawn between the houses.
13. Litter: People don't litter here nearly as much as they do in Maryland.  I don't see it piled up in the medians at the stoplights.  I've only seen one person chuck a cigarette out the window.  I've actually seen some folks pick stuff up and put it in a trash can.
14. Grackles:  Grackles are birds.  Kinda like ravens.  We have tons of grackles here.  I need to get a good photo or video of when they are hanging out in the trees at dusk, squawking all ominously like something out of a scary movie.
15. Whataburger: Can't really describe this fast food burger joint.  I don't think Ross has had a Whataburger yet.

That is all I can think of right now.  I'll post more as I think of them.

State Fair 2012

On Sunday we went to the State Fair with Tejal.  It was a bit chilly, but we still had fun.  Of course my favorite part was the petting zoo area.  We got to pet lots of goats, baby goats, bison, zebu, camels, llamas, alpacas, a very soft baby alpaca, miniature horses, donkeys and more.  The baby giraffe wasn't close enough to pet, and neither were the baby zebras.  If it hadn't been so crowded I would have gone back in again when we passed it later in the day.

We stumbled upon the rabbit show and stuck our fingers in the cages to pet the rabbits.  These black and white rabbits were the softest ever!  The all back ones looked like velvet, but weren't as soft as these guys.

Oh, these were twin kids born the day before we visited.  They had their own little pen in the center of the big pen.

We went and saw the car show. I liked this Texas-themed bug.  Along the side it was painted like the Texas flag, and that white area on the front of the car is a map of Texas.

I don't have any photos, but we ate our full share of fried foods: fried guacamole (my favorite), fried snickers, fried nutter butters, fried butter (not very good), fried pickles, and fried cheese.  Lots and lots of fat and carbs.  I really wanted a corny dog, but they aren't kosher.

We did exactly what we went there to do.....eat our hearts out.

I'm Heeee-ehr

I'm here! I know I haven't posted in almost a month.  I've been busy, and I have plenty of posts to catch up on, but I want to post this photo before I go to bed.

Here I am in Texas!  That's right, I've come home.  Tonight we are staying in Burleson.  We will make it to Austin tomorrow and unload our overstuffed Subaru into our new apartment.  I was giddy when we crossed the state line into Texas.  Bailey has done really well with the drive.  Yesterday she sat on our laps the whole 12 hours, but today she was eaten by the seat monster and spent most of the day under the passenger side seat.  Only 3 more hours of driving to our new home.

Terrific Tejal

We got to spend some time with Tejal this past weekend. We ate (at Hut's) and ate (ice cream at Amy's), and ate (at Magnolia Cafe). We also hung out a little bit. 

Ross with his two wives. Twice the nagging, none of the love.

Year of the Zoo: San Antonio Zoo

Fish nibbling stuff off the butt of a hippo.

The grey fuzzies are flamingo chicks--and check out the egg on the mound.

We saw an ocelot chillin' in the heat and I got an ocelot stamp on my hand from the zoo staff.

I managed to snap a photo when the tiger looked up at me.

Zebra eel. It was mesmerizing.

We got to catch up with Monica and Richard while we were at the zoo.

Me on a Cow

That's me on one of the stone cows at the Arboretum in Austin. I look a little blue because they had some lights focused on the cows that kept changing colors.

Amy's: Another Taste of Heaven

Amy's Ice Creams is another Austin must have.  I slipped into the Amy's on 6th and Lamar with the aim to sneak an ice cream without Ross, but didn't find a flavor I had to have. One of the awesome guys behind the counter gave me the phone number to call and request a flavor and also told me about how I could check the flavors at each location online. I didn't get bourbon, but I did get a stout, molasses, and butter beer. Ross chose sweet cream with strawberries, saturday morning cartoons, and the cookie monster combo. Oh, and Tejal had just vanilla with chocolate sauce. Delightful.

BBQ in Texas: Home Sweet Home

The first place we headed to when we touched down in Texas was The County Line. There is nothing like their beef ribs. The view is great and the smell was so grounding. That mix of sage and who-knows-what that signals you are in Texas. Pure heaven.

Some Good Things

Despite the never ending list of things that I don't like about Maryland there are some good things. A bill recognizing/legalizing gay marriage passed the House and Senate here. The governor will sign it into law next week. Sad, but I can't imagine that ever happening in Texas.

Valentine's Day Marshmallows

 The Valentine's Day marshmallows are cute. They are interesting cause they are soft, but crunchy because of the sugar sprinkles. They taste good. They might be a little softer and a little less fluffy than the last batch, but I don't notice a difference in taste. It seems the corn syrup substitutes worked just fine. I brought a whole plate of them into work, but not many of them have disappeared.

I cut a couple of Texas shaped marshmallows out just for Ross.

Photo Month: Day 13: Black and White: Texas Capitol Rotunda

Photo Month: Day 7: Fiesta Texas: The Rattler

Family Portrait

It rained while we were in El Paso. After a couple nights of rain my mom's sages bloomed. I've never seen them like that before. We decided to take a family photo in front of her largest sage bush. Check out how my toes are pointing up!

Gargoyles West of Santa Fe: Mirrors

Ross's mother had a mirror collection hanging in her entryway. Most of the mirrors were made by Gargoyles West of Santa Fe. Ross liked the particularly strange ones, not the cute and flowery ones. Our favorite is the frog/eye mirror. We brought seven of the mirrors with us back from Texas.

Yesterday we spent quite a while cleaning them. They were a bit dusty, but it seems that someone also painted something nearby without covering the mirrors or taking them down. All of the mirrors had white paint flecks on them. I was able to get most of them off with my nail. Then I hung the mirrors up in our room.

We are very pleased with our set of mirrors and I think we are both thrilled that they are on display instead of packed up and waiting for us back in Texas (like some of the other things we got from his mother.)

Road Block

We had to stop at a road block near Marathon, TX on our way to Del Rio. The Big Bend Open Road Race was having qualifying runs. We were told it would only take 20 minutes, but it actually took about 45. My mom and I got out of the car to take pictures of the cacti and the cars. Luckily it wasn't too hot outside--and there was a breeze.
Marfa, TX and Marathon, TX are kind of frou-frou now. They are full of artist galleries and fancy eateries. I don't know why someone would want to go out to the middle of nowhere for that. I must admit I've always wanted to see the Marfa lights. One of these days I'll go check 'em out. I just hope that if I drive out to the middle of nowhere I actually see them. It would suck to go all that way and sit out there in the middle of the night and not see anything.

Texas Blooms

I saw all kinds of blooms as we drove from El Paso to Del Rio last week. I managed to take a couple of photos.

These ocotillo plants were just dry twigs with flowers. These cacti actually grow leaves, but I guess there was only enough water to make flowers.
The prickly pears were also blooming.

We saw some burned out land and smoke on the horizon near Ft. Davis. The wildfires are currently burning over about 664k acres of Texas. That is nearly the size of Rhode Island (777k acres.) They were started by people--welding, tossing cigarettes. It is too sad for me to even think about.

Don't Mess With Texas Celebrity Face-Off

This year is the 25th anniversary of the Don't Mess With Texas ad campaign. To celebrate TxDOT is hosting a Celebrity Face-Off. This means you can go to the website, watch the different ads, and vote for your favorites.

My favorite is Willy Nelson, who was voted the favorite in 1998. I also really like the Texas Confederate Air Force ad.

So, if you're a Texan, wannabe Texan, or just curious about the whole Don't Mess With Texas motto check out the ads and vote. The campaign has made Texans realize that littering is unlAWFUL, given us pride in our state, helped clean up Texas, and keep it beautiful. Don't Mess With Texas is no longer just an ad campaign, it is part of our national (Texan) and personal identities.

Passover 2010

Our trip to Texas was a bit of a whirlwind tour. We drove down to Austin on Friday to have Passover with Joey and Lisa Diane. Joey did a wonderful job cooking everything. Ross made the matzo balls, which is his job every year. You can see from the photo that he likes to make them into different shapes. We had a good time. The best part was Joey's passover cake. It was awesome and he served it with sliced strawberries. Oh, I'd eat that cake any time of year.