A true Texas fact

[Wildthings]

They now keep the door locked because couples were going in there and doing what couples do!

The Texas Quote of the Day is in regards to that giant set of cowboy boots at the North Star Mall in San Antonio: "On the north property line of North Star Mall and just off the frontage road of Loop 410, they sent out a tacit howdy to each passerby. These five-ton enormities peered out toward passing vehicles containing tourists and San Antonio newcomers who stared at these marvels completely bewildered. At forty feet tall and thirty-five feet wide, they set the world record for the largest “cowboy-wearin’-shoes”. Their eccentric design of black, brown, and white faux ostrich skin expressed their own sense of Texas pride beginning in 1980. They are none other than the “The Giant Justins.” However, locals came to know them simply as “The Boots of North Star Mall.” The artist, Austin native Bob “Daddy O” Wade created the Giant Justin's for the 1979 Washington Project of the Arts, an arts organization in D.C. (Davila 1B). He created the boots out of donated material in a vacant lot three blocks from the White House. After the exhibit, the issue of what to do with them puzzled Wade and the founders of Project of the Arts, so the massive boots stayed put in the lot. Then Wade received a phone call from the Rouse Company, owners of North Star Mall, telling him they wanted to purchase the boots and send them to San Antonio. So for a fee of $20,000, workers dismantled the boots, loaded them on three flatbed semi-trailers, and then sent them off to Texas. The boots were re-assembled on January 16, 1980 at their permanent home. With the excitement of these four story high boots in the Alamo city, thousands felt it necessary to get their pictures with the boots... quite specifically, on the boots. Wade had constructed the boots of a foam-like substance that is similar to the material used on fiberglass bodies of automobiles, but in 1982, workers added a concrete covering to the boots after continued issues arose including persistent and deliberate vandalism to these recent additions to the city’s cultural landscape. Along with the concrete covering, a coat of paint was applied that year. Later, in 2006, one of Wade’s ex-students from his time as an art professor at the University of North Texas, Style Read, took the job of giving the colossal boots fresh paint. As tedious and demanding as it was, Read began the process by administering a coat of white primer, followed by a sheet of caramel colored paint. The painting of the bottom portion of the boots cost an estimated $5,000. . The boots have provided a home to some astonishing guests. Radio disc jockeys from local country stations used the door located at the bottom of one of the boots to climb up an interior ladder to a platform at the top of the boot. From there, they broadcast their show during the weeks of the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo. In their rodeo clothes, they waved to passing freeway commuters and soon attracted crowds of cowboys and cowgirls in the mall parking lot next to the boots. At other times, vagrants found shelter in the boots for short periods. Roland De La Garza, an employee of North Star Mall, made the comment, “When they put these boots up, they didn’t think it’d be a big thing. But now it’s one of the biggest things in San Antonio”. In the first three decades after their arrival in San Antonio they have appeared in television commercials, on the covers of books, postcards, billboards, and also on the Saks Fifth Avenue snow globe with other iconic symbols of San Antonio like the Alamo. The Christmas season had not truly begun for some San Antonians until North Star Mall lit the three thousand white lights shaped into stars on the prodigious footwear. These boots have really left a footprint on San Antonio." ----- Haley Hamilton in "Journal of the Life and Culture of San Antonio." You can find a lot more such San Antonio history at this link: https://www.uiw.edu/sanantonio/index.html

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And with that link provided Tony you just created my reading adventures for the next few hours

 

[woodman6415]

The Texas Quote of the Day:

"People who come to Texas these days are preachers, or fugitives from justice, or sons of b*ches. Which one fits you?"

----- Captain Richard King, founder of the famed King Ranch, 1850

 

[woodman6415]

The Night Before Christmas, Texas Style:

'Twas the night before Christmas, in Texas, you know.
Way out on the prairie, without any snow.
Asleep in their cabin, were Buddy and Sue,
A dreamin' of Christmas, like me and you.

Not stockings, but boots, at the foot of their bed,
For this was Texas, what more need be said,
When all of a sudden, from out of the still night,
There came such a ruckus, it gave me a fright.

And I saw 'cross the prairie, like a shot from a gun,
A loaded up buckboard, come on at a run,
The driver was "Geein" and "Hawin", with a will,
The horses (not reindeer) he drove with such skill.

"Come on there Buck, Poncho, & Prince, to the right,
There'll be plenty of travelin' for you all tonight."
The driver in Wranglers and a shirt that was red,
Had a ten-gallon Stetson on top of his head.

As he stepped from the buckboard, he was really a sight,
With his beard and mustache, so curly and white.
As he burst in the cabin, the children awoke,
And were so astonished, that neither one spoke.

And he filled up their boots with such presents galore,
That neither could think of a single thing more.
When Buddy recovered the use of his jaws,
He asked in a whisper, "Are you really Santa Claus?"

"Am I the real Santa? Well, what do you think?"
And he smiled as he gave a mysterious wink.
Then he leaped in his buckboard, and called back in his drawl,
"To all the children in Texas, Merry Christmas, Y'all!"

 

[Tony]

The Texas Quote of the Day: "Goodbye, God. This will be the last chance I get to talk to you. We're moving to Texas." ----- Child's prayer in Arkansas as cited in the Pine Bluff Commercial newspaper, 1858

 

[Mike Hill]

Coupla days late but:

 

[Eric Rorabaugh]

Thought you Texans might be interested in this. This is at the upper area of our boat ramp in my county where I work. Austinville, Virginia

 

[Mike Hill]

Too cool Hats off to Austinville, VA!!!

 

[Eric Rorabaugh]

I just can't get away from these Texans!

 

[Maverick]

I just can't get away from these Texans!

Nor should you try.....

 

[Tony]

Thought you Texans might be interested in this. This is at the upper area of our boat ramp in my county where I work. Austinville, Virginia

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I've read about that, very cool!

 

[Don Ratcliff]

Thought you Texans might be interested in this. This is at the upper area of our boat ramp in my county where I work. Austinville, Virginia

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All great people were born on November 3rd but we also have some crazies born that day to we dont like to talk about.

 

[Mike Hill]

Nor should you try.....

John you took the words outta my mouth!

 

[Wildthings]

Thanks for sharing Eric. Really cool

 

[Tony]

The Texas Quote of the Day: "Aren't you glad that Texas put the stars up in the sky? If heaven isn't Texas, partner, I don't wanna die." ---- The Austin Lounge Lizards, "One More Stupid Song about Texas"

 

[woodman6415]

The Texas Quote of the Day:

"The first mule ever born in Lampasas county is 44 years old. Steve Smith says he has known the mule since 1895, and she was four years old at the time. The mule, named Mag, is now blind and hard of hearing, but she eats three times a day. Bran, oats and cottonseed meal are her rations and she can gobble up ten ears of corn as fast as any animal alive. She is branded U on the shoulder.

Mag has had a varied career. Once a rider won $300 betting that she could out-race a pony at Goldthwaite. The pony was almost suffocated by mule dust. Again she has taken part in rodeos as a roping animal. Five years ago part of her tail dropped off. Old age was setting in. She stands in the shade of the trees, a cheap but effective drunk. Her original weight was 850 pounds, but it has dropped now to 650.

For fifteen years she has done nothing but give out interviews to visitors who believe she is the oldest mule alive in the United States. Once a boy shot out an eye with a target rifle, and then the light in the other disappeared. For four years, she has been totally blind. She has never had but one owner and that is Cornelius McAnelley, the founder of McAnelley's Bend. Mr. McAnelley is confined to his wheel chair now but he is brought out in the yard at times to caress his ancient companion."

------ Sam Ashburn, writing in the San Angelo Morning Times, June 1934

 

[woodman6415]

The Texas Quote of the Day:

Back in "those days" a cowboy, drunk and happy, boarded a train in Dallas and gave the conductor a wad of bills.

"Where you bound for?" the conductor asked.

"To hell," the cowboy replied.

"The fare to Fort Worth is 1.50," replied the conductor as he counted out the change.

---- Boyce House, Texas humorist

 

[woodman6415]

The Texas Quote of the Day relates how Snakey Joe, an old cowboy, got his nickname.

Some cowboys were working on the Read Ranch in 1900, which lies in the eastern part of Howard County, where the Rattlesnake and Wild Horse mountains loom against the horizon.

These cowboys were very busy making ready for a fall roundup of several thousand head of three-year old steers and to do some branding of the calves. Red and Joe started to catch their mounts, which were Spanish pintos.

"Well," said Joe, "where did the wrangler stake our ponies? Look! the hobbles are broken."

Taking his lasso, he started to find his horse. Not watching very carefully where he stepped, he stepped in a prairie dog cell and was bitten by a rattler on the ankle. The warning rattle of the snake did not attract his attention. Not having a first-aid kit with him he gave it a generous dose of tobacco juice, and trusting it to Lady Lack went on his way after his horse.

Becoming tired and worried about his accident, he sat down to meditate upon the situation. However, not noticing where he chose to sit, the mate of the rattler was underneath him. After a few minutes of relaxation, he got up and, deciding that he was not seriously hurt, made another attempt to catch the pony, while the snake, all unknown, dangled from the seat of his trousers.

Finally after a rather strenuous chase, he succeeded in catching the cayuse. Picking his saddle and tossing it on the horse and tightening the girth with a final click, he started to mount, but that was another question. The horse scented the snake and would not stand.

The snake in its mad scramble trying to loose its entangled fangs made itself felt by its weight.

Joe looked around and saw it. "WOW!"

And loudly cursing, he threw up his hands trying to hold the reins in one hand and with the other, locate the trouble, all the while running in circles.

His pal Red stood watching him, dying with laughter, throwing his sombrero in the air, and enjoying the sight. Seeing Joe had almost become exhausted and the frightened horse had begun to trample him, Red made two long jumps and grabbed the snake by one hand, and the horse with the other and separated the trio.

The time had passed and noon-hour had arrived. While seated around the campfire, with the branding irons sizzling in the fire, they were served the famous dish of son-of-a-gun stew and black coffee as Red related the morning incident. All eyes and laughter turned toward Joe, crying "Snakey Joe!"

----- Story related by "Red" Wiggins, 60-year-old cowboy on November 14, 1936, at Big Spring, Texas, for the WPA Writers Project

 

[woodman6415]

The Arcane Texas Fact of the Day:

Brewster County, at 6,192 square miles, is 41.5 times the size of Rockwall County, which is 149 square miles. I wouldn't mention it except for the fact that Rockwall County's population (estimated at 113,000 folks) is 12.5 times that of Brewster County (estimated at 9065 folks),

While I have you: Brewster County is not only larger than the State of Rhode Island but also 500 square miles larger than Connecticut. Brewster County was named for Colonel Henry Percy Brewster, a Secretary of War for the Republic of Texas.

 

[Mike Hill]

Brewster County, at 6,192 square miles, is 41.5 times the size of Rockwall County, which is 149 square miles. I wouldn't mention it except for the fact that Rockwall County's population (estimated at 113,000 folks) is 12.5 times that of Brewster County (estimated at 9065 folks),

While I have you: Brewster County is not only larger than the State of Rhode Island but also 500 square miles larger than Connecticut. Brewster County was named for Colonel Henry Percy Brewster, a Secretary of War for the Republic of Texas.

But I was put in my place by an Alaskan a few years back. While on his boat, eating deep water shrimp we just got out of his traps in Halibut cove off Kachemak Bay and pondering hiking to China Poot Lake (who names a lake that?) I mentioned something about Texas being the second largest state He cleared his throat and corrected me - Texas was the third largest state. With a half-eaten shrimp caught in my throat, I coughed and must have looked befuddled. He proceeded to state that if you split Alaska down the middle - each half would be bigger than Texas - so his summation was that Texas was the 3rd largest state. I couldn't argue - I was on his boat in the middle of wilderness (full of bears) - and about 4,300 miles from home

 

[Tony]

But I was put in my place by an Alaskan a few years back. While on his boat, eating deep water shrimp we just got out of his traps in Halibut cove off Kachemak Bay and pondering hiking to China Poot Lake (who names a lake that?) I mentioned something about Texas being the second largest state He cleared his throat and corrected me - Texas was the third largest state. With a half-eaten shrimp caught in my throat, I coughed and must have looked befuddled. He proceeded to state that if you split Alaska down the middle - each half would be bigger than Texas - so his summation was that Texas was the 3rd largest state. I couldn't argue - I was on his boat in the middle of wilderness (full of bears) - and about 4,300 miles from home

I would be tempted to try taking on the bears rather than listen to that!