For the Good People of Texas
 

Texas gets some bashing on this forum, but here was a great piece on NPR last week that celebrated a nostalgic image of Texas ranchers.

No Boss But The Land And Cattle: A Rancher's Coming Of Age : NPR

This was a great quote:

GOODWYN: . . . Although it's highly unusual now, before World War II, many American men lived Howell's life. You can see it in the rancher's eyes. There's a certain jauntiness - a lack of fear. Howell says the first time he was made aware of his relative station in the world was when, as a teenager, he went to the local feed store and tried to buy on credit from the owner.

R. HOWELL: And he asked who I was. And he said are you Houston's son? My dad went by Houston. And he said, well, I’ve never heard anybody speak badly of your dad or your granddad. You know, he charged the feed.

GOODWYN: It was a seminal moment in Howell’s life. He’d learned that, unbeknownst to him, his grandfather and father had been seen and judged and from this moment forward, he would be too.

Good lesson!

A good reputation is still valued in the world...perhaps not with everybody but to those who count!

I try to do all my deals on a handshake, but a contract soon follows.

I lived for a number of years in west Texas and everyone knows everyone because it is too difficult to travel outside of your area. Before WW2 the roads were dirt and a trip to town then meant an overnight stay. A one hundred mile trip would take three or four hours, then an overnight stay, then a few hours of business and four more hours of travel to get home. No one traveled after dark; it was just too scary.

Today a trip is an all day thing if you leave early in the morning, and everyone still knows everyone. The population is so sparse it is not hard to meet everyone if you just get out of the house.

Why was it too scary to travel after dark, banditos?

I was visiting the San Jacinto monument near Baytown Tx one year which left a lasting impression on me about my State,while viewing some of the old photos on display I came across some that gave you the grand opening and dedication back in the day .Alot of old civil war vets were in some of the shots ,some of Sam Houstons grand son who looked just like the man .It was a can do society back in those days ,a fading paper image to tell you the story in front of you .Today its just a faster pace of life , different times.

bad roads?

Armadillos

Fearsome beasties

Cupracobera,it will stir you in your sleep once you see one! I will tell you if youve ever come across a mother Javelina and her piglets you will get a warning only once , after that its on you.The warning youll hear is a quick and distinct chattering of teeth ,this might be how the Cupra came into being a Mythical Creature ,a quick moving animal usually hanging out in thick brush,it sure stir me into a tree, down you hell sent demon.

Remember.... We are talking about the 1930's, pre WW2. Traveling after dark was slow because of the poor headlights cars had at the time. Roads were terrible in places and if it rained it was likely the road would wash out here and there. Not so bad in the daylight when you could see down the road, but how fast could you drive when you are using lights that are weaker than the flashlights we use today?

There were deer to hit, coyotes to avoid, cattle walking around and if the bearings in your engine went it would be several hours before anyone would come along and give you a ride. There were no telephones to speak of and no one would come after you until daylight anyway.

It was just a different set of circumstances than we have today.

If you ever get a chance to drive a car from the 30's then try to do it at night. Even on modern city streets it is difficult to see where you are going with the 6v light bulbs.

Mercedes has a new lighting system that gives a heads up display of what is a further down the road than the best lighting will allow you to see. Someday all cars will have this and folks will wonder how we ever drove at night without it.

Many, many years ago I knew a guy who was with the Parks and Wildlife service in Texas. We went to the monument and went right up to the top. Then he asked me if I wanted to go inside the star.

We went out on the roof, which is very small, and there was a ladder leading up into the star. The problem was you had to jump about two feet to grab the bottom rung and then pull yourself up. When climbing down you grabbed on to the bottom rung, let yourself stop swaying, and then dropped the two feet to the roof. If the wind was not blowing it was, according to him anyway, easy.

I just took his word for it.

Those hogs are tough. I shot one with a 9mm. I could not tell if the bullet bounced off or if he just absorbed it like a slime demon but I could tell the effect was minimal.

A guy with a .223 opened up on the hog and after a few rounds it went down and was moving slow enough we could at least get back to the truck and drive out of there.

And...... If you did need to stop fast then consider the brakes at the time were toys next to what we have today. If you had a Ford T you only had brakes on the back to begin with, so at night you had to take braking distance into consideration as well as everything else.