Texas Tidbits: The Lost Maples That Aren't So Lost Anymore

The world today is a rat race and the rats are winning, as the old saying goes. From time to time we all need a place to escape to, to recharge the old batteries and not have to travel too far from home. I have found such a place. Lost Maples State Natural Area near Vanderpool in the Hill Country. It's a 5 to 6 hour drive from Dallas, depending on the route you take. Personally, I would take I-35 South to Highway 16 and head west to Vanderpool. Wild Texas' website tells us that "Lost Maples is "Located along the Sabinal River in the heart of the Texas Hill Country, 2,208-acre Lost Maples State Natural Area is an inspiring mixture of sheer limestone cliffs, deep canyons, dense woodlands, and numerous clear streams." Numerous clear streams? I'm in. Fish.Fear.Me. As I was looking for info on Lost Maples, I came across a website belonging to Brian Greenstone. Brian has some great tips for you so you'll have a game plan before you leave home. Remember, luck favors a prepared mind. The mad rush of summer vacation season is coming up, so a trip to Lost Maples during the week (weekends would be too busy for me) would be ideal for fishin' and camping in the 2200+ acre park, especially since the kids will have a break from school for a while. On the way home you could make a planned stop in San Antonio for some Mexican food and a visit to Texas' version of the Vatican, the Alamo. What a great trip to make. Lost Maples State Natural Area ain't so lost after all. Thank goodness.

A New Blogroll Addition!

Beef Blogonoff One blogger's beef with the entire world, and has had enough of it.

If you go to the right sidebar and scroll down to the blogroll, you'll find a new name on the list - Beef Blogonoff. If the name alone doesn't grab ya, then scoot on over and give it a look. Beef's daily posts are short, to the point and pretty damn funny.

I just "met" Beef this weekend, and as I understand it, he's fairly new to blogging and would welcome new readers with open arms - and a $20 bribe. OK, I made that part up. He won't welcome you with open arms, but he'll bribe the hell out of you!

Beef, welcome to the Three States Plus One Blogroll! It's good to have you on it.

P.S. You can send my $20 to my PayPal account.  :)

The Reason for the Season

         HAVE A BLESSED EASTER

                        HE IS RISEN!

The History of the Easter Egg

I know. I know. I know. I was supposed to take the weekend off from blogging, but my wife is watching some TV shows on the DVR and I figured "what the heck?". So here I am. Luck you, huh?

Here it is Easter Saturday and other than the obvious religious aspects of the day, what is one of the things most associated with Easter? You got it! The humble Easter egg. Using a little Google Fu, I looked up the History of the Easter Egg. You may be surprised at what you learn.

The Holiday Spot website has the scoop, but first here's a preview:

"Easter eggs are specially decorated eggs given out to celebrate the Easter holiday or springtime.

It is the influence of the traditional spring rites that made Easter so egg-special. And myths coming down to us from an incredibly distant past have shown man's relationship with the egg to be very deep seated one. This is caught in old Latin proverb: "Omne vivum ex ovo". This means "all life comes from an egg". Not just the Latin saying, eggs are just laid well over all corners of the world. From ancient India to Polynesia, from Iran, Greece, and Phonecia to Latvia, Estonia, and Finland, from Central America to the west coast of South America, there are reports of myths of the whole universe created out of an egg. Thus, it is not unusual that in almost all ancient cultures eggs had been held as an emblem of life. The concept of all living beings born from an egg is also a foundational concept of modern biology."


The article continues, "Despite claims being made that Easter Eggs were originally pagan symbols, there is no solid evidence for this. It was not until the 18th Century that Jakob Grimm theorised a putative pagan connection to Easter Eggs with a goddess of his own whom he named Ostara, a suggested German version of Eostre."


It's a very interesting read and you can catch the whole thing on theholidayspot.com.


Once again, I wish you a blessed Easter Weekend and may the joy of redemption through the crucifixion of our Lord, Jesus Christ be with you.

Good Friday: For God So Loved the World....

John 3:16

Today is Good Friday, a day of remembrance. Christians the world over are humbling themselves before God, commemorating the crucifixion of His only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, at Calvary, that we may all live forever in Heaven with the Father and Son. Holy, Holy, Holy...

For our Brothers and Sisters of the Jewish Faith, today is Yom Vav, 18th, Nisan, 5771, Pesach, 3rd (Tiferes ShebeChesed) Omer Day. Shalom.

I observe this Holy Weekend as a Roman Catholic, therefore I wanted to share the way that we observe this Glorious day with all my Christian Family and our Hebrew Cousins. Wikipedia has a very good summary of the Catholic Celebration of the Holy Weekend.

May the Almighty bless and guide you for all the days of your life. This is my wish for you.

Glory to God in the Highest!

Allelujah!

***I am taking Holy Weekend off from blogging, so please feel free to access the blog archives to catch up on some of the posts you may have missed. Thank you and God Bless.***

Texas Tidbits: 175th Anniversary of Texas Independence!

Republic of Texas, 1836

April 21 is one of the most important dates in Texas History. Period. 175 years ago today, The Republic of Texas was born when General Sam Houston and his men routed the mighty Mexican Army in just eighteen minutes with an attack that caught the Mexicans by surprise, confused and in disarray. Gunfire and shouts of "Remember the Alamo" filled the air as the Texians took revenge on the very Army that had made its way across Texas with little or no resistance, save for the Battle of the Alamo, which afforded much-needed time for the Texian Army to regroup. In less time than it takes to cook frozen french fries in the oven, Texas became an Independent Nation.

The San Jacinto Museum website has a brief summary of the Battle of San Jacinto. It begins "In March of 1836, things were not going well for Sam Houston’s Texas revolutionaries. Having declared independence from the official Mexican government, they were now running from the Mexican army, being run from their homes—and running out of time.
Since January 1836, Texas settlers had been abandoning their homes and the lives they’d created on the Texas frontier. Known as the Runaway Scrape, this retreat began as the Mexican government initiated military reoccupation of the newly settled land. The event was marked by sickness, freezing weather, hunger and panic among the citizenry." The rest of the article about this improbable victory can be read here.

When the smoke cleared after the battle, the Mexican Army had lost 600 men, another 700 surrendered and the "Napoleon of the West", Mexican General Santa Anna was found hiding in the brush near the battlefield dressed as a common foot soldier, Sam Houston had been shot in the ankle and the Republic of Texas had become a reality. Further, Mexico had lost "nearly a million square miles in territory. For the Texans, their victory led to annexation into the United States and the United States' war with Mexico. In the end, the United States would gain not only Texas but also New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, California, Utah and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and Wyoming. As a result of the Battle of San Jacinto, almost a third of what is now the United States of America changed ownership."

The legacy of the people of Texas in 1836is a state that stands as an example not only to the citizens of the United States, but to people around the world, of what a fierce pride in your land and a dogged determination can do for them, when they stand up to tyranny with the singleminded goal of Freedom as the driving force in overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds against the most vicious of oppressors. Like the great football coach Bum Phillips learned at the foot of his Daddy's buddy Bill, "Texans are forged of a hotter fire." Read the story at the previous link if you aren't a Texan, it'll give you a better understanding of how we feel and why we think and act like we do. It's not a bad idea for Texans to give it another look as well. It's dead solid perfect. You'll thank me later.

Go ahead and have a Texas-size hoot today celebrating this defining moment in history. Have some Mexican food, a tall cold beverage and sing with your chest swollen with pride and a tear in your eye "The Eyes of Texas" (sorry about that, Aggies) Enjoy the fellowship with the folks next to you, your fellow Texans. They are, after all, people forged of a hotter fire.

God Bless Texas!

Texas Tidbits: 175th Anniversary Eve - My Thoughts

The Damndest Lady You Ever Saw

Tomorrow will mark the 175th anniversary of Texas Independence. I wish I could be home to celebrate with all my friends and family, but it ain't gonna happen. Dammit. Maybe I'll be around for the bi-centennial of this occasion that changed Texas and the United States forever. I can, however, say this with certainty, if all Hell breaks loose in this country due to the policies of the Dumbass in Chief and his Socialist Regime bankrupting the National Treasury, I'll be in Texas quick as a hiccup.

Texas is my home, no matter how far away I am from her. I'll celebrate the 175th anniversary of her Freedom in my own way here in New England with my wife and kids. Maybe I'll tell the girls, 4 and 8 years old, what it menas to be free of tyranny and oppression. Maybe I'll show them pictures of the 267,000 square miles of the Damndest Lady You Ever Saw and watch them spellbound by her beauty. I'll tell them about where I was born and some of the places I lived and traveled to from all around the State. There's plenty to teach them so I am sure I won't run out of material. I have a ton of great personal stories to tell them about times I spent with people I still consider family. I don't mean to leave anybody out, so I am gonna make a short list of those who have touched me in a profound way and remain in my thoughts and prayers on a daily basis.

I have to start off with the Randles. For a number of years it was a rare bear of a weekend that I did not spend at the "Randle Compound". They treated me just like another son and I can't express how honored and blessed I was during that time. I loved all of them, but Randy was my brother. I still consider him to be so. He's one of the best men I have ever had the privilege to know. Damned Hootus.  :)

Another real good man I know from Texas is Mark Duggan. Mark and I have been through a lot together and separately abd have always had each other's back. In the truest sense of the word, Mark is my brother. No questions asked. I love my brother.

Having known so many men of good (and dubious) character, the man who stands out amongst all these incredible people is Tommy Thompson. I knew Tommy for almost thirty years before he died three years ago. I'll never have a better friend. Period. I recently learned that on his death bed, he asked for his Brother, Cecil. For the first time, I wasn't there for Tommy. It still gnaws at my heart to know that I was so far out of touch with a man that I loved like he was my blood. That's one thing I'll never be able to make up for and it's killing me inside. But you know what? I know Tommy understood and would forgive me, but even that loving gesture doesn't take away the guilt I feel for failing my Brother when he needed me more than ever. I'll live with that until the day I die. Tommy, I miss you every day, man. It'll be a cold day in hell before I meet a better man and friend.

Those are the things and people of Texas that I'll talk to my little girls about. Things and people that make Texas the extraordinary place that is, 175 years after gaining her Independence. But the again, the men and women of 175 years ago were pretty damn good role models for all Texans of past, present and future generations. They also left with us an indomitable spirit that pervades our culture and our beliefs. A will that will not be destroyed by mortal men nor defeated by any other son of a bitch that has such a foolish notion. Don't mess with Texas is much more than a "keep Texas clean" slogan, it's a way of life for all Texans. A Texan can be called a Redneck, but the offending party will have to go home and tell his Mama he got his ass kicked by a Redneck.

Texas. She and I be mates.