From photographer (also, here, here), reporter, bumper sticker aficionado, music impresario, and (formerly) West Texas correspondent Danelle,:
At the feed store today… in Texas!
Danelle previously has reported to us on the big role competitive shooting played in her family, including this photo of her daughter at the range:
Danelle adds in a follow up email yesterday:
Retiring has been wonderful, we moved to a bright red Republican county in North Central Texas (you can see Oklahoma from here). We got here just in time for the drought to break – It started raining May 7 and really hasn’t stopped since then. 35 inches so far! Our tank has overflowed a couple of times and the weekly battle is keeping things mowed and the mosquitoes under control.
Heading to San Antonio next week for one of my favorite things – the Texas 4-H Shooting Sports Games. 2000 kids from 8 – 18 participating in Shotgun and Archery Events….. well, there’s that crazy 2nd Amendment Mom/Shooting Coach carrying on again!
Yes – the pic is real; that’s what our sunsets are like most nights! Have a wonderful and restful weekend (I’m not sure we can take many more political bombshells without sedation).
(click on the photo to enlarge, for the full beauty of the sunset)
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Comments
Texas sure looks like the place where I should live when I retire in a few years-retire as no longer working in downtown Chicago but doing my own thing outside a regular employment. I could never stop working. Work is a part of me I need.
Texas is big, gun friendly and not PC and that’s what I like.
I could bring my handguns to Texas. I just picked up a S & W .38 special. I will be registering for concealed carry classes soon. I hope to buy a rifle next year.
It’s sad about all the gun fuss these days. As a kid at camp years ago I shot a .22 rifle and steel-tipped arrows from a bow, both at targets, of course. Riflery and archery were part of our daily activities along with swimming, horseback riding, telling scary stories at the campfire and drinking ‘bug’ juice.
The sunrise over Lake Michigan is awesome as seen from my desk but the sunset above has a big open field in front of it and not the atrocity called Maggie Daley Park.
Big, yes. Gun friendly? Not as much as you would think. They only got open carry this year. Much of the state is pretty flat, and, for me, coming from the mountain west, quite humid (supposedly not west Texas – I lived by Austin for a bit). For me, though, the hardest thing, even beyond the fire ants, humidity, etc., were the Texans. Coming from the west, they came across as much more southern than western (though I have heard the opposite from real southerners). I could never become comfortable with the back slapping good-old-boy type of culture. Loud, obnoxious, and infringing your space and quiet. Funny thing was though that I jumped from Austin to Phoenix to get cool, given the difference in humidity between the two cities.
Bruce, you have made my day! Thanks for leaving and not trying to remake Texas into “the mountain west.” LOL!
Couldn’t – Texas is much too flat. Even the “hill country” around Austin where I lived.
My point about open carry is that Texas has been more in the middle when it comes to firearm regulations, than on the forefront. Nowhere near as draconian as NY, CA, etc. But not as open as AZ, MT, etc., where I spend much of my time. Given the legislation this year, I wouldn’t be surprised if TX moved in that direction over the next couple years (after all, it is Texas, and they don’t like to be second at anything).
The other thing that you have to keep in mind here are my biases. I grew up in CO, and we still remember the Texans coming up during the Civil War, trying to steal our gold. And, if you spend much time in ski communities (esp. Vail), you see a lot of Texans trying to make Colorado to be Texas North. And, since they were on vacation, most of the Texans we ran into were quite drunk. Loud, obnoxiously, drunk.
We’ve got towns in northern New Mexico’s Enchanted Circle that would dry up and blow away if it weren’t for Texans coming to ski in the winter and escape the heat with our higher altitudes in the summer. You won’t hear a whole lot of whining about Texas in this part of the state.
As far as Texans being southerners, they’re not. They’re Texans. They may combine elements of the south, southwest and west but really, they’re their own universe.
@Bruce Hayden – Texans are nothing if not polite. I can’t tell you the number of times I heard the words “Sir” or “Ma’am” coming from the lips of a teenager. Texans are ‘real’ – they live their lives large, just like their State.
As for ‘just getting open carry’ – sure but it is more like acknowledging a Citizen’s Right not the State grudgingly giving ‘permission’. Ranchers, farmers, truckers and even rural route main deliverers carry openly.
Deal with it.
I will agree with the politeness. For me, it is a more aggressive southern politeness than a western one.
Hey Bruce,
I am a Texan, born and raised. If you only lived in Austin, you don’t know jack about the state as a whole.
I now live in Phoenix area. If you only live in Phoenix you dont know jack about the state as a whole.
Where did you get your experience/perspective in ‘Southern’ living? South NYC?
When all is said and done, I am sure Texas is just as thrilled as you as a result of you moving out of state.
True Texans are fiercely loyal to their state, thus I suspect your only goal is incitement of a flame war.
Are you a liberal?
Well, … that’s gonna leave a nasty mark. Just saying.