Nothing like a relaxing day in the water.
Significant weather events such as the flooding that has been taking place in North and Central Texas serve as a very poignant reminder that it sometimes rains like living hell in the Lone Star State. Just remember what Stevie Ray Vaughn said:
“It’s flooding down in Texas/All the rich folks just drowned.”
No, that’s not really what Stevie Ray said, exactly. But you get the point that it can and does come what we living here in East Texas refer to as “frog stranglers.” Is that the point? No, really what is the point?
Well it is that some folks have this preconceived notion of Texas being a vast desert wasteland. It’s not, of course. It’s only a vast wasteland, not a vast desert wasteland. I’m joking, although some desert is found in western Texas such as the Chihuahuan Desert. That is, as many of you are probably aware, where the cute, loveable, ankle-biting Chihuahua dog breed got its name. The dogs were bred to climb down tiny holes to catch desert-dwelling rodents which were used to make a slightly gamy version of carne asada known as raton asada. If any of what I just said is true then I would be sort of surprised because I just made that all up.
But it is true that some people have a stereotype of Texas which they probably got from watching too many Westerns, or “horse operas,” as my daddy called them.
When my Navy ship made port calls in Australia some 29 years ago, several Aussies asked me if I rode a horse. I told them that I did and said I would take them down below into the berthing spaces of my ship to catch a glimpse of “Silverbolt,” however the horse was taking a nap.
Since the world is one big wired-up conglomeration of computer chips and motherboards and fatherboards requiring increasing amounts of dilithium crystals, then perhaps these stereotypes are not quite as widespread these days. (Not to mention that Western movies, as in Old West, are only allowed on cable stations on Saturday mornings).
Nonetheless, I am sure a little of the Texas mystique remains throughout the world these days and shall remain for many years to come. That is, if it isn’t all washed away by floods.