Late Afternoon Musing

I understand that this is the 33rd day of temperatures  over 100 degrees here in Houston. That is not as bad as it first may seem, because the famous Houston humidity has not been all that high – so it is bearable. What is unbearable is the lack of rain.

One of the first comments a visitor makes when they arrive here is how green everything is. No longer. Grass has died and trees are sagging and flowers are pretty much non-existent. People have given up trying to water yards – they just can’t keep up with the relentless sun. I’ve even heard some are dismayed that the hurricane is heading toward the Carolinas rather than here. It is pretty bad when we start wishing for a hurricane.

I just saw the seven day forecast – and the triple digits continue.

I started to apologize to everyone about Mr. Rick Perry entering the presidential fray – but then it occurs to me that he has found a way to escape the oppressive heat. He has an excuse for cavorting in milder temperatures. Maybe all of us in Texas should run for President so we can scoot up to Ohio or New Hampshire or wherever those thermometers look pleasing. That’s a scary thought – more Texans running for president.

Actually I need to point out that most Texans aren’t caricatures. Most of us don’t own cowboy boots and ride the range and spit tobacco and spend our free time in saloons. Some of us are even thoughtful and don’t shoot from the hip and practice not swaggering. We may try to convince you that we really are the biggest state in the union ‘cause when you melt all that snow in Alaska, it would only be a piddling state. We may say that, but inside we really don’t care. We actually know that it easy to get tired of Texas, especially when we get in the car and drive for twelve hours and still can’t get out the state. We are pleased as punch that we don’t have an income tax, although the sales tax is nothing to sneeze at….but even that is lower than most states. I guess it is because we have all those oil and gas companies that plow money into the state coffers. But even so, we have a pretty high deficit. And we have an education proficiency that sucks. And more than a quarter of the population has no health insurance at all. Those things we can’t brag about. But we stand up to crime and stick a needle in your arm and kill ya’ if you screw with us. Many of us won’t brag about that either.

But we have some good things – NASA and one of the best medical centers in the world and Big Bend National Park and modern cities….Houston even has an underground tunnel (almost an underground city) system downtown that is really getting a lot of use during these hot days. We have some interesting professional  sports teams and seem to always have world class gymnasts. And we are friendly. We won’t shoot you on sight. We will look you in the eye, nod our head and greet you with, “Howdy”.

What am I getting around to here? Mr. Perry is the personification of a Texan that is not representative of us all. That I apologize for.