Texas Bits and Pieces

Texas Bits and Pieces

Road Kill and Horse Trailers

The drive between Houston and Dallas in long and relatively boring. For most of the distance, the road is a two lane highway with gently rolling scrub land on either side of the road. An occasional over pass with exits leads to another small town whose town center is marked by a water tower, more often than not, labelled with the name and slogan of the local football team. Highlights of the trip include the 65 foot tall statue of Sam Houston, which can be seen as a glow on the horizon, even in broad daylight, long before the site is reached, and the state prison at Huntsville, which in times of an execution, is noticeable by the number of protestors’cars trying to exit to the prison and park outside for prayer and candlelight vigils. The distances to any population center are such that it is impossible to get anything on the radio except for the local country and western, gospel and religious stations, which come in loud and clear and static free as is to be expected, but are weak enough signals that there are large blocks of static on the airwaves between the towns. It is a far from interesting drive.

On a recent excursion to take our daughter back to college in Denton, just north of Dallas, I was reduced to keeping a counted survey of tire wreckage from blowouts and road kill. Closer to Houston, the blow outs dominated but as we got out into the farm country, there was more and more road kill. The most frequent road kill were coyotes and foxes. Based on color and size, I would say that the majority of the canid type road kill were coyote. Since I had read so much about their alleged cleverness and alertness, at least in terms of traffic, I found the frequency sad and disappointing. The canid road kill were followed in equal frequency by something that resembled a badger, and something else that looked like a fuzzy armadillo. While either badgers or armadillos would be logical for the terrain, and the badgers were the right size and coloration, I was unable to figure out what the fuzzy armadillos type were. I found the thought of a fuzzy or furry armadillo implausible and disturbing so decided that my eyes must have been mistaken. The least frequent road kill were deer and birds. Since the terrain is scrub trees and bushes, there were several deer. These were probably still fresh as otherwise some enterprising driver/hunter would have already loaded them into the truck and driven off. The birds were primarily crow raven type and were probably accounted for by their seeming insouciance to the passing cars while they ate the remains of their own kind and others along the side of the road.

Closer to Dallas, where the highway passes through horse country, I expanded my informal survey to include horse trailers. Surprisingly enough, the majority, even those small enough to hold only one horse and very much in the minority, were empty. I suppose the time of the hour might account for a certain number trailers, horses having been dropped off, or the drivers being on the way to pick up, but I couldn’t help but think a certain percentage of the trailers, especially the super deluxe, multi animal units, were purely for show and an excuse to drive a super large, high power pick up truck. The most ironic was the super large, deluxe, color coordinated unit and truck, complete with living quarters in the trailer, which passed us. In it was one solitary reindeer. Since it has been noted that female reindeer are the only reindeer which do not shed their horns during the winter, I guess Ms. Rudolf was on her way to make an obligatory Christmas appearance, and was travelling in style.


Color Coordination in Texas

Recently a super deluxe bath shop opened near by. It is a combination luxury bathing and spa “supply” enterprise which promises “good clean family fun”. Although it does not offer day spa services , it focuses instead on supplies for a do it yourself day spa at home including a number of homeopathic and aromatherapy bath products . Also offered are towels, wash cloths, bath mits, loofahs, sponges, back scrubbers, toe scrubbers, callus stones, message and body oils and lotions all of which can be customized for the client. The store features sequential counters at which one can select a particular product, an aroma, an appropriate container, color and amount. It is even possible to create a specialized label with suitable graphics and explanations.

The owner of the store is particularly proud that a family can participate in such a selection process as part of a fun family outing and in the course of an hour, create a line of specialized bath and beauty products which are not only be unique to their family but “allow each individual to make personal products which complement the color schemes in their home.!”

Prayer in Public Places


The city of Sugar Land has recently opened and dedicated a New City Hall in Sugar Land Town Square. Located just on the edge of the biggest (of several) shopping malls within the town of Sugar Land, Town Square and its Town Hall were designed by a leading architectural firm to create a “new heart and town center” for the community of Sugar Land. The new Town Square and Town Hall are meant to be a landmark and a place for the people of the community.

In a recent city council meeting, the new Town Hall was dedicated. The highlight of the evening, held in the extravagant city council chambers, was the prayer dedication. Not to be accused of slighting anyone, the city council invited 16 if the towns spiritual leader to fill the room with warm blessing of peace as they prayed over the new structure, the staff, the council, anything and everything and anyone who has, is and ever will step inside the building. Since each spiritual leader had a prayer time limit of one minute. The ceremony was short and efficient. This allowed everyone to disperse to the mall to continue their Christmas shopping.