if i can get 50 replies i will never post on this sorry excuse for a forum again. knowing west texas posters, i will dominate this forum for years to come. all i need is 50 and i will stay away for ever. west tx doesn't have it in them.

50-60 years ago I got a kick out of a slogan Ft Worth adopted "Where the West Begins." Abilene promptly came up with their own version "Where the West is At." The slogans did not last long ... and I doubt either added one person to the population or one dollar to the town coffer.

Driving down a West Texas highway you see a mare in a nearby pasture running with her foal. How can you tell the sex of the foal without slowing down or stopping your car?

If the foal is running behind the mare, it is a filly. If the foal is running beside the mare, it is a colt.

Newborn foals are famous for their long gangly legs ... almost out of proportion. Whyzat?

Blame the CANNON bone, the bone in the fore leg between the knee and the "ankle." When that foal is born that bone is as long as it will ever be. It does not grow lengthwise with age.

Slim Willett was a country dj, western band leader, and TV personality in Abilene (and probably the corniest dj in the history of radio) in the early 50s. He was famous locally for his signature song "I'm a Toolpusher from Snyder."

But nationally, he wrote one of the top pop songs of all time .... "Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes." Perry Como was the first to take it to Number 1 on the Hit Parade, then 3 or 4 other stars recorded it and each version went to Number 1.

If you have ever studied a Texas map you have noted that for the most part all counties east of I-35 are irregular shapes and sizes with boundaries generally following creeks or rivers.

West of I-35 counties generally are squares or at least rectangular (except in the Big Bend.

The reason is that east of I-35 counties evolved from the different Spanish land grants and physical landmarks were the usual method of describing boundaries.

After the Civil War, West Texas was for the most part unsettled so planners could lay out future counties with some sort of system. Plus, they had made plans to cut a deal with railroads to do the actual surveying for the state.

The result was that for the most part, West Texas counties are 30 miles square, containing 900 sections of land. Towns that were located most near the center of that square had the best chance of being named County Seat. That is the reason when you travel in West Texas decent sized towns are about 30 miles apart (the distance a horseman could travel in one day.)

(If you have not done so already, order the Railroad Map of Texas dated 1885 from Maps of Texas.com and study the names of railroad sidings labeled on the map by the T&P Railroad every 10 miles or so of track and you will discover how many towns got their earliest names.)

You live in West Texas and decide you want to grow watermelons. You are able to get one plant to grow and it is a good one, you count 100 blooms on it. Can you expect to harvest 100 watermelons?

Nope. Only one out of seven blooms will produce a melon. On each limb of a vine, start counting at the first forming melon and then the next six blooms will not bear fruit, but the seventh will be the next forming melon. (And chances the coyotes and crows will get the melons that do form.)

7

i knew i could count on powerbiscuit. he still is mad at me for our previous banter. i still love powerbiscuit.

what was our previous banter....

10

where you admited to making many unhealthy choices as a youth and i ended up telling you to go repent.

ahhh, yeah, I already repented...I forgot about that....I don't take this stuff on the net very seriously

13

"Sorry excuse for a forum", what is that all about?

Why don't you settle for 15?

16

broken- the reason i feel this is a sorry excuse for a forum is there is so little activity. there is a topic still listed on the first page from may. even the nerdery forum has a complete page of topics that are from july. west tx is greatness yet we don't want to share.

[This message has been edited by maestro1 (edited 7/5/2006 3:29p).]

but have you read the connections post ?

there's a whole forum of goodness in that one post

and did you pick 50 just out of thin air ?
does it have any significance to you ?

I'm thinking 50 comes along before you know it

fossil-ag

one of my Abilene history books has a picture of a great billboard from what looks like the 20's or 30's - something about "Abilene . . near here, where Coronado had intercourse with the Indians 250 years ago"

Maestro
We just don't talk unless we have something important to say;-)

more on Slim Willett and the origin of "Don't let the stars . . . "

http://www.hillbilly-music.com/artists/story/index.php?id=11276

quote:

---

Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes
(Slim Willett)

Don't let the stars get in your eyes
Don't let the moon break your heart
Love blooms at night in daylight it dies
Don't let the stars get in your eyes
Oh, keep your heart for me for someday
I'll return and you know you're
The only one I'll ever love.

Too many nights
Too many stars
Too many moons to change your mind
If I'm gone too long don't forget where you belong
When the stars come out remember you are mine.

Don't let the stars get in your eyes
Don't let the moon break your heart
Love blooms at night in daylight it dies
Don't let the stars get in your eyes
Oh, keep your heart for me for someday
I'll return and you know you're
The only one I'll ever love.

--- Instrumental ---

Too many miles
Too many days
Too many nights to be alone
So please keep your heart while we're apart
Don't you linger in the moonlight while I'm gone.

Don't let the stars get in your eyes
Don't let the moon break your heart
The love blooms at night in daylight it dies
Don't let the stars get in your eyes
Oh, keep your heart for me for someday
I'll return and you know you're
The only one I'll ever love.

You're the only one I'll ever love...

---

and in my looking around I found that Jimmie Dale Gilmore has a version. I'll have to find that to listen to.

wow, almost halfway there, and I haven't even started drinking yet

Also notice that many of your West Texas counties are named after Confederate Civil War generals and soldiers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Texas_county_name_etymologies

one of my favorites

"Dirty Neck" Bill Scurry

William Scurry was born in TN, came to Texas in 1839. Practiced law, participated in politics and owned a newspaper at various points in his life. A veteran of the War with Mexico. He was with Sibley in New Mexico at Val Verde and Glorieta. Later helped recapture Galveston. Wounded at Jenkins Ferry in Arkansas and buried at the State Cemetery in Austin.


Handbook of Texas on his death

quote:

---

When he was assigned to command the Third Brigade of Walker's Texas Division in October 1863, Capt. E. P. Petty wrote, "Genl. Scurry has been assigned to our command in place of Genl. McCulloch-He has reached here and assumed command. I am well pleased with him. I knew him well in Texas. He is a fighter and those who follow him will go to the Cannon's mouth." Scurry commanded the Third Brigade at the battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill in April 1864 and was immediately transferred with his command to Arkansas to help to repel the wing of the federal army commanded by Frederick Steele, then marching toward Northeast Texas. Scurry was wounded at the battle of Jenkins Ferry, on April 30, 1864, but refused to be carried to the rear. A federal attack overran the place where he lay, and for two hours his wound was unattended. When his brigade regained the field he asked, "Have we whipped them?" On being told that the battle was won, Scurry replied, "Now take me to a house where I can be made comfortable and die easy."

---

Scurry County 50 miles northwest of Abilene is named for Gen Scurry.






[This message has been edited by TheSheik (edited 7/5/2006 5:14p).]

and I didn't realize until I was reading that above, that Stonewall county was named for Thomas J "Stonewall" Jackson. I never had thought that through before. You wouldn't think they'd use a nickname.



here's you a War with Mexico Stonewall Jackson

The Sheik .... I note a strong family resemblance between "Dirty Neck" Bill Scurry and some of the Snyder High School football players in the early 50s. Now I know the connection. (Speedy Moffett who coached at Snyder in those days would have played them all if he could have rounded up 11 who looked like Dirty Neck.)

Let me help!! 29 and counting.

To make this W Texas related, I am going to Midland tomorrow.

Anyone else ever heard Stonewall County referred to as the "Free State of Stonewall"? They like to do things up there in their own way, the rest of the world be darned. My dad, when he worked for the Farm Credit System, once had a Stonewall County sheriff refuse to acknowledge a court order from a District Judge (to seize some cattle) that my dad was holding in his hand. His reasoning? "That didn't come from nobody in Stonewall County, it don't mean nothin' to me."

[This message has been edited by WestTxAg06 (edited 7/5/2006 8:59p).]

sounds like my kind of place

sounds like my grandad, who went to his grave refusing to accept or acknowledge daylight savings time

maestro, don't you get your butt kicked on the south texas forum? Why are you up here messing with with us good folk? Go home!