Blue State Refugee moving to TX - Advice?

[wil]

Roughly speaking there are three main religions in Tx, in order of importance:
1. Christianity
2. the second amendment
3. Football.

Some tips to blend in culturally.
We say grace, this might be a new thing for some folks. Perhaps live & let live as the saying goes.
We hold the door for the womenfolk, and otherwise try to mind our manners.
Folks outside the big cities, or specifically in most of the rural areas will say hello to you, they are genuinely being friendly, it's ok to say hello & how're you in response.
If you're stuck in the mud and three guys pull up in a 4wd truck and get out with chains & things in thier hands that's not a carjacking, relax they live for this sort've thing.

The second amendment, not to your liking? deal with it....

Football: pay attention as this could get you some bonus points.
The first commandment of football:
1. Thou shalt not blaspheme the annointed names of Landry and Staubach. This is cardinal....

other commandments:
2. Staubach is also known as "captain america" <remember that for conversation.
3. Jerry Jones is a hillbilly with a big mouth and a pocket full of money who committed the cardinal sin (see commandment #1).
4. There's another football team down there around houston but we're not sure what to make of that.
5. supplication to the Almighty generally reaches peak twice on sundays, during church and anytime Tony Romo lets loose with one of those "Yahoo, somebody go get that" throws. Usually under those circumstances supplication runs along the lines of "Blessed Lord, in your mercy keep us free from sin and please don't let that be an interception cuz it's got 'pick six' written all over the side of it......."

yes this is written somewhat tongue-in-cheek however as others might testify there is a grain of truth to it.

[mentalarson]

Some tips to blend in culturally.
We say grace, this might be a new thing for some folks. Perhaps live & let live as the saying goes.
We hold the door for the womenfolk, and otherwise try to mind our manners.
Folks outside the big cities, or specifically in most of the rural areas will say hello to you, they are genuinely being friendly, it's ok to say hello & how're you in response.
If you're stuck in the mud and three guys pull up in a 4wd truck and get out with chains & things in thier hands that's not a carjacking, relax they live for this sort've thing.
The second amendment, not to your liking? deal with it....

All sounds GREAT to us. We sold our couches to a guy the other day who lived near Dallas for 5 years and moved to WA in '97. He said one great test is to imagine someone knocking on your door at 7pm. How do you respond?
- Here in WA we go into condition orange and one person answers the door while the other pays attention.
- In TX, you invite your neighbor in and set them a plate at the table...

Here in WA we're surrounded by some of the most intolerant "open minded" folks you'll ever meet. We are expected to put up with all manner of destructive behavior, but we're closed mined for suggesting society runs better when people are self-reliant and have good morals and character.

Can't wait to kick the dirt of this place off my shoes.

[canvasbck]

East Texas has a lot to offer. I'm down on the South East coast once you get past the second tier of counties you start finding land with rolling hills and beautiful woodlands. Some specific areas you might want to consider are Jasper, Woodville, Lufkin and as you mentioned Tyler. I tell folks the winters in this part of Texas are rarely severe but summer can be brutal.

MoJo, we are headed to Dallas and East Texas for a week starting 4/17. We have friends to stay with in Dallas for a few days, then want to move East/SE to really scout out the sweet spot you mentioned. We plan to put 1500+ miles on the rental car in our week.

Coming from WA, some of us are very concerned about the heat and humidity, but I try to evaluate based on,
"How many days can I be outside with reasonably comfortable weather?"....or "How many Outdoorable days does it have?"
If you ask my wife, NW Washington is only nice for 2 months, but in reality is pretty decent for 4-5 months with 7-8 months of gray and/or cold.
Every place but Hawaii has a certain amount of time each year where the weather sucks in some way so we're hoping to minimize that in East TX.

FREE Lunch, coffee or beer?
If anyone is in East TX and would like us to buy a cup of coffee for you while you tell us the good and not so good things about your area, please let me know.

Too bad you'r not coming down earlier. Mrs. Canvasbck and I are both on rodeo committees and could get you into the worlds largest rodeo for free. No carry there, it's a sporting event, but it really is something to see if you haven't before.

[mentalarson]

Too bad you'r not coming down earlier. Mrs. Canvasbck and I are both on rodeo committees and could get you into the worlds largest rodeo for free. No carry there, it's a sporting event, but it really is something to see if you haven't before.

Ooo...that sounds cool. Thank you for the offer. I may hit you up for the inside track next year. ;)

[mentalarson]

We've got our Texas Recon 2 schedule worked out, but no plan survives contact with the enemy so we're flexible of course. 7 days and about 1,600 miles.

Let me know if you want a free cup of coffee along the way, and we'll try to stop and chat for a bit to hear about your slice of Texas.

4/17 Dallas-Arlington-Forth Worth-Plano
4/18 College Station - Round Rock
4/20 Austin - Bastrop
4/19 New Braunfels - San Antonio
4/21 Freeport - Galveston - Houston
4/22 Conroe - Huntsville - Crockett - Lufkin - Longview
4/23 Longview - Tyler - Athens - Gun Barrel City - Rockwall
4/24 Dallas > Home

[MotherBear]

Looks like you had some interest in pines -- my parents have a place out between Bastrop and Buescher State Parks in the lost pines area. Used to be real nice, but now it's mostly dead trees around there since the fire a year and a half ago.

I'm in Pflugerville, just outside of Austin. Grew up in Cedar Park and Leander, spent 5 years in northwest Austin before moving back out. My parents' home is in Georgetown (the Bastrop place is for weekends volunteering at a camp down there). I'm not sure exactly what you want to know, but if we can help I'm sure we'd be glad to. Let me know if we can do anything for you.

[mac_attack]

mentalarson, I sent you a PM.

[steve817]

Coming from WA, some of us are very concerned about the heat and humidity, but I try to evaluate based on,
"How many days can I be outside with reasonably comfortable weather?"....or "How many Outdoorable days does it have?"
If you ask my wife, NW Washington is only nice for 2 months, but in reality is pretty decent for 4-5 months with 7-8 months of gray and/or cold.
Every place but Hawaii has a certain amount of time each year where the weather sucks in some way so we're hoping to minimize that in East TX.

I don't know what your level of tolerance is in regards to the heat. My threshold is about 90 degrees. From 91to 99 I'll be complaining but I'll go out in it. 100 and above I stay in the AC. Water sunscreen and hats are your friend. July and August are usually the worst, every now and then June can be a real booger also. Our last streak of consecutive 100+ degree days in DFW was 40. I just took an average of the worst 10 years from here

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/dallas/dall ... 38382.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and came up with an average of 48 days. Keep in mind these are the worst years and go back to about 1951. Total 100 degree days, our record was 70 set in 2011. Wichita Falls had 100 that year. The overall average is 16.

[BigGuy]

Coming from WA, some of us are very concerned about the heat and humidity, but I try to evaluate based on,
"How many days can I be outside with reasonably comfortable weather?"....or "How many Outdoorable days does it have?"
If you ask my wife, NW Washington is only nice for 2 months, but in reality is pretty decent for 4-5 months with 7-8 months of gray and/or cold.
Every place but Hawaii has a certain amount of time each year where the weather sucks in some way so we're hoping to minimize that in East TX.

!!! Language warning !!!
Dear Diary: The Texas Heat

It's not really that bad, but that's what we tell all the liberals.