Plus sur les styles de vie texans

12 juin 2013

Chers amis :

Nous avons évité les tornades, ou plutôt elles nous ont évités (deux d'entre elles de peu), et nous sommes maintenant en saison des ouragans ou des tempêtes tropicales. Je pense que nous sommes suffisamment à l'intérieur des terres pour ne pas avoir à nous inquiéter outre mesure. Les températures augmentent ; notre première journée à 100 degrés est attendue cette semaine. Avec une telle chaleur, les orages sont toujours possibles, et ce sont des tempêtes redoutables. Nous n'avons pas vu de grêle de la taille de balles de softball, mais apparemment nous sommes parmi les rares à ne pas l'avoir vue.

C'est une période chargée de l'année pour la famille. Susie, Becca et Katie sont au camp des filles, Xander suit un camp d'art tous les matins cette semaine, Jason et Jamie travaillent tous les deux et ils n'ont plus qu'une voiture depuis que Susie a accidenté la deuxième, alors nous faisons taxi quand nous le pouvons. Jamie conduira les enfants à Santa Fe plus tard ce mois-ci, pour rencontrer sa mère et leur confier les enfants pour leur visite d'été d'un mois. Jamie ira dans l'Utah à la mi-juillet pour une visite et rentrera avec les enfants fin juillet. La maison qu'ils ont louée ces deux dernières années a été vendue et ils déménageront en juillet. La nouvelle maison est magnifique et toujours très proche de nous. Ils loueront avec option d'achat (espérons-le).

Je viens de finir de lire TEXAS de Michener. C'était très intéressant maintenant que j'y vis. Et je jure que cela a répondu à beaucoup de questions sur la façon dont les Texans sont. Premièrement, lorsque le Texas a été colonisé, il était dirigé par les Espagnols puis le Mexique. Les colons devaient être catholiques pour posséder des terres. La terre était gratuite, ce qui explique la venue des colons ici en premier lieu ; si vous cultiviez, on vous donnait un « Labor » (lab-bore), soit 177 acres. Si vous aviez du bétail, vous pouviez obtenir une lieue de terre, soit environ 4 500 acres. La plupart des colons parvenaient à cultiver et à élever du bétail, pour obtenir le plus de terres possible. Bien sûr, dans certaines parties du Texas, une unité vache/veau nécessitait au moins 500 acres, il fallait donc beaucoup de terres ! Alors les gens ont abandonné leur religion et leurs traditions pour devenir Texans. Et le système de croyances qu'ils ont développé était largement basé sur la terre. Même lorsque le boom pétrolier a frappé, la première chose qu'un riche magnat du pétrole faisait quand son puits jaillissait était d'acheter des terres et un ranch.

Texas has spent twice as many years under Spanish or Mexican rule than it has as part of the U.S. And since it was so big and Mexico didn’t rule very well, Texans began making their own rules very early in their settlement.The fierce allegiance to Texas I suspect didn’t develop until the 20th Century. Prior to that, folks had a fierce independence. Not to overlook the Alamo, but it just seems like Texans worked to develop their land, for their families,and when the oil started coming in around 1905, money managed to change some attitudes. For example, I think Texans still believe that if a fellow owns something, he ought to be able to run it. If you have enough money, you should be able to run your county, your state or maybe even the federal guv’mint!  Call it the Jerry Jones syndrome. Jerry owns the Dallas Cowboys and he has been meddling in their losing football seasons since the day he bought the team!

Every day we read the paper and find some police, or judiciary official is accused of something: theft, DUI, sexual misconduct — it’s a long list. You wonder, how did they think they could get away with something like that? Because they have gotten away with it before, or for a long time, I think.

You may have read about the high school valedictorian in Joshua, TX who was cut off at the end of his valedictorian speech. He had to turn in his proposed speech to four school officials who, after suggesting changes, approved it. He was specifically told not to talk about God. When he gave his approved speech and then went on to talk about God anyway, they didn’t drag him off the stage, but they turned his microphone off. I can’t believe there is a school in Texas that truly believes in separation of church and state; the microphone was turned off because the kid didn’t do what he was told to do!

We are enjoying Texas the same way we enjoyed almost every adventure we had on the road (with the possible exception of Rawlins, Wyoming). People are generally very open and friendly, they all love Texas; we don’t meet a lot of natives; people moved here to make more money (doesn’t seem to matter if it’s 1806 or 1006); the country is beautiful; you still have to be creative to garden.

Dave and Preston were attacked by two pit bulls on May 24th. The neighbors helped Dave get the dogs off them (something that might not have been the case in our white North Carolina neighborhood), and 911 sent two cop cars, an ambulance, a fire truck and animal control. In the middle of the melee, a guy walked up to our neighbor across the street and asked if he had seen two gray dogs. Our neighbor said yeah, they attacked an old guy (!?) and his dog across the street. When the guy kind of laughed, the neighbor said something about it being a bad deal and the guy said “F— ‘im.” Then the guy collected the dogs and a car came by and picked them up and sped off. Another neighbor got the license plate and the police tracked it down to a woman in Mansfield who says her boyfriend owns the dogs and she won’t tell them who he is or where he lives. Our address is Arlington, even though we are in the same neighborhood, so you can imagine the back and forth and buck passing going on between agencies. Animal control told us that Texas police won’t do anything unless a human is injured. Dave had a bite on his hand, but not bad enough, I guess. Preston had $800 worth of surgery that night. If police took action for torn up knees, the dogs would have been put to sleep by now. Anyway, we have an attorney on it, to make sure we at least get the vet bill reimbursed. This is the third time the same dogs have been seen running in the neighborhood. They jumped me in the garage last August, not mean, but very aggressive. I would just get one off me and the other jumped up.

And the beat goes on, dear friends. We love each other, we love our life, and we love all of you!

Sam