Bluebonnets and Tornadoes - This is Texas

I had my Wherever Wednessday post all planned out this week. I usually talk about quirky Texas stuff and a lot of it is the stuff I DON'T like about Texas. This week I was gonna brag on one of my favorite things about Texas, namely this...

The gorgeous color-fest which is Texas spring!

But Texas spring also brought something else yesterday,

namely this....

Texas Tornadoes!  NOT one of my fave Texas things.

But they are amazing.  Though I am horrified at the damage they cause, these storms leave me awe-struck too.  I have to admit I watched that video several times gobsmacked that wind, just wind, can pick up a semi like that.  I was thankful to learn no one was in it. 

The tornadoes that came through Texas yesterday missed us  (we did get some golf-ball sized hail though), and no one we know was hurt, thankfully...though my sister-in-law's car got hail damage  (she didn't say how badly...just said "We're ok...our car, not so much.")

Anyways, hope you all are doing ok out there.   If you weren't affected yourself and want to help out those that were hit, Charity Navigator has started up a list of places to donate and you can find a list of places to voluteer, bring canned goods, etc. here.  And, please,  if you know of any other food or clothing drives or anything like that in your area, let me know and I'll share it here.

Oh, and if you like poetry, you might want to check out the poem posted yesterday at Red or Gray.

  

 Stay safe ya'll.

This is Texas

How to Help Texas Fire Victims

By now you've most likely heard about the devastating wildfires here in Texas. The American Red Cross of Central Texas is accepting monetary donations, and has a listing of places in Texas you can donate in-kind gifts like canned food, clothing and toiletries.  Scroll down to the bottom of this post for links to other places collecting donations or holding fund-raisers.

If you're near the fires and are looking for info what's happening with them now, where to take livestock, shelters, evacuation routes etc, the TX Storm Chasers Facebook page is a great place to get informed, (Thanks Mom for sharing that!) as is the Texas Wildfires Updates Page.

ONLINE FUNDRAISERS

• Through Ebay Givingworks This list shows all the auctions benifiting the Red Cross of Central Texas.  Auctions may donate all or a portion of proceeds. 
• On Etsy  Some of those listed are donating all of the proceeds, and some only donating a portion, and some may not be donating any longer so check the individual listings for details. 
• Here on Texifornia I'm auctioning off some spots in my next "Souvenir Spotlight" here on Texifornia to help with relief efforts.  Also, I'd be happy to provide other advertising here in exchange for a donation, so please feel free to leave a comment or e-mail me at ecarian at yahoo dot com if you are interested.

DONATION CENTERS/FUNDRAISERS BY REGION

• Austin Area (Fundraising Events)
• Waco Area

If you know of a listing of places in your area accepting in-kind gifts or raising funds, please leave a link in the comments below and I'll add a link to it.

Also, several Etsians have stepped up to help by donating a portion of their sales. Some of these are featured on Shop4Charity.

Prayers for Those Affected by the Earthquakes/Tsunamis

I have been blown away as I've watched videos on CNN of the earthquake and Tsunami that have devasted Japan and other areas in Asia.  Tsunamis have even reached California, a danger that I was aware of as a child growing up on a boat in Southern CA, but luckily never experienced.   It's amazing that an event on the other side of the Pacific can have effects that far reaching.

I've experienced Earthquakes too, but nothing compared to what they experienced in Japan.  Please keep all affected in your prayers.

And, if you would like to help in other ways, here's some links....

Charity Navigators List of Places to Donate

CNNs Ways to Help

CALIFORNIANS:  LOCAL WAYS TO HELP

I've read Crescent City and Santa Cruz were the hardest
hit in California, so you might contact local organizations there
if you are near enough to help with the clean-up.

The sister of the Harbor manager in Crescent City happens to
be part of a forum I'm a memeber of, and she suggested
contactings the Crescent City The Chamber of Commerce
if you want to volunteer to help with the clean up.  I'm including info
for both Santa Cruz and Cresent City Chamber of Commerces below:

Crescent City Chamber of Commerce
1001 Front Street
Crescent City, CA 95531-4133
(707) 464-3174

Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce
Sn Street, Ste. 1 Santa Cruz, CA 95060
(831) 457-3713

Also, in Redondo, a clean-up of King Harbor Marina from the
sardines that for some un-explained reason flooded into the area last
week was put on hold because of the Tsunami.  As late as March 9
they were still needing volunteers and may stil need them.

If you know of any local California efforts that

people can help with, please e-mail me at 

ecarian at yahoo dot com  so I can include them here.

Here's a news article showing some of the damage to California and the west coast...
again, nothing compared to what people experienced in Japan, but still bad.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

OK...go ahead and boycott em.

Design by ry3317

Originally, I was not supporting the idea of boycotting BP.  They were paying for the clean-up and it wasn't clear if they were any more negligent than other oil companies.  Then I read this...

Documents: BP cut corners in days before blowout

I've changed my mind!  Go ahead an BOYCOTT EM!


.

Prayers for Fort Hood

I just read the text of the speech Obama made Tuesday honoring the 13 people killed in the recent Fort Hood shooting. He named each of their names and told their stories, and I was saddened and moved as I read; Moved by the lives that they lived, saddened by the breadth of the loss. For those who pray, I encourage you to read this speech, praying for the families of each person named as you read...and for the Fort Hood community and the wounded still recovering.

I'd also like to share something a woman I knew shared with me shortly after the 9/11 tragedy. I was reminded of it as I wrote this today. The following is her words:

Trying to explain today's tragedies to my 6 year old son, I said, "Jonah, we need to pray to Jesus, because bad people have crashed airplanes into big buildings, and lots of people have had one of their family members die today."

Jonah said, "O.k. Mommy" and he folded his hands, then on his own initiative, he began to pray outloud. He prayed a prayer that both surprised me and humbled me.

Jonah said, "Dear Jesus, show those bad men your goodness. Blast the devil from their hearts Jesus, and blast it full of your goodness."

I was shocked. I had not asked Jonah to pray for the "bad men", in fact, it had not even crossed my mind to pray for the terrorists behind these awful events.

Just a few weeks ago in Children's Church, Jonah's memory verse had been "Love your enemy". Jonah had been very impressed by this particular verse, because he talked about it with me and his Daddy, and his prayer today proved that he took that verse to heart.

Today God used my son to show me that we are truly to be "as little children", and to put our trust in Him, our Father. In such a fearful time, He is the only one we can turn to who can bring comfort and healing to our hearts, and to the hearts of those grieving.

Only God can bring change to a heart, and God desires that we pray for all who have been effected by todays tragedies, the innocent hearts, as well as the guilty hearts.

With this in mind, remembering Jesus' call to love our enemies and pray for those persecute us, I believe that God would also want us to also pray for the shooter who caused the Fort Hood tragedy, Nidal Malik Hasan.

Californians are so Californian

A recent study that found that Californians are...well, Californian.

Dennis Tootelian recently announced the results of a survey that has people outside the state no doubt saying: "See, I told you." Among his findings: 63 percent of Californians have actually hugged a tree; 24 percent have surfed; and 21 percent admit to enjoying mud baths.

"It turns out that Californians actually do a lot of the things that make up the stereotype," says Mr. Tootelian.

...read more about it here.

Oh, and thanks to The Common Room, the blog which point me towards this fun if not all that surprising story.

The Craziness of Law

I've been following news on the CPSIA (a recent overarching law that is a real mess for children's hand-crafters, booksellers, and thrift stores). But anyways, that wasn't what I came online to chat about today. You see, one of the side affects of my research on that is I've discovered some really good blogs along the way. One of them is Overlawyered.com. My reading there the last couple days lead me to some interesting news items related to California and Texas.

It's not unheard of in Texas for a small town to use motorists passing through to fund it's police department (I personally know of a little stretch of HWY 35 where the speed limit dips from 70 to 65 for no aparant reason except to trap moterists with tickets--and there's not even an offramp to the town that polices that stretch). Well, seems that the town of Tenaha, Texas, is going even further by using a law that grants authorities the power to seize property used in crimes to take stuff from people who were never even charged with one.

Meanwhile, there's a posibility California may be releasing 25% off it's prison polulation. Yeah...you heard that right. A three judge panel has concluded that because of overcrowing the only way to avoid unconstitutional prison conditions is to impose a "cap on the prison population." More on that HERE.

BAD Tomatoes (HEB/Whole Foods)

Just thought I'd spread the news: There has been a salmonella outbreak connected to tomatoes sold through HEB and Whole Foods in Texas...so if you bought any tomatoes there throw them out!

More details here:
http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2008/06/02/daily31.html


(UPDATE: They've narrowed the source of the bad tomatoes so the ones you get from HEB and Whole Foods now should be safe).

Blind People Can Hunt in Texas

OH man...Texas is an interesting state. A Texas legislator has introduced a bill to allow blind people to hunt.

They would have to take a sighted friend, and they would be allowed to use a lazer pointer. Honestly, its probably safer than all those people out there already hunting dead-drunk! (Do they have a law againt hunting drunk? Don't think so, but they really should.)

Well, this will give me an interesting topic to talk about with my dad, who's an avid gun enthusiast (in the very anti-gun state of California).

In The News...

Anyone in Texas or California who sustained damage to a computer when attempting to remove the Sony BMG DRM software is eligible for a $175 payment.

Read More Here

The California Nurses' Association comes to Texas

The California Nurses' Association has fought for lower nurse to patient ratios in California, resulting in safer patient care and less nursing staff turnover. Now the CNA is organizing support for similar legislation in Texas. Read more about it on the following article at the CNA website:

TEXAS: Nurses rally for patient protection legislation

Lifespans

A recent study tracked the lifespans of American's based on where they lived.

Lifespan Map

Here's how California and Texas ranked:

California
Life expectancy: 78.2
State rank: 10


Texas
Life expectancy: 76.7
State rank: 30


(Gotta be the Texas heat! Either that or the chicken fried steak, fried chicken, fried okra, fried pies, etc...)

Nicknames and Slogans: The Crazy Politics Begins

Well, this isn't new news...I'm just finally getting around to commenting on it.

Both independents running for Texas Governor asked for a nickname to be used on the ballot. Kinky Friedman was granted his request to be called Kinky, not Richard (his given name). Carole Keeton Strayhorn was not allowed to be called Grandma. (Full Article Here)

They said that there was evidence that Friedman had gone by the name Kinky for many years, while Grandma was a slogan, not a nickname, for Strayhorn.

Now, here's my comment. That Strayhorn was trying to get Grandma on the ballot at all is so political it makes my skin crawl. And I'm not a fan of Kinky or any other candidate. In fact, when I first learned that Strayhorn was going to try to run, I went to her website to find out about her because I didn't care for my other choices. Not finding out much that was substantial, I contacted her campaign by e-mail and said, basically, that I was interested in signing her petition to run but I needed to find out more about where she stood on various issues and what she planned to do as Governor before I could give her my suppport. Soon afterwards I received a packet with a petition sheets and a stack of bumper stickers--but nothing to convince me that she was a worthy candidate. The letter that came with the package thanked me for my support (which I hadn't offered yet) and said that the important thing was to get people to think of the phrase "One Tough Grandma" when they thought of Strayhorn.

So great...you're one tough Grandma. I know a lot of tough grandma's I wouldn't want for Governor. Give me something more.