Memorable Texan and Cowboy Faces in Reliant Stadium

Dancing at entrance

Watching a football game in Houston's Reliant Stadium is full of fun. The people and the place makes any game a memorable experience. On this particular Sunday, Hispanic Heritage was celebrated. Here's a few people I enjoyed during the game.

In foreground - super nice fan

Sitting immediately behind us was this lovely and fun lady. She helped make the day much better. Hello!

Texan colored hair-do

One row ahead of us was this fellow. I wonder how difficult it was to remove the colors from his hair.

Stadium neighbors

This fan is at every single game sitting right next to us, so we have gotten to know this lady.

Nearby fans

This couple was into the game very seriously, paying attention to every detail, watching a play being rerun on the scoreboard TV.

Memorable faces in the crowd

Very good fans - making noise and showing signs

Memorable face

Salute from memorable fan

  This man is well known at Texans games. The news media often spotlights him in the crowd.  He honored me as he has done before, by saluting me. Thanks buddy. We all respect your dedication and strong support for our team.

Loyal fans next to us

memorable face / enthusiastic fan

Memorable Cowboy fan

Another Cowboy fan

Award winning Cowboy fan

This young lady is 11 years old. She has always been a Cowboy fan even though her family supports the Texans. She knew the players, the rules and was very aware of the action on  and off the field. Everyone loved her and her enthusiasm. I heard a couple of people yell to her "I want to adopt you". I would have said it also but didn't need to. She talked to me the entire game off and on. In the third quarter, my heart melted when she said - "Mister, it will be alright. You can win next week." My hat off to you sweetie. You made the game super enjoyable for many Texan fans around us, as well as the Cowboys, even though we lost. The award? My special award goes to her for sportsmanlike conduct! Lots of people can learn how to be a better fan and competitor from this girl.

Foster is definitely making a difference for us this year

Poise and class

A standout in the crowd, she demonstrated a serious demeanor and intense concern for the game.

This is one of several articles on the Cowboy/Texan game of September 26th, 2010. Click on any photo for a full screen view.

Can't help but love the Texan and Cowboy Fans at the Tailgate party

We are one in this great state of ours. That was shown by the gentleman behaviors at the stadium in the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans game on October 26th, 2010, at Reliant Stadium. It was also evident in the smiles and congeniality among those on opposite support positions. I am going to share that with you here. Such lovely people with which to enjoy the Tailgate party.

My tummy hurts from laughing!

I saw this lovely lady when she was giggling over a joke with her friends. I seemed to make it a lot worse when I started kidding her about her tattoo! She was trying to explain to me that the tattoo wasn't real and I wasn't buying it. She wins the award on best laugh! Would we all have such a personality! She had me rolling on the floor before I could get out of their tent.

Want a chiller? Who can say no to that sweet face?

Miss Miller Light had a great smile. She was passing out some nice Texans chillers. You don't think the guys behind her noticed her, do you?

I can't believe you did that!

This guy had just finished off a Tequila shot(s) with whipped cream. The girls are laughing as he has come out of it unscathed but wait a minute! He has water in his hand! A feeble attempt to detox?

We are the Texans!

This was Tejano day, a celebration of the rich culture in the latino community who support our Texans. Some folks won't let Earl Campbell be forgotten. To us, he played for the Texans, not the Oilers.

So you like my red hair. Ok then I will show it to you in the sun!

This young lady was destined to be featured before I left the tent. Her red hair I found to be amazing as it glowed in the sun.  And that is why her smile is so genuine.

This is the way it goes. We are going to win!!

Listen pops, I am proud of my Mexican heritage. Tengo muchisimo orgullo de mis parientes de Mexico. Hablas el español? Porque no?

Hey pops, look at me! I'm ready!!!

Hey pops! I am about to show Dallas what a real man is like! I AM READY FOR WAR on the turf! Let me at 'em.

You and I both know that I am the sweetheart of the Texans fans

 
Another lovely lady making a statement. Texans it is, has been and will continue to be!

Can I help that I am a Dallas fan?

All ages were represented at the Tailgate and in the stands of Reliant.

Great boots

I think this lady was waiting for me. I saw her cleaning the front of the truck and apparently waxing the front bumper. Then I figured it out. She wanted a clean place to sit down. Now she was ready for a photo to be taken! Please .... No problema!

You gotta be kidding me!

You want me to do what? ... Geez buddy! The lady just before you wanted her photo taken!

Little Guy award - going right in the ole bread basket

Watch me put it where Schaub #8 would put it, right into the hands of Andre Johnson, #80!

Smok'n at a Tailgate Party - Dallas vs Houston

Smoking BBQ

Yep, fans were smok'n at the tailgate party for the Texans. Houston fans hosted the Dallas fans for a rip-roaring Texas party on the grass and pavement in the parking lots outside of Reliant Stadium.  Lines of traffic at 8AM testified to the fact that this would be a great I-45 Championship game at 12:00.  Some started with coffee but were well into the beer long before they got to the stadium.

Custom omelets

Some cooked by smoke; some by steam and other by direct fire.

These omelets in a boiling pan was the breakfast shortly followed by grilled steak at one tent. Each omelet was custom built by the person and put into a bag with their name on it. In just 12 minutes, it was ready! Served with coffee  .... yum yum! Judging from the alcohol and bar next to it, I assumed the breakfast table was closed soon after I left, and the party commenced to get under way here!

Links are ready!  Let's eat!

These links were cooked on the grill. I got to taste many fans' cooking on this day. Yum!

Foot remedy

Last Tailgate against the Colts, feet were smoked by the sun and 100 degree heat. This time, these folks came prepared. Honest! This ice was for their feet!!!! Smok'n in reverse ...

Shish Kbob heaven

  Grill'n and smok'n some juicy bobs!

Football war dance

Smokin some steaks as they danced the might Texan war dance. Might have been smoking something else too. Hold it! I see an enemy warrior in the camp!

Serious Smoker

Commercial BBQ places show their stuff off here as well, but this just happens to be a grill won in a $20 lottery last year. The owner loves it! Check out the signatures when you are out there.

Bacon wraps

Now that's smokin! Just getting started on the food but the beer is well on its way.Texans all the way!

Hot dog!

Cook up some chili and boil some wieners and you got a family dinner! Don't they look great!?

Wrapped Jalapeños

 
Stuffed jalapeños. They called them Jalapeño wraps. "Mildly hot." After I ate the one or two they offered me, I ran looking for a beer or two or three!!! ANYTHING COLD!

Wings

I asked about these but did not sample their wings. The cook said they were very hot. Well, after the not-hot Jalapeños, I figured I had better not eat anything that required a gallon of beer.

The Sausage Dog

My buddy and cook made this for us. When I got back from sampling all these foods and a gob of beer, he puts me in front of this and expects me to eat it! I ate a few bites which were delicious but I needed a gallon of beer to go with it, so I told him, are you trying to kill me?  Spicylike never before had I eaten anything spicy!  He ate this one and made me another. So good!

This is one of several articles I am writing on this ball game. Stay tuned, there are more to come. You can click on any one photograph in the commentary to view a full screen photo.

Mama made beans

I remember the good old days when grandma shelled beans that she grew in the garden and baked them in a wood fired oven. Nothing smelled as good as food from that oven! To make baked beans, she had to shell the beans, boil them and then bake them in the oven. This was a long process and made a very hot kitchen in the summer.  Then there was the baking of the bread in the same oven. That was a lot of work, a lot of time and took a lot of love.  Every meal was unique in some way and planned to the hilt!  My job was to stay out of the kitchen. A meal was often was prepared by multiple family members. Lots of things were discussed in that kitchen that my ears were not supposed to hear.

I also remember mama cooking baked beans. She did it in a gas oven but bought the beans already shelled from the grocery store.  My job was to thoroughly wash the beans, because the bag had rocks and dirt in it. Then she soaked the beans overnight and baked them the next day. The oven was closed tightly so you could not smell the food baking in it.  And were they good! Bread? That was too much work! Instead, we just ate sliced bread or cooked prepared dough from the grocery store.  Every meal seemed to be by recipe, usually Betty Crocker. It was semi-planned and fun to do. Dinner cooked while watching the soap opera.

Today, I go to the super market, buy a big can of beans and precooked mini-loaves of bread. I open the can of baked beans with an electric can opener, heat them up in the microwave and serve them in five minutes. Then I lightly toast the loaves of bread in the electric cooker.  Yum! Every meal is by the skin my teeth, whatever can be thrown together in the shortest time, because when you get hungry, you got to fix the meal!  15 minutes to open the can, heat up the beans and bread and eat dinner.  Every one to serve himself!

All of this change happened over just 70 years. Now the next 70 years? Maybe we will say “abracadabra” and the baked beans with bread will just appear out of nowhere and go straight to the gut.  That’s progress folks!  … in the next 70 years …

Last dog day of summer

On the last Sunday of the summer school break, some people went out to the beach, others went shopping and then there were those who went to the local park. I did the latter and ran across these cuties selling their lemonade at their lemonade stand!

To tell you the truth, it was a scorcher! Who would be so crazy as to be out and about in the park itself? Let me tell you, I was not the only one by far!  I spent the afternoon exploring a park that I had not explored before - Windvale.  Can you imagine the thirst after walking in near 100 degrees for about an hour? That lemonade tasted great! It had a special ingredient.

This stand was attractive and functional. Accompanied by their father, these girls spent their last dog day of summer having fun selling lemonade. They did it with very little  assistance from any adult.

Sales volumes are not high and therefore vendors are not interested in setting up commercial businesses at our parks. But a stand such as this was certainly welcome by some of those who passed by.  Dog days? The star Sirius is the dog star. It aligns with the sun in late July. Some say it adds to the heat of the month of late July and August. This was about the very last day of the dog star alignment; therefore it was really the last dog day of summer for these youngsters (and myself). What did you do on your last day before school started again?  

Thanks to the father and these children for permitting me to publish this.  

Day Trip - East Texas history trail along The King's Highway, El Camino Real

From time to time, I go visit historical sites. Not that I am a history buff, but someone who appreciates the past to understand the present. Residents of Montgomery County have a very real and close connection to the origins of the nation of Texas. The daughters of the American Revolution have preserved history in a way where we can step back into the past on location and imagine what happened there. El Camino Real, The King's Highway, or otherwise known as the Old San Antonio Road existed from the 1600's, winding through the great east Texas forests of tall pines and hardwoods, providing a means to travel through East Texas to San Antonio. Part of it is less than two hours away, on state highway 21. This segment was just part of a highway from Saltillo, Mexico to Louisiana. It was a key road for travel and goods transport throughout early Texas history. 

The Daughters of the American Revolution placed granite markers every five miles along the highway in 1918. What I like to do is to travel down the road and stop at every marker. You get a one mile notice in advance, look at your odometer and be ready to stop in one mile. I like to get out of the car, but some people just read the markers from inside the car. A marker like this is difficult to read even when outside your automobile.

You can start at Crockett, Texas.  I will show you some of the places you will likely want  to stop at along the trail, but remember there are many more than I will show. It will take you through part of Davy Crockett National Park.

One of the places you likely will want to stop is at the Caddo state park to see the burial mound of thee Caddo Indians. This highway was originally part of the old American Indian trails of East Texas.

And here is one of the mounds inside the park.

A number of the markers are not so old and much easier to read.

Imagine the Indians coming to visit this mission. The word was out that there were gifts and the white man was trying to teach them their religion.  They would come through the thick forest and suddenly appear without notice, without warning and sometimes while nearby, hunting game and not exactly the best smelling of the animals in the forest after running along the trails.

And then in another era, you could hear the sound of running horses as the stagecoach approached. Then the red dusty travelers would get out of the coach, tired and ready to freshen up and sleep the night, all the while threatened by the presence of local Indians and the wildness of bears and wolves nearby.

There is beauty and interesting images to see all along the way. This is one very old barn that caught my eye.

Some old springs are located in this forest where the Indians and the settlers stopped for water.

Peaceful farms dot the landscape, providing opportunity to smell the countryside, and watch cows and horses calmly grazing on a summer afternoon. Hay had just been harvested when I went through in July.

Remember that Texas was a nation only 160 years ago. That is six or so generations, but many of our great grandparents saw those days during their lifetime. 

Now its your turn to go on a ride down that road. From The Woodlands, you can take I45 to Huntsville, head northeast on SH 19 to Crockett, then proceed northeast on SH 21 to Alto or even further to Nacogdoches. Plan on at least a half a day trip, if not a full day. This time, I took this outing as part of a trip back from Tennessee.

Recommended references:
1. The Handbook of Texas Online
2. Texas State Library and Archives Commission