Where to Go For Barbecue in Texas

Maybe you have noticed that I haven’t been posting here for a few days. This is because I am by my very nature somewhat of a technological dinosaur in that I am tied to a desktop PC.

I could never get the hang of those laptop things.

So when I go mobile, if there isn’t a free internet-ready computer handy the blog stalls for a time.

I just got back from the annual Advanced Placement Conference. It’s a thing that the College Board puts on every summer for AP teachers and those associated with those things. It was in San Antonio this year.

Now one of the nice things about having to make the drive to San Antonio is that you get the opportunity to eat some really good barbecue because you have to drive right past Luling, Texas.

And no, we’re not talking about that abomination with branches springing up all over, in this case the highway-side tourist trap outside of Luling called Buc-ees.

No, to get what is probably the best barbecue in Texas, you have to drive into Luling and walk into a building that was built when the earth was young.

Then you get in line. On any given Saturday a line leading to the smokehouse snakes through the eating area but it moves quickly. There is a sign on the door to the smokehouse that commands you not to hold the door open, and once you pass through the door you immediately realize why that sign is there.

It’s smoky in the smokehouse.

And it is hotter than Dante’s Inferno.

But it is worth the few minutes you are there because of the pork ribs, whose meat practically falls off the bone, the brisket that you can cut with a fork, and the homemade sausage rings.

All you buy there is the meat. To get sides and drinks you go to the main dining room and order at the counter.

I know, it’s kind of quirky, but that and their choice of dinnerware – butcher paper – makes it all that much more quaint.

And, come to find out, there is another reason to visit Luling in the summertime.

Watermelon Thumping!

Whatever that is.

A Day In Schulenberg With Died In The Wool Democrats

Texas State Democratic Executive Committee members Vickie Vogel and Don Bankston held an affair to remember today. Sixty-two Democratic activists, including county chairs and precinct chairs, converged from all over Senate District 18 on Schulenberg, Texas today to attend a campaign workshop at the teeny tiny Schulenberg campus of Blinn College. Fourteen of the nineteen counties within the boundaries of SD 18 were represented. The Fort Bend Democrats were there in force even though there was another Democratic function on the same day in Sugar Land. Fort Bend Dems attended that one as well.

I am here to say that I learned a lot. And no, I’m not going to tell you the specifics of what I learned – although it was some pretty good stuff – because, well, frankly, the walls have ears and those from The Dark Side can also read this. As a matter of fact, Mark told me today that a great many of my readers ARE from The Dark Side. He also told me that I need to start reading blogs written by Dark Side bloggers, but to tell you the honest truth, I can’t bring myself to do it. I read blogs for entertainment and enlightenment and I can find neither at those sites.

All in all, there were four workshop sessions, two concurrent sessions in the morning and two in the afternoon, and a final session where we all shared notes. Lunch? Beef cooked until it fell apart slathered in red sauce, on a bun with onions, pickles and chips.

Glen Maxey, who does NOT reside within SD 18, but came anyway, revealed at his workshop some key strategies that involves voter registration. Glen is running for Travis County Tax Collector-Assessor. Why? Because for one thing, that office also handles Travis County voter registration.

John Griffin discussed fundraising matters and had some great suggestions on donor interactions. We Democrats, you see, need to fall in love. Republican fundraising strategies are much simpler: bring a big bucket to catch all the money the fat cats throw at them.

Sondra Haltom, a field director on staff at the Texas Democratic Party – a last minute backup speaker who, they say did really well - discussed candidate recruitment.

And finally my friend Mark who used to write a lefty blog called The View From 22 was incredibly informative about the online strategies at the county level, the candidate level, and the blogger level. Now you have to understand that Mark, who is still on the sunny side of 30, was talking to a room full of gray hair and liver spots. He even mentioned that fact himself, although not so tactlessly. So some of what he had to say was brand new stuff to his audience. He had a lot of war stories from previous campaigns and entertained his audience with them so much that I am sure that we are going to see a few new bloggers from “The Great Generation” appear on the internets. He had lots of information on search engines. For instance, try these key words in Google: why one fifth of us Americans. Whose blog do you see right under You Tube? Today, it’s this one. I got over 3000 hits on that one posting.

It ended too soon but we had a long drive home. In the car we were lost in our thoughts, although at one point Ann pointed out to us something that is so very true. She was so excited by the fact that we had attended a Democratic activist meeting in the heart of still Red Texas, here in the South, with a room full of people that made the two of us look positively youthful, but when Glen Maxey stood up and told the room about how his mother was 76 when she found out that he was gay, it did not faze a single person in the room. I should point out that this was probably not new news to this group. But it underscored the fact that today, we were with our people, liberal Democrats who are all about acceptance and tolerance, people who embrace diversity rather than spurn it. People with whom you can relax and enjoy conversation without worrying about petty prejudices.

Being a Democrat is about all of the above, and about being a better person for it.

And then there’s the barbecue . . .

Abilene, Abilene, Unfriendliest Town that I’ve Ever Seen

I got out of work today. 110 of my students were busy all day writing ten test questions on magnetism. Did I ever mention that I am a physics instructor? I can’t remember.

Nope, no work today for me. Instead, John, Judy and I got in a rent-a-car and drove from Richmond, Texas to Abilene, Texas. Six hours plus a half hour for lunch at a DQ in Santa Anna. John drove the first leg, then I drove the 2nd.

Now this is a true story. Our offramp in Abilene was Buffalo Gap. The offramp ended in a T intersection with a boulevard stop sign, and a sharp curve you couldn't see 50 feet to the left. Wierdest intersection I’ve ever seen. So I figured out the rules. You wait until you can’t see anyone coming around the curve and then turn left, gunning the engine, hoping to Almighty God no one is coming from the right.

I had to. Some wingnut came up behind me at the stop sign and grew impatient with my trying to negotiate the intersection without getting T-boned. So he starts honking his horn and gesticulating wildly at me. Finally no one came screaming around the curve that you can’t see around (light waves don't bend unless you have a refracting medium) and I gunned the engine. Some other guy in a Chevy Nova came screaming around the curve and HE honked at me.

Great. I’m in Abilene for 1 minute and get honked at by two different people within a minute of each other.

I turned to Judy, who was born in Amarillo, and asked “Is there anything about North Texas that I need to know?”.

“Yes,” she said as she pointed to the 3rd religious billboard we had seen in as many minutes (Life is short, Eternity is a long time), “don’t tell anyone that you are a Democrat”.

Why am I in Abilene and not teaching eager young minds? I’m going to a physics teacher conference.

Cool, huh?

Best thing about it?

Free barbeque!

Talton Bolts From the Dark Side - Pitts Steps In

I can’t believe what I am reading.

Bob Talton is endorsing Brian McCall in a move to unseat Tom Craddick?! This is the Bob Talton who was thinking of running for candidate in CD-22 before he was turned away by the TDP and its lawyers?

This is the Bob Talton who introduced a bill banning gays from being foster parents? [you know, maybe it might be a good idea to introduce a bill banning state legislators from being foster parents – especially if they are or the Republican stripe]

THAT Bob Talton?

Bob Talton makes Tom Craddick look like a flaming liberal by comparison, and a pretty nice guy at that.

So the smell of blood must be in the air and the wolves are encircling a wounded doe-eyed deer.

If I were a Craddick Democrat right now, I would be seriously considering what can happen if McCall can pull it off. I certainly wouldn’t want to be hanging back waiting for a majority vote for a secret ballot that just isn’t going to happen.

Now I can do the math.

McCall says he has 73 pledges - 17 Republican and 56 Democrats

Craddick says he has 72 pledges - 59 Republican, and 13 Democrats

Now Senfronia Thompson, who was also running for Speaker, made no secret that she would cast her lot with McCall. She said that she had "some 60 pledges." That, assuming she had no Republican pledges, gives McCall 60 Democratic pledges adding to a total vote of 77.

And now Jim Pitts (HD 10) has thown in. He says neither Craddick nor McCall have the votes. My oh my, for a sleepy week between Christmas and New Year's, Texas Legislators certainly can throw themselves a barbecue when they want to.