Of Bumpers and Boasting - The Texas Chronicles Cont'd

I think it was about the 30th Prius that did it. As I sat in traffic tonight, running an customary inexcusably poor 10 minutes late to a meeting, I spied what I suspect is standard mode of transport in many liberal-leaning parts of the country - a shiny new hybrid, bedecked with the obligatory Mac-Obama-Tibet-offbeat-music-store bumper stickers - except in this & its predecessors' cases, there was what I now recognize as a Texas twist. This car was veritably bending over backwards to send rainbows and unicorns and non-carcinogenic Valentine hearts of love to everyone everywhere - except for those not fortunate enough to live here in the Great State. Because this Prius' bumper, like no small number of other cars on the road, proudly displayed this:



Fun, no? To this California girl, it is such a good thing, as Our Martha might say, and ridiculously entertaining to boot. In my homeland, natives will confess to you within 5 minutes of meeting exactly where they last had a little Bo (as in "-tox"), and foist the name and number of their cosmetic dermatologist on you, but wouldn't dream of flying a California flag in front of his or her home. Or know what the California flag actually looks like, for that matter:

Because I just had to, lovelies. You're welcome, Gubernator Schwarzenegger.

If asked what the California state bird is, your average California-ette would smartly reply "Halle Berry" before quickly turning back to her no-sugar decaf iced mocha blended and inspecting her manicure. This isn't to say we aren't full of pride - as many angry folks on the interwebs have documented before us, we are convinced we hail from one very sparkly, special place - we just tend to be quietly smug about it - until we leave state lines, that is. Apparently it's far more fun moaning about how much better home is and driving up real estate prices while "out of pocket", as it were . . .

But back to The Great State . . . here's my choice for the Prettymobile, which we might display for fun if it weren't so very likely to cause our Left Coast loved ones to convulse:


Indeed! And the fun doesn't stop here. Should you feel your home is lacking a certain something, might I suggest a bronze Lone Star:

(credit: Lane Metal Works)

Does this one get double-secret bonus points for having TWO Texas references?

For any former, current, and future Texans, this is all meant in admiration and good fun. As delighted as I am to be from my fair home state, and I do visit home as often as reasonably possible, I too got here as fast as I could.