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Thread ID: 124521	2012-04-30 23:01:00	Why Texans Don't Pick Blue Bonnets (Flowers)	SurferJoe46 (51)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1273014	2012-04-30 23:01:00	lh4.googleusercontent.com lh5.googleusercontent.com lh6.googleusercontent.com lh6.googleusercontent.com lh4.googleusercontent.com lh5.googleusercontent.com	SurferJoe46 (51)
1273015	2012-04-30 23:08:00	Plus picking them is against the law.	scottmcp432 (16647)
1273016	2012-04-30 23:20:00	Uhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm --- not really. It's an old urban legend::: Every spring, families line the highways, tip-toeing through the medians, all risking life and limb to capture that annual bluebonnet portrait. It's a Texas tradition. In fact, I think it may be the biggest reason Texas highways were designed with shoulders. But rarely, if ever, will you see anyone plucking one of those bright blue flowers for their scrapbooks. Why? Well, right alongside those distinctive blossoms grows a curious weed — a familiar mantra that crops up every year, as it has for generations. "It's illegal to pick bluebonnets! It's the state flower!" Every Texan has heard it, and most will argue the point, some quite vehemently. For much of my life, I too would recite the same bit of knowledge. It had been a part of my belief system since I first heard it from my friends back in the 2nd grade. But, you know, 8-year-olds don't make the most reliable reference tools. (If they did, I'd still believe swallowed chewing gum digests in your stomach for 7 years.) But is it true? Is it really illegal to pick bluebonnets? "The answer is no," reads a press release from the Texas Department of Public Safety, the agency that encompasses the highway patrol and whose job it would be to enforce such legislation. "There is no law against picking our state flower." The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) will give you the same answer. Bill Powell with the Public Information Office told Texas Twisted, "There is no legislation against picking wildflowers. It is, in fact, not illegal to pick wildflowers." And that includes bluebonnets. "It's an urban legend," he said. LINK::: www.texastwisted.com Each Texas springtime brings flowers to fields and roadsides and a question to the minds of nature lovers - is it really illegal to pick bluebonnets? The answer is no - there is no law against picking our State Flower. However, there are laws against criminal trespass so make sure you're not on private property when you stop to take your annual kids-in-the-bluebonnets photo. There are laws against damaging or destroying rights-of-way and government property - so pick a few flowers, but don't dig up clumps of them and don't drive your vehicle into the midst of them. Remember, Mother Nature and in many cases, your fellow Texans, scattered wildflower seeds along medians and roadways so that everyone could enjoy spring flowers. For the safety of yourself and others, as well as to limit your ticketability: There are laws against impeding traffic - so be careful about slowing down to enjoy the view. Pick areas with light traffic conditions for stopping. Signal before leaving or entering the roadway. Park off the roadway (off of improved shoulders), parallel to the road in the direction of traffic, on the same side of the roadway that the flowers are on. Don't walk or run across lanes of traffic to get to the flowers. Obey signs that prohibit parking on a particular stretch of roadway. And remember that in addition to a ticket, snakes and fire ants also could put more blue in your day than you bargained for. LINK::: www.txdps.state.tx.us	SurferJoe46 (51)
1273017	2012-04-30 23:41:00	thats a pretty large rattler isnt it? I'd be picking the flowers with a combine harvester I think :D	Iantech (16386)
1273018	2012-05-01 00:03:00	Yeah - moderately large . It looks like it might be 7 feet or so - if the guy holding it is about 6 feet tall that is . The 'average' length of them is 60 to 70 sillymeters . Specimens over 7 feet (2 . 1 m) are rare, but well documented . The average size is much less: lengths of 3 . 5 to 5 . 5 feet (1 . 1 to 1 . 7 m), and 2 . 75 to 6 feet (0 . 8 to 1 . 8 m) are given . One study found an average length of 5 . 6 feet (1 . 7 m) based on 31 males and 43 females . The average body mass is 2 . 3 kg (5 . 1 lb) . Few specimens can exceed 5 . 12 kg (11 . 3 lb), although exceptional specimens can weigh 6 . 7 kg (15 lb) or more . I BELIEVE that I remember that bites from rattlers are responsible for 85% of the snake bite deaths in the US . They also make great dinner entrees .	SurferJoe46 (51)
1273019	2012-05-01 00:18:00	Snake bites make great dinner entrees....;)	Gobe1 (6290)
1273020	2012-05-01 02:24:00	If I remember correctly of the ten most deadly snakes Aussie has seven of them.	mikebartnz (21)
1273021	2012-05-01 08:27:00	In England , and I've seen them over here, We had "bluebells" (www.google.co.nz) - come up briefly in the spring and present a sea of blue given the right circumstances As kid's we used to go to a wood at a place called Ide Hill in Kent (see this photo (www.fotothing.com) - there weren't man made paths there 50 odd years ago) - nice to know they're still there Not quite the same as yours Joe, but the same "spirit". No seven foot rattlers tho' - maybe the odd Adder (www.google.co.nz).	tuiruru (12277)
1273022	2012-05-01 15:13:00	In England , and I've seen them over here, We had "bluebells" - come up briefly in the spring and present a sea of blue given the right circumstances As kid's we used to go to a wood at a place called Ide Hill in Kent - (there weren't man made paths there 50 odd years ago) - nice to know they're still there Not quite the same as yours Joe, but the same "spirit". No seven foot rattlers tho' - maybe the odd Adder[/URL]. Those remind me of some of the small glens and footpaths in Connecticut and upper New York. I used to walk along them with my fishing pole and a peanut butter/jelly sandwich to go down to the lakes when I was a kid. I inadvertently stepped OVER a snake one day - no telling what it was but it was a SNAKE - and I got to the lake a lot faster that day. Later, coming home I stopped every five paces and looked very carefully. It was gone thankfully.	SurferJoe46 (51)
1273023	2012-05-02 03:46:00	Those remind me of some of the small glens and footpaths in Connecticut and upper New York . I used to walk along them with my fishing pole and a peanut butter/jelly sandwich to go down to the lakes when I was a kid . I inadvertently stepped OVER a snake one day - no telling what it was but it was a SNAKE - and I got to the lake a lot faster that day . Later, coming home I stopped every five paces and looked very carefully . It was gone thankfully . One of the things about bluebells is that when you come to pick them,and aren't too rough, the stem just seems to sliiiide out of the base . I don't think I've come across another flower like that - but then, my experience of flowers, is like my experience of women - very limited!! :rolleyes:	tuiruru (12277)
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