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turtle pond university of texasGENERATIONS OF LONGHORNS have found solace at an improbable oasis in the middle of their Austin campus, just north of the University of Texas Tower. Constructed in 1939, two years after the iconic tower was completed, Turtle Pond is a haven for both its namesake inhabitants and their admirers. The partially shaded sanctuary beckons students and visitors to take a breather and to gaze—perhaps with a tinge of jealousy—at the colorful red-eared sliders, Texas river cooters, snapping turtles, and other species sunning their carapaces. Like the beefy squirrels at Rice University, the turtles have become an unofficial school mascot. An Instagram account, @turtlesofut, pays playful homage to the critters. “Hope your finals aren’t a turtle disaster hahaha,” reads one caption. Managed by the College of…

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texanist watermelon thumpQ:  When I was a child, my grandfather, a farmer in Ranger, instructed me on how to tell if a watermelon was ripe. He would hit the fruit with the side of his thumb and determine which ones had the deepest “thump.” Are there other techniques? My granddaughter can’t seem to master this skill because of her small hands.Marvin Cowden, Grand PrairieA: Given that Texas summers are barely bearable without watermelons, the ability to pick out a good one from the patch or the produce aisle is a useful skill for a granddaughter to have. The Texanist has often deployed the tried-and-true method of examining the color of the rind’s field spot, a.k.a. the place where the melon rested on the soil. A deep yellow…

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Taqueria 10 de 10 is a Feast For the Eyes, But Will it Make Your Stomach Happy, Too?Taqueria 10 de 10 is cool. It’s got the allure of a speakeasy, tucked behind alleyway bar ReyRey in downtown Austin. Its decor sparkles with the romance of taquerias of yore, with its red-and-white color palette. All around are pithy phrases and illustrations. The trompo, of course, is the focus of the kitchen, the vertical spit slowly spinning and roasting meat behind the high white-tiled counter. The taqueria’s hipness extends to its name. The owners want you to know their taco shop is the best of the best. If Taqueria 10 de 10 were any cooler, it would require a bouncer guarding a red velvet rope.The joint’s Tijuana-style tacos—presented rolled in paper cones with fillings obscured by guacamole—are new to Austin. The tacos de adobada…

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Daniel Kozmetsky wades through a sea of lemon-yellow wildflowers growing along a ridge and looks over a wide valley that stretches in front of him, part of the sprawling RGK Ranch his grandparents founded half a century ago. “This is the spot,” he says, sweeping out his arm as though introducing a star on a stage. “This is where developers stood and said, ‘We could put a lot of houses on that hill over there.’ ”Instead of a sea of rooftops, though, this former cattle ranch between Hamilton Pool Road and Highway 71 in western Travis County, about thirty minutes west of downtown Austin, will become a park where hikers can take in Hill Country vistas and explore a tributary of Bee Creek that spills over…

The post Developers Offered a Texas Family Millions for Their Land. They Chose to Make It a Park Instead. appeared first on Texas Monthly.

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energy-saguaro-pipeline-natural-gas-permian-mexicoYolanda Carmona’s job is to market Van Horn to the rest of the world. It comes naturally to her. She grew up visiting family in the small West Texas town, a stop on Interstate 10 between Fort Stockton and El Paso that most travelers know, if they know it at all, as a place to fill your car with gas and your stomach with good Mexican food. She takes pride in—and feels protective of—the hamlet and the surrounding stretch of desert where her family has been raising cattle for a century.As the events and tourism director at the local convention center and visitors bureau, Carmona is plugged into the goings-on in the town of fewer than two thousand inhabitants. So when she learned last summer…

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river otter critterLatin Name: Lontra canadensisSize: 2.5 to 5 feet longTexas Habitat: The eastern half, with occasional sightings elsewhereFreelance photographer Kellye Mixon Bussey was birdwatching on Galveston’s East Beach last fall when a flash of fur caught her eye. A North American river otter, with a brown button nose, grandfatherly whiskers, and webbed feet, was scampering on the sand. When Bussey shared her pictures online, some commenters expressed surprise that these creatures live in Texas, let alone on the Gulf Coast. It’s a sentiment that seems to pop up every time an otter does, but the semiaquatic mammals thrive in many of the lakes, ponds, rivers, and salt marshes in the state’s eastern half. They’re just skittish around humans. Where do they live?Adaptable and resilient, river otters range…

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Twenty years ago, and five years before Franklin Barbecue opened in Austin, Aaron Franklin’s brisket got its first newspaper coverage. He and his wife, Stacy, had held a backyard barbecue in Austin, but it wasn’t featured in the local paper. Instead, the Big Bend Sentinel, in Marfa, had the scoop in its May 13, 2004, issue. “This was no ordinary back yard affair,” Alex Manley wrote in that month’s Buen Provecho column (found here on page five), in which she compared Memphis and Texas barbecue. It was Marfa’s—and the world’s—introduction to the brisket that would make Franklin famous.I sat down with Franklin and Manley in Austin a few months ago to delve into the details of the article. She was a chef at Maiya’s in…

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Hoover at her home, on April 17, 2024.High above the crowd in the ballroom of the Statler Hotel, in downtown Dallas, the dark curtains that hide the balcony ripple and part. The writer Colleen Hoover’s head emerges directly under a fluorescent light, looking white and lunar against the fabric. She props her right elbow on the railing, rubbing her hand at a spot under the high neck of a frilly white dress. She leans forward, surveying the crowd like a child before a recital.The hundreds of women below—I count four men including Hoover’s husband, Heath—begin to notice her one by one and gaze up at her like she’s a deity. The event, titled “Mani-fest 2024: Main Character Energy,” has been organized by the nail polish brand Olive and June to celebrate Hoover’s…

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working life IV Fluids Therapist Jon BarnhillJon Barnhill, who is 35, owns the drip-therapy business IV Bird. He provides at-home hydration treatment for Austin’s wellness enthusiasts and hard partiers.I was a firefighter paramedic before this. Austin Fire—the best in the state. I loved it, but the lifestyle is tough: 24-hour shifts; you miss birthdays, Christmas. I was in therapy and going on this tirade about how dissatisfied I was. My therapist told me, “Let’s write your two weeks’ notice right now.” I wrote it, and I left the fire department without a real plan.I started working for a friend who had an IV company, providing holistic medicine. It was a breath of fresh air to meet clients, and—unlike the folks you see as a firefighter—it’s not the worst day of their…

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A pair of code compliance officers from the City of Dallas approached Jamie Sosa on a Sunday afternoon in February. A line of customers looked on as the officers told him to shut down his barbecue trailer for the day. He was operating without a permit, and received a $250 ticket. Sosa took the ticket and kept serving. “I have hundreds of dollars’ worth of barbecue in my smoker, and I have a crowd that I need to feed,” he told the officers. They promised another ticket for every two additional people he served. He got five more tickets before they left. “I’m not mad at them,” Sosa said. “They’re just doing their job.” Such is the life of an underground barbecue slinger. Sosa has…

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