GOD’s Country
Today’s story will be a source of insight into how this whole virtual vintage video museum got started.…cuz back in 1950 it was Bone Daddy the boy and his God given talents….who was significantly influenced by the place and time that was Midland, TX in the heart of West Texas
….which was affectionately known by the locals as “God’s Country”…..a place of vast lands and ranch barons with large herds of cattle which literally overnight became “Oil Country”….that’s right, we’re talking “black liquid gold”. It was in the early 50’s that the oil business found a solid hold out in West Texas. The way Bone Daddy and every other Midland local would answer the question about what a person did for a living was to say….”yep…he’s in the oil bidness”. 
I said all that to say this….Bone Daddy was heavily influenced by growing up as a boy in West Texas. West Texas really consisted of everything in the State of Texas that was west of Abilene…. south to Eagle Pass….east of El Paso….and north to include the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles….including the part of Oklahoma that is west of Norman. It is important for all ya’ll to understand that until the Texans let the boys from Oklahoma split away and become their own State….they were part of West Texas. The fact is that they always have and still do look like….smell like….act like…..think like….and taste alike West Texas. Today they are bitter rivals of the highest order….but the truth is….no two places in the whole of the USA are more alike than West Texas and western Oklahoma.
As expressed in the music of Singer/Songwriter Michael Murphy….it is rough country out in West Texas. It takes a strong constitution to just to be able to find the beauty of the whole area of West Texas….cuz it sure ain’t something that is immediately visible on the surface. The natural influences of the natural landscape and cosmic elements of place….along with the time known as the Permian Basin Oil Boom…. were the re-bar in the foundation of the life of a Sportsphile that began to develop and unfold in this environment….for it is a place which allowed solid roots to take hold and flourish…..allowing Bone Daddy’s life to continue to bloom as the years progressed over the next 60+ years….while establishing straight forward philosophies of honesty, integrity and the value in your word and a hand shake to persevere throughout his life.
It is going to be my pleasure to share some of those times with you in this section of the museum…where I will focus on subjects about the people and the times spent in West Texas in the 1950’s and 1960’s. 
As we proceed…an observation of mine worth considering as I tell these stories of this place and its inhabitants is that I have come to realize that I can always pick a West Texan (ok…Oklahoman too) out of almost any crowd. There are so many common traits that all the inhabitants of West Texas all embody. I am convinced that it was the time and place that chiseled these folks while being polished by the continuously blowing sands of the desert against the rock known as West Texas during the notorious dust storms of the region….that made them so recognizable at a distance.
As you move through L E’s Stories section of the museum….you will be given a wonderful view of the absolute majesty of West Texas….for in this lil ole Chiweenie’s opinion….there is no place on Earth that has been blessed more by God Almighty….whom we dogs call God Dog…..than West Texas. There is no better way of understanding this special place’s limitless beauty than to grow up in West Texas. 
However, if you didn’t have the distinct privilege of ever living out in God’s Country….then make sure that you click on all four (4) videos by Texas State Photographer Wyman Meinzer that I use in my stories about West Texas….as Mr. Meinzer happens to be my personal favorite photographer in all of Texas. These videos are just some of the works of a man who grew up in this rugged barren land and found absolute beauty as they give you his view of “God’s Country” as seen through the lenses of his cameras. I want to thank him for all that he has done to help me give a visual understanding of how this place has had a lifelong affect on Bone Daddy’s philosophies of life. 
Obviously, both of these men who grew up under West Texas skies….which makes them brothers of another mother….cuz both Mr. Meinzer’s and Bone Daddy’s lives have obviously been affected by the place….the people….it inhabitants….and the times during the 50’s and 60’s out West. What is glaringly obvious to this lil Chiweenie is that it seems to me that the same cosmic effects took place in both men’s lives….one a man who was meant to be a photographer and the other one who was meant to be a Sportsphile….all thanks to the lessons learned out in God’s Country.
