This guy can't BUY a break!

It was at the State Fair of Texas about a year ago that Big Tex, the giant cowboy statue that welcomed visitors at the front gate, caught fire and turned crispy critter.  It seems the motor that moved his jaw when he "talked" shorted out.  (They never offered an explanation of why his crotch ignited, although rumors were ripe.)

It was big news at the time, and many people around here were truly saddened.  (I personally thought the whole concept was pretty cheesy.)  Money was raised for a new Big Tex, and he was ready for this year's fair.   

Several days ago at lunch I had the TV on and was (sorta) watching the local news when I happened to glance over to see this:

My first thought was, "Holy crap....he fell over!  THE SUM BITCH FELL OVER!"  *we just can't have nice thangs!*

Turns out the Fair ended its 3-week run last weekend and workers were taking him down and back to storage.  *Whew*  I'm not sure people around here could handle the trauma of losing another Big Tex so soon.

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I don't get all this fascination with cowboys.  I really don't.  While there are still some working cowboys in Texas (mostly in west and south Texas), they're rare, and you're more likely to see them working out of 4-wheel drive trucks or even helicopters than on horseback.  They dress the way they do for a reason.

What you will see here are what we jokingly refer to as "urban cowboys".  These are city people who wear boots (dirty, never polished), Wrangler jeans, shirts with snaps instead of buttons, belt buckles the size of hub caps, and of course cowboy hats.  But the funny part is, they wouldn't know what to do with a cow or a horse if their life depended on it.  

I understand honoring your past, and we in Texas have an exceptionally colorful one.  But to re-live it every day?  I mean, do you see ordinary people in Boston walking around wearing 3-point hats, coats with long tails, and shirts with ruffles?  Or people in San Francisco walking around wearing....OK....bad example.

Oh well, to each his own.  As long as there's not a run on LL Bean "looks good fresh out of the dryer" T-shirts, I'm happy.  :)

S

State Fair time

I'm a hot / cold fan of the State Fair of Texas.  This year I'm cold.  First, it's a hassle to get there and park.  Second, it's full of relatively unsupervised little urchins.  And third, it's expensive, and everything you buy requires "tickets", which means you have to stand in 2 lines.

The Fair's big draw is always that year's Prize Winning new fried food concoction.  This morning it was announced that the winners included deep-fried Nutella and deep-fried Thanksgiving dinner.

"Please pass the Thanksgiving dinner balls."

 "....fried Thanksgiving dinner....is the stuffing and diced turkey rolled into a ball, mush that together there. Then we'll be dipping it into Southern-style cream corn. We're gonna roll it into a seasoned cornmeal, this gives us the texture we're lookin' for when we fry it."

 Well, at least it's efficient.  Wham, bam...5 minutes...dinner's done.

I rarely eat fried foods of any kind, but one I do enjoy is an Original Fletcher's Corny Dog sold only at the Texas State Fair.  It seems old-man Fletcher invented them back in the 1930's, and his family keeps his creation alive by selling a boat-load of them over the 3-week yearly run of the Fair.  I think I read somewhere that the family works those 3 weeks, plus probably another couple of months preparing, and they net $400,000. 

The only thing my old-man ever "invented" was updating an old-wives-tale remedy for an ear ache, which actually made my ears worse when I was his guinea pig as a kid.  The doctor had to dig the stuff out of my ears, and told dad not to ever do it again.  He might have made a good traveling snake-oil salesman, but I don't think it would have been wise for him to ever go back to the same place twice.

Maybe I'll just stick to being a semi-retired, almost legendary king of consulting / CEO for rent.  Besides, that 3-week stint at the Fair probably would require I get up way too early.  :)

S

"The bigger they come, the harder they fall"

Texas Tech destroys No. 4 West Virginia in huge upset

Tech fans storm the field after hearing free celebratory beer was being served in the end zone under the "Double T" logo.

Did you ever have one of those days where everything went right?  Me either.  But yesterday my Alma mater Texas Tech did when they absolutely annihilated #4 ranked West Virginia, 49-14.  I wish we could have put a few of those points into a Karma account for use against Texas a few weeks from now.

Looks like attending the State Fair isn't going to happen for me this year.  But frankly, other than having an Original Fletcher's Corny Dog and staring at the latest in piercings and tattoo chic up close and personal, there really isn't all that much there for me.  True, I'll miss seeing all the newest pickup trucks on display, as well as the multiple stages set up for performers to entertain us with both kinds of music....country AND western.*  Oh well, there's always next year.

Last night a storm came through (so I'm told....I slept through it) and dropped about an inch of rain on us.  Today the sky is cloudless and blue, the air smells so clean, and the temp is in the 70's.  I'm thinking Luke the Wonder Dog can come with us for our Sunday coffee as we'll be able to sit outside and enjoy this perfect Autumn weather.

Hope you have a fun day planned, too.

S

*sarcasm

No "Get Out of Jail Free" pass! Lock her up!

The local news has recently been dominated by the trial of a woman who "super-glued" her little 2-year old daughter's hands to the wall, then beat her into a coma.  The child finally made it to a hospital where she is still recovering.

The mother claimed she was sexually abused as a child, which made her act this way.  She claims she has now been through counseling and that she is no longer "a monster".  At least that was her defense in court.  A jury didn't buy it and found her guilty anyway and the judge yesterday sentenced her to 99 years in prison, making her ineligible for parole for 30 years.  Some (her family) were outraged at the severity of the sentence.

I have absolutely no problem with the sentence.  I don't care what happened to her as a child, horrible as I'm sure her abuse was, that should not excuse how she acts today.  Those are two completely separate issues.  Even if she has been successfully counseled, for the sake of her children (5), I'm not willing to chance it.

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Scheduling conflict....Grandson Parker has a soccer game today at 11 am.  The Texas/Oklahoma game is today at 11 am.   Parker plays 8 games this year.   Texas/OU play once this year.  Conflict solved.  ;)

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Do local TV stations have "fashion consultants" to advise their anchor people?  I'm watching a guy this morning who's wearing a conservative suit, blue tie....and orange socks.  He had to sit in a chair instead of just sitting behind his desk to interview a particular guest, and his dayglo socks show.  I wonder if they were the only clean socks he had in his drawer this morning?

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It's State Fair time.....only one week left.  WWSD?  (What Will Scott Do)

S