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

Tell me again why I should be sad about summer's passing?

Well, here it is the first day of September, the first day of the month many people equate with fall.  In many places trees are turning vibrant colors, a few leaves will already be falling (is that where the term "fall" comes from?), and being outside actually becomes pleasant again.

But I'm in Texas, and to a Texan September just means more of the same.  Today's high temperature is forecast to be 103.  I've been reading blogs and Facebook posts where the authors are lamenting the passing of summer.  I say "bring it".  Good riddance.  I long to be able to go outside for a few hours and NOT come back dripping wet, sticky, and smelly.

I always get a chuckle watching TV commercials during football games this time of year where the Budweiser  Clydesdale's are pulling their wagon through scenery that looks something like this:

*Sigh*

It will be at least another 6 weeks, maybe longer, before I'll see anything like that around here.  When it finally does find us it will be intense, but brief.  One morning we'll just wake up to find one giant leaf dump, and that's it.  Hello winter.

But even that isn't so bad, at least here in Texas.  Jeans and a light jacket will usually suffice.  Shovel snow?  I've heard Yankees complain of it, but never understood the point of shoveling the meager 4" of snow that might collect on my sidewalk after the "epic storm" our weatherguessers had been warning us about for a week finally arrives.  And besides, in 3 days it will be back in the 60's (70's?) and the snow will take care of itself.  Shovel snow?  Pfffftttttt.

But all that is months away.  On this September 1st I'll just spend my time mostly indoors, the air conditioning running full blast, sipping my iced beverage, dreading my trips outside with the dog, wondering why he can't just "hold it" until fall.  :)

Stay cool friends.

S

The construction crane....the State Bird of Texas

It's certainly true of Dallas, and based on recent photos I've seen of other cities around the country, I think they're crane lovers, too.

These bad boys just fascinate me.  Watching them move tons of steel, concrete, etc so gracefully over a massive construction site is just captivating.  I shot this photo this morning from our second floor landing.  My AM dog walk has become much more palatable now that I have something to watch besides just the dog wizzing on a tree.

Last year they finished construction on the building adjacent to us and I was there, camera in hand, when they took down their crane:

Not exactly a job for the faint of heart.

Construction of pretty much anything is simply a matter of logistics.  The builder's challenge is to get, in the right sequence, the right materials and the right skilled labor at the same place at the same time.  A good set of plans helps, too.  If he/she can do that, it's just like a big Lego toy.  If not....

Wonder at which McDonald's he's now flipping burgers?

Assistant burger flipper?

DOH!

Seriously, it just amazes me how some Big Bucks builders can't see these things coming.  They're usually more subtle, like a 2 ft-wide door to a utility room.  (Washers and dryers are more than 2 feet wide.)  Or a big kitchen island without having an electrical conduit under the foundation to get power to it. 

But when something is built thoughtfully and with care, it can be a beautiful thing.  Unfortunately craftsmanship is rapidly becoming a lost art. 

Enough banter from an old builder.  Have a good day everyone.  ;)

S

One down, two to go

Summer in Texas is a miserable, disgusting time of the year.  Anyone who disagrees has been out in it too long.  When you open the door first thing in the morning to step out to get the newspaper, for example, and you're immediately hit by a blast of air so hot and muggy your glasses fog up, it makes you want to just crank down the A/C and go back to bed.

This climate change thing has blindsided a lot of people this year.  Blizzards when they weren't supposed to, heat waves where we weren't supposed to, floods, freak sand storms....what's next?  But oddly enough, Dallas has so far had a fairly palatable summer.  We've had a few 100 degree days, but we've also had a few days that never even climbed into the 90's. 

This morning before 7 I took Luke the Wonderdog out for a long walk.  My weather app said the temp was 74 degrees, but a pretty stiff breeze made it feel like it was in the 60's.  And if the weatherguessers are to be believed, this will be one of those sub-90 degree days.  SWEET!

I'm not foolish enough to expect August and September to be like our July was, but at least I only have two more months of misery to endure before October relief arrives.

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I like lists.  Not "To Do" lists, but lists of fun things.  Like today on Yahoo news, for example, it had a list of the 10 coolest summer cities (we're talking temperatures), and also the 10 hottest.  

Two of the top 10 coolest are among my personal favorite cities, too:  Seattle and Denver.  Seattle because of its uniqueness and Denver because it's just a short drive (by Texas standards) to the mountains.  THE mountains.  THE ROCKY mountains.  I love THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.  *insert little tiny heart shape symbol here*

My new address when I win the lottery

No surprise, 4 of the top 10 hottest summer cities were in Texas, Dallas being #3.  What's that old saying?...."I've got a spot in heaven guaranteed 'cause I've already done my time in hell."

Carry on and stay cool.

S

Things are looking up!

To me this time of the year is just a huge sports "black hole".  I'll say right up front I'm not a sports (plural) fan.  I'm a FOOTBALL fan.  (And I'd best clarify that and say American football.)  I start to perk up when spring training begins, am on top of the world from September through the January bowl games, kinda coast through the pro football playoffs, then go into hibernation after the Super Bowl.  I really enjoy the Winter Olympic Games because to a Texan winter sports is the epitome of "exotic", but they're still a full year away so there's no sense getting excited about them yet.

I'm definitely a product of my upbringing.  Here in Texas football is King.  Twenty thousand will turn out for a high school football game, maybe a few hundred for a high school basketball game, and less than that for a high school baseball game.  The same ratio probably holds for college sports, too.  Hockey is a northern sport imported here when all the Yanks began heading south 30 years ago, and soccer is here because....well, I have no idea why soccer is here.  Golf for me is a near-death experience.

K has taken the lead on solving our off-season sports dilemma by introducing a new one for us to latch on to:  Rugby.  She chose rugby because last weekend she was channel surfing and there they were...the Northampton Saints VS Gloucester Rugby.  She decided Northampton would be her team because she liked the color of their shorts and T-shirts, and one of their guys flashed his tooth during a post-game interview.  Apparently there's nothing sexier than a guy wearing short shorts and showing off his last remaining tooth.

I must admit I found it to be rather entertaining, too.  They get in a big huddle, throw a f__ked up looking football in the middle, and have at it.  It's like tackle football, only without pads.  Or helmets.  It's not a game for wusses, for sure!

She was all heartbroken when she found out her team wouldn't be on the "telly" today.  But being the avid Northhampton fan that she has become she's following them via streaming live internet (audio only).  Now I've listened to many a football game on the radio, but at least I understood the terminology.  When the announcer said "the quarterback took the snap and ran left on a naked bootleg", I could "see" that in my mind.  

The only thing that made (sorta) sense to me on the streaming live audio rugby game K is listening to was when the announcer said the game was "simmering nicely".  Ohhh....now they're talking about "attacking".  I can almost see the bloody slobber and protruding bones.  I think I might like rugby!  

It's halftime.  Gotta go make nachos.  ;)

S

Football and lawyers...talk about a hodge-podge post!

For one weekend a year my brother and I do our impersonation of the Hatfield's and McCoys.  That would be this weekend, when Texas Tech plays Texas.  I'm an alumnus of Texas Tech, while he is a graduate of the University of Texas....sort of.  Not the University of Texas at Austin, the Longhorns (it's a tough, stringy-meated cow), but the University of Texas AT DALLAS, the Fighting Insurance Salesmen. *Zing*

I usually can't get too "in your face" with him because more often than not UT beats us, but this year we're actually favored to win.  He jumped the gun yesterday and showed up wearing his Longhorn ball cap, but I've dusted my "Double T" cap off and will come armed today.

Would it be improper to ask God to let me kick his ass this year?

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Tell me again why we need lawyers?  I recently read several articles that made me wonder.

One was talking about how the bankers have 3,000-5,000 lawyers and lobbyists working full-time to thwart the implementation of new banking regulations that would curb their ability to roll the dice like they did a few years ago.  That drunken binge ultimately required the taxpayers spend several trillion dollars to bail them out.  

Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act which sought to reign in the banks, but the banks have fought every word, every paragraph, every attempt to implement it, and they're winning the battle.  Dodd-Frank is still pretty much an empty shell at this point.  That would make it Lawyers, 1; The People, 0.

The other article told of how Bronco Bama and Mittens Romney both have thousands of lawyers fanned out all across the country looking for the slightest excuse to file a lawsuit in order to thwart the will of The People in next week's election.  Make that Lawyers, 2; The People, still 0.

The US today has over 1.1M lawyers.  I say we keep a few hundred and then send the rest to the Northeast to help clear debris and haul trash.  In other words, to DO SOMETHING CONSTRUCTIVE!

That, or it's off with their heads!  (Hey, I'm trying to be fair about this, 'cause, you know, I'm a compassionate kinda guy.)  *wink*

S

VERY encouraging signs....with EDIT

In my daily drives around town I've begun to pay attention to what's going on around me as opposed to just trying to get from Point A to Point B.   Here's what I've noticed just within 1 1/2 miles of my home:

Everywhere I looked I saw construction.  LOTS of it!  New apartments, retail, a hotel, and more than a few new office buildings.  Yes, I know Dallas and Houston and Austin and Texas in general are doing well, but I suspect if you paid attention when driving around Atlanta or Chicago or Boston or Denver you'd see something similar.

Either our economy is turning the corner as I write this *fingers crossed* or it's close at hand and these forward-looking companies are getting the jump on their competition.  

So, does Obama get credit for this?  Who knows.  I'm of the opinion the President can sit in the Oval Office late at night eating Cheetos and watching porn and he'll still get the credit for or the blame for whatever happens, whether he deserves it or not.  In most cases whatever a president does, for better or worse, isn't obvious until years later.  

You can credit Obama or the Easter Bunny or Batman for this light at the end of the tunnel, I don't care.  I'm just glad to see these encouraging signs.

S

EDIT....from USA Today:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Existing home sales jumped 7.8% in August to the highest level in more than two years, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday.

In an earlier report, U.S. builders started work on more homes in August, driven by the fastest pace of single-family home construction in more than two years.

Rain, rain...NO! Please DON'T go away

I don't think I've ever seen such screwy weather.  Three-quarters of the country is experiencing drought conditions, while in parts of south/coastal Texas they've had flooding.  High winds are flattening the plains states, while much of Colorado and the southwest have burned up.  Ya think this is one of those "end of time" events?


For us in north Texas our weather has been pretty normal.  Of course it's miserably hot, but rains earlier in the year topped off our lakes, and I'm hopeful we can get through the rest of the year without any water shortages.  In fact, I looked out my apartment window a few minutes ago and saw this:

Normally we don't get these kinds of clouds build up until the heat of the afternoon.  Maybe the rains currently one county west will slide this way.  I'm ready for a rainy day.  I think much of the country is ready for a rainy day/week.

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I saw on the bidness news that Sandy Weill, the man who assembled all the parts that made Citi into the first megabank, now agrees with me that our big banks need to be broken up.  (He obviously reads my blog.  ;)  He says "our banking system has been hijacked", and that banks that take deposits should be separated from those that take huge speculative risks.  Amen Brother Sandy!  But since he probably doesn't have any Congressmen in his back pocket like the banks do, I don't think it will ever happen.  At least not until after the next worldwide economic catastrophe.  (Ahem....back to that "end of time" theme?)

S

Dateline: Hotter 'n Hell, Texas

It's really odd for me to see weather reports from YankeeLand (defined as any place north of the Texas/Oklahoma border...aka the Red River) where it's hotter than it is here in Hell...er...Texas.  We're expecting 104 today, but it will feel more like 110 the weatherguessers warn.  While many will be at the area lakes today trying to keep cool, I won't be one of them.  Lakes just seem dirty to me, plus fish poop in there!

This would be much more my style, except on weekends it seems to be overrun with little kiddlettes.  I'm guessing all the divorced dad's get their DNA for the weekend and park them here while they admire the stunning 'birds' lounging around, showing off their attractive plumage.

Before it gets too much hotter K and I are making a run to the farmer's market for some cantaloupe, watermelon, corn, and whatever else looks good.  Probably have a bite to eat out, too.  I'm also going to Lowe's for some wood filler, as my dog Luke all of a sudden seems to think he's part beaver:

This particular window sits right on the floor, perfect for him to sit and see the world outside.  Apparently he was too lazy to get up and walk to his dog bowl, and this was the result.

That's all for now.  I've got to burn up the roads and get back before the concrete melts.  Stay cool everyone.  

S

Let the bitchin' begin

Our forecast for Dallas today was 97 degrees w/ a heat index of 105. I'm sure we comfortably hit those numbers. By late July I might be acclimated to this, but not this early. By late afternoon I felt nauseous. I've come to absolutely detest Texas from June through September. Hell itself could not be any less hospitable. Any of you yankees want to swap places for the next 4 months?


S

Family trees and freaky digits

According to a recent article in Men's Journal, which everyone knows rivals JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) as a repository of arcane medical knowledge, if a man's ring finger is noticeably longer than his index finger, he might have a likelihood of having a longer penis, a higher IQ, a lower risk of heart attack, a higher risk of prostate cancer, more athletic talent, and more success as a financial trader.  This is great news!  I now know I don't have a high risk of prostate cancer.   :)

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Yesterday my brother took the bait and signed up for a two-free-week introductory offer from Ancestry.com and began searching our family history.  

A little background:  Outside of my immediate family I've never been too chummy with my relatives.  My dad was sort of the black sheep of his side of the family, and my mom wasn't very close to her side either, thinking they were a bit too loose and wild for her liking.  We would make the obligatory big family get-together every Christmas where I always felt out of place because I knew barely a handful of my kinfolks.  Frankly I never thought much about it until yesterday when bro began his research.

So far he's traced our dad's side back 14 generations to around 1530 in England.  Back then they spelled our name Parke.  Somewhere along the way the "e" was dropped.  The first record of a Parke in North America was around 1640 in *gulp* New Jersey.  It's interesting to follow the migration of the family south and west through Virginia, North and South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee, and finally Texas, where I presume the wagon suffered a terminal breakdown.  I know my mom's grandfather was a doctor because I have his medical school diploma from Vanderbilt.  Both Dr. Blasingame and my great grandmother died before I was born, and the trail became rather cool before that.  It will be interesting to see what we can dig up.

Next will come finding out more about my kin, putting a face with a name.  It's gonna be interesting.  I wonder if any of the men had exceptionally long ring fingers?

S

The troublemaker gets his due....

Yes, this is autobiographical.  I was "the troublemaker".  Years ago I got crosswise with the Executive Director of the Texas Association of Builders.  IMO he simply wasn't representing us well, and I had the audacity to write him and say so.  Actually, I was a serial corresponder.  Then one day I got a letter from the Office of the Governor of Texas asking if I would allow His Holiness the Governor to appoint me to some board that had "housing" in it's name.  


It didn't take much research for me to learn it was a "do-nothing" board, so I declined, which really pissed off the Executive Director of the TAB as he was the one who had forwarded my name for the appointment.  As most appointees' heads swell up the size of the capital dome, he was sure I would jump at the chance to "move up" and would therefore have no time to pester him.  Little did he know how small my ego was.   Nor was he aware I knew a guy who at one time was the appointment secretary to the Governor of Maryland.  It was he who once shared with me how most board/commission appointees were there to get them out of someone else's hair and were merely fundraising tools for the Governor.


Any time someone comes at me with syrupy-sweet praise, totally outsized kudos, undeserved political appointments, etc, I tend to back myself into a corner and hold on to my wallet.  It's a tactic that has worked well for me for years. Feel free to use it yourself.


Oh, and the Exec Director mentioned above has since moved on.  I'll always like to think I was one of the reasons he left.  ;)


S

State Fair time

Yesterday K and I went to the State Fair of Texas.  We hadn't been in 5 years, but the weather was great and I had the day off and didn't want to spend it watching football, so we figured why not?  It was fun, eye opening, and exhausting.  


Basically the fair is just one giant food court interspersed with other stuff.  The theme of this year's fair is the same as its been for the past 20 years:  "Making fat people fatter".  If it can be battered and fried, it can be yours for only 8 coupons.  On several stages they had bands playing both kinds of music (country AND western) all day long.  *cringe*  And the people....OMG!  We saw people tattooed head-to-toe, people dressed in their favorite drugstore cowboy costumes, and even some little (and not so little) dancing girls greased up and rolled in feathers:

I behaved myself fairly well, scarfing down only one Fletcher's Corny Dog ('cause it's a State Fair tradition) and one order of genuine fake-cheese nachos with jalapenos, all washed down with some sweet tea.  For those that aren't as disciplined as myself, there's always relief via the "lunch chucker":

Speaking of the Midway, it was as gawdy and loud as ever.  Kids were bouncing around like monkeys on Red Bull, begging their parents for another $20 worth of coupons for just a few more chances to win that $2 stuffed critter, or one more turn on the Giant Human Slingshot.  It was actually rather nostalgic:

I thought I might talk K into trying the Texas Star, but she demurred:

We did make time between snacks to visit the several buildings that housed the new cars and trucks....and trucks, and more trucks.  (Hey, this IS Texas, you know!)

After all that we came home, showered to rid ourselves of God-only-knows what kind of cooties, and had a wonderful dinner of smoked baby back ribs.  Mmmmmm.  Sleep never felt so good.  :)

S

This is NOT funny!

Today is likely the day that we'll begin to see planned rolling brownouts across Texas.  Unlike other areas of the country that have regional electric production/distribution systems that can shift power from one side of the grid to another in an emergency, Texas is so large it has it's own intra-state system.  And the whole damn state is HOT!


I walked the dog last night at 9 pm and it was still 104.  This morning at 6 am it was 88.  We've set all-time record high low (overnight) temperatures, too.  


We've also been setting electric consumption records (68,000 mega(?) watts) and we've been asked to use as little as possible.  Don't wash clothes in the afternoon when it's the hottest, don't use your ovens or cooktops, turn off lights, etc.  They've even brought back on-line several old mothballed electric generation plants, but it apparently isn't enough.  Now they're gonna turn off our air conditioners through rolling brownouts.


What?  No air conditioning?  OH, THE HORROR!


Somebody tell me again why I'm supposed to love summer?  I'm not feelin' it.


Whatever I did wrong, God, I'm sorry!  Pleeeeeeze.......


S

I honestly couldn't make this up

This is an "un-posed" picture of Elliot the bulldog trying to beat the Texas heat after his owners dumped out their ice chest on their driveway.  It was taken in Sachse, Texas, just a few miles from where I live:

Have a great weekend everyone.   Stay cool.  (Move over Elliot.)

S

I'm 1 in 300,000,000

I think I'm the only person in America, maybe the entire free world, who doesn't love summer.  Right now everyone is just giddy that warm weather has arrived.  Fijufic wrote an entire post about it yesterday.  Not me.  I absolutely HATE walking out the door in the morning, for I know summer will be staring me in the face.  I live for autumn.....cool, dry, and coincidentally, it's football season, too. :)


"Sticky" is one of those touch sensations that drives me nuts.  Is there a name for "sticky phobia"?  If there is then I'm their poster child.  When I eat something sticky I save it for last, eat it, then go wash up.  A simple wipe on a napkin won't work.  


Except for west Texas, this is a humid, sticky state.  That could be our state motto:  "Welcome to Texas, the humid, sticky state."  


I feel so good after I shower, shave, and dress for the day.  Then I open the door and walk out, and before I can get to my car I'm sticky.  I feel like I just jumped into a huge vat of sticky.  I crank up the car A/C as high as it will go and about the time I get to work, I'm fairly comfortable again.  Then I step out of my car and it's sticky time all over again.  Some days, like yesterday and today, I have to spend the majority of my time outdoors.  Homes under construction need supervision, and that's me.  Sure, there are a few good things about summer, like swimming, but I don't swim nearly enough to offset the misery of my daily sticky dip.


For me, summer is a season to be endured, not enjoyed.  I need to find me somewhere to live that's not sticky, someplace high and dry like Colorado.  I'm just sayin'.


S