Tex Appeal at the State Fair of Texas

The State Fair of Texas started today in Dallas at Fair Park.

In my current condition I don't know if I'll be going to the fair this year. Or down to Round Top this weekend.

I'm not in the mood to walk. After years of bragging that I've cured myself from getting back aches, I've got one. I think I either overdid swimming or sitting at the computer. Or both.

I was listening to WBAP radio's news at noon and a fairgoer was going on and on about how delicious the 2008 Big Tex Choice winner was. To me it sounds disgusting. Chicken-fried bacon, using extra thick bacon, double-battered, breaded, then deep-fried. With either ranch or honey-mustard dipping sauce.

At the State Fair of Texas you can not use United States currency to buy things like food directly. You must wait in a line to buy coupons and then pay for your chicken-fried bacon with coupons. I don't know how many coupons the chicken-fried bacon costs. If I remember right last year it seemed like the Big Tex Choice foodstuff was in the 6-8 coupon range. A coupon is worth 50 cents.

If you don't use up all your coupons you can not turn them back into U.S. currency. You can save them for next year and use them at the fair. Unless something scandalous happens, like a few years back someone stole a lot of coupons from wherever the leftover coupons were stored after the end of the fair. So, they voided that year's coupons from being used at future State Fairs of Texas. This did not seem fair to me.

If I do go this year I am going to stay til it gets dark this time so I can watch the fireworks/light show. The first time I went to the fair the fireworks/light show was about the best of that type thing I'd ever seen. A huge globe rose out of the water and somehow images were projected onto the globe. Fireworks and laser beams shot all over the place.

This year the show is called Illumination Sensation. It fires up at 8 PM. In addition to the usual fireworks there is some sort of high-tech 3-D light screen and liquid fire fountains shooting flames skyward with computer generated graphics timed to music.

If I do go to this year's fair it will be on October 17. Jessica Simpson will be singing at the Chevrolet Main Stage. It's free, I think.

Maybe if my back doesn't get better I could do the fair in a wheelchair. That might be fun.

Chesapeake Energy Bulldozes Neighborhood

Important incoming from Don Young. But before I get to that I've got to tell you that a lot of people showed up for yesterday's Moratorium Rally, as in dozens upon dozens showed up before the Fort Worth Ruling Junta's last meeting with the people of Fort Worth in their "Talk Fort Worth" program.

On to the message from Don Young.....

As I type this at 10 am, 9/26/08, Chesapeake Energy crews are bulldozing into one of the last pieces of original Fort Worth Prairie and cutting dozens of giant trees at the east end of Scott Avenue in Fort Worth, Texas.

Scott Avenue is a very narrow and winding street and includes some historic homes, including the oldest occupied house in Fort Worth. The drilling rig that weighs in excess of 120,000 lbs. is expected to be transported down this street, possibly as soon as tomorrow morning.

This controversial gas drilling site is adjacent to Carter Avenue where Jerry Horton and other residents have been protesting a 16" high-pressure, un-odorized gas pipeline that Chesapeake wants to install under their front yards. It is also due west of Tandy Hills Natural Area, one of the most unique ecosystems in the state of Texas, according to biologist, Prof. Bruce Benz, of Texas Wesleyan University. It has been studied and catalogued by botanists all over the state, including Bob O'Kennon with the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT).

Despite all of this, the City of Fort Worth issued a permit to drill the Thomas 1H gas well last Tuesday and allow Chesapeake to access the remote site from Scott Avenue. The company was recently fined for beginning work on the site before receiving a permit.

A neighborhood gathering is scheduled for Saturday morning at 9 am.

Your support is needed to demonstrate to the City and Chesapeake that their actions are unacceptable. Come join us for a cup of coffee.

Map of 2900 Scott Avenue

Exit Beach Street off I-30 and drive north to Scott Ave. East on Scott to the dead-end. Park on Scott Avenue or nearby.

Don Young
FWCanDo
P.O. Box 470041
Fort Worth, TX 76147

"God bless Fort Worth, Texas. Help us save some of it."

Survivor Gabon: Earth's Last Eden

Well, I continue being unable to watch more than an hour of TV. Last night I was sure I'd make it through the 2 hour Survivor premiere. I usually like Survivor. I thought the 2 hours would be some sort of improved intro that made it easier to get hooked.

Instead it turned out to be 2 episodes back to back. I bailed after barely making it through the first episode.

One of the things I like about Survivor is the locations. Exotic locales that I'll never see but would like to. But the Earth's Last Eden didn't thrill me too much.

It's always hard to get hooked on a new Survivor. It's too many people to keep track of and it takes awhile to get to know the quirks of their personalities. Or for there to be any sort of plot-line.

One strange thing, Survivor started out with a walk through the jungle, heading to a beach. The Survivors were dressed like they were going to work in an office. Most of the women in dresses. A couple of the guys in suits with ties. In the jungle.

I'm thinking Survivor is yet one more TV show I'm not going to be watching. What's wrong with me? I used to be so easily entertained.

Tonight's Uncertain Debate

The only convention speech I listened to in its entirety was Sarah Palin's. In all the years that there have been Presidential Debates I have only missed one, that being a debate between Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. I'd gone picking apples in Eastern Washington with my mom and dad and we didn't make it back to the west side of the mountains in time for the debate.

So, even with my ability to watch much TV in serious decline I'm almost certain I'll muster the energy and focus to watch the debate if it happens tonight.

I'm guessing John McCain will let this play out all day long til it's time for him to hop on a plane bound for Mississippi with him telling reporters that enough progress had been made today that he felt okay about wasting his precious time debating Barack Obama.

Speaking of Barack Obama, why has Rush Limbaugh taken to calling him Barry? I've heard no one else call him Barry.

UPDATE: As usual, my prediction about tonight's debate was wrong. McCain did not wait til the last minute to announce he'd show up. Instead he let it be known this morning that he'd be in Mississippi tonight and head back to Washington immediately after to continue to try and prevent the Financial Pearl Harbor from happening.

Washington Mutual Survivor

My nerves are on edge. This morning I found in my inbox 5 emails sent just after midnight from a former acquaintance. I'm concerned she may be in the throes of some sort of meltdown. I've seen this happen before.

But what's really got my nerves on edge is the non-stop financial meltdown. No, I'm not talking about my personal non-stop financial meltdown, I'm talking about that other one to which they can't seem to agree on a solution in Washington, D.C., with a big meltdown at the White House yesterday.

Then to open the morning paper to read that my bank was seized by the Feds overnight in the biggest bank collapse in U.S. history, well, it just makes me nervous.

I'm guessing the new WaMu branch being built near me is likely not going to be opened.

This morning's woeful article about the WaMu collapse in the Seattle P-I said the collapse was precipitated by $16.7 billion in deposits being pulled since September 15.

I'm thinking maybe I should go pull 1 or 2 of my billions out of WaMu and put them somewhere safer. Though, supposedly the money is currently safe. But what if the warned about Financial Pearl Harbor happens? Will any money be safe if that happens, that isn't tucked under your mattress?

Hurricane Strikes Mexico

Alma, the Sweet Songbird of the South, singing this Saturday at the Tarpon Ice House in Port Aransas, sends me some amusing emails. Every once in awhile I'm not sure if one of the Alma emails has maybe crossed the line into the world of politically incorrect, or not.

Like this one Alma sent me today......

A Category 5 Hurricane Hits Mexico.

Two Million Mexicans Die and Over a Million are Injured.

The Country is Totally Ruined and the Government does not Know Where to Start and is Asking for Help to Rebuild.

The Rest of the World is in Shock.

Canada is Sending Troopers to Help the Mexican Army Control Riots.

Saudi Arabia is Sending Oil.

Other Latin American Countries are Sending Supplies.

The European Community (Except for France) is Sending Food and Money.

The United States, not to be Outdone, is Sending Two Million Non-English Speaking Mexicans to Replace the Ones Who Died.

God Bless America!

My Fabulous Tacoma Relatives

I was talking to one of my oodles of blog readers and was appalled that I'd left that blog reader with the impression that my dear little sister and equally dear little Kristin had created a nightmare for me while I was staying with them.

No. No. No. That is not correct. Kristin and Michele and Blue and Max made me feel like I was a King staying in some sort of 5 Star Hotel. I don't recollect ever being so pampered or treated so kindly.

There was not a single moment where I felt even in the slightest way uncomfortable or unwelcome. My entire time in their house I was talked to in the nicest, most respectful manner imaginable.

I'm sure I must have done at least one thing that got on someone's nerves, at least a little bit, but I heard nary a word about anything I might have done that wasn't kosher. Even though I knew I did some questionable things.

Like setting off the security alarm despite being told not to open a door.

Or burning steaks to a blackened crisp. They ate the charred remains as if they were the tastiest steaks they'd ever had, with nary a complaint. A few days later they even let me barbecue chicken using my multiple flipping method, despite it being horribly controversial and not allowed when I burned the steaks. Ironically if I'd used my multiple flipping method with the steaks, they wouldn't have been burned black.

When I forgot to water the backyard plants, killing several of them, not a word was said, the plants were simply replaced. To my embarrassed chagrin.

I could go on with more examples, but you get the drift. I absolutely totally enjoyed my stay with Kristin and Michele and Blue and Max. It was other parts of Tacoma that set my nerves on edge.

There, now the record has been set straight.

I Would Change My Name

A Hurricane Ike Survivor on TV....

I Vote For No One

A week ago John McCain said the American economy is fundamentally sound. Yesterday he suspended his presidential campaign and opted out of tomorrow's debate because the economy is now in crisis in dire need of his attention.

Meanwhile Joe Biden thinks FDR was President at the time of the 1929 stock market crash and that FDR spoke to the American people about the crash via television.

Which likely doesn't strike Sarah Palin as odd since she thinks the Founding Fathers initiated the Pledge of Allegiance and put it under God. At the same time she thinks banning books is a doable thing in a democracy in which freedom of speech is one of its founding tenets.

And then we have Barack Obama who thinks there are 57 or 58 American states. And who repeated over and over again that over 10,000 people died in a Kansas tornado. Among other gaffes.

I was appalled awhile back when I read that the majority of Americans could not tell you when the Civil War took place. I am more appalled that someone running for the highest office in the land doesn't intuitively know that 10,000 people dead from a tornado would be a disaster of historic proportions.

Or that the Pledge of Allegiance came about in the 1890's at the instigation of a preacher and that God didn't get added til the 1950's.

Or that FDR did not become President til 1932, 3 years after the stock market crash of 1929. And that the first look Americans got at TV occurred in 1939 at the New York World's Fair. Or that an American President did not talk to the American people via TV til long after 1929.

I'm thinking I don't think I can vote for any of these boobs we have to choose from this time. I'll just stay home and mutter the Pledge of Allegiance a dozen times come the first Tuesday in November.

John McCain Suspends Campaign & Debate While Clay Aiken's Gay

Can't I have a peaceful lunch without hearing something shocking on Fox News?

It was bad enough to be told that Clay Aiken had shocked his fans and the rest of civilization with the news that he is a father. And gay. These revelations came via People Magazine.

I'd barely digested the shocking news about Clay Aiken when special breaking news had John McCain announce that he is suspending his campaign to return to Washington to participate in finding a solution to the financial crisis. This includes postponing Friday's debate and when that debate is held sometime next week, switching the subject from foreign policy to the economy.

McCain asked Barack Obama to do the same. To go along with the debate postponement and to return to Washington. They are both senators, after all. It seems the responsible thing to do.

But, I was looking forward to Friday's debate. I don't take postponed gratification well.