Friday, October 19, 2012

RIP Big Tex

I was so sad to see online a few minutes ago that Big Tex burned down, the mascot of the Texas State Fair.  I spent the first twelve years of my life *hating* to go to the fair-- it was always hot and dusty and there were too many cows and tractors and other boring things.

But somewhere around the time I started high school, my attitude started to change.  I have a whole section of my brain devoted to happy times at the fair, including several visits with our kids, and a visit to Big Tex was always part of the occasion.  I haz sad, as they say.

Probably if I dug through my photos I could come up with a pic, but if you google Big Tex, it will be much faster.  He was about 50' tall and had a scratchy audio voice that fired up about every half hour:  "WELCOME... TO... THE... STATE... FAIR... OF... TEXAS" that then went on to other assorted banalities that no one ever listened to. He was so much a part of the fair that the Texas State Fair website is bigtex.com.  He was a good man, Big Tex.  I suspect he will be rebuilt, but still it's a sad day.

Ah.  Here's the link to the story in the Dallas News, with pictures. 

In other news....  I can't even believe how much time I've spent with this dang puppy the last two weeks.  Some of it has been priceless, of course, but a lot of it is just me and her-- her wishing I'd pay more attention to her and me wishing she'd pay less attention to me.  She's a sweetheart, and she's pretty easy as puppies go.  But it has been a long week, with not nearly as much accomplished as should be.  (and major shout-out to Nell, who has taken over on the days I'm in UTown).

The sugar fast is going fine.  In fact, I haven't even really had any sugar cravings until today-- the main problem is just remembering that I'm doing it.  Four days down, three to go.  The only thing I've really missed is flavored yogurt.

Y'all have a nice weekend. 


7 comments:

  1. I was also sorry to hear about Big Tex. He always just screamed TEXAS!! to me.

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    1. me, too! He was actually slightly creepy looking-- Dean always said he looked like a chronic alcoholic. maybe that's why I didn't like the fair when I was eight!

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  2. When I saw your title I was afraid a chicken had died. Glad I was wrong. I'll google Big Tex.

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    1. Oh, my, I'm so glad it wasn't one of the chickens. They are definitely slowing down for winter, I will write an update about them soon. We're only getting 3-4 eggs a day now.

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  3. Kinda sad about Mr. Big Tex . . . also makes me want a strawberry and whipped cream Belgian waffle . . . . right now

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    1. I know, I started to get off on a long paragraph about food at the fair (since that is practically the best reason to go, after all), but decided it wasn't exactly relevant to Big Tex, and plus I was pressed for time. Turkey legs and corn dogs and fresh-squeezed lemonade and and and...

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  4. Poor BT. But the pics of him on fire is pretty awesome.

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