Lone Star Park

Last week some of our best friends, the Mallory's moved away to Washington.  Before they took off we went on one last outing.  We headed to Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie.  

The races are every twenty minutes or so.  Everybody sits around, eats food, and bets on horses in between.  You pick Win, Place or Show (1st, 2nd or 3rd).  If the horse places where you picked or higher, then you win.  

It was a fun, laid back atmosphere.  And then when the race began, everyone would stand up and watch.  The races were all short that day; only 400 feet or so (or 400 yards?  or meters?  or horselengths?... I don't know)

You can't tell in these pictures but the horses kick up dirt way up into the air.  That was my favorite part... the flinging dirt...  Hah

We went up front to steal a look at one of the races up close.

There weren't too many people there so we didn't have to fight for space so that was nice.

Logan put about two dollars on a horse and we took a classic Logan picture.  Don't believe me?  Look here or here.

This little guy (did I tell you the jockeys are little?!) was picked to win.  

So we watched at the horses got to their gates.

And there's number two!  Right in front where he was picked to be.

Oh and see that pink one... yep, that's the one we picked.  Whoops.

When asked why I knew so much about horse races my only excuse was Hoyle Casino, the computer game that also taught me how to play poker :)

Guest Blogger: Zachary the Turkey

I was a dreamer from a young age.

A wide-eyed poult who dreamed of making it big.  Maybe get the lead role in one of those prestigious Thanksgiving Pageants?

Maybe even become a tour guide at a famous national museum of some kind.  You know, Benjamin Franklin fought for the turkey as the national bird.  He won in my eyes.  Darn those arrogant eagles.

It wasn't long before Uncle Harv let me in on the truth of my sad little existence...

I don't like to talk about it...

Unfortunately, there is no escaping cold, hard reality, or in my case, steaming, fried reality. (That was a lot of commas in one sentence...)

In actuality, the true travesty in this picture has more to do with fashion than poultry humanity...

But anyway...

Enter Grant Tanner:

He seemed like a nice guy when we met.  He even got a few pictures with me!  

I thought maybe he recognized my true talent.  Perhaps my entertaining days were just around the corner!

I quickly learned his true, hungry intentions.

Ouch.

It's like he had done this before...

And dare I say... he enjoyed it?!

Nothing in all my poulthood experience could have prepared me for this...

Oh the humanity!

This is the moment I thought Mr. Grantie recognized his true error.  The vegan inside was surfacing for the first time in his ravenously carnivorous life, and met face to face with the stark reality of his inhumanity, he would see the error of his ways and let out an apologetic gobble.

The contemplation...

You can do it Mr. Grantie!  Give it up!

And the betrayal!

And heaven forbid he stop there!  

Oh to be young and feel love's keen sting!

Alas, is there no hope for humankind?  Or rather, Texaskind?!  

Endnote:  Sorry... I honestly have no idea where this post came from... Blame it on reading children's Halloween books at Barnes & Noble yesterday...

Fry Me Up Summun' Grood

In our lovely little day trip to the Texas State Fair we spent about 20 minutes walking around and checking out our instant heart attack options.  We settled on this:

It's three giant balls of cookie dough covered in batter and then deep fried.  Then they pour chocolate syrup all over it and sprinkle it with powdered sugar.

This is how I felt getting ready to take a bite:

This is how I felt after eating one of them...

Okay, I didn't exactly want to puke.  Only a little...  Normally I'm a big cookie dough fan, but these balls of cookie dough were huge... and fried...  Really, I think they were about the size of a snitch... maybe bigger.  See below for reference:

So anyway...

Grant ate some too.  Amazingly, I think he ate as much or more than I did.  

But after a while, we decided that the batter was the best part.  The cookie dough was just a little too rich and we liked the crunch that the batter offered.

So we ended up with this:

The verdict: 

Worth it?  Absolutely.

Eat it again?  No chance.

(And that's coming from the ultimate sweet tooth)

In all Fairness....

It's October.  Hooray!  October means that the weather is cooling off and a few of the leaves are attempting (however unsuccessfully) to change color.  Also, in Texas, October means the State Fair! 

We didn't go last year but decided we couldn't miss out on all the fried goodness two years in a row!

I oft profess my love for the Western Idaho Fair.  It's a down-home classic with sentimental value that I'll never leave behind.  However, the Texas State Fair is another animal all together.  Fair park covers 277 acres and it is estimated that over 3 million people visit the fair every year.  That's twice as many people than currently live in Idaho...

Whoa. Nelly.

I think this Ferris Wheel could have eaten the one we ride back home.  

And then regurgitated it and eaten it again....

They put on lots of cool shows like this Pirate diving show.  We missed the showings but it looked pretty cool.

Instead, we went to the Birds of the World Show.

It was pretty awesome.  They had a few birds fly down from the top of the ferris wheel and over your heads. 

The poor man running the show was having a tough day and most of the birds weren't very obedient.  In my opinion, that was the highlight of the show. 

Partly because he had to improvise a lot, and partly because a few birds came our way that weren't supposed to.

Like this guy who wasn't supposed to come anywhere near us but wanted to give Grant a good chance to take a nice shot.  Bam!

The animals and rides were pretty cool, but it was the food that really had us interested... 

What did we eat, you ask?  I guess you'll just have to come back and find out.  Take that!  

(But really, if you've never lived in Texas, I'm not sure you could guess what unhealthy nastiness they delight in here... really...)

A Big Drop

It's been a lengthy drop. 

The drop I have taken off the face of the blogging planet.

I have a new computer, which is awesome.  However, it doesn't have a port for my memory card like my old computer did.  For some reason, the effort it takes to connect one extra cord to my computer was just a little too much for my lazy little self.  

Luckily for you, life hasn't changed too much (read: at all) in the last week or two at the Tanner household.  

Highlights?  BLT's, nasty colds, subbing extra hours at the studio, horse races, and camping.  

Pictures?  When I work up the moral courage to upload and edit a few of the hundreds.

Have patience.  It's a virtue.  Unlike my slothfulness.  Amen.

Some things just don't mix...

Oil and Water,

Drinking and Driving,

Texans and Snow,

Birds and Rice,

Jellyfish & Swimmers,

Kids and Credit Cards,

Islands and El Nino....

Kelsey baking a casserole and Kelsey playing Zelda...

I only forgot about it for two hours...

...after the timer went off.

The Last Hurrah

Things are finally starting to cool off in Texas.  Hooray.  But before we attempt to say goodbye to summer, I had to give a shout out to one of my favorite summer things:  

Shave Ice.  

Shave Ice makes everyone smile.  Frozen water shavings covered in sugary goodness?  How could you refuse?

I'm partial to the daiquiri flavors, specifically raspberry and blueberry. 

Despite the icey treats, things still got a bit heated next to the shave ice shack.

But I think Austen was still just a little upset about this little loss.  I told him to get his face closer to the spill so I could take a picture... and this is what I got:

Lovely.

Now I'll trade shave ice for jeans and sweater weather.  I'm still working on coaxing Fall out into the open.  Progress is slow but steady.  Woohoo.