A couple of weeks ago (before the Texas A&M football team began its swan dive), we took a week in Dallas for a couple of football games and a visit to the Texas State Fair. In our 33 years in Texas, this was our first time to visit the state fair. Some people think the fair is great and can't wait for it to open every year. Our take was -- as usual -- just a little different.

Big Tex
What the heck do Big Tex, cholesterol, and the Mattress Firm all have in common? Well, it seems they are the three mainstays of the Texas State Fair. 

Big Tex is pretty easy to understand. He is an icon and considered the face of the fair. He has been its face since 1952 when he was bought by the fair from the city of Kerens, Texas where Tex spent his first two years as the "World's Biggest Santa."

Tex was rebuilt sometime in the 1990s, and then during the final week of the 2012 fair Big Tex caught fire and burned. So there have been two different times the fair has had the chance to create a great statue. Unfortunately, they failed both times. Big Tex is truly the ugliest, most awkward statue I have ever seen. But he is the face of the Texas State Fair. After all he is 55 feet tall, and he does talk.

Mattress Firm
In Texas, Mattress Firm stores seem to be on every street corner. Maybe it is like that where you live. It seems just the same at the Texas State Fair. Apparently Mattress Firm is the primary sponsor of the fair, and as such, they have signs and booths everywhere. I have never seen so many mattresses in one place in my life.

Life-threatening cholesterol and a new mattress every six months. Is it any wonder the rest of the world hates us?

Livestock and Cowboys
Now here is the one part of the State Fair that fits with the state of Texas. There will be rodeo competition and animal husbandry events throughout the fair's four weeks. We happened upon the Calf Sorting competition. Ten calves are numbered and two cowhands have to move the calves from one pen to the other in numerical order in the fastest time possible. One rider cuts the correct calf from the group while the other prevents (or tries to) any wrong calves from moving from pen to pen. It was fun to watch. This short video will give you some idea.

While we were on our trip to Dallas, we stayed just outside of Dallas at Cedar Hill State Park along the banks of Joe Pool Lake. The park is quite large and very nice and in the outer suburbs of the south side of the city.

And even though the weather was warm, fall was in the air. Look at the lovely autumn colors in the photo on the left. This is a small wetlands area near the shore of Joe Pool Lake.

Other than a few deer and a rabbit or two we didn't see any wildlife, but we did see a few critters which I thought I would share with you here.

Tarantula
Yeah, we saw a tarantula, and these guys are really big. We came across this sweet fellow while out for a little evening stroll. You can get an idea of his size by seeing that he spans the entire width of the roadway stripe.

It was fun to watch this bad boy take his time crossing the road. He seemed to be out for a stroll, in no hurry and with all the time in the world.

From what I read, the tarantula is not dangerous. As scary as it looks, the tarantula has a bite that is less painful than the sting of the bumblebee.

Tawny Emperor Butterfly
This guy was sitting and sunning himself on one of our lawn chairs. The males like to sit in the sun and watch for females -- not really any different than old men.

There's nothing rare here; the tawny emperor is fairly widespread throughout the U.S. I just liked the way the butterfly and its shadow looked.

Just A Grasshopper
There is nothing fancy here -- just a plain old everyday grasshopper. He was sitting on a wood walkway in the park's wetlands area, and I liked how he looked against the grain of the wood. 

Grasshoppers are most dangerous after a prolonged dry spell. Then their search for food leads them to crops which they can destroy with amazing speed. Since the Dallas-Fort Worth area is in the fifth year of drought, I think grasshoppers might be a major concern this coming year.

Who Knows?
I have no idea what this neat looking thing is, but he sat on the side of our RV for quite a while. This gave me plenty of chance to photograph him.

What looks like a single long antenna or feeler behind him is actually two antennae or feelers. Every once in a while he would spread them apart, but mostly he kept them so close together they looked to be just one.