The biggest spider web ever.

Some of you who read yesterday's post (okay, no one...) may be wondering where Poodle's new friend Henry the Spider suddenly popped up from. Henry was visiting his spider friends at Lake Tawakoni State Park a few weeks ago when Poodle and I ventured out to see the giant spider web that had been in the news. The spider web was HUGE - covering 2 football fields worth of trees. Unfortunately, there had been a storm the night before we went, and most of the webs had been knocked down. Still pretty impressive, though. Poodle was a little concerned that the 2 million or so spiders involved were going to tie him to a tree, but he managed to get away safely. Henry will be moving to the Netherlands in a few months, but but he promises to keep in touch.

Elvis and the Balloons

I've always felt a little sorry for Elvis, having died at the height of the worst fashion disaster in history. Even though Elvis Presley Enterprises has been very helpful lately in supplying us with loads of items depicting 50's and 60's hot -looking Elvis, the iconic image seems to be 70's large, jumpsuited Elvis. Poor guy. Had he lived a few more years maybe he would have ditched the jumpsuits and gone with a slightly better look. It seems the me that the cartoonish 70's look has almost overpowered his singing abilities and accomplishments. I'm afraid that the kids these days are only going to think of him as "that fat guy in the rhinestoned jumpsuit", and that's kind of sad. With that said, let me change gears and confess that I've always been partial to the kitschy goodness that is 70's Elvis, but that's the only Elvis I'm old enough to actually remember. And well, I love kitsch. Sorry, Elvis. What does any of this have to do with Poodle or balloons? It seems that this year's Plano Balloon Festival ( held last weekend) hired Kraig Parker, Grand Prairie's Finest Elvis Impersonator to entertain the crowds on Friday night. Poodle had other plans, so I had to go without him. (Okay, I forgot to put him in the bag...) Anyway, this fellow put some actual effort into his show, and was really pretty good. He had the moves, and sounded right. He even did the whole bit with the scarves. It was fun watching the old ladies in the front get all excited.

Day 2 of the balloon festival found me out before dawn, Poodle in tow, watching the balloons inflate in a valley full of fog. Pretty cool! Poodle got to see his new friend Henry the Spider , and all was done by 9AM. My personal favorite was a balloon shaped like a daisy. Poodle was fond of the Pirate balloon, but didn't really approve of the one shaped like Felix the Cat. Grrrr!