fall events

Urgh, one of the things about moving is that we always move in fall, which means that we're just in time for elections. At least it was within the same country this time around, but still, we have no idea who all the candidates are and have to do actual research to figure out who we want to vote for. This place is strange because it's very, very, very heavily one single party, and even the opposing party (in local politics, anyway) doesn't seem much different. They've been running articles comparing candidates in the local paper, and seriously, some of them have the same platform! I guess people vote for the one most closely related to them...?? I don't think I've figured out the governor's election yet, either--the incumbent is Republican, but I've also encountered a lot of ads with the theme of "Republicans for X (the opposing candidate, who is Democrat)." Not sure what's going on there... 

At any rate, I'll be glad when it's all done, because DAILY I'm getting e-mails asking me to pledge money to various campaigns. I didn't give them my e-mail (unless writing to your congresspeople about nonpartisan issues is sort of carte blanche for sending me junk mail?). If any of you are political party letter writers, sorry, I delete the things unread whenever they come up. They're turning me off, even the ones for a party I sort of support.

Tonight, though, is not about politics, but about Halloween! We are ditching the many trunk or treat events we've gotten ads about (there's seriously been one every night somewhere in town!) and are going to Plain Regular Trick or Treating. (In case you're wondering, yes, I know it's not technically Halloween until tomorrow, but this is one of the towns where Sunday Halloween kicks back to Saturday.) Hopefully the rain will hold off until we are done!