oh monday, monday

yup, it's monday all right.  and yup, it's still all out there.  and more.  drove to school this a.m. listening to NPR, guy from the dallas morning news talking about the texas republican takeover.  while the entire country was focusing on california, my home state went down the tubes.  not exactly quietly, but without the attention a big blockheaded movie star attracts.  the texas democrats who kept trying to instill some drama into the situation in the lone star state drew ridicule and snickering instead of the respect they deserved.  i decided to do a little deep background on this whole republican blitz and found this article in the texas observer. it's long, but bears reading, even if you are not from, nor give a rat's ass about, texas.  what the TAB/TRM  (Texas Ass'n for Business and Texans for a Republican Majority) have done here will largely influence the outcome of the 2004 election.  the R's now control all the legislative branches of texas government.  not an insignificant trick to pull off.  and it was not done indigenously.  karl rove and tom delay's prints are thickly laid over the whole thing. 

but i had a fine weekend anyway.  ignored politicians and corporate interests (okay, i peeked at the headlines, i admit it) for two days and enjoyed my sister, my little niece, a visiting friend, some great thai food, the ocean wild with crashing waves during saturday's storm, sunday's bright golden sunshine.  it's that time of year when the back entry hall always has leaves on the rug and the squirrels are tossing acorns at our heads with deadly aim if we spend too much time in their territory.  we have one less pinoak this year since we took down the dying one in august, but the big one by the back of the house is brimming with nuts and the squirrels are doing their thing with them.  we managed to get the rest of the greenhouse put back together, thanks to R's determination and biceps.  the squirrels bombarded us the whole time we were working out there.  not to mention the mosquitoes.  time for a good freeze, say goodbye to the little stingers.