There's Still Time to Reasearch Your Vote!

Are you voting tomorrow?  Do you know anything about the local and state candidates?  There's still time to do research!

Step 1:  Find Out Your Districts
The districts you can vote in are listed on your Voter ID card.  You can also find your districts here if you live in Texas, or at Project Vote Smart if you don't.

Step 2:  Find Out Who's Running in Those Districts.
For Texas you can find a list of all the candidates here.  Or, you can find out who's running by plunking in your address at Project Vote Smart (in or out of Texas)

Step 3:  Research
I suggest starting by finding out a little info on the position if you're not sure what they do.  You might be surprised to learn that, for instance, Texas Railroad Commissioner mainly regulates the Oil and Gas industry, and that the Texas Surpreme Court only deals with civil cases, not criminal cases.  It only takes a few minutes to google these things and it's well worth your time.

Once you know about what they're running for, you can google the candidates, or consult some of the excellent resources below:

NATIONAL RESOURCES

Project Vote Smart

On the Issues

Politifact Main Site

Fact Check.org

TEXAS RESOURCES

Dallas Morning News Election Guide
Submit your address to find info on candidates from around the state - this is not limited to the Dallas area.

Texas Values:  Free Texas Voters Guide

Politifact Texas

Your Local Newspaper 


Step  4:  Find Your Polling Places and Go Vote Tomorrow!
In Texas you can find this info at the here.  In other states, you can usually find this info on your Secretary of State or City Website, or on your local League of Women's Voters website.

I'm linking up at...

 

Sky Watch Friday

This is Texas:  Beautiful skies over oak trees.  

Hello everyone.  I love seeing all the sky pictures from around the world on Sky Watch Friday, and I wanted to invite you all to another event where you can share your little piece of the world and go exploring.  "This is Wherever Wednesday" was one of my favorite interenet memes, and when it ended, I asked The Budget Blond if she would mind if I continued it here on Texifornia.  So, stop by Nov. 7th to link up all the crazy wonderful things you notice about your town this week. 

This is Wherever Wednesday...Starting Up Again With a Bang! (And Giveaways!)

Do you remember the old "This is Wherever Wednesday" hosted over at A Budget Blond?   It's was a meme where the Budget Blond shared her "This is Grenada" moments, and invited others to share their own "This is..." moments from their city, state, town, or country.   I loved reading all the little quirky things the different places that made them unique.  It was like getting to tour the world every Wednesday.  And it was fun sharing my own "This is Texas!" experiences.

I asked her if she would mind if I started it up again here on Texifornia, and she graciously agreed!   "This is Wherever Wednesday" will be on the first Wednesday of every month, starting November 7th! 

To participate, just create a "This is.." post about where you live, and come link it up November 7th!.  You can grab a button over in my sidebar.

Not sure what to include in your post?  This post will give you the idea, or you can Just browse the old TIWWW here at Texifornia or over at Budget Blond to see some examples.

To celebrate the party starting up again I'll be giving away some fun souvenirs from Texas too!  I'm looking for some other bloggers to offer some souvenirs from their home-town too, and get some promotion for their blog in return.   If you're interested, click here. (This is something extra and NOT something you have to do to join the linky party). 



_________________________________________________________
Thanks to The Graphics Fairy for the map graphic!

Giveaways for Texifornians

Some giveaways I found of interest to Texifornians, Californians, and Texans.

Burleson Wine Crawl Tickets, Burleson, TX (10/30)

$50 Credit at Here to There (10/30) 

(She can do any state...single state designs too)

Burleson Wine Crawl Tickets, Burleson, TX (10/31)

Miracle on 31st St. Tickets, Corona, CA (11/3)

 
Tickets to the McKenna Children’s Museum in New Braunfels, TX (11/8)

Shattered Silence (Book set on Texas border) (End date unknown) 

If you have a giveaway with special appeal to Texans, Californians, or Texifornians, let me know and I'll post it here.  

Sky Watch Friday

You may noticed I edited out the basketball hoop in the first one, and I did a little editing to put the second two together, but I did not alter the colors at all. The sky really looked like that. Took my breath away.

Sky Watch Friday

Throwback Thursday

The Day the Texas State Fair Turned Into Burning Man

 I'm a little late commenting on this. Most of you know that Big Tex burned to the ground last week. He died as he lived, with people standing in front of him taking pictures...

  

If I'm a little tongue and cheek it's just because I've only seen the big guy once, and I don't share the connection that a lot of Texans do to Big Tex.  I know a lot of you grew up seeing Big Tex at the fair and I know he'll be missed.

Thanks to VMR and graychr who shared these pictures on Flickr and under creative commons for others to use.

Wildflower Wednesday - Goldenrod

These wild goldenrod are actually looking pretty gangly in my yard, and I'm in the process of cutting them down before they went to seed, but they sure look pretty up close, and attract some interesting insects...like the beauty above.  Never seen a bug colored like this before!  (Sue of A Corner Garden tells me it's a Ailanthus Moth ...and here I was thinking it was a beetle!)


You can check out more beautiful wildflowers, and link up your own wild finds at Wildflower Wednesday.  And you can find more bugs (and animals) at...

Also linking up at...

Throwback Thursday