Cactus makes perfect (or "The Red State Blues")

Did you hear the news? I live here now:

This is actually San Angelo State Park, where the buffalo may roam, but are hard to spot. (In fact, there is a herd of American bison here and on the way out of the park, we saw one grazing on some dry grass.) Technically, I don't actually live in this park--though that is a suitable plan B.

But I do live in Texas now, which makes me think of the tagline for the old computer game Obsidian: "Your Rules Do Not Apply Here." I mean--my god!--they don't sell hard alcohol in grocery stores, as they did in Illinois. How's a person supposed to stand that?

I don't yet have any serious red state blues to complain of (I saw far more anti-Obama bumper stickers when I was here a few weeks ago, checking out apartments); as usual, misconceptions are like battle plans--they don't survive contact with the other side. So, what do you expect in Texas? A guy in a pick-up truck with a cowboy hat? Yeah, I saw that--but I also saw his Pomeranian in the passenger seat. Or what about cowboy boots and denim shirts? Yeah, I see lots of that--but I also saw this one guy in cowboy boots go get one of the frilliest coffee drinks I'd ever seen.

So let's see how this Texas thing goes; future posts on this topic will be marked "Cactus makes perfect," narrowly beating out my other idea, "Dismember the Alamo."