Tattoosday

Haha. That will never get old. This is the latest one. It was also drawn by Allegrea. This duck is right above my right elbow on the inside of my arm and is in memory of my beloved Jemimah duck. We ended up with Jemimah in a kind of strange way. He was hatched and raised in a high school agriculture class. When the school year was almost over, the teachers dumped all the young ducks (literally DUMPED them out of a cardboard box) at Rotary Gardens. As the entire universe knows, a completely human-raised duck is human imprinted and has no idea how to survive in the wild. These 'teachers' who knew that but didn't care proved yet again how shitty humans can be. Jemimah was the only duck from that dumping who survived, but he wasn't doing well. He was following people out to the parking lot trying to get into cars and following cars. I didn't find out about the whole situation until we happened to be at the Gardens for some dinner event I had to attend with Mark. Once I found out what was going on and saw the poor little guy, I had to bring him home. I thought I would keep him for a couple of days until I could line up a sanctuary or more appropriate permanent home. I could not find ANYONE or any place to take him. The rescues and sanctuaries didn't even bother to call me back. I called every single one within an 8 hour drive. Jemimah became part of our family. We learned a lot about ducks, and Jemimah became famous in our neighborhood. The kids all loved to play with him, except for the next summer, when he became manly during mating season. Then he was pretty vicious with the kids. Other than that, he was a very affectionate, playful member of our family. We miss him!

My sweet little boy, Oliver, had to go into the kitty hospital yesterday for another urinary blockage. I went to visit him after work today, and we were so glad to see each other. I hand fed him and gave him a neck massage and lots of love and pep talks. He looks so pathetic in his E-collar with an IV going in and a catheter going out. I HATE leaving him there, but that is the only way to treat this. Tonight will bring yet another sleepless night, as I won't find out until tomorrow if he will live or not. His bloodwork tomorrow will show whether his kindeys can recover or if they are going into failure. If his kidneys are okay, he will have to have an expensive surgery (that we of course cannot afford) on Tuesday. It's a very major surger with a long recovery time. I'm so very worried and sad about the whole situation. He is such a sweet, mellow little guy--it absolutely kills me that he is going through this. I cannot even conceive of losing him, so I will stop talking about that now.

Mark had an appointment tonight, and Dej had to work, so my parents took L & I to Olive Garden. We had very little time together once we got home--it was nearly time to get L settled down for our bedtime reading. She should have been asleep already, and I'm really annoyed that she isn't. I want to watch Criss Angel (he's on right now), but I can't turn the TV on until she gets to sleep. The kittens are not helping the situation as they are tearing around the bedroom at full speed, chasing each other--over the bed, under the bed, up the curtains, down the curtains. They are like crazy little wind up toys gone bad. In about 20-30 minutes, though, they will jump up on the bed by me and pass out. Then I can carry them into their bedroom, give them goodnight kisses, and let them sleep just long enough to recharge for the next round of chase.

Meh

That kind of sums up today. Nothing bad in particular, but nothing of note either. Menstrual cramps are kickin' my ass--it's going to be a loooong weekend, as it seems to be a particularly viciously painful month.

Today was Ls last day of summer school (yea for me!! I miss her on Thurs. & Fri.). She really liked her Spanish class, but phy. ed. and magic didn't go so well. Her Magic teacher normally teaches middle school and tends to be alittle grumpy with the younger children. Her phy. ed. teacher was very pregnant and very uninterested in working with/interacting with the children. And, the bitch made a funny face about L being home schooled. Yeah--it's the fact that 2 out of every 3 teachers are sour, judgmental bitches like her that contributes to our decision to educate our child at home. She enjoyed swim, too, and really made some progress the last two weeks.

I'm playing peek-a-boo with my precious little boy kitten right now. Both of them love to hide behind the laptop's monitor and play peek with me. They also love to sneak a little paw around and try to grab my fingers while I type. My little girl is trying to pounce on her shadow--oops--she just decided to join in the peek game. Harley just found the jar of treats up on my dresser and is acting like Baxter. She's already had plenty, but she keeps looking at me, talking, and rubbing her face on the jars. The other cats have all left the room. When I bring these guys into our bedroom every night for some playtime in a different environment, all five boys get the hell out ASAP. They don't like Harley's wantonly aggressive hitting on them. Poor Jasper stayed in tonight and tried to hide under the bed. She found him, and he came tearing over to me with the, "Mom, help!" look, so I opened the door for him and let him out. We can't get her spayed until every last bit of milk has dried up. There's still a little bit left, so we're stuck with the horny kitty for a little bit longer. UGH! I especially enjoy her latest habit of, every morning from around 3:30 am - 6:00 am, when she repeatedly flings her body against her closed bedroom door. I haven't had much sleep this week.

Ds 17th birthday was technically Wednesday, but we are celebrating it Sunday. The grandparents will all come over and she will get gifts and go to her choice of restaurant. We didn't want to just ignore the real day, though, so she got to pick a restaurant to go to, and she chose Cozumel. The food was good, and the young waiters all stared at/liked D. She is quite a hottie, so as long as they are under 20, who can blame them. ;) Over 20, well, then they are just perverts and will get at the very least, the hairy eyeball from me. (I'm not really sure what the origin or meaning of that phrase is, but my girlfriend, Orinda, uses it. It somehow conveys that it is a look that you REALLY don't want to get, and its strangely repulsive, yet fun to say.) We gave her part of her gift Weds. (cash), but she will get the big gift Sunday. Can't believe she's 17! She's certainly done a lot of celebrating this week!

ik5555555555555555555555555555km,,,,,,,,,,,jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj

^^^^^I left my keyboard unattended for a minute, and my little girl kitten typed the line above. It's her first 'written' word, so I'm leaving it here for posterity.

Ls asleep now, so I'm free to go downstairs and visit (briefly) with my husband before he falls asleep. We have to work at Garden Walk tomorrow, go to the follow-up party (which is totally not a real "party" but more a required work function), and then we get date night. It will be a pretty long, busy day, so date night may end up pretty low key.

My absolute favorite part of our trip...

was watching my girls spend time together and enjoy each others' company. That doesn't happen all that much lately, with the queen of moods. There was only one big negative for me on the trip (except for missing my babies at home dreadfully), but the girls' relationship more than overshadowed the negative. I always wanted a sister while growing up (still do), so I'm so very happy that my girls have a sister. Watching their sister relationship allows me to have a sister vicariously.

The whole Northwoods lifestyle that is so revered up in the areas where we were contain a lot of elements that are really hard for an animal rights activist to take. Fishing, hunting, fur trapping--the whole list of ignorant, violent redneck activities is pretty hard to take. I had to walk out of I don't know how many stores (some of which I would have happily made purchases) because they had animal heads mounted on the wall or sold pelts or some other disgusting exploitative ventures. That really, really sucked. It's a really good thing we bring our own food camping and aren't forced to find vegan food in restaurants, because it is not happening much up there. Once you get into areas like that, vegan food is pretty much limited to breadsticks, french fries, plain pasta, or salad (and I don't like salad). We ran into one unexpected little glimmer of light up there, though. While stopping in Minocqua on our way back, we ventured into some of the little shops--lots of neat antiques, imports, crafty stuff, etc., but again, many were too offensive to shop at. Right in the midst of dead animal alley, there was a unique little second-hand shop that advertised on the window a "Vegan Cafe". I was shocked and happy to see it. Unfortunately, it was only open two days a week, and it was not one of those days that we were there. I can't begin to imagine how a vegan could live up there without going totally crazy. Shit--it's more redneck than I can take here, most of the time!

Luciana's perfect day...

"Catching some frogs, a little sight seeing, catching some turtles, some sight seeing, catching some frogs--you know. Today is the perfect day!"

I have to chuckle at these pictures of her smile. You can see that front tooth just barely hanging on--it kind of sticks right out there. I was so worried that she would lose it while we were camping--I mean really LOSE it. It's still hanging in there, though.

She did start out clean, but as you can see from the last pics, L's perfect day ends a little bit on the dirty side. ;) These pics are from the day we spent hiking in Copper Falls State Park. It was pretty close to perfect. Even D enjoyed it, and she's not nearly the nature girl L is. D was dismayed to find that she recognizes and can identify more plants and trees than what she thinks is cool. She was horrified at her knowledge, because as she says, she's not into that stuff. I just laugh at her. Who is into that stuff at 16-17. I'm sure she will be a kick-ass gardener when she grows up--it's in her blood. And, since she's stuck with all that pesky knowledge, she might as well use it!

One of the things Mark and I like to do when camping (once the girls are settled and sleeping in the tent) is go back out and sit by the campfire in the pitch dark. The stars are beautiful. I love the woods at night--the sounds, the curiosity about which creatures may visit, pretty much everything. The first night we were out late at the fire (it was between midnight and 1:00), we noticed something glowing quite brightly that wasn't glowing before. It was so bright, we both thought when walking over to check it out, that someone had broken a light stick and spilled out the phosphorescent liquid. When we got close to the 'light', we saw that it was pieces from the inside of a log in the woods that L had been chipping out earlier that day. Every piece of wood from inside this log was glowing bright enough to be a nightlight. It was very cool. Niether of us had seen it before. We tried to have the girls stay up later, until it was pitch black out, and show them the next night, but the glow was minimal. In watching the wood, we discovered that it doesn't get brightly phosphorescent until after midnight--around 1:00 and later were the best times to see it. Mark figured it was a phosphorescent fungus that was growing inside the rotting wood, but we wanted to look it up to confirm when we got home. We tried to get pics with the camera and videotaping it, but it doesn't show up on either format. Here's some info about this, and if you've never seen it, try! It is beyond cool!

This type of glow was noted by Aristotle more than 2000 years ago. It is a bioluminescence caused by a wood-rotting fungus and is akin to the light of the glow-worm, firefly and lantern fish. The mechanism is the oxidation of luciferin, a light-emitting compound, mediated by the enzyme luciferase.

Many micro-organisms luminesce, including the vegetative filaments of fungi. One of the most common and spectacular is the honey fungus toadstool (Armillaria mellea). It is a serious and destructive parasite of many trees and is probably what the questioner saw. The infested wood, and the strap-like strands which spread the fungus beneath the bark, glow with a greenish light. A closely related North American toadstool (Clitocybe illudens) is named jack-o'-lantern for the same reason.

The honey fungus is a very common parasitic mushroom on trees and woody shrubs. It spreads by root-like growths called rhizomorphs. The tips of the rhizomorphs and the mycelium of the fungus are luminescent. Soldiers in the trenches during the First World War used to attach pieces of rotting wood to their helmets to avoid colliding in the dark, and in the Second World War the fire watchers in timber yards covered brightly glowing wood with tarpaulins for fear that enemy aircraft would spot it.

The light emitted by bioluminescence will probably vary in strength over time; keeping the wood moist (but not saturated) and at a temperature between 10 degrees and 25 degrees C should maximise the output. There is no known biological benefit for luminescence in fungi; perhaps the light attracts invertebrates that then eat the smaller invertebrates grazing on the fungal mycelium.

We're baaa-aack!

We all made it back from vacation alive and even speaking to each other! We had a wonderful time! We were all so happy to get back to our babies, but not to the reality of work, chores, and getting ready to return to work. :( Dej came down with a cold the last couple of days of vacation, which really sucked. Luce and I are a day or two behind her with the cold. Mark seems okay but did mention that he has a sore throat today. Our critters are all happy and healthy, except for Daisy, who seems to be under the weather. We'll see how she is tomorrow--we may need to make another trip to the vet. I really hope not, as we would like to get Harley spayed this week, so we don't have to listen to her god-awful yelling any longer. The kittens have grown so much! They can jump higher and get into more trouble than they could when we left.

We camped at Copper Falls, up near Ashland. It was a beautiful park, and we had a very nice campsite. The best part of the whole trip for me was the girls spending time together and actually getting along (most of the time). Because our camping location was so far, we broke up the trip by stopping at a hotel/water park for one night on the way up and one night on the way back (different hotels, though). We had great day-time hiking weather during the camping portion of the trip. It never got over 88 during the day. It did get pretty cold at night--especially our last two nights. It was in the 40's. We were comfy in our sleeping bags in the tent but froze whenever we got out of them. There were lots of water falls, which satisify my happy camper requirement and many, many trails. Luciana got to see and catch man turtles and frogs, which are her requirements considering a camping trip fun. We even squeezed in a day where we did some shopping (Dej's happy camper requirement). As far as family camping trips go, this was nearly perfect (we really could have lived without the colds!!). We need to catch up on sleep and wade through our responsibilities that so nicely waited for us now. The return from vacation is always so painful. I will probably filter through the pictures and post a couple a day from our trip for a few days. I have the pics from my camera and the girls' uploaded, but don't yet have Marks. Once I get everything sorted and cleaned up, I will work on getting them uploaded to flickr.

When Boston Ivy goes bad.

LUCIANA's INSECT PICTURES (see below):

1. Failed attempt at getting an ant. Her cute little toes snuck in, though, so I had to post this.

2. Japanese beetle on a hollyhock leaf.

3. Bumble bee enjoying some monarda nectar.

The biggest news in my life is that after an entire day of weeding (ending just in time to read to L and get her to bed), the North-side garden is reclaimed! I cleared out all the weeds and volunteer trees that have flourished during the bunnies' stay. It was a nightmare. The Boston Ivy that I so love to look at climbing up my chimney (especially in the fall when it turns firey red), sucks. It tried to take over the whole garden! I spent a lot of time wrestling with it--literally. My back is screaming in pain! Not only did I get it all cleared out, but I got the last of our plants put in the ground, too. I was sad to see that I lost several heucheras from my collection. I'm not sure what happened to them, unless the damn ivy choked them out. Now the outside of the house is in order for vacation, so that means tomorrow will be spent getting the inside ready.

Luciana played in the sprinkler with Hunter for quite a while this afternoon. When he went home, she took advantage of the nice lighting of dusk to photograph insects, which, she informed me, were the photography subject of the day. She said that she will pick themes each day and take a lot of pictures of those--today was insects. She learned that no matter what you do, you can't get a good tight zoom on an ant. They're very tiny and never stop moving--not a good combo for photography. She then decided that she wanted to research centipedes, after asking me several questions to which I gave the usual answer: "I don't know. We'll have to look it up." She didn't want to wait for me, so she enlisted Mark to help her research centipedes. From the looks of her printouts and computer screen, she is typing up her research to make a paper (?) about centipedes. Not quite sure, but I love her aggressive efforts to gain knowledge!

Dej also made me happy tonight. After a day at work, she saw Grandma and Gmas sisters out at the mall (it's their sister weekend, so they are hanging out together all weekend), and volunteered to walk around with them. Yes, in public! I was shocked, too. Then, she came home and got ready to go out for dinner and a movie with Grandpa. My dad's a little bored without the wife this weekend. They saw the new Harry Potter movie. She returned home in a good mood. She also wants to go to Cozumel again tomorrow, because there's a really hot waiter who works there. If he's the same hot one who used to work there, he really is hot, but probably a bit old for her. A girl can dream though (and do a lot of looking). ;)

A woman came over to meet my little boy kitten today. She would like him, but doesn't feel that she could take any more than one, due to her other animals. I'm sure she will be a wonderful home for him when he's ready to go, but I still really want to place the kittens together.

My mom and her sisters stopped by for a little bit this afternoon. That gave me a little, much-needed break from weeding. It was great to see my aunts (as always). They must be having a hell of a weekend, because poor Bobbie kept dozing off. Or maybe it was just the sound of my voice, which my husband claims is unusually soothing and restful, thus causing people to uncontrollably drift off to sleep. I would feel flattered, but I'm guessing that's a gift that most wives have.

Tomorrow will be very full, with cleaning the house, typing up very long and detailed instructions for my mom the petsitter and plantsitter, shopping for camping food, a bunch of miscellaneous other stuff, and a meeting for WAEN. Oh, and the meeting is here, so I have until 1:00 tomorrow to get my house clean or at least get it a little less disgusting! M. surprised me by doing dishes while I was in the shower tonight. It was a pleasant surprise, because I always feel crabby when I have unwashed dishes. It's not the DOING of dishes that makes me crabby, it's just that I loathe looking at dirty dishes in my sink. Ick! Anyway, I'm trying to not get my pre-vacation freak out. Too much to do, too little time! I get sick to my stomach whenever I think about leaving, because I HATE leaving my babies! Hate it! Hate it! That's the only really bad thing about vacation.

TatTour (clever, huh?) ;)

I'll start the tattoo tour, for those who have asked (because they haven't seen me for way too long). I'll eventually go through 5 of the 6. I like the idea of doing one every Thursday--then I can start with Mark's. We'll see if I'm disciplined enough to stick with that. I'll keep the other one to myself as some things should not be shared. ;) Anyway, this is probably my favorite one, although I'm loving my most recent one a lot too (my duck). It's on my left arm. My girlfriend, Allegrea, drew it up for me after I gave her a rambling description of what I had in my head. She put it all together so much better than I could have. Her hubby, Austin, inks me (see Baldwin's Body Art link on right). I love my originals--not a fan of flash that everyone else has. Austin used 12-14 different colors on this. One of the browns he needed to use for my tree trunks wouldn't hold in my skin. We needed that brown, though, so he pushed as hard as he could and just went over and over and over until it started to hold. Good thing he's patient, and I have a super high pain threshold, or I would have had a funky-looking tree! It says "Respect All Beings" (Mark helped me pick out the font) and has as many different types of critters in there as possible. She even got spiders and bats in there, which most people don't feel very warm and fuzzy about, but they still deserve respect. She also put paw prints in the tree foliage. I love everything about this one!

I got a lot of weeding done tonight. I need to just say for the record that I HATE bindweed. It's easier to pull out of the ground than most weeds, but it's so pervasive. It's almost impossibly to get it completely stripped from the other plants and trees that it coils so tightly around. I'm working on unearthing the north garden, now that the bunnies are gone. The bindweed has really gone wild during this weeding-free period. It's going to be slow going. I need to get at least enough cleared out so I can get the coleus planted before we go camping Monday. This is also a really bad year for purslane, but at least that pulls really easily. L & Hunter played while I weeded. They never run out of things to do outside. They are so cute and busy together!

Mark worked a 14-hour day yesterday. He was filming a show--a half hour show--which took that long to make! He worked today, although he came home early for a little bit, he had to go back in and work tonight because they had a potluck for the Garden Walk people. He will work all day tomorrow as well. This Sat. will be his first off in a while. It will be nice to actually see him awake. Even though he technically doesn't work Sundays, I'm pretty sure he sneaks in early in the morning on Sundays, too. The girls and I went out with my parents to Noodles for dinner. I brought an order home for Mark, which turned out to be a good thing, as he had next to nothing to eat at the potluck. That is exactly why I don't do potlucks unless they are with my vegan friends/animal rights' group.

I was shocked (and pleasantly surprised) that my brother called yesterday and mentioned that he did stop by the Petland protest. He talked to Eilene (might not be her name, but close enough) of the No WI Puppy Mill project, and got some information on the cruel, heartless business of puppy mills and Petland. I'm always pleased when one of my family members actually shows some kind of interest/involvement in the things that are most important to me. I have gotten so used to people just kind of tolerating my "weirdness" without ever really caring or learning about my little "projects", that I find myself completely blown away and a little weirded out by someone giving a serious look to my causes. I generally just assume that everyone other than "my own kind" gives the polite smile to my face and the eye roll ("She means well but damn she's out there!") as soon as I turn around.

Happy Birthday, Grandma

Today turned out to be pretty decent for a Monday. I wasn't thrilled about having to walk around at work with a giant green bruise and bump on my forehead. I was even less thrilled about the concerned questions: "Oh my god! What happened?!" If my husband hadn't actually witnessed what happened, I don't think anyone would believe me. It sounds like a bad slapstick routine. I actually have another more painful bruise from the same incident but that one doesn't show at least. Anyway, if you weren't convinced before that I am a world-class klutz, my latest kitchen mishap certainly confirms it. I got bummed by having to walk by all the posters for the missing girl (Kelly Nolan), since in all liklihood, they found her body today. :( That whole thing makes me very sad for her, her family and friends, and most of all, the condition of the world we live in.

The temp had finally cooled enough after work that we could actually get outside and enjoy the weather. It was great! Luciana got to play with Hunter outside while I made dinner--it was so nice to see them happy again in the sand box. Kaneisha came over to visit us and spend a little time with Dej. She's here breifly, visiting from Las Vegas. She brought with her Cindy, our cousins' foreign exchange student. The girls went (dej drove) to Dairy Queen and Taco Bell. I loved seeing Kaneisha--we all wish she had more time here. Luciana was PISSED that she didn't get to "play with Kaneisha"! She felt very bitter for a few minutes, but as always, she recovered her happiness quickly.

L. took her diorama to school today. She was so adorable--proudly carrying out her big box by the handle. It was especially entertaining to watch her try to navigate the hoarde of animals in the kitchen and side entry way. She was quite impressive--had to get out the door while keeping her project intact (jumping dogs, nosy cats) and not let any of the animals out the door. I had to help her a bit, but she did well. Only a girl raised in a zoo could manage such difficulty with such grace. ;)

The whole story on the diorama came out today. It seems that Luciana heard a small portion of what the teacher said, latched onto that, and dropped the rest. In actuallity, the project was to be done at school, in small groups that the teacher assigned Friday. Not only did L. greatly exaggerate the complexity of the project (I was pretty sure she was doing that), but she completely misinterpreted (?) the nature of the project (That was a surprise to me). I thought it was a little haphazard of the teacher to expect the kids to do an assignment like that at home but send no notes/instructions/parameters. Then I figured that it's summer school--that kind of stuff happens. As it turned out, NONE of the other members of her jungle group were there today, so it was a good thing she had it done. She spent her time labelling all of her animals in English and Spanish. They will continue working on these at least through tomorrow. Her classmates were duly impressed, which pleased L. She was very cute about the whole thing. I love her passion! When she does something, she really puts 110% into it (usually). We did have a talk about listening carefully to directions asking the teacher for clarification, rather than just filling in blanks the way she would like them to be.

Oh--I almost forgot--When she started the diorama, she kind of snuck down and started on her own. I was going to help her get all the supplies set up and provide guidance, but she decided she didn't want to wait for me to finish cleanin the kitchen. She needed to start right. that. minute. She came running up to the kitchen very excitedly saying, "Mom! You have to come see my diorama!" I got to about the third step, and she turned around, stopped me, and said, "Mom, now DON'T freak out about the mess!" I did NOT freak out when I saw the mess, and Holy Hell! it was a mess!

Take note of the lovely bright gold ribbon handle. I have every color ribbon possible, and thought she would go with more of a jungle-theme ribbon. But no. Her eyes lit up when she saw the big gold ribbon. I knew when I saw the look on her face that she had found the one and only ribbon that would work for her project!

I never even left the house today!

So much to catch up on... I've been busy and a bad blogger!

SATURDAY
A very productive, if boring and uneventful day. It was really, really hot! Mark had a work day this morning and didn't want to spend any more time than that outside. It was too hot and uncomfortable for me to work outside also. Dej had to work an eight-hour shift (her first). The three of us stayed in the cool house cleaning for the majority of the day (and night). We got a lot done collectively. L and I also got her jungle diorama done for Spanish class on Monday. It was a very messy process!

She had to make a 3D jungle or a picture of a jungle. That was the only requirement I got from her. She had already come up with this elaborate plan for her jungle project. I did not have any shoe boxes lying around, but I found the smallest box we had that wasn't yet cut up for recycling. It was about 18x24x8. I was concerned about it being so big. She was upset that it was so small. We compromised when I reminded her that a bigger box would be tough for her to carry. We had to run to Michael's yesterday for moss, floral foam, a bit of greenery, and a couple of other miscellaneous supplies. We stamped ferns and foliage on the sides and back of the box and glued moss to the bottom (except the portion that she had painted as a waterfall). Gluing moss is messy and icky--no matter how you try to approach it. We finished it up, and she was tickled with it. We even added a handle to the top for ease of carrying. I have to get a pic of her with it tomorrow. It's hidden in a closet right now, because the cats won't leave it alone otherwise.

The kittens continue to get stronger and more athletic every day. Harley is determined to leave the room and explore the house at large. I've been taking her out with me for little visits, but I don't put her down alone. If I put her down at all, I make sure to hold on to her. She's so tiny and timid, and I would feel horrible if one of my little thug cats hurt or scared her. Jasper and Oliver sniffed at her, but they were pretty polite--of course I was right there with my hand on her back looking at them the whole encounter.

FRIDAY

All four of us went out to Denny's for an evening visit and fireworks. Caylei and Nathan were there, so the kids drifted in and out of the adult conversation. Everyone got along, so we had an enjoyable time. L helped Denny gather up the (vegan) eggs from his chickens and new guineas--she said it was like an easter egg hunt, only with real eggs. Susan and Mark let off the fireworks when it got dark enough, and the rest of us enjoyed the show. Nobody lost any body parts, so it was a successful show. :)

THURSDAY

What the hell did we even do Thursday? This is why I blog and shouldn't skip so many days!

WEDNESDAY

We had hot but lovely weather during the day for our cookout at my mom's. Bobbie & Todd and Kelli and her kids joined us. The kids had a great time playing in the pool after lunch. By the time they were done in the pool, over half the water was out of it. L got to wear the new two-piece suit Orinda picked up for her. She's always wanted a two-piece but never got one, as Mark and I are not big fans of little girls in bikinis. O found one that provided a bit more coverage than most and picked it up for her. She's cute in it and is on top of the world that she actually has the swimsuit of her dreams.

My dad informed me that there was a Monk marathon on USA as well as the TZ marathon. How cruel to run them both at the same time. We didn't have much TV time during the day, but I had to choose between the two after all the festivities were over. I alternated, based on which episode I liked best. Both girls like TZ, but neither watches Monk.

We went to the fireworks, as usual. Normally we walk from our house to Traxler, but my mom's back was really bad, so we drove part of the way. We only ended up 5-6 blocks closer, but it helped. We got to our normal spot on the hill and started to set up. For the first time ever, it started to rain about 25 minutes before the show was to start. We stayed for a bit, but it kept coming down harder and harder. The majority of us decided to give it up, rather than stand in the downpour for another 15-20 minutes to see if they were going to go ahead with the show. We traipsed back to the van in the rain, and, once we got to the van, the rain stopped. L informed me that it stopped because she wished for it to stop. It started to sprinkle again once we all got into the van, and as we were trying to decide what to do, we noticed L covering up her face (which she tends to do when she cries). She was very upset and disappointed about the fireworks, so we told her we would just wait there in the van until the time the show was supposed to start. It was done raining by that time, and much to our surprise, they did go ahead with the show. It was a really good show. Instead of our normal spot, we watched from farther away, but we were still able to see everything but the ground show. L was very happy that she got her fireworks (and so was I). We returned home and set off our own fireworks, got the kids to bed, and then I enjoyed my marathons.

A good night!

Finally got Mark's pics from the Chain Off!!

It's pouring rain right now! Yea! We really need the rain, and I love to get it at night. We've had a little thunder and lightening, which I also love. And, tomorrow is the fourth, which is my favorite holiday. So, it's a good night. Oh, and lest I forgot, the Twilight Zone marathon just started--one of my favorite Fourth of July traditions. Somehow TZ is so much better when watched in marathon format on the fourth and New Year.

I went straight from work to my parents', where we had dinner (spaghetti). My brother and his family were there as well, and I got to meet JohnnyCash, the dog. He's even cuter in person! While M & Cresha went out to visit Dej at work, Elijah came with me (and my mom) after dinner to 'help' me feed the kittens. He met all of the cats except Ivan, and met the bunny, guinea pig, and birds for the first time. Unlike Michael, he was not remotely frightened in the bird room. :P Luciana and Mark played some D&D, which fascinated Elijah--probably all the miniatures littering our dining room table.

I then found a package of happy goodness on the counter (it came in the mail). Lori hooked me up with the WI Puppy Mill Project (see link on right side of screen). The package continued several different fliers/brochures, bumper stickers, pins. I can't wait to put a "BOYCOTT PETLAND" bumper sticker on all of our cars! Our next Petland protest is going to rock! Appleton, WI is trying to get a Petland campaign going in protest of the new Petland there. They really need help/bodies--I'm so hoping my brother & family will feel community minded and help out sometimes. ;)

Summer weekends rock!!

SUNDAY

Today was just about perfect. We had a nice mix of work/play/family time. After dropping Dej off at work for the day, we went to Madison. Our first stop was Pegasus Games, where M & L got some more D & D figurines for their ongoing game. Next we stopped at the scrapbook store, where L shopped for stickers, and I tried to keep up with her. The point of the trip was actually our final stop, Olbrich Gardens. The weather was lovely, and Olbrich looked great! We all enjoyed ourselves there. We came back to town in time to pick D up from work. We came home and grilled out, ate outside, played badminton, and I even got a bit of weeding in.

The kittens are all fed and tucked in with mommy for the night. I was able to finally remove the vaporizer from their room, which is great. It means their recovery is done, or pretty close to it, and I no longer have to swelter in a tropical rain forest when I spend time with them! Harley still wanted to be hand fed this morning (so I did), but she didn't ask tonight. She was busy eating her canned food. The kittens' eyes have improved dramatically. Little boy's are back to normal, and little girls' left eye still has a bit of staph infection, but her right eye is perfect. They are super fun and snuggly, and now that we've made it through the scary part--I feel so lucky to know them. They are just wonderful, and L & I love to watch them.

SATURDAY

We spent the day in Madison at Chain Off 2007. We were outside along a busy street, wearing collars and chained to dog houses. Chain Off is a national campaign that draws attention to the plight of so many dogs who are forced to spend all or most of their lives chained outside. The boredom, helplessness, often physical pain (due to weather, lack of food/water, etc.), always causes misery to an animal who deserves better. In some cases, this leads to an aggressive dog, who acts out--often violently and dangerously. It was a beautiful day, we got to spend time with wonderful people, and we were promoting something of the utmost importance. It doesn't get any better than that! I will have pics of that after M goes back to work so he can download the pics off his camera.

We were out in a public park with no bathrooms. A really kind shopowner from across the street offered us cold drinks and the use of her bathroom throughout the day. I think the shop was called "Peg's"--it was this great little eclectic/artsy antique and consignment shop. There was a lot of fun stuff. L & I were on our way out of the shop after our bathroom trip, when I saw this gorgeous plant stand. L kept going, so I called to her, "wait--come look at this". She turned around and marched back in and said, "Mom, which is more important, your plant stand, or the animals?" {Mommy waits to laugh until L turns back around and starts walking. Mommy follows, without anymore window-shopping stops.}