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.