Last night was one of the best and worst nights. Mark and I attended a dinner event to honor and celebrate the lifelong activism of the wonderful person that is Helene Dwyer. Helene is quite simply, one of the most amazing people I have had the honor of knowing. She is dying of ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease, also the disease that Stephen Hawking has). It was kind of a funeral before she goes. What a beautiful idea! Lori did a fantastic job of putting this event together. As a side note, it was also a fundraiser for the Helene Dwyer Greatest Need Fund, that is newly established. There is truly no better way to honor a woman like Helene that to do so while raising money to help the cause.

It was an extremely emotional experience. There are few people in this world who will leave the enormous void that Helene will leave when she passes. I absolutely HATE to cry in public, which has turned out to be somewhat of a joke, because somehow my 30's have been defined by frequent and profuse public weeping. I still hate it, even though it happens ALL THE TIME these days. Needless to say, I was a weeping, mucousy mess. My eyes are still sore and swollen today.

Since I last saw Helene, just a few months ago, she has gone from a walker to a wheelchair. She has lost a ton of weight and has become very gnarled and twisted. She still looked absolutely radiant last night. She was beautiful and as happy and concerned about others as she has always been. Many people shared funny, touching, and enlightening stories about Helene. I knew she has always been an activist of the most amazing kind. I knew she has cared tirelessly for cats and the many other animals she has rescued. At the time her illness was diagnosed, she had over 50 cats--all with FIV, feline luekemia, or diabetes. These cats were lovingly and meticulously cared for in a very clean home. She was by no stretch a hoarder. She did this while working as a philosophy professor (who just retired a couple of years ago). These cats required specialized, intensive medical care round the clock--IVs, medications, special diets. I know how much work my babies are, and I cannot imagine her responsibility, nor how she managed to stay on top of it. I knew that she was one of the kindest, most compassionate people I have known. I knew that she would do absolutely anything to help another living being. I knew she was fun and smart. I did not know, however, that she started out her adult life as a nun! That was a shocking surprise. I would easily put her at the same caliber as Mother Theresa, which for me is saying a lot. I have no respect or positive feelings for catholicism, AT ALL, but I deeply respect and admire Mother Theresa and the work that she did.

I felt so incredibly lucky to be a part of the event last night. I was struck by how many phenomenal people were in that room together. I am so very lucky to be a part of that family. I am accutely aware of just how lucky I am in so many ways. This seems to be the theme of my 30's--realizing that no matter what issues I face (health and finances mostly, oh, and the crappy teen years with my oldest too), I am and always have been lucky beyond measure. I was blessed with fabulous parents, who were able to provide for their family and loved us endlessly. I have been blessed again with my second family--the AR community. I will preface by saying I am not good at estimating numbers of people, and I don't know how many attended last night. I will just guess around 100. Some of those people I know well, some I don't know well, and some I don't know at all. I love them all, however, and know that we are a family. We share all of the values and issues that are important to us and would be there for each other in a heartbeat. They are all great people; people I am proud to know and honored to a part of. How many people in this world are lucky enough to have such a kick-ass supportive network?! There are so many strong, amazing women in the group--not that they are all women, but there are many great ones. I sat by Julie last night, another amazing woman, my mentor, and one of Helene's closest friends.

I am so glad that Helene was able to be the center of all that love and attention before she passes. It seems kind of silly that we wait until a person dies to come together and honor them in that way. She so deserved to hear how well loved and highly thought of she is! It was just beautiful.

We also got to see the televised interview that Helene did recently, speaking out against vivisection. She stated, as a woman dying of a disease with no cure, that it was still completely black and white--no question about it, animal experimentation is wrong. She would not wish to benefit from or have extra time granted to her at the expense of other living beings. My summary is so pathetic and weak compared to the succint power of her actual words, particularly given her obviously poor physical condition. She is and will continue to be an activist up until the very end.

Given all that I've said above, there's one more thing I have to say about Helene. Yesterday, while getting dressed (yeah, I even dressed up and put make up on for this), I ran down to grab the mail. In the mail I found an envelope with Helene's return address on it. Inside was a note with a check. She sent a donation from her fund for my vet bills--she said she wanted us to have it to help with some of the mountainous vet bills we have accumulated. I immediately, of course, cried. Here is this woman dying, in physical agony, worried about my foster cats and our situation. I was touched beyond words. Before I degenerate any more into rambling, I'll wrap it up here.

Allegrea placed a cat in urgent need of a home with the sweetest old couple a couple of weeks ago. They seemed so concerned to learn all they could and care well for the cat. Now, less than two weeks later, they said they can't keep the cat--she needs to be out ASAP. They have her locked in a laundry room. They can't keep her, this poor tiny abused 1.5 year old cat, because--wait for it: she jumps on the counter and she plays with things all the time. Yep. So much for the "sweet" old couple. I deeply hope they are treated with the same compassion and understanding when they are alone, frightened, and completely dependent on others. Seriously. How long can one do animal rescue/re-homing without hating people?! I will not make or foster any friendships outside of the AR community ever again. People are selfish, speciesist asses.

I was able to get a little weeding time in this weekend--finally a bit of dry weather! I cleared out the massive quanities of weeds that have flourished in the front yard with all the rain and heat we've had for the past month or so. That's always a good feeling, even the soreness I feel today from heavy-duty gardening is a good soreness.

Tomorrow is our anniversary. We celebrated Saturday night by going out for dinner. We were going to go to a movie but didn't feel up to the crowds or to paying the ridiculous price for the mediocre movies that are out right now. So, we rented season 2 of Weeds, came home, got comfy, and laughed our asses off. LOVE that show!

I've taken a little break from really blogging the last several days. I've been having some problems with my CVS (chronic vomitting syndrome, not the pharmacy) returning. Queasiness hits me out of the blue for no apparent reason, and frequently I end up vomitting. It's been in check for a while, but seems to be back the last several days. The toilet and I are getting reacquainted! I usual blog at night after I get L to bed, but that seems to have hit me every night (not tonight yet) at that time. So if I don't keep up well with the blogging, it's probably due to that, rather than laziness--not that I'm not lazy, just not in this instance. ;) I've also slacked a bit in my picture taking the last few days for this reason. I do have a really cute one of Petey, though--totally unstaged. L & I were playing Mastermind, and he snuggled up next to us in the box.

Holy Bejesus!!

Headache's been kicking my ass all week. Not feeling very chatty. I saw this topic discussed on one of my message boards today and thought they were joking. You. will. not. believe. this. is. for. real. More messed up oppression and violence against women, brought to you courtesy of... the holy bible!

http://christiandomesticdiscipline.com/Home.html

Tattoosday 4

This one is pretty straight forward and self-explanatory. It says, "Animal Liberation", "until every cage is empty". I started out with a graphic from a shirt and played around with it until I got the size and shape that I wanted. Allegrea helped me pick out colors. The line work that forms the cage bars is very difficult and exacting work to keep the lines perfectly straight (and they are). It took quite a while to get it done. It's on my right upper arm/shoulder. That's probably the tattoo that was the least amount of pain. I like it but wish I had gone just a little bigger.

Tuesdays are always long for me, but tomorrow is my Friday, so that's a bright note in this long day. After dinner, I went outside to prune my roses and do some weeding, while Mark walked the dogs and Luciana and Hunter played in the back yard. After about 30 minutes of light gardening, I was soaked through--it is so hot and HUMID today. The next couple of days are going to be sauna like, so I will probably be staying in as much as a I can. Even the kids wanted to come play inside to cool off after just a brief time outside.

Tomorrow is a big day: it's my mom's birthday (Happy Birthday, since I may not have time to blog tomorrow); Oliver gets his stitches out and his collar off--he will be SO HAPPY!; and Dej registers for her senior year of high school.

I received the new issue of Off Our Backs (best feminist journal ever!) in the mail today, so I am going to relax, read my new mag., hopefully drift off to sleep at a reasonable time, and enjoy some militant feminist dreams (of course in my dreams, all feminists are animal liberationists and environmentalists too). ;)

Rain, rain go away!

I am tired of clouds and rain now. We've had more than enough rain, and it's slated to continue for the next several days. This weekend was cool and rainy, so we stayed in the house and got a lot of cleaning and reorganizing done.

Hallie came home yesterday from her spaying. She seems to feel great and has stopped the ungodly yowling. I'm sure it's a relief to ALL of us. Oliver managed to get his e-collar off last night. I felt really mean and horrible having to put it back on after he worked so hard to get it off. Only three more days until he gets his stitches out and the collar off.

Last Sunday, after Anthony's talk, Luciana went down to her craft area to create. Unbeknownst to us, she had found some fabric paint. She took a shirt down and painted her own anti-Petland/puppy mill shirt. She was so excited to wear it for the next protest (today). She debuted it last Sunday night, when we all went out for dinner. The group gave her lots of positive feedback for making it, and they said they wanted her to make shirts like that for them as soon as they got a plain shirt to give her. She came home so excited about it, that she couldn't wait for the rest of us to get shirts for her, so Mark gave her a pair of socks, which she decorated similarly. During the week, she made one more shirt for herself. She couldn't wait for the day of the protest, and counted down all week.

We weren't sure about the protest today initially, because it poured rain all morning, and our signs would be destroyed by the rain. We ended up going, and we're so glad we did. Luciana was happy to wear her shirt, and Mark wore his socks. We got a lot of positive response again, and even had someone stop and give us a generous donation. Someone also stopped to ask if there was a petition to sign to get the store closed--we wish! Anyway, the protest proved to be the high point of a quiet weekend.

The front of L's shirt says, "Stop puppy mill misery". The back says, "Boycott Petland" and, "Help me" (shows paws clawing at cage bars). What a girl!!

The Cat Whisperer

We were all really, really sad to see Anthony leave this morning. He will continue on through the U.S. with his tour, which will last through December. This guy was able to touch Ivan. Repeatedly. With two hands. Ivan enjoyed the petting and rubbing. Ivan does not allow ANYONE else (outside of the four of us) to touch him, let alone, touch him the way Anthony was able to. Many have tried, a few have made tiny bits of progress, but I have NEVER seen Ivan behave this way. I'm still in shock that Anthony did not get shredded or bitten. That is perhaps the biggest, best reference I have ever seen. He must have an amazing soul/aura and really is able to connect with cats in a special way. If you know Ivan, you understand how monumental this is! Anthony will always have family here in WI. I was not very good about getting pictures, but Allegrea got a lot. I grabbed one of Allegrea's, so you get to see the beautiful Allegrea with Anthony. She even edited it to make it fancy and pretty!

Luciana and Mark returned this afternoon from camping, and I was SO pleased to have them back! They had a lot of fun and did some really cool things. They went to Cave in the Mounds, The Mustard Museum (yeah, mustard), a mineral museum (which L calls the diamond museum), and of course there was a lot of hiking and endless hours of D&D.

HELP TAKE A BITE OUT OF DOG FIGHTING!!

Here's an easy way to make your voice heard! Amazon.com (my formerly favorite shopping site) is selling a hideously disgusting book on how to select and train dogs for fighting. Amazon needs to see, from the sheer amount of negative feedback, that this is not acceptable to the general population. Please inundate them with "reviews" and with e-mails expressing your anger with their promotion of and sale of this piece of shit. Let them know you will not spend your month there until they pull this book.

Here's the book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/1846644488/sr=8-2/qid=1187122087/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_helpful/104-9093920-1104711?ie=UTF8&n=283155&qid=1187122087&sr=8-2#customerReviews

Amazon customer service: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/contact-us/general-questions.html/102-3013477-2850516?ie=UTF8&browse%5Fnode%5Fid=508510&jsEnabled=enabled

Also, please contact the publisher of this book: http://www.readcountrybooks.com/pages-contact_us/index.html?zenid=578dc9115d101211dbeadc69e6a3dc45

Please... this will take all of five minutes, and I don't think that's too much to ask to help these innocent victims of such a cruel "sport". Have you ever seen a victim of dog fighting? Here's some motivation for you (keep in mind that these pics are EXTREMELY MILD, compared to what really happens): http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4TSHB_enUS208US209&q=dog+fighting+pictures&oe=UTF-8&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi&oi=property_suggestions&resnum=0&ct=property-revision&cd=1

H.O.P.E.

Sunday afternoon Anthony Marr, wildlife preservationist, spoke to a group of WAEN members and other interested parties (it was open to all, but only one hunter showed up) about methods for controlling deer populations. He listed several methods that would make the cruel and ineffective culling process unnecessary, the most promising being birth control injections administered to deer via his invention, the deer auto conveyer. His presentation was covered in an article in the Janesville Gazette. He has been staying in my parents’ guest room since Saturday night, so Allegrea and I have had the pleasure of spending a good deal of time with him. He’s a wonderful person and extremely enjoyable to talk with. I started reading his book, which looks really good--I'm very excited about it. He has a second book written but hasn't yet had time to publish it. He will be going on to his next tour location (Chicago) Thursday morning. I know I missed tattoosday, but I decided last night that I would rather spend my time talking with Anthony and Allegrea than blogging. We were up much, much too late (for the last several nights), and that alarm went off way too early this morning. There’s nothing more invigorating and enjoyable than spending time sharing ideas and support with other AR vegans! I feel very lucky to have had time to spend with and get to know Anthony, as do my parents. It's amazing that it feels like such a loss that he's leaving, when we've only known him for such a short time!

Luciana and Mark left for their camping trip yesterday. They had great weather yesterday, but last night and today is rainy and on the cool side. They took the big box of their D&D stuff and set up one room in the three-room tent for D&D, so that will keep them busy through the rain. L is in heaven, I’m sure, having daddy’s undivided time and willingness to play D&D all day long! I miss them both tremendously already!

Oliver continues to do well with his recovery. He was very spunky last night and wanted to wrestle and play with his brothers. It’s pretty difficult in the big cone collar, but they tried. It made me really nervous, though, because I’m afraid if they get too rough his stitches/sensitive areas may get hurt or infected. It’s a great sign that less than a week after major surgery he is trying to run and wrestle!

I got an e-mail for two more cat placements, Allegrea got a posting for 10 more cat/kitten placements, and I see several more posted online this morning. It is very discouraging and depressing to see just how many there are and know in our hearts that we will not be able to find that many good homes. Please, if you know anyone or are willing to open your hearts to just a little more love, contact us. You will literally be saving a life! Our area is facing a cat population crisis like never before—things are very dire!

Tomorrow is the super saddest Saturday ever!

A recent pic of the babies.

My little boy will be going home with his new mommy at 11:00 tomorrow. I am really, really struggling with this. Can't stop crying. Luciana was bawling today about it too, and I think she's going to lose it when she sees him go out the door. My heart breaks the most for his sister, who looks for him and calls to him when she can't see him. We will be sure to give her tons of extra love and attention and keep her very busy. My sweet boy will have a wonderful home, and his name is going to be Haiku.

It's been hot and sauna like all week and looks like it will continue to be that way for the next several days. Orinda brought Logan and Colton over this morning to play with L. We were able to play outside until a little before noon, when we lost enough of our shade in the backyard and the temp rose enough to be just too hot. We took the kids and went out for lunch. They were all a bit on the wild side--moreso than usual. L. was tired today, as she was up late last night. We went to a party at the home of one of the board members at the Gardens. The weather really cooperated, so we were able to enjoy a nice pontoon ride. Then L. & Mark swam in their pool until dinner was ready--they made veggie burgers on the grill for us. Everyone had lots of fun, but it really wore L. out. That combined with her later than usual bedtime made her a bit challenging today. She went to sleep pretty quickly tonight and is snoring away.

Mark had a tour at a house that is totally off the grid tonight--all the way green. It's a cool idea, but prohibitively expensive for most of us at this point in time. I hope in the near future, they are able to bring costs down so this is a realistic prospect for "normal" people. I stayed home because I want to watch Ollie, spend my last little time with Haiku, and also, I've had my share of biting my tongue with rich fucks who selfishly spend all their money on materialistic shit and traveling. I will never, never understand how someone with so much can live with themselves when there are others with so much NEED. I hate people like that. If my husband's career wasn't involved, I would love to really lay them open. I'm so not the 'bite-my-tongue-kind of person'. Don't really want to be either. I'm eager for M to get home so we can have a little time together, but I am enjoying my quiet evening with my girls and the kitties immensely.

Tattoosday 3

Here's the third in our series. ;) It's pretty basic, non-decorative, but I love it! Since it's just a logo/acronmym, there wasn't much art involved. Allegrea and I consulted about the colors/shading as I wasn't totally sure what I wanted. The color (besides black) that I settled on turned out to be a bad choice. I wanted a color that was more raspberry/wildberry-ish, but that color doesn't hold well in tats. I'm so glad Austin (Allegrea's SO) is always honest with me about what will and won't work or does/doesn't hold up well. He helped me pick a color that was close but holds much better. The letters are ALF. If you know me well, you'll know or figure it out. If you don't, well then, we'll just say I love the old TV show with the furry alien puppet. ;)

Oliver made it through his surgery but cannot come home until tomorrow. The poor little guy had a rough start. He was hungry and scrounging for food before we left this morning. I had to keep him from eating from 7:30 last night on. He was supposed to go in for surgery right away when I dropped him off at 7:30, but something came up and they weren't able to get him in until noon! My heart broke for the poor hungry boy. Dr. Nelson said the surgery took longer than expected (three hours), as his urethra was uniquely narrow. It made the reconstruction/stretching difficult. We visited him tonight, and he definitely recognized us and was happy to see us, but he was still pretty drugged and confused. He was on opiates and another pain drug, and only 2-3 hours out of surgery, so he was seeing things and a little trippy. He does NOT like his e-collar, which he has to wear for 2 weeks! I have to go get a special litter box with special litter for him tomorrow after work, and then I can bring him home. We will have a rough couple of weeks of recovery, but then he will have another 12-15 years of happy health to enjoy. I think once we get through this horrible part, it will all be so worth it. I hated so much to have to close the cage door on him and leave him at the vet's. I just wish he could understand what's going on. My poor little transgendered boy.

I'm so very tired, as the constant LOUD thunderstorms prevented any sleeping last night. The tornado warning that seemed to go on forever didn't help either. Nor did Ivan, who decided he was afraid of thunder and had to launch himself onto the bed and try to hide under me throughout the night. We lost power early this morning--at around 3:30 or so, so I basically stayed up to make sure that we didn't oversleep. Ollie was super cuddly and needy this morning, too. It made me wonder if he sensed something unpleasant was happening today.

Very cool--re: Vegan Children

Thanks for sending this, Allegrea!

Letter To My Unborn Child
by Heather Leughmyer.

You’ll never watch an elephant standing on her head
You will see amazing acrobats and painted clowns instead.

You’ll never color Easter eggs or eat a “Happy” Meal
Instead you’ll give pigs belly rubs – You’ll know chickens dream and feel.

The clamor from the ice cream truck won’t be music to your ears
You will know your Soy Delicious caused no suffering or tears.

You may hear a gentle gobble as you softly stroke a turkey
And give thanks that she’s alive as you’re eating your Tofurky.

While other kids buy leather shoes and eat at Chucky Cheese
You’ll be kissing cows and feeding goats and saying “soy please!”

Being different can be hard I know - This world is often cruel
Maybe you’ll be laughed at by the other kids at school.

But compassion is a vital gift that too few share with others
And your heart will not be filled with guilt the way it plagues your mother’s.

So don’t ever be embarrassed or ashamed because you care
You’ll be uniquely beautiful with an empathy that’s rare.

And when you see a rescued lamb and touch his thick warm fleece
You’ll feel no sadness or remorse – You can look at him in peace.

What took so long for me to learn, I’ll start teaching you from birth
And your footprint will be much tinier on this fragile earth

Where did this weekend go??

Today's Scrabble game

I didn't do anything exciting, and I didn't get very much done. It was a pretty low-key weekend, but it leaves me wondering what we spent our time on. We did play a LOT of games with Luciana, so that definitely counts as time well spent! We also spent a lot of time with the kittens and working on integrating them into the household. Some of the big-boy cats are nice to the kittens (Jasper, Oliver, Baxter) but stick to sniffing and watching them, Petey plays with them, and Ivan ignores them. It isn't going quite as smoothly with Harley, whose very aggressive advances are not appreciated by the boys. I think it will be fine once she gets spayed.

Last week's birthday celebration:

I forgot to blog about last Sunday, so I will flashback this week. Last Sunday we celebrated Dejanique's 17th birthday with the family. Dwyers came in the afternoon, and the four of us went to Rotary Gardens and walked around with Mark's parents and brother Dan. Then we all went to Red Robin, where we met my parents. That is where D chose to have her birthday meal. We all had a good meal and then came back to our house so D could open her gifts. She got mostly money and gift cards, but got a few clothing items, and a stained glass light bulb that L picked out for D's room. She already used some of her gift cards (to the mall) on some clothes.

Good news!!

Oliver is home and okay for now. I will have to follow him around until Tuesday morning, when he goes in for his big surgery, to make sure he can pee and doesn't block again. I'm going to go spend time with him now--I've missed him!

Luciana has her favorite friend, Emily, overnight tonight. They are very cute together. I have a feeling it will be a very late night the way those two have been giggling for the last five hours!