Happy 4/20!

This whole weekend has flown by in a whirlwind of activity. We somehow managed to squeeze most of our weekend chore work in and do quite a few fun activities and even enjoy a little bit of time outside (not nearly enough though!).

Friday night, L. had a sleepover with Logan, and we was able to stay until date-night-time Saturday. Saturday was a beautiful spring day, so the kids got to play outside all day. I did as much work outside as I could, but did have to come inside for some of my chores. :( The kids got along perfectly all day, although she and Logan always get along well. He's such a well-behaved little boy. He's always perfect when he's here! Mark had a work day, so he had to go into work. He's also been doing a lot of landscape consulting jobs on the side lately, so he spends much of his little time home working at his drawing table. This is such a rough time of year for him. I'm pretty sure he secretly enjoys it though. ;D

Last night was date night, with another Mark-planned surprise event. We went to see Woods Tea Company, who are extremely talented and very unique. They performed celtic-type music, including many Irish drinking songs, bluegrass, and some folk music. None of these are typically musical styles that I would listen to, but it was enjoyable live. They played so many unique instruments and had very nice voices. I, true to form, fell apart with a spectacle of public weeping. I apparently cannot attend plays, concerts, or movies without embarassing myself with public weeping. Yeah, so the woman with the beautiful voice sang a song she wrote for her beloved dog, who died at 15 after a period of frailty. I was a mucousy mess. They followed that song with a raucous Irish drinking song that I proceed to cry through as well. Oh, also they played the song, There Were Roses, which is about two friends, one protestant, one catholic, who were casualties of the religious wars in Ireland. That one got me too. I left the concert with my hideous 'crying headache'. I always get it after crying, and it always lasts until I wake up the next day--as if crying in front of others isn't bad enough, I have to have the headache to add insult to injury! UGH!

After we got home and M went to sleep, I spent some more time grading exams. I finished up grading today between the protest and the concert we attended this afternoon. I'm glad to be done, and even more glad that my students did really well. I am so proud of their performance on this assessment. This group is a real joy to teach!

The girls spent the night at my parents, as usual, on our date night. While we were attending our concert, L. was spending time at my mom's with a 9-yr old girl from West Africa. She just recently arrived in the states after having spent her whole life in a refugee camp. Despite some language barriers, the girls had a great time together, and we're delighted that L. got to meet Sonya. She enjoyed spending time with her and was absolutely riveted by Sonya's tribal dancing. L. attempted it, according to my mom, but it didn't go so well for her. It's good for L. to learn more about how much of the world lives, and maybe she can pick up a bit of Swahili in the process.

Our Petland protest today went amazingly, fabulously well! We had a great turnout, even though many we were planning to see ended up being unable to make it. We also had a record show of support from the community. We were baraged with honks, waves, thumbs up, and people stopping with questions or offering donations. The public is finally getting wise to the hell that is involved in pet stores/puppy mills. The two are inextricably linked, so I will always refer to them as a unit. It was a beautiful day too, which doesn't often happen on protest days. We even got some photos of most of the group from today.

Here's the funny part of today, though. We usually keep the protests fairly quiet beforehand. We haven't give Sardina-the-human-piece-of-shit any warning previously. This time, however, Allegrea wrote a letter to the editor which mentioned our protest, and it appeared in the paper this week. Allegrea and I arrived a few minutes early, to find two squad cars waiting for us. Yep, Sardina-the-human-piece-of-shit, is a phallus-lacking bitch, who called the cops. He usually does this once we arrive, despite the fact that in the years we have been protesting there, we always follow the law to the letter, as we know that the police just wait for us to do anything that may possibly give them a chance to jump us. Anyway, we were honored with two of Janesville's finest for the two + hours we were out there. I'm so glad our city is rolling in the kind of money that allows to officers to be paid to idle their cars, burning gas, for over two hours, to observe a peaceful protest at a pet store. Boy, we are fortunate in these tough economic times to have our force preventing potential crime from peaceful animal rights' activists. It would be a screaming disaster if anything were to interfere with Petland's ability to do business on a Sunday afternoon, and it's great that the JPD realized this and put so much of the taxpayer's money to work protecting Petland. How lucky also, that there were no other crimes, potential crimes, or investigations that needed the attention of two police officers today.

After the protest (and after my grading) we went, along with my parents, to Madison to see the tuba & euphonium ensemble's concert. The concert was pleasant, although it was tough to sit inside that long on such a beautiful day. We got back to town with some daylight left and got a little bit done outside (very, very little). I got a phone call then about an animal welfare situation that we needed to look into, so Allegrea and I had to run back out. M & L stayed home to eat and walk the dogs. I didn't manage to squeeze in eating time today, so I'll have to take care of that pretty soon!

Yet again, I had so much more I intended to "say", but I've already typed a novel. I still have some work to do and need to eat, so I guess I'll have to revisit the stuff I didn't say tonight--provided I remember it.