An adventure

In every litter there is a trailblazer. In this litter, it's the little guy who reminds me of Ivan--there are actually two who are a little more adventursome, but this little guy was the first to make it up and almost out. I watched him pulling himself around, trying to slither off to unseen territory. I watched Sparta repeatedly try to discourage him from this adventure and redirect his efforts. Finally, he slowly pulled himself up the side of their little bed, with quivering little front legs straining to pull up the weight of his disproportionately large kitten head. He was finally standing, allowing his little face to peek up over the edge of the bed. He stood there as long as he could, straining to see the 'outside' world with his limited vision, enjoying the moment of sweet victory. After he exhaustedly dropped and crawled back to his siblings and mommy, I imagined him, after such an adventure, excitedly encouraging his slightly weaker siblings to "Did you guys see what I just did? You have to try it. Stretch your tallest and look to your right, there are TOYS over there!"

Pets without a say

Found on Craig's List. I LOVE THIS!!

Pets without a say (read this)

What really happens when you take your dog or cat to a shelter... This was posted in the "Best of Craiglist". I did not personally write this. Everyone who wants a pet should know exactly what happens if they decide they can't keep their pet anymore: I am posting this (and it is long) because I think our society needs a huge "Wake-up" call. As a shelter manager, I am going to share a little insight with you all...a view from the inside if you will. All breeders/sellers should be made to work in the "back" of an animal shelter for just OND DAY. Maybe if you saw the life DRAIN from a few Sad, Lost, Confused eyes, you would change your mind about breeding and selling to people you don't even know that puppy you just sold will most likely end up in my shelter when it's not a cute little puppy anymore. So how would you feel if you knew that there's about a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the shelter it is going to be dumped at? Purebred or not! About 50% of all of the dogs that are "owner surrenders" or "strays", that come into my shelter are purebred dogs. The most common excuses I hear are; "We are moving and we can't take our dog (or cat)." Really? Where are you moving too that doesn't allow pets? Did you try hard enough to find a pet friendly place or dont want to pay the additional pet deposit or pet fee? Cant you move in with some friends and rent a house that allows a responsible pet owner (if you are). Or they say "The dog got bigger than we thought it would". How big did you think a German Shepherd would get? "We don't have time for her". Really? I work a 10-12 hour day and still have time for my 6 dogs! If you go outside to the mailbox (you should make the time to take your dog for a walk. Walking is good exercise for you tooooooooooo. "She's tearing up our yard". How about making her a part of your family? BRING HER IN THE HOUSE and give her chewing toys, They always tell me "We just don't want to have to stress about finding a place for her we know she'll get adopted, she's a good dog". Odds are your pet won't get adopted & how stressful do you think being in a shelter is? Well, let me tell you your pet has 72 hours to find a new family from the moment you drop it off sometimes a little longer if the shelter isn't full and your dog manages to stay completely healthy if it sniffles, it dies. Your pet will be confined to a small run/kennel in a room with about 25 other barking or crying animals. It will have to relieve itself where it eats and sleeps. It will be depressed and it will cry constantly for the family that abandoned it. If your pet is lucky, I will have enough volunteers in that day to take him/her for a walk. If I don't, your pet won't get any attention besides having a bowl of food slid under the kennel door and the waste sprayed out of its pen with a high-powered hose. If your dog is big, black or any of the "Bully" breeds (pit bull, rottie, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door. Those dogs just don't get adopted. If your dog doesn't get adopted within its 72 hours and the shelter is full, it will be destroyed. If the shelter isn't full and your dog is good enough, and of a desirable enough breed it may get a stay of execution not for long though. Most get very kennel protective after about a week and are destroyed for showing aggression even the sweetest dogs will turn in this environment. If your pet makes it over all of those hurdles chances are it will get kennel cough or an upper respiratory infection and will be destroyed because shelters just don't have the funds to pay for even a $100 treatment. Here's a little euthanasia 101 for those of you that have never witnessed a perfectly healthy, scared animal being "put-down". First, your pet will be taken from its kennel on a leash they always look like they think they are going for a walk happy, wagging their tails. Until they get to "The Room", every one of them freaks out and puts on the breaks when we get to the door - it must smell like death or they can feel the sad souls that are left in there, it's strange, but it happens with every one of them. Your dog or cat will be restrained, held down by 1 or 2 vet techs depending on the size and how freaked out they are. Then a euthanasia tech or a vet will start the process - they will find a vein in the front leg and inject a lethal dose of the "pink stuff". Hopefully your pet doesn't panic from being restrained and jerk - I've seen the needles tear out of a leg and been covered with the resulting blood and deafened by the yelps and screams. They all don't just "go to sleep", sometimes spasm for a while, gasp for air and defecate on themselves. When it all ends, your pets corpse will be stacked like firewood in a large freezer in the back with all of the other animals that were killed - waiting to be picked up like garbage. What happens next? Cremated? Taken to the dump? Rendered into pet food? You'll never know and it probably won't even cross your mind - it was just an animal and you can always buy another one right? I hope that those of you that have read this are bawling your eyes out and can't get the pictures out of your head - I do everyday on the way home from work. I hate my job, I hate that it exists & I hate that it will always be there unless you people make some changes and realize that the lives you are affecting go much farther than the pets you dump at a shelter. Between 9 and 11 MILLION animals die every year in shelters and only you can stop it. I do my best to save every life I can but rescues are always full, and there are more animals coming in everyday than there are homes. My point to all of this - DON'T BREED OR BUY WHILE SHELTER PETS DIE! Hate me if you want to - the truth hurts and reality is what it is. I just hope I maybe changed one persons mind about breeding their dog, taking their loving pet to a shelter, or buying a dog. I hope that someone will walk into my shelter and say "I saw this thing on craigslist and it made me want adopt - that would make it all worth it."

Two on Tuesday

We are having a Petland protest this Sunday, March 1, at 1:00. I hope to see all of you (who live in this area) there. In light of this very exciting and fun event, here are two websites you should check out. Really. Please?

1. Petland information and More Petland Information

2. Puppy Mill information

And a cute random picture of Carrie helping Mark work on his laptop.

Excessive cuteness

Last Wednesday was the day that little Fergus (formerly the happy humper) was liberated from his cage. I am SO happy about that. When I had to pick him up and put him in the cage at bedtime, he knew what was coming and would kick and try to get the door open once I got him in there. It literally made my stomach upset to my stomach. We took the cage apart and removed it from the room. Can you imagine spending your whole life, or the majority of it, locked inside a small cage, completely dependent on someone with whom you can’t communicate very well to remember to give you food & water? Life in a cage is no life at all! For obvious reasons, our gerbil has to remain caged, which does bother me. It’s a huge cage, and we work hard to keep it interesting by changing the toys and things we put in there for him. He comes out to play for a while everyday. I hope that he’s happy and not lonely or bored. It’s the best we can do to allow him to have a safe, healthy life. So back to the rabbits. They are so in love and happy together. They groom each other frequently and are almost always touching one another.

The kittens continue to grow and are on the chubby side now, which is a very good thing. Sparta (mommy) is also becoming fat and is happy and playful as well as affectionate. She seems to like to show the kittens off, it seems. When I go in the room to visit them, Sparta will stand there purring loudly as I praise the kittens. The kittens, however, are little tattle tales. They know I’m not Dej or Joe, and if I hold one for too long, he/she will yell for mommy, and she comes running. At that point I always hand the kitten to Sparta, so she doesn’t get distressed. She then has to groom the violated kitten for a bit. Even though their eyes are open, their vision is still extremely poor at this point. They will be much less fearful once they can see the world. They are not walking yet, but they all slither around pretty well, and a couple of them are getting very close to leaving their snuggly little nest and exploring the big scary world. I can’t wait!

Luciana was under the weather this weekend with a sinus headache. She wasn’t her cheerful, happy self and was very quick to both tears and meltdowns this weekend. I hope she feels better soon. I miss my sunshiney girl. It’s times like this weekend, when she is so unlike herself and is somewhat unpleasant, that we really appreciate her normally happy-go-lucky personality. Normally her disposition is more like Mark’s than like mine. I’m very grateful for that! He gives her a happy, fun disposition. I give her sinus problems and headaches. Nice.

Circuses.com

We had a great day today, most of which was spent at the Zor Shrine Circus protest. They are still using the George Carden circus, which has MANY violations cited by the USDA, and we all know how low their standards are for animals. There was a really good turnout. Sorrell and a friend made this kick-ass elephant--it was a fantastic visual! It was very cold and windy, so we were pretty happy to get back into our car to warm up and get back to the kittens.















I have lots of cute kitten pictures and bunny pictures from this weekend. I'll post those throughout my posts this week. I'm sticking with just circus photos for today. Luciana made several signs but only brought her largest one. Her friend, Sylvan, was there today, and it was cute to watch the two of them hang out together. Dej also went with us, so I was beyond happy to have my whole family together at the protest. What a great way to spend family time!

I suck.

Just got my grading done. Whew! I'm really struggling to keep up with everything--much more than usual. I'm not sure what the problem is. Some of it is that L's homeschooling takes me SO much longer to create, plan, etc., as she gets more advanced and we add more subjects. Some of it is having more animals. That can't be all of it, though. I'll get to a real post tomorrow. In the meantime, in 'honor' of the hideous Zor Shrine Circus that will be in Madison all weekend, please check THIS out. L. has been busy all week creating signs for the protest and is looking forward to seeing her old 'friends', the little men in funny hats.

Now I'm off to go watch W with the husband. He's home AND he's awake...can't miss that rare opportunity!

Two on Tuesday

I've not had the greatest day and am not feeling creative at all--just exhausted. In my love/hate relationship with computers, or more specifically Microsoft, today was a 'hate' day. I wasn't going to post, but after I got home from teaching my class tonight, two things really made me laugh within a five-minute period. I really appreciated the laugh after this day.

1. I walked into the kitchen to find Luciana squeezing her Flarp (it's noise putty; she and Mark like to make nasty fart noises with it) through my garlic press. For some reason it struck me as being incredibly funny. I'll have to see how funny it is after I try to wash the garlic press and use it again.

2. Botswana (the gerbil) has learned the snack-time routine. When I come in the birdroom in the evening to read L's bedtime story, Botswana and the bunnies each get a healthy treat--fresh fruit, veggies, or some other delicious morsel. As soon as I walk in the door, he jumps up onto the cage bars and hangs on his little door waiting for his treat. As soon as I hold out the treat, he snatches it from my hands with his tiny little hands, turns it over and around to examine it, then he runs into his little wooden house to eat his special goody. He is SO cute and really quite smart, too!

LMAO

Because my husband is busy being a workaholic, I have time for another entry tonight. Just got this and laughed. A lot. It would be selfish of me not to share.

Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Flavors for Bush
Saturday February 14, 2009
Ben & Jerry Bush Ice Cream Flavor This joke email is currently making the rounds. While Ben & Jerry's has no actual plans for a Bush ice cream flavor, the possibilities are hilarious.

Ben & Jerry created "Yes Pecan!" ice cream flavor for Obama. They then asked people to fill in the blank for the following:

For George W., Ben & Jerry created "_________".

Here are some of their favorite responses:

- Grape Depression
- Abu Grape
- Cluster Fudge
- Nut'n Accomplished
- Iraqi Road
- Chock 'n Awe
- WireTapioca
- Impeach Cobbler
- Impeach Mint
- Heck of a Job, Brownie!
- Chunky Monkey in Chief
- George Bush Doesn't Care About Dark Chocolate
- WMDelicious
- Guantanmallow
- Neocon Politan
- RockyRoad to Fascism
- The Reese's-cession
- Cookie D'oh!
- Housing Crunch
- Nougalar Proliferation
- Death by Chocolate... and Torture
- Freedom Vanilla Ice Cream
- Chocolate Chip On My Shoulder
- "You're Shitting In My Mouth And Calling It A" Sundae
- Credit Crunch
- Mission Pecanplished
- Good Riddance You Lousy Motherf**ker... Swirl
- Country Pumpkin
- Chocolate Chimp
- Bloody Sundae
- Caramel Preemptive Stripe
- I broke the law and am responsible for the deaths of thousands...with nuts

More kitten cuteness

The highlight of the weekend was Saturday night’s Vegantines dinner & dance. It was also the only time in the period of Fri-Sun that I got to see my husband awake. He had a couple of presentations to give at the Garden Expo, and had to spend the majority of the weekend there.

I was very excited about going to Vegantines for so many reasons, one of which was the fact that there was going to be dancing. I love to dance, but since my husband doesn’t, we haven’t been out dancing for probably close to ten years! I only got him to dance one ‘fast’ song, and only that one because it was Prince, and he just knew there was no way out of that one. He refused the rest of the fast songs and wanted to wait for a slow song. When slow dancing, we spend most of our time arguing about the fact that I am leading. I go backwards, though, so nobody but him can tell. As I always tell him on the dance floor, I will have to continue to lead for as long as he tries to do the ‘white boy shuffle’ out there. I prefer to actually dance. ; )

I was so focused on getting everything ready for my grand-kitties’ arrival this week, that I didn’t get a chance to really put any thought into what I was going to wear to Vegantines until about 20 minutes before we needed to leave. It was during that time period that I realized it had been a long time since I had to dress for a semi-formal evening out. I generally am clothed in either career professional (as seldom as possible, though), jeans, or ratty gardening and cleaning clothes. It was at this time that I found that the ‘little black dress’ type clothing no longer suited my body…as in trying to pack 10 pounds of jello into a 5 pound bag. I managed to throw something together after a great deal of stress. I realized then, that since my one and only appropriate choice was a skirt, I’m pasty, and it’s less than 20 degrees, I would have to wear stockings. UGH! I really, really hate them, and have had the pleasure of NOT wearing them for many years. I had to snap a photo as proof, since some of you wouldn't believe I wore them otherwise. I then quickly slapped on enough makeup that I only looked mildly anemic and sleep deprived rather than my usual ‘knocking-on-death’s door’ look. Yep, as good as it was going to get—time to go.

We arrived on time, which was awesome, considering my wardrobe issues. We usually each try to take our camera with us, as we're 'picture people', but we realized when we got there that we had both forgotten our cameras. What a travesty!


We knew that the dinner would be catered and vegan, but had no idea what they would be serving. Since M & I are the only vegans who hate mushrooms, we spend a great deal of time worrying about having a main course of portabella mushrooms or something like that. We were pleasantly surprised that dinner consisted of some braised roasted, sliced veggies (carrots, zucchini, etc.) and a veggie lasagna. The veggies were delicious! I could have eaten a full meal of just those. The lasagna had tofu, roasted veggies, and soy cheese, and it too was delicious. I ate until I was full (saving a little room for dessert of course), and passed the rest to M who always seems to have room to finish off my plate. The dessert was a cherry chocolate ‘cheese’ cake that was also fantastic. I assumed by the quality of the meal that Lynn had found some amazing vegan catering company but was surprised when she told me that they didn’t even know what vegan was when she first started talking to them. Queen Anne's Catering did an incredible job with the food.

After dinner, the program started. Rick did a great job as master of ceremonies and was perfectly coordinated and festive with his dark suit and red flower with red tennis shoes. I also have to add that Lynn was more drop-dead gorgeous than usual. The Alliance presented several local journalists/media people with the ‘Heart of Journalism’ awards. It was great to see these local heroes acknowledged, and I was touched by some of their acceptance speeches. It’s the little moments like that that I hold on to. I felt so happy and honored to be in a large room full of the best of humanity. It’s so easy to focus on the vile, worst of humanity, as we AR people see all too much of that. The people in that room and others like them are literally my lifeline. They give me the strength and hope to keep going, and they remind me that humans, if they choose, can be astoundingly good and compassionate. They remind me that we can be so much more than what most of us have chosen to be. And they make me proud to be a human. Most people do not.

After the program, we had time for socializing and dancing. We also got to have our pictures taken together. We haven’t done that since before we got married! We are not thrilled with the picture. I think it would be much better if they could make it look more like we look in our own little minds, instead of what we really look like. We need a photo where neither of us is carrying 15 extra pounds, we look well rested, and maybe 10 years younger or so.

As much as I hated to leave such a wonderful time with the best company in the world, I was worried about my little grand-kitties at home. Dej had to work at 7, so she and Joe had to go shortly after we did. The kitties had been fed and were happily sleeping when they left, but I was eager to get back and check on them. I got home and ran up to check on them, only to find they were in almost the exact same position as when we left them, and were just fine.

Dej called me when she and Joe arrived home (our house) from work at around 3:00 am. Once I’m awake, I generally stay that way for a good long time. They were up hanging out for a while, so I went down and joined them for a couple of hours. As soon as I started feeling sleepy again, I headed back upstairs for bed. I was obscenely tired all day Sunday!

Since M was gone all day Sunday, I took the girls out for lunch. Joe joined us, and we did a little shopping. I needed to pick up another large cat crate. Dej is using my big one for Sparta and the kittens, and I needed another big one to take in the two other cats from that shitty house to get spayed and neutered on Monday (today). I really enjoyed having the time with my kids (and Joe). Joe, like Mark, grew up with two brothers and no sisters, so spending time with the three of us—all very bossy females, is good training for him. It can be quite an adjustment to switch to living in an estrogen-laden environment, after all that testosterone they grew up with. My girl and her family have gone back to school, so I will have to wait until Friday to see them again. All of the kittens should have their eyes open, at least partially, by then.

Completely and utterly adorable!

One of Dej's foster kittens, in Joe's hand.

Her name was Daisy. She was a showgirl, with yellow feathers in her hair...

L & Fiona were snuggled up in the bird room watching Sponge Bob when I got home. How cute are they?! Fergus was busy running around like a little maniac. He's a very high energy bunny!

I should be grading in my small window here between the end of my class and the time I have to read to Luciana and tuck her in for the night. I've decided to avoid that until later--maybe tomorrow even. Why do tonight what I can put off and have lingering over my head like a dark cloud until tomorrow?

I'm hanging out in the bird room with L. & the critters. Fergus is 16 days post-neutering and has improved tremendously, but can still get a little sidetracked with the humping. We try to spend as much time in here as possible right now, because he can only be out of his cage with supervision (until the testosterone has left his body). We spent last night cleaning, rearranging, and reorganizing in here. We had some additional bunny proofing to do, because Fergus is so tiny that he can get into areas that the other rabbits couldn't. I think we have everything covered now, and we like the room much better this way. It's a nice feeling to have it nice and clean (for a day or two until they tear it up again).

We are all looking forward to tomorrow when Dej & Joe arrive with their new little family. They rescued a mommy cat and her five kittens last weekend. They removed them from a horrible environment. The kittens were born last Friday, and she took them on Sunday. The littlest one was in bad shape when they got them, and the poor little bug didn't make it. The rest are doing well, though. They took mommy cat to the vet and got her vaccinations, ear mite treatment, etc. They got KMR and have been doing supplemental feeding. They went toy shopping and got lots of nice things for them to play with (not that the kittens are up to playing yet, but soon). Dej insisted on paying for everything, despite Joe's recent layoff. She is doing so well and is so responsible and mature suddenly! I'm very proud of her and am excited to meet my new grand-kittens and mommy. Dej & Joe will be keeping mommy and one kitten, so we will have three very loved, healthy, happy kittens to place in wonderful homes in several weeks. L & H. did an amazing job at getting Dej's old bedroom cleaned up and kitten proofed, as they will be staying here on the weekends with D & J. I will be babysitting while Dej works.

There are still two unaltered cats in the home that these guys were taken from. I wish I had a place to put them, as it's really not a good home. I don't. The best I can do at this point is that we will be taking them in on Monday morning to get spayed and neutered, get vaccinations, treatment for their various parasites, etc. We'll get them as healthy as possible, lecture the idiot kids who the cats live with on proper care and maintenance of beings for which they are responsible, and hope for the best. Dej will be watching though to make sure they are cared for.

Everybody told me that she would get her head out of her ass eventually and become a wonderful, responsible person. I didn't really see how that could happen--at least not within the next decade. I'm happy to say I was wrong. Yeah, I said it. It does happen on the rare occasion that I am less than correct about something. ;P

LOST continues to rock my world! I've said all along that Jin was alive and cannot wait to see him reunited with Sun. M & I were talking last night about it and we agreed that neither of us was that into the Penny & Desmond love story. We just weren't as moved as the rest of the world when they talked and reunited. I don't exactly know why, but I just don't care all that much about whether they are together or not. I do love Jin & Sun together, though, and am so totally excited to see them find each other again--hopefully next week.

My stomach has been so much better lately, up until recently, that is. It's gotten progressively worse over this week, with me back to random vomitting today. I have really not missed that. Anyway, it will pass eventually, but the point is that my hubby was very sweet today. We generally e-mail and/or chat throughout the day, and so he was aware that I was having a rough-stomach day. He had to stop at the pharmacy and pick up batteries on the way home from work and very thoughtfully picked up some delicious dark chocolate for me. I'm optimistically hoping that I will be able to eat and enjoy it later tonight.

I am not going to write the 10 page essay that I would like to about this, but I do have to get in a little vent that the whole octuplet breeding has me really pissed off. There is so much about that specific case that is horrible, but even worse, it reignites my fury with fertility treatments in a world where we don't have enough resources to sustain our population for much longer. We could significantly lengthen the time we have if we all became vegetarian, but that's another issue. It sickens me that in a world where there is even one single child without a loving home, that we would go through expensive and elaborate efforts to make even more unnecessary people. The ego and selfishness of that whole thing just sickens me. I am beyond angry about living in a world where the rights of adults reign supreme and repeatedly run roughshod over the children and animals who don't have the luxury of the same rights or protection. Quality. It's all about quality, NOT quantity. I'm ramping up here, now, but it's time to stop as L and I have some Trixie Belden to read.

Be nice...Daisy is watching you. ;)

Two on Tuesday

I love reading. I mean I really love reading. It's a lifelong passion that is as dear and integral to who I am as my animal passion. There are so many awesome books that I love and plan to share in my Tuesday posts. Since Fergus the happy humper is quite randy at the moment and I'm having to stop and jump up every two or three words, I'm motivated to be super quick with this post.

Two very short stories that affected me profoundly and that I wish everyone (especially women) would read:

1. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Can be enjoyed at several different levels. It's creepy at its surface--creepy in a good way. More closely examined it is a profound piece that exposes the view of and treatment of insanity in the early 20th century, particularly as applied to women.

2. I Stand Here Ironing by Tillie Olsen: A wonderful short story that addresses motherhood and the hopes, dreams, and guilt that are inextricably linked to motherhood, poverty, social class, gender roles, and so much more in a powerful and emotionally touching way.

You can get them at any library and read them both within a few hours (or less). I own them both and would be happy to loan them out, too. I promise they are both so worth the time, and would LOVE to chat about them with you if you do read them. I really, really miss the great literary conversations that I so enjoyed in college!

We've had a super busy last few days. M & L went to Rochester, MN on Thurs. M had to give a talk there, and as he was staying overnight in a hotel with a nice pool, L joined him. I had to teach my class on Thursday night, so I couldn't go along. That left me home to handle cleaning, feeding, and potty duty for all 20 animals, by myself, after I got home from class. I also had to hang out in the bird room for a good chunk of the night, so little Fergus could get his evening free time out of the cage. It is totally impossible to do anything in there while supervising Fergus, the happy humper, because I'm constantly (every 30-90 seconds) having to jump up to get him off Fiona and redirect him.

M & L returned Friday afternoon, he unpacked, repacked, I spent some time with my girl, and then it was our turn to leave. M had to speak early this morning at a large conference up in the Stevens Point area. They had put him up in a lovely victorian bed and breakfast, which L had no interest in. We dropped L off at my parents', Dej & Joe came to spend the night and take care of the critters, and we headed up to the next spot on the M whirlwind tour. When we got to the B&B, despite it being dark, I could see the beautiful, giant PINK house. I love pink. I love pink houses. I love pink victorian houses. It got even better when we got onto the porch and I could hear dogs barking. We were greeted at the door by two tiny dogs, and it got even better, when I was introduced to the two resident cats. While I would still miss all of my babies, at least I wouldn't have to suffer the pain and distress of complete animal withdrawal! Our friend, Ed, who was also speaking at the conference, had arrived right before us and was staying in a room down the hall. We visited with Ed, Bob & Tom (the B&B owners, not the radio guys), Bonnie & Daisy (the pups), and Butterscotch & Peanutbutter (the cats), until everyone was ready for bed. We then went to our lovely room and watched some BSG on the laptop.

The audience at the conference today was over 200 people. M was a hit (of course) and had lots of positive feedback. I joined Mark and Ed for lunch at the conference, and then we left to come back home to get our girl. Shortly after we picked her up and got home and settled, she called Hunter to come over, and she's completely neglected us since then! H is spending the night. Maybe tomorrow we will get some time with her.

We had a nice time, but it's good to be back home where we belong. We have a lot of work to catch up on tomorrow. Next weekend will be insanely busy, and I'm already dreading it. We'll have a couple of weeks of relative sanity after that, and then it will get rough again for a while. UGH! I just remembered that I still need to do my damn taxes and Dej's. That will suck up a weekend in a very unpleasant way. :(

We were all so happy to see the sun today and enjoy the balmy 48 degree Feb. day. We were running around without coats. The kids played outside for a while (wearing coats). The animals were alternately playful and passed out in sunbeams. L came running up to me screeching very excitedly that she had found GREEN in the GARDEN!! COME SEE!! It's there...you really have to look, but there are some tiny crocus shoots there in the garden, between her and the tree.

The rest of these are shots I took today of some of our contorted trees. They're pretty, even without leaves.

Two on Tuesday

<-- Sagan & Sky - they love that corner of the big play cage


I’ve had birds for almost 30 years of my life—primarily hookbills, but I’ve also had and currently have many softbills as well. Hookbills are very interesting little creatures and are different from other species in many ways. If you haven’t been lucky enough to share your life with birds, here are a couple of randomly selected interesting things you may not know about them. There are so many other interesting little facts, that I may revisit this topic in another Two on Tuesday.

1. Hookbills (parrot-type birds, including cockatiels, parakeets, and love birds) naturally live in flocks but will pair-bond with one bird, usually for life. They may also pair-bond with a human or animal of another species. They generally pair-bond with bird of the opposite gender, but in many cases they will chose a bird of the same gender, even if opposite gendered partners are available. They are very choosy about their partners, but once they pair up, they are loyal and loving. They will groom, feed, set up housekeeping, and often try to mate with their partner, even if of the same gender or a different species. They frequently create and sing their own unique ‘songs’ together. They often become so distraught over their partner’s death that they waste away and die shortly after.

2. They have a poor sense of smell and use their much stronger sense of taste to compensate. Instead of sniffing you to get to know you, like dogs and cats, they will taste you. This can be intimidating and misinterpreted as trying to bite or nip (not that they don’t do that) but is actually very gentle and sweet. Their tongues are dry and remind me of little erasers. They will remember your taste and will be able to indentify you in the future based on that.

Happy Groundhog Day

My poor hubby has been trying to grow his hair long since we've been married. Every single fall, he starts to grow it out. He makes it for a few months--sometimes nearly a year, and then he ultimately gets tired of it and gets it cut. He's always annoyed with himself for giving up and being a quiter. So this time he's made it longer than he ever has (since I got him anyway). It's been growing for over a year. In it's worst, most awkward phase, he went to get it trimmed and styled. First time ever. The women who worked for him got so tired of looking at messy hair hanging in his eyes that they chipped in and got him a gift certificate for a hair salon. They're wonderful women--employees and friends, and I thought it was a wonderful idea. It kept his frustration with the awkward phase of hair growth at bay for a couple of months longer. All this to say that I was completely shocked when he walked in the door tonight after his live gig on the news, dressed nice, looking good, but WITH SHORT HAIR! He totally wussed out and cut it before he went on tv! Now I will have to listen to him kick himself over the next several months, because he was SO. VERY. CLOSE. to having his perfect longish hair.

I hate when I don't blog over the weekend, and then I sit down to blog and can't remember what I did with the weekend! Continuing to get the rabbits settled in and bonded took up a good chunk of the weekend as well as tonight. We're getting to know each bunnies personality, likes/dislikes, and spending enough time with them that they start to love us as much as we already love them. They love each other and continue to get along fantastically. Our little humping Fergus is slowly getting better and humping a bit less each day. I will throw a celebration party once his damn testosterone level finally bottoms out! As it is now, when we have to leave the room to go to bed, it absolutely KILLS me to have to put little Fergus in his cage. I know it's only temporary, but I still feel like shit every time he looks up with his sad little cage face, and I still have to latch that door. Fiona hops right on over and stays next to him outside the cage. She seems to sleep by him for the majority of the night, too. She has this wonderful quiet, laid back, shy little nature that is so very sweet. Fergus on the other hand is outgoing and seems to be fearless. They are a very good match! We really got lucky with these two.

We had a date night Saturday, but just stayed in for the night. It was a very nice, relaxing night, and it was kind of fun to stay home for a change.

Saturday afternoon we went to see Dog Hotel. L. had her movie theater gift cards from xmas, and she decided that she wanted to see that movie with both of us and grandma (grandpa was out of town at a man's retreat). I generously offered to stay home, so she could save her gift card $, but she was insistent that we ALL had to go with her. As I feared, I spent part of the movie trying not to cry, and the rest of it trying not to cry too loudly. It was a cute movie, and L. loved it. Don Cheadle does a good job in everything he's in. I always enjoy him in movies. The girl who starred in it was the same one who played Nancy Drew. She's so adorable and doesn't seem to be as slutty as the other young tween stars. L. is already planning to spend the rest of her theater $ going to see Coraline (sp?). She is totally pumped about that movie.

Friday night Allegrea was finally able to make it over. She's been so busy and exhausted trying to keep her household going and take care of Austin since his accident, that we haven't been able to get any quality girl time. Mark went to bed early, and we caught up on decompressing together.

In all, the most exciting portion of my weekend was Friday night. I threw a stoner party full of debauchery and debasement. It was wild and hilarious and took several hours on Saturday to clean up and restore the house but oh so worth it. Parties like this don't happen every day. Directions for your very own party: 1) Acquire at least 2 oz. of the aromatic green weed--make sure it's organic! 2) Dump a pile of weed for each guest and a few extra piles just to be on the safe side. 3) Toss small balls, evenly distributing between piles. 4) Wait for guests to arrive and prepare to LYAO! Since I've done this before, I had the presence of mind (finally) to grab my camera. Behavior this unseemly just begs to be photographed and saved for a rainy day. ; )