Home for the Holidays

I finished grading and got all of my grades entered the afternoon of the 24^th.   I spent several days in my room doing nothing but grading.  It was not pleasant. It is always a good feeling to be (almost) done with a semester; after grades are entered, there is usually a handful of student emails with questions about their grades or projects.  That phase is almost wrapped up.  Next week I will start prepping for the spring semester, which starts right after MLK day. 

As always, I miss my students when the semester ends.  I get used to seeing them, talking with them.  I spend most of my work time with them, rather than colleagues, so I always feel the loss when they're gone.  It's so nice to hear from them over break via email and FB.  I do look forward to the spring semester (already) and getting back to the students.  

This was one of the least stressful holidays I’ve had.  The non-consumerist Xmas is really the way to go.  We were all in agreement and will definitely continue it in the future.  All the time and energy normally spent on shopping and stressing out over what to get for people who have too much already, wrapping, opening, cleaning up after opening, finding places for the gifts we didn’t need, etc., was all freed up for accomplishing tasks or visiting with friends/family.

We knew we were getting paintings from L, but were all eager to see what she had chosen for each of our pictures.  She always puts a lot of thought into what animal/creature she will paint for each person.  I hope she got photos of Dej & Russ's, because mine didn't turn out.  I will either get them from her and post them later, or I'll have to have D & R take photos for me--either way, those will be coming in the near future.

Our traditional pre-family get-together with Denny & Susan was very enjoyable, and I was much less frazzled and tired this year and able to enjoy visiting with them.  I added two new drinks to the options this year, inspired by the delicious peach mimosa I had at the comedy club last month.  Peach and pear mimosas were both available, and the pear mimosa was a big hit.  We were so anxious to try the pear, we never made it to the peach.  Maybe we’ll get to it on New Year’s.  (Yes, that is a big-ass Bible he's reading from.)

Sophie had her first surgery on Friday.  They removed all but ten of her teeth.  They were in very bad shape, and most of the teeth removed had also abscessed, and some of the abscesses were so deep they had gone into her nasal passages and sinuses.  They flushed a lot of grossness out, and that has helped her labored breathing immensely.  She will probably always retain her little pig-snort noise, because her left nasal passage is essentially closed, it’s so small, leaving her with one functional nostril.  That’s not something they can’t fix, though.  She has lots of stitches in her mouth from the removals, but it’s still clear that she is feeling much better already.

I got to babysit for her yesterday while the kids attended a funeral out of town.  She had good pain meds and seemed to feel just fine.  She played, hung out with the other dogs, and ate her soft food very well.  She had a good day, and it was fun to have some extra time with her.

Daisy is improving with her.  She didn’t try to hump her or “T” her but was still a little vigorous and irritating with her butt sniffing. It’s always something with Daisy.  She’s such a strange little being.

First holiday gathering of the season

This year, our holiday get together with M's family was on the early side.  Normally they come a little later in the month, and traditionally we eat, go to the light show, and have a small gift exchange.  Schedules were crazy this month, so they came on Saturday, we ate, and had a very small gift exchange (as per mutual agreement in an effort to end the consumer culture).  

L gave each of M's parents and his brother & wife a canvas watercolor.  As always, I loved her art and was sad to see it go, but at least I have pictures of it.  We really enjoyed the minimalistic gift exchange, and look forward to the same with my family and friends.  

We're all on the same page with this--even the kids.  I know M & I are feeling so much less stress about the holiday season than usual, and I think the rest of the crew is too.   Gifts of time and service and gifts that are hand made are so much better than any other kinds!So far the only shopping I've done is for giving tree items, and I'm not planning to do much more--maybe and hour or so for stocking stuffers. 

Great news!

I've become a grandma again.  Sophie came to live with her mom & dad (D & R) yesterday.  We were all in love with her before we met her.  We knew she:  was a beagle mix, had been dumped in an outdoor kennel on a cold night at an animal control facility that couldn't provide her the necessary care or keep her, was 9-10 yrs old, had been significantly abused, had mammary tumors, was heartworm positive.  Though that all sounds awful, I had previous experience with a dog with mammary tumors and one with heartworm.  Both had also been significantly abused and were between 6-9 yrs old at the time of the disease.  Both survived their disease, recovered and lived many healthy years beyond.  With D, R, M & I supporting this effort, and Sophie illustrating an amazing, beautiful being with a desire to live, the odds are in our favor.

When we picked her up yesterday, we found that she was much tinier than we had pictured.  She's only 13 pounds.  She's afraid of everything, and belly crawls timidly (though she doesn't do that in her home) , but she's a complete lover.  She rode the entire three-hour trip home in the back seat sitting between D & R.  She really bonded with them and quickly started to hide her head in the crook of R's arm whenever she got nervous or frightened.  She's quite a daddy's girl already.

We became increasingly concerned by her not eating.  We weren't too worried last night, because she had a big day with a long car ride and a lot of stress (which makes sense given how her last car trip ended).  Dej couldn't get her to eat today and felt by watching that she was having problems with her teeth.  She also had a snort/snarffle thing going on, and I was quite worried that it indicated heart damage, though I kept that to myself.  D found she would eat soft food, so put her dog food in hot water and she scarfs it right down.   

She had a vet appt this afternoon, after my first final (student presentations) of the week end.  She had xrays, bloodwork, and a thorough examination.  I was so relieved to find that she didn't have heart damage.  The reason for the strange noises was something above the larynx--maybe a polyp, a sinus infection--we will find out when she is anesthetized to have her teeth taken care of.  The few teeth she has left are pretty nasty--some broken, infected. She has a big raw, scabby patch which is infected.  Poor baby.  She is on Clavamox right now, which should help the mouth infection, may help the sinus infection, and will also help the skin infection.  She will be feeling like a new dog within the next two days.  Her prognosis is actually better than any of us expected it would be.

When all of her blood results are back tomorrow, we will schedule her surgery and also determine what will be done in this surgery.  She has to have her teeth taken care of, exploration on the sinus issue, get spayed, and have the mammary tumor(s) removed.  Doc  wants to look at all of the results and prioritize and determine what she can handle.  Her organs and overall health are pretty good, so that helps a lot.  The heartworm is actually the easy part; she will take antibiotics and a heartworm preventive until they are gone.  [I mean "easy" in the comparative sense, not in that it's really an "easy" or minor thing.  All dogs are at risk for HW if not taking a preventive consistently during the season.]  

We learned at the vet today that she tolerates absolutely anything without any aggression at all.  He called her a "gentle soul."   She seemed to feel at home as soon as the kids put her down in their dining room.  She ran around with her tail wagging, sniffing (and snarffling) like a puppy!  She met the cats, and there was no aggression from anybody.  She and Sparta (mommy cat) have already become snuggle buddies.  She spent last night on the bed snuggled up with the kids and sometime cats.  She's already selected a favorite spot on the couch.  She's made herself at home and settled in surprisingly well.  We're so happy things have gone so smoothly!

It's been a very busy couple of days, so not nearly enough pictures yet.  There will be many, soon.

Rotary Botanical Gardens Holiday Light Show Hurts Animals

The next several days for me will be filled with student presentations and grading.  Grading programming projects takes FOREVER, so it will be a very long week.  

M's time has been and will continue to be dominated by the Rotary Gardens' Holiday Light Show.  We normal attend with M's family, and often again with a group of friends.  This year, we will not be attending.  When we go, we pay (of course), as it's a fundraiser for the gardens.  Despite the fact that the last three months of my husband's life have been dedicated to this show, we can no longer support the show, and I am asking my family & friends to follow suit, as it is now includes animal mistreatment.

They have a group of exploitative humans bringing in reindeer and camels (CAMELS--WTF do camels have to do with a holiday light show and what kind of fucking idiots think camels belong anywhere near a WI winter?) to entertain those who attend the show and are not bothered by stressed, nervous, uncomfortable animals in unnatural and pointless displays.  They brought the animals in last year, despite having the cruel conditions and impact to the animals explained, and despite the fact that my husband asked them.  Apparently the countless hours (which add up to years) of his life he routinely donates to the gardens and his countless personal sacrifices  are not enough for them to respect a request for empathy and morality.

While he will continue to work there for as long as he is happy, we will have nothing to do with the place, nor will any of my income be involved in any way until the cease to be animal exploiters.

We will have to enjoy the very inferior light show at Olin Park in Madison, which I believe is free, and does not cause any animal suffering.  

This whole situation just sucks, and I am so very disappointed with their lack of kindness and empathy toward the animals and the complete and utter lack of respect for my husband and the massive amount of work he does.  His Holiday Light Show has gotten better every year since he started it at RBG.  It stands alone.  It does not need animal cruelty to draw people in--it is the best light show within at least a two-hundred mile radius, or it was before the added animal cruelty.

Since I won't have light show pictures to add beauty to an ugly post, I have to rely on some ratty cuteness.

Chop Suey

I thought I would have more time to blog this last week, but student projects dictate my life right now.  We celebrated M’s birthday last weekend (though his birthday was actually during the week), and I tried a new recipe.  He doesn’t really have a sweet tooth (and I resent everyone who doesn’t), but if he does eat sweets, he enjoys peanut-butter-flavored goodies.  Since my friend Marina’s peanut butter cup pie got such raves at the AFA Annual Chili Cookoff, I decided to try that.

Have I mentioned before that I do not enjoy cooking/baking or anything else that takes place in the kitchen?  Have I also mentioned that I get stressed over anything new or unknown to me?  All that is to say that I don’t particularly enjoy the process of trying new recipes the first time or debuting my efforts at a party (even a small informal one).  There were a lot of phases to this recipe.

I screwed up right off the bat with the crust, which was painfully easy and wouldn’t have happened at all, had I read through the entire recipe carefully first.  Instead of using two cups of chocolate cookies (as called for), I processed the cookies first and used two cups of chocolate cookie crumbs.  I realized when I mixed in the vegan butter that I had made a huge error and had far, far too many cookie crumbs for the butter.  Since I’m cheap and refuse to waste cookie crumbs or Earth Balance, I just tried to manually adjust by removing about half the bread crumbs and adding in a little extra E.B.  It did not work very well, leaving us with an extremely crumbly crust that didn’t hold together well.  It tasted fine, and the taste of the finished pie as a whole was out of this world, but I was extremely irritated with myself for the screw up.

Most of my kitchen encounters end with some type of disaster—either a giant spill or a significant wound.  This time I went with the significant wound.  I was washing dishes between each phase of pie prep, as each layer needs time to cool and set.  While washing the food processor, the blade sliced through my thumb quite deeply, and it proceeded to bleed off and on for the next 2-3 days.  It’s finally sealed up and healing now. 

All that said, I really enjoyed the pie, though.  It was fantastic, and I will probably make it again.  It’s actually even healthy-ish as far as a dessert goes.   Beside the cookie crumb crust, it’s made from tofu, peanut butter, and some semi-sweet chocolate chips, with no added sugar.  It’s still very high calorie due to the tofu and peanut butter, but at least it’s not empty calories—there is some nutritional value there.  That made it easier for me to enjoy, since the guilt of consuming nutritionally devoid calories now takes away from my nomming pleasure.

The week brought some challenges, first with one of Daisy’s severe “episodes”.  We are still not totally sure what’s going on with her.  We’ve discussed it at length with our vet, and based on what we’ve described to him, our working theory is seizures.  If that’s the case, our only option would be to put her on preventive meds, which are very hard on her liver, so we are putting that off as long as possible.  Her episode occurred on Tuesday night, and she was still very shakey and unsteady on Weds morning.  The little spark in her eyes is gone when she’s suffering the post-episode phase; her tail droops; her ears droop; she is very confused, afraid, and clingy.  I had a very hard time leaving her home on Weds., because though she has Jezi and Chloe with her, and she loves them, she is very insecure when she can’t be with us when she has these episodes.  My Weds. morning class is a once-a-week class, though, so I didn’t feel like I could just cancel it and lose that time so late in the semester.  She did fine while we were gone—we hope she slept most of the time.  By Thurs. night, she seemed back to her normal spazzy, goofy self.

Additionally, I came home from classes this week to do my afternoon chores and found Vivi (guinea pig) dead.  She had been fine with no indications of illness, discomfort, or anything unusual.  She was fairly old for a piggy, but still. L  We’re fairly certain, based on where she was, etc., that it was quite sudden and she didn’t suffer.  Those little critters just don’t live long enough, and it’s so hard to take when they go.

L & I finished up Mark Danielewski's newest book, The Fifty Year Sword.  I LOVE House of Leaves (also by him) and consider it one of the top five fiction books ever.  TFYS is also unique and done in his "experimental fiction" style, but it was a short as HoL is long.  It was interesting, and I will probably read it again on my own, as I catch a lot more while reading independently that when I'm reading aloud and trying to keep track of voices and such.  It was good fiction, but somewhat disappointing in that I was hoping for another book I love passionately and need to reread every few years.  If I can ever get HoL back from Dej, I will read it again.  It's time.

We've switched back to this ancient, brittle compilation of creepy stories that we've been working through.  I got this book used--either at an AAUW sale or at a used book exchange (can't remember which)--when I was a teen and just loved it.  Dej also read through it and loved it, and now I'm sharing it with L.  We all really like the dark, thriller type of stories, and this compilation is full of the classics.  It was my first exposure to my all-time favorite short story in the world, The Yellow Wallpaper.

Today's cuteness is provided by the photos of Oliver (the most perfect cat ever) and of Poppy bird (front and center and now almost 14 months old) along with her parents, Hurley and Darwin.  They've remained very much a family unit, spending their time with each other, and often including Hurley's sister, Hazel.  I love their family togetherness.

Projects

We have one week of classes and one week of final exams left of the semester.  Projects are due next week for all four of my classes, so I'm swamped with helping panicky, tired, stressed students troubleshoot projects.  This has left me little time for grading, so I'm a little stressed myself.

I took a few hours away from projects today to do a little cleaning and organizing.  M informed me that he's bringing the Yule tree up tomorrow, so it was really necessary to get the house back in order.  Not fun.

I'm posting some pics tonight that are from this summer (the leaves, not the cute bonus pic of Lexi above).  The girls participated in the Rotary Botanical Gardens' artist fundraiser, and they had oak leaves this year.  We won both in the auction, and they are now our backyard.  Sadly, L's has faded a bit, which is strange.  Her leaf took her countless hours, as it is all hand drawn with a black Sharpee (lots of them, actually).  We don't know why some portions faded while some held up well.  The whole thing is sealed.