It's a Dog's Life: The Rules

Our dogsitters think we're strict. In the world of dog training, I assure you that we're barely doing anything. However, we do have some rules.

Rule #1: The dog isn't allowed on the furniture.

This rule started when we first adopted her because we wanted Zelda the Cat to be able to escape from the dog if needed. However, when Hannah had some back issues it became more of a law than a rule. However, don't feel too bad for her. She doesn't really like to cuddle and there are plenty of places for her to lay down that aren't on furniture. See photo proof below. She's not allowed to go upstairs, either, which means I don't know if Hannah's ever even seen a human bed.

Rule #2: Dogs have to stop and let the human look both ways when you come to an intersection on a walk. We used to have her sit at each intersection, but it honestly takes too much time and sometimes it's wet and sometime it's cold. Now I will accept a standing halt. A clicking noise with my tongue and "good girl" is her release. 

It's been very cold here the last week. I'd love to put boots on  her front paws, too, but they are rubbing her dewclaws raw. This is the best we can do for now. New boots have been ordered, but I suspect they won't come in until the weather is warmer.

Rule #3: The dog has to wait on  her pad until she is released to eat her meal. This is basically to prevent us from tripping over her. Safety first! "Get your breakfast/dinner!" with a huge arm flourish is her release for food.

Food is on the left in the purple puzzle dish. Dog is on the right on her pad. Winter accessories are everywhere. 

Rule #4: Steps outside have proven to be verrrry challenging for Hannah. I think that's because she doesn't do any steps in our house. So we do one step at a time. I have been trying to get the number up to two at a time, but whenever I increase the number, she takes all the steps at a run. This is dangerous, particularly when it's slippery outside, so we're back to one step at a time with a very tight leash. When we get to the bottom, I put more slack in the leash and she knows she can do more than a step at a time. 

It was 4F/feels like -11F when I took this photo. She had just put her whole muzzle in a snowbank. Dogs are weird.

Do you think we're strict? What are your house rules that are never broken? 

Five for Friday, Edition #22

Warning: Number 1 is gross. Frankly, number 3 is kind of gross. Maybe this is a gross post.

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1) In the March What I Spent post, I mentioned that at Hannah's annual exam, we had a couple of her bumps and lumps examined. One was on her haunch and it had grown pretty quickly in the last few months, but it didn't seem to irritate her. The vet basically said it was the equivalent of cystic acne and if it didn't bother her, just leave it alone. 

Well, that went well until we woke up one morning to find that she had BIT IT OPEN. WITH HER TEETH. BIT IT OPEN WITH HER TEETH. Egads. So we put on her Thunder Shirt to keep her from poking it at it while we went to work because we had no other solution. When I came home, it was clear that the Thunder Shirt had not accomplished this goal. I put on some gloves and squeezed all the pus and blood (THE SMELL) out and cleaned it and then we went to the pet store where we bought a cone of shame. She's now coned up when we can't watch her because it's going to drive her crazy as it scabs over and heals up. 

It's no big deal, I don't think. As long as we can keep it from getting infected, it's going to be fine.

On the good news front, we have switched her to a new probiotic and it seems to have relieved a lot of her post-dinner tummy woes. I am so pleased with this and hope that it keeps up. 

2) Look at all the snail mail from my friends! I love how happy my mailbox has been recently. 

3) Feminine hygiene discussion alert. I am a woman who menstruates. I use a combo of pantyliners and tampons. I recently purchased a giant box of Tampax tampons (with plastic applicators) from Costco. For those of you who don't use tampons, let me set the scene for you. The kind I have purchased looks like the one in blue below. You basically insert the plastic applicator up your vagina and remove the plastic part, leaving the cotton in your body to absorb fluid. 

The problem is that in this box of tampons, maybe one-quarter to one-third of them have something WRONG with the applicator. I had one where one of the plastic teeth was bent at a 90 degree angle. I had another where it looked like a saw had been taken to the smooth round end. I had another where there was no plunger part to the applicator. 

I am terrified to use them. That is all. 

4) Last Friday night, Dr. BB and I went to an exhibit opening at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art because one of our friend's art was chosen to be displayed. Date night for May accomplished on the second day of the month! Woot woot! The exhibit was fabulous and I instantly followed a couple new artists on Instagram. Oh, and there was another amazing exhibit by an artist named José Lerma where he painted these amazing faces with layers of thick of acrylic, so when you're standing right by the image, it's hard to see what it is, but as you move further and further away, it turns into an obvious face. If you're in Madison anytime soon, the exhibits at the MMOCA are amazing right now and admission to the museum is free. 

While there we chatted with my friend and his wife and congratulated them on how all his hard work is paying off. We also met up with a couple of other folks from our town who were there. As we were talking, the conversation kept veering towards the nasty news of the day. And guess who kept trying to veer the conversation towards happier, most positive things?

IT WAS ME.

My friend's wife even asked if I had turned over a new stone and I was a bit surprised when my husband piped up and said, "it took a second Trump term for her to become an optimist."

I'm trying so hard, friends. I could easily doomscroll and worry that my Canadian friends think I'm a terrible American and that if I travel outside of the US I won't be allowed back in, worry about stateless American children who are getting deported without due process, worry about war, poverty, and abuse, worry about my mother's health situation, worry that Hannah will eventually learn that I am not the coolest person in the world, worry about what is going to happen to this next generation of children who will not have jobs and won't ever learn how to read or write thanks to AI. I could.

But instead I focus on what's in front of me. Who can I help today? What can I dance to? How can I make someone laugh? Whose accomplishments can I celebrate? 

I worry about toxic positivity and I promise I won't ever be one of those people. But I am going to do my best to keep it as light as I can when I can.

5) On that positive note, on Sunday evening I washed all the winter clothes and put them away for the season. We changed from flannel sheets to regular cotton ones. I put Hannah's boots in the hall tree. I have worn sandals every day this week even though it has still been in the 40s in the morning. Temps are supposed to get in the 80s today and stay that way into next week. It is full sunlight when I walk Hannah in the morning and the sunset is after 8pm. SO MUCH SUNLIGHT.

Cold weather season is over!!!!

AND! There is stuff on the calendar that I am looking forward to. I have 20 hours of leave I need to use before July and I took off the day after Memorial Day and a random day in May. AND! Bestest Friend and I bought plane tickets for a long weekend together in July. 

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Is cold season over for you? Are you as pumped as I am for the warmer weather? Do you have gross stories you'd like to share with me? Do you have anything on the calendar to look forward to?

Winter Wonderland

Yesterday was quite a day of snow and fun. I went in to work for a couple of hours and then the snow really started coming down, so I worked from home for the rest of the day. There was much excitement because that meant I got lots of tea, kitty cuddles, and time to read a book on the couch. Nothing better than that. Oh, and Hannah and I had a blast. 

Hannah's wearing a coat because it's not just snowing - it's also really cold. She doesn't mind, though. She's all rubbing her face in the snow and leaping through it like she's a deer. 

Back to reality. The forecast has more snow on tap for Friday and Saturday and it's supposed to just stay super cold, so I think we're going to be hanging out with this snow for some time. Woot woot!

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What's your favorite part of a snow day?

Our Adventure!

We went to a place called Justin Trails for a night last weekend. We did this because I requested a getaway for my birthday and this was a place we could take Hannah with us that was within a couple of hours driving distance. We only did a night because a) we weren't sure how Hannah would do with it, b) I don't really like being anywhere besides my house, and c) do you think money grows on trees? Ha ha ha. That last one made me think I was my dad for a hot minute.

It's a cool place. You can choose from tent camping places to glamping to actual suites in real buildings with real bathrooms. Hopefully you all know me well enough to know we stayed in a suite in the renovated farm house.

Hannah did okay. She was not crazy about hearing people in the other suite when they were going up and down the stairs and she did a bit of barking. This is actually a bit problematic because I think it means she would be a nightmare in a hotel situation and this limits our ability to travel, even if we take her with us. She also wouldn't eat dinner that night, so that's another worry. Oh, well. Some dogs aren't meant to be on the road. Also, my boss suggested we get a prescription for a sleep aid for her from the vet for this type of situation and I hadn't even considered that.

The resort had llamas, goats, and lots of dogs roaming around.

They also had hundreds of acres of maintained trails. I think we saw approximately ten acres of those because we were pretty worried about poor Hannah overdoing it. Sometimes she forgets she's an older dog who has a dodgy back.

But it was so much fun because we left her off leash and once we were out of sight of the house, we never saw another human or canine. 

And we even tried to do a fun selfie with the dog, in the spirit of Birchie, although Hannah was not the most cooperative.

That vein in my forehead! Folks, this is what it looks like when I don't wear makeup. Also, Hannah was PISSED that we told her to stay when she could have been RUNNING AROUND.

Oh, AND I made Dr. BB drive twenty miles to a well-reviewed bakery where I purchased myself a tiramisu dessert cup AND and a turtle sweet dream. #noregrets

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Do you ever take your pet with you when you travel? How does that work for you? Do you find it easy to get a pet sitter or board your pet?

20th Anniversary Countdown: Guest Post #6

In celebration of my 20th Blogiversary, I'm having guest posts in the lead-up to the big day. This is my sixth guest post.

Please welcome Sarah!

Sarah is a fellow Wisconsin blogger who works in academia. She also has five children (FIVE!) - the oldest is graduating from high school and the youngest is in pre-school. She writes about books, how to feed a giant family with a crazy insane schedule, hair, makeup, and all the things that make our daily lives interesting. She writes over at Harry Times...All Jacked Up and you should go check it out if you haven't already. The book recommendations alone are worth a visit!

I moved to Madison, Wisconsin, in August of 2003. I was a brand new Communication Arts doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin, and my boyfriend moved with me. The night before we made the move, then-boyfriend/ now long-suffering husband Ben went with my dad to the Pair-a-Dice riverboat casino in Peoria, Illinois (my hometown and our undergraduate college home), and won $1200 on a $1 slot machine on his way off the boat after a night of slow losses. This was pretty much all the money he had to his name after his own MA program graduation two months before and a summer working retail in the Chicago suburbs. 
 
We chose Madison together after I was also admitted to Ph.D. programs at the University of Iowa, Northwestern University, and the University of Minnesota, and we visited all of those cities, trying to imagine our lives there. We fell in love with Madison: the way it looks like a tiny city but feels like a big town, the lakes, the non-academic industry, THE CHEESE.

Twenty-one years and 5 kids later, we still love Madison, but Ben has recently taken a job at our undergraduate alma mater in Peoria, meaning he spends part of the week 3 hours away, and we think idly about relocating for the first time in 2 decades.
 
In honor of Engie’s 20-year blogaversary and our very first time thinking about leaving this place, here are 20 Madison things I cannot live without, no matter where I live:
 
20. Lake Mendota, Lake Monona, and Lake Wingra. Do I swim, fish, or boat in these waters? Erm, no. But! I do like living near them and watching other people derive joy from lake-adjacent activities.
 
19. UW-Madison’s lakeshore path. A water activity I do enjoy is taking workday walks around the lake– so shady! So cool! So lovely!
 
18. Picnic Point: It is so fun to take my kids (17, 16, 12, 11, and 3) on a short, flat, tree-lined “hike” to a lovely little beach. Sometimes we reserve a fire pit along the way and make lunch or s’mores.
 
17. Dream Parks: There are 5 of these in our area, and they are all magical. We live in Madison, and all of these parks are in surrounding suburbs, so it’s also really fun to take field trips to visit them and whatever tiny delights are nearby (when you are home with 5 kids all summer long, you find your excitement where you can, OK?).
 
16. All City Swim and Dive: Madison has a uniquely awesome summer private-pool league. We have been members at 3 separate pools (Shorewood when the big boys were teeny, Ridgewood when Coop was born, and Hawks Landing since we built our house in 2011), and we love the personalities of each pool and the Madison brand of leisurely summers spent poolside. We also love the competitive swim and dive league which features weekly pool v. pool meets all summer and culminates with the largest amateur swim meet at the end of July where all the pools compete against each other for top honors. For YEARS swim and dive practice has structured out summer days, and the All City meet is a kid favorite in our house.

15. Mickie’s Dairy Bar: BEST GREASY SPOON EVER. Pancakes are terrific. Grilled cheese and fries are divine. Milkshakes are a must.
 
14. GREENBUSH BAKERY. You guys. Most perfect donuts ever, and this is not something I say lightly.
 
13. The Chazen Museum: FREE! CAMPUS! ART! So many beautiful collections and exhibitions. I like to wander by myself during the day or take the kids. [Note from NGS: This is a legitimate art museum that is completely free and often completely empty. It's DELIGHTFUL on a hot summer day to go there in the AC and enjoy the peace in the city. Huge tip for introverts who need a place to recover after the other Madison delights.]
 
12. Memorial Union Terrace: Brats, beer, perfect ice cream, live music, lakeview sunsets– this place has it all. Kids are happy. Dogs are happy. EVERYONE is happy at the Terrace, and if you aren’t, you need more ice cream.
 
11. Madison Public Library: Except for my Audible subscription, I get all my books at the library, either on Libby or off the shelf like in olden times. I love all of the branch libraries in the system (especially Verona which has THE BEST new release walk-in selection), but the downtown library is the most awesome in terms of stuff to do and look at besides books.
 
10. Chocolate Shoppe ice cream: We like the Sequoya location the best because it’s right by a library, but really they are all wonderful. I like the Exhausted Parent flavor. Ben is a chocolate peanut butter guy. Minnie always gets Superhuman. Coop goes for Zanzibar, and Jack orders This $&@! Just Got Serious. Harry and Dorothy are loyal cookies and cream or cookie dough consumers, depending on the day. 
 
9. The UW Geology Museum: Free! With dinosaur bones! Need I say more? [Note from NGS: So much free stuff on the UW-Madison campus!]
 
8. Babcock Ice Cream: You can get this on the Terrace or at the Babcock Dairy Store, which also has sandwiches.  We all adore the Mnookie Dough, named for the new UW-Madison chancellor. 
 
7. JBC Coffee: Some of the best in the world. Literally.
 
6. Tornado Club Steak House: In a city of supper clubs, this one stands out.
 
5. Kid sports. From dance to diving to swimming to tennis to hockey to soccer to Little League to club baseball, Madison has THE BEST kids’ sports. All of our kids have found their best friends and their athletic passions in Madison, and I have never even once in my life had an athletic passion, so I think this is pretty cool.
 
4. Brennan’s: Our very favorite place for wine, cheese, flowers, and local produce. You know, THE ESSENTIALS.
 
3. Yola’s: My favorite place for waffles, coffee, and dissertating. We also enjoy catering family boday  parties with their amazing sandwiches.
 
2. Wisconsin Brewing Company: This place is pet friendly and SO FUN to hang out at. You can bring in your own food; they sometimes have music, and yard games abound.
 
1.  State Street. I love to shop on State Street, grab coffee, walk and watch people and listen to a book, kill time with Minnie while Cooper is diving, take the kids to their favorite candy store, make the trek from Bascom Hall to the state capitol building. In March 2003, standing on the top of Bascom Hill with the woman who would become my dissertation advisor, gazing at the Capitol and freezing my face off because who expects subzero temps in MARCH, I fell in love with Madison because of State Street and its enticing, bustling, tiny-city-feeling vibe– and to this day it reminds me why I love it here.
 
Thanks, Engie! It was so fun to reflect on all the things I love about my town, and I wish you 20 more years of fabulous blog posts. On, Wisconsin!

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If you ever come visit our little corner of Wisconsin, which of these delights are you most interested in?  (Come visit us!!)

12.9 Location - Annual Trip to the Corn Maze

Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Each day we will write a post on a pre-determined theme chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the ninth day of the month is "Location."

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While I guess I've only written about it twice on this blog, every year my husband and I go to a corn maze in October. When we lived in Minneapolis, we went to this corn maze at an apple orchard and they were actually open AFTER DARK and one year we went on the night when it was actually populated by terrifying people in costumes running around scaring you as if it weren't scary enough being in a CORNFIELD IN THE DARK.  Anyway, we're older and I'm short one good ankle, so we go to a very tame one with lots of breaks and these number markers that let you know that you're going in the right direction.

Why, yes, this is how I behave in public. Don't you? If you're really paying attention to this blog, you'll catch that I am wearing my new sweatshirt and my favorite hat. Tis that time of year. I just noticed you can also see how messed up my right thumb is. Wow. This photo has it all.

Because we've now been doing these corn mazes for going on two decades together, we have a system. If we think something is a loop, one of us will point in one direction, the other will point in another, and we'll go off our separate ways until the loop joins and we meet. This is done silently because WHY WASTE WORDS? We find it very funny when people are staring at maps or having discussions about strategy. Our only rules are a) go to the right if there's a choice or b) go in whatever direction other people are not. Because of these rules of the corn maze, we rarely actually talk about the maze while we're doing it.

Anyway, this maze is part of an amazing farm that has lots of fun activities for kids, including a hay ride, a corn pit, a petting farm, apple and pumpkin cannons, and just a gazillion booths to buy apple cider, donuts, kettle corn, and other fair food.  I enjoyed petting the goats a lot (did you know they were super soft?) and really enjoyed getting my fingers nibbled on by a donkey. We did not partake of any food, although we both admitted that the smell of the apple cider donuts was very tantalizing. 

It was a little early for us to go this year - look at how green the corn still is! - but our weekends in October are filling up a bit too quickly for my liking.

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Have you ever been to a corn maze? What spooky season activity should we do next weekend?

12.5 Drawing - The Poet

Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Each day we will write a blog post on a predetermined theme randomly chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the fifth day of the month is "Drawing." I am such a bad artist that I've started taking photos of town landmarks and putting them through an app that creates pencil drawings.

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Oh, boy, I am scraping the bottom of the barrel for local landmarks here.  There is a semi-famous poet who was born and raised in our town and there are a few murals with lines of her poetry when you walk through downtown. In January of 2021, our local Humane Society did a fundraiser where we did a scavenger hunt throughout the county and I have a photo of Hannah in front of one of those murals, although it's not a great photo of the mural or of Hannah.  

This was obviously back when I didn't write about every stupid thing I did on my blog because there is no mention of the three weekends in a row that I went around with Hannah photographing her in different locations to the point where she started to refuse to face the camera. LOL at Hannah forever. I have approximately a million photos from this scavenger hunt and in each photo Hannah is looking more and more resentful. 

ANYWAY. Back to the poet. In one of our parks, there's a sculpture of her. I am not going to say anything about the quality of this sculpture, but simply post it here.

And here's the version I've run through the drawing app.

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As always, I'd like to know which version of the photo your prefer. Who's the semi-famous person from your town?  (I feel like I've asked this before. I HAVE! When I wrote about this same poet and actually showed you a photo of one of the murals. Forget the question. Is there a piece of not awesome public art around you that makes me chuckle when you see it?)

11.5 Drawing - Cow, Part II

Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Each day we will write a blog post on a predetermined theme randomly chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the fifth day of the month is "Drawing." I am such a bad artist that I've started taking photos of town landmarks and putting them through an app that creates pencil drawings.

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Last month, I showed you our local museum's cow. Last week I went to go get the "night" side of the cow. 

After running it through the black and white filter, here it is!

I went last Thursday and it was a slow day at the museum. Both the volunteer who was manning the information desk and two staff people asked me if I needed help and I felt really terrible about going in there, taking one photo, and immediately leaving, so I wandered about for a few minutes. 

There are cows everywhere.

I just feel like I need to stress that these seven breeds are Aryshire, Brown Swiss, Guernsey, Holstein, Jersey, Milking Shorthorn, and Red & White. I only had to look up two of them. I'm not even orignally from Wisconsin. 

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Do you prefer the original photo or the filtered design this month?

9.30 Depression - Tempest

Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Every day we will write a blog post on a pre-determined theme chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the thirtieth day of the month is "Depression."

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I had quite a plan in place for Saturday morning. There was a free yoga class being offered at the Farmer's Market, so I was going to do that, go to the market, and then go to a local orchard to pick blueberries (they have a limited season and you can only pick on Saturdays and Wednesdays).  But I didn't actually get to do any of that. 

Friday night we had quite a storm come through town. We were without electricity for about fourteen hours, trees all over the neighborhood came down, and the energy company was dealing with downed wires and getting us our electricity back was not a high priority. 

Hannah and I saw a lot of crazy things on our walk Saturday morning.

This tree missed the house! Very fortunate, although I think there's going to have to be some work done on the gutters and shingles and possibly the roof.

The people with the poor pitbulls lost their trampoline. 

This tree took down some lines and blocked the street. 

And look what it did to the sidewalk!

So I spent the morning in the yard trying to clean up the big things. Dr. BB headed out to try to find a grocery store that was open because everything in the fridge was a total loss. Four hours! Four hours is how long you get before it all falls apart with refrigeration. We had just been to the store on Wednesday night, so it was depressing to see all of our fresh produce and dairy go straight into the bin, but it is what it is.

But we're alive and safe and while there is a tree leaning dangerously toward our house, hopefully the roots will hang on until we can get a tree removal service out here. If we have another big storm between now and then, I place even money on the tree destroying our house. 

Did you actually get do something fun on Saturday morning?  Tell me about it so I can live vicariously through you.

9.16 Instruction - Retrievers on Display

Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Each day we will write a blog post on a pre-determined theme chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the sixteenth day of the month is "Instruction."

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On Friday afternoon, we went to the county fair. I scored a couple of free tickets and we headed after lunch. The very first thing we saw was a show where dogs took a running leap off a dock to see which dog got the longest distance. Before this show started, we had a discussion about what types of dogs we would be seeing. Dr. BB thought it would be border collies because they're an all-around versatile breed. I thought it would be water dogs, especially retrievers. 

It was retrievers. 

There seem to be two ways of instructing the dogs in this particular sport. Some of the handlers threw the toy into the pool and then walked the dog back to the end of the dock/running platform and the dog just chased after it.  It seems that the more effective method, however, is that the dog is led back to the back of the running platform and put in a stay. Now some dogs could stay on their own, but some there were some handling teams in which one person's sole job was to hold the dog in place. Regardless of how the dog stayed, the handler would then walk to the water's edge and then release the dog from its stay and, as the dog ran, throw the toy into the water in an arc so that the dog would try to get it. 

Fascinating. 

Hannah hates water, so this is not an option for her, but I enjoyed watching working dogs work and get so excited about it.  This entire bunch was Labrador and golden retrievers, but I just checked the AKC's diving dogs page and the dogs that placed in their last diving dogs competition were a border collie, a mutt (sorry, mixed breed, All American), and a spaniel.  Diving for everyone (except the half of dogs who hate water)!

Not to leave you in too much suspense, but we also went to the animal barns. The cows and horses are so big. I always forget how big they really are. The sheep barn was deserted, which was a bit concerning. All of the pigs were sleeping. The real action was in the goat barn because all the goats were figuring out how to escape their pens.

This goat had the softest ears of any goat I've ever pet.

Then I ate some nachos (meh) and a cream puff (incredibly disappointing). I'm ALWAYS excited for fair food and then am let down. Let this be a lesson the next time I get pumped for eating an elephant ear or soft pretzel.

On our way out of the fair, there were animal races going on and while I didn't get a good photo of the goats wearing tutus (OMG! So. Cute.), I did get some really cute piglets.

Are you going to a county or state fair this year? What's your favorite animal barn to visit?

9.9 Location - Hike It

Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Each day we will write a post on a pre-determined theme chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the ninth day of the month is "Location."

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Yesterday was a beautiful Saturday in July and we had absolutely nothing on the agenda. No place to go, no list of chores to be done, just an open afternoon.

A while back the director for our county's Parks and Rec department did a lecture at the community center and he talked about all of our county's great parks. Now, the largest county park is a five minute drive from our house, so we go there with some regularity, but there were other parks we'd never even heard of, let alone actually gone to.

So we took some water and headed out.

You can see how dry it is (so much dead grass), but you can also see what a beautiful view of the lake we had.

But we also got to spend some time in a forested area.

Huge props to visiting local parks. It's free! It's fun! There's nobody else there if you go on a Saturday in July!

Do you make regular use of local parks?

8.5 Drawing - Forward

Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Each day we will write a blog post on a predetermined theme randomly chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the fifth day of the month is "Drawing." I am such a bad artist that I've started taking photos of town landmarks and putting them through an app that creates pencil drawings.

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As I wrote about last week, a couple of our friends got married last Friday morning at the Wisconsin State Capitol. It was lovely and I took a million photos of the bride and groom, but it doesn't seem cool to post photos of their wedding day when they haven't posted any to social media, so I leave you with this photo of the 1893 "Forward" statue. (If it looks familiar, I posted this same statue in April!) Wisconsin used to be a progressive state, my friends. How times have changed.

The original:

The filtered:

Which one do you like better?

6.8 Art - Results

Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Each day we will write a blog post on a pre-determined themed chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the eighth day of the month is "Art."

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The results of the Wisconsin election are in and the liberal Supreme Court justice did prevail over the conservative, so that's encouraging. I'm not entirely convinced that this configuration of the Court can do anything to deal with the Republican's iron control over the state legislature, but I'm doing my best to keep my optimistic face on.

But the state also passed three ridiculous referendums, and I'm constantly confused about who is splitting their ballot these ways. I cannot worry about that right now, I guess.

Meanwhile, the local elections were a mess. An absolutely crazy person was re-elected to the school board, a brand new crazy person was elected to city council, and a sane person was elected to the city council only to resign the following day. The school funding referendum failed, mostly because the school district did a terrible job of explaining how they were going to use the money.  I honestly read the results of the local elections with my mouth wide open, wondering what kind of community I live in. I love my town, I really do, but these results were a hard pill to swallow.

Golden State, Gibson Byrd, oil on canvas, 1977

I offer up this painting that I saw when I was at the Chazen last month. It's a critique of man's relationship with nature. When I saw this, I was a bit dumbfounded that it was from 1977. I mean, think about how much more trash humans are creating in 2024 than they were fifty years ago. Just such a powerfully prescient painting. 

And I bring it to you in light of the garbage heap of election results for my town. This painting was all I could think of all Wednesday morning when my husband and I were going back and forth about whether or not we should move. (Answer: Probably. Reality: We need to stay here and put up the good fight with our "Public Schools Unite Us" sign in the yard flying a PRIDE flag.)

What's a piece of art you can't get out of your mind?

(You all. I always label my blog posts and while I have hundreds of labels, I also only regularly use a handful. I found that I have an "apocalypse" label and I swear to you that I have no idea why, but it made me laugh and laugh, so I'm using it here. I want you to understand that I know these election results aren't really apocalyptic, but I think this is very bad news for our local school district.)

6.3 Direction - Election Day is Tomorrow!

Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Each day we will write a blog post on a pre-determined theme chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the third day of the month is "Direction."

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Tomorrow is Election Day here in Wisconsin. We've got a big state Supreme Court race and a few weird referendums. My local jurisdiction also has important city council, school board, and school millage elections. Wisconsin friends, please only go to the polls if you are going to vote for Judge Janet. If you're considering voting for the other guy, the guy who thinks it's okay for judges to butt in on health decisions that should be between a person and a medical doctor, please just stay home.

I hijacked Jenny's comments recently to talk about how Election Day should be a holiday. We treat it like a holiday in our house. We get up early, eat together, and walk down to City Hall together. A couple that casts their ballots together stays together and all that. We put up our American flag on the flagpole in an effort to take back the flag. We proudly wear our I Voted stickers all day long. 

Jenny mentioned that Election Day stresses her out. I get that, I really do. But shouldn't we celebrate free and peaceful elections? Shouldn't we celebrate that even if our chosen candidates lose, the other side had to hear us out? Shouldn't we celebrate the peaceful transition of power that separates dictatorships from democracies? Shouldn't we celebrate the power of the people?

Election Day is a day for optimism - a day that says we can change things if we want to. 

Yes, as I told Jenny, my optimism has taken a beating. Bush v. Gore, election of Donald J. Trump, and the attempted insurrection of January 6, 2021 all loom very large in my mind. But so does the election of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton on stage with Trump saying "I prepared to be president," which pleased my little nerd heart to no end, and the inauguration of Joe Biden when Amanda Gorman read "The Hill We Climb." I get shivers and goosebumps when I think about those moments because how we vote matters - it matters in our daily lives, it matters when we walk into our doctor's offices, it matters when the police make a traffic stop, and it matters even when I am avoiding the news. 

So, if your jurisdiction has an election tomorrow, please go out there and do your civic duty and make the choices that are best for your community. In the meantime, what's your earliest political memory and what's your happiest?

5.30 Depression - Snow!

Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Every day we will write a blog post on a pre-determined theme chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the thirtieth day of the month is "Depression."

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Look, everyone! I made a heart in the snow! And then Hannah ran through it, ruining the perfect canvas I had. I love her so much I just laughed at her.

Winter is long and I'm just over here waiting for the day I can wear something other than my winter boots for walking the dog. I'm waiting for the day when I can count on the sun to shine. I'm waiting for the day when I can wash all my long underwear and store it away for the season. I'm waiting for the day when I don't have to remember to charge my vest and handwarmer batteries at night. I'm waiting for the day when I don't have to check the temperature to see if I should put boots on the dog before heading out. I'm waiting for the day when I wake up and it's not pitch-black outside.

But until then! Let's celebrate how fun it is to play in the snow! And let's hope that next month, my seasonal depression is over and we can talk about holes in the ground or something. 

What's your unofficial spring is here celebration? Mine is the first time I drive the car with the windows down and the music blasting way too loudly. That has not happened yet this year, but maybe it will soon!

5.28 Meaning - Community

Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Each day we will write a blog post on a pre-determined theme chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the twenty-eighth day of the month is "Meaning."

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One of the biggest claims to fame of our town is that a semi-famous poet was born here and lived the majority of her life in an isolated cabin far from the main downtown area. There are murals with her poetry in three places in the downtown area and in each school building in the school district. There's a non-profit in town that's devoted to preserving artifacts of her life, her poetry, and the memories of people who knew her. 

I am not a lady who reads poetry very much. But I enjoy very much how much our community has embraced this aspect of our history and identity. I don't know what it means that our school children are surrounded by snippets of modernist poetry that showcases a history that is long gone. I don't know what it means that I have repeatedly looked up photos of mergansers to visualize the image in on one of the snippets I see on my own daily walk. I don't know what it means to us as a community that we are perpetuating the fame of a woman who was notoriously introverted and purposefully isolated.

But here we are. 

Who is your local celebrity that no one outside of your town has heard of?

5.26 Moment - Snapshot of My Day, Edition #9 3/25/2023

Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Each day we will write a blog post on pre-determined theme chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the twenty-sixth day of the month is "Moment." 

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I got the idea for this type of "snapshot" post from Stephany Writes who got it from To Love and To Learn. I'm a straight-up copycat of the format.

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Edition #1 11/17/2021
Edition #2 12/22/2021
Edition #3 1/26/2022
Edition #4 3/9/2022
Edition #5 4/25/2022
Edition #6 6/23/2022
Edition #7 8/30/2022

Edition #8 2/25/2023

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Time I woke up: 6:30am when the alarm went off. 

First thing I did upon waking up: Read some of a book on my Kindle under my SAD lamp. 

Today's weather: This is the headline of the day, to be honest. It was snowing like crazy this morning and didn't stop until after lunch. It was relatively warm, in the 30s, but the snow was out of control! Today is Dr. BB's first day of spring break, so welcome to spring!

Our morning walk. Notice the stop sign entirely covered by snow.

An out-of-the-ordinary thing that happened today: The weather was so unusual for this time of year. We had planned on driving to Dubuque to go to my niece's birthday party, but instead we just stayed home. No glitter tattoos for me. 

Last thing I read (on the Internet): Do you know the Instagram feed artbutmakeitsports? This guy puts stills from sporting events next to historical works of arts and it's amazing? I read an article about how he does it from memory - he doesn't use AI to match the photo to the artwork. It's stunning.

Last thing I read (not on the Internet): I am reading a fantasy novel called Bastion by Mercedes Lackey.

Last text I sent: I sent a message to my accountability buddy telling her that my exercise today was shoveling, followed by a trudge through the snow with the dog on our afternoon walk since hardly anyone else in our neighborhood had shoveled yet.

Heavy, wet snow is not always my favorite to shovel. Fortunately, Dr. BB was home and snowblowed the driveway.

Last text I received: From my accountability buddy wishing that winter would end.

Last website I visited: I'm trying to find an email address for my yoga teacher so I can put her in contact with the health and wellness coordinator at the local healthcare group, so I was looking her up on the Yoga Alliance page. 

The infamous church with its 15-minute bell tolls. It IS really pretty, though.

Last show I watched: I put on a James Acaster stand-up show on Netflix on Thursday evening and promptly fell asleep. 

Last podcast I listened to: I listened to the first episode of Dungeons and Daddies, which is a D&D roleplaying podcast because everyone says it's good. 

Last thing I said: "I'm going to take Hannah for a walk."

Last thing I ate: Peanut butter on crackers.

What I was doing an hour ago: Trudging through the snow with Hannah on our afternoon walk.

What I will be doing an hour from now: Working on blog posts for the upcoming week.

Current whereabouts of the other members of the household: Hannah is zoinked out in her bed. Zelda is sleeping on her rocking chair. Dr. BB is upstairs practicing guitar. 

Note that we always put a blanket IN her bed and she kicks it out. We are not mean people who don't give her toys and blankets. She doesn't want them!

One thing I crossed off my to-do list: Shoveling? Honestly, since it was a Saturday and we decided we weren't going to Iowa, it was a really lazy day.

Because it wasn't that cold and the snow was falling off trees, I wore my raincoat, but also my winter hat and gloves. I looked amazing, as you can see.

Who is someone I should be following on Instagram? I recommend wolfgang2242, a guy who has about a million senior rescue dogs, a chicken, and a pig and natureismetal, which shows animals being badasses (so be aware that sometimes animals kill other animals..).