Friday of Conference

Ok, I'm ready to go home. Today was pretty long. All of the talking, talking.....it is nice to be in my room by myself.
I had a date with my husband tonight. It was like sneaking out of a girls school or something! We went shopping for my new camera. It will be a Canon - I found it on Amazon. Best Buy was out of stock on it. I'm very excited about it!
Tomorrow I hope to spend some time in the child care rooms. I saw some babies that I can't wait to cuddle!
Tomorrow will also be interesting in that the rallies will be huge and at 4:00 I am going to Katie's birthday party for a couple hours. Getting back and parking will be a real trick.
We were talking tonight about my aunt and the moccasin story came up. It always makes me laugh. I have to start writing these things down. Tired tonight though.

I made my trip to the grocery store a few blocks away. The feeling on the streets is very strange. It is not the same old Madison. There is a feeling of tenseness, almost scary, quite unlike anything I have felt before. People were already streaming towards the capitol with signs so I stopped one woman and asked what was up. The Senate had called a sudden meeting (which breaks the open meeting law doesn't it) and were going to vote on just the collective bargaining portion. They didn't need a quorum for that. Just the financial. I did my shopping and went on up to the capitol. Like lemmings to the sea crossed my mind. A floral offering was left on the statue of Forward and it looked like a cemetery ornament to me. Protestors were very organized. Word had spread quickly and as everyone was getting off work, they were all assembling at the capitol. They were not allowing anyone in the building. I saw someone being escorted and let out one of the locked doors. Lines of squads in one corner. Drums playing, horns playing, someone from the DOT was playing the Battle Hymn of the Republic on a trombone. Satellite dishes and news teams everywhere. Some guy was climbing up the side of the building. "Let me in my house" "Walker is a weasel, we are badgers" And now what sounds like every car in Wisconsin is circling the square honking. The noise is amazing. This is a terrible day in Wisconsin history. Suddenly, I am no longer middle class because there won't be one -- there is just the super rich and the serfs. I am a serf. I can't see anything good coming from this. November is a long ways away. This governor doesn't even try to cover up who he answers to -- he is as transparent as glass. An uprising is coming, I can feel it. How awful.

In the Big City

Well, here I am again at conference in Madison. I just celebrated my one year anniversary at this position. There are way too many chickens in the coop and lots of talking and hands flapping around -- and how does a hotel with 14 floors only have 5 carts? Come on, really? I made 6 trips with my little luggage carrier to get all our conference crap up here. I'm tired, my feet hurt, and I don't have snacks. So I have to get down to the grocery store before it gets too much darker. My boss kept shepherding me around and keeping me busy -- I think because she witnessed the first melt down the other day. I was pissed. So it is better to be busy and away from the "mayhem". It should be interesting tomorrow.

On another note, on Monday, I took my "ward" to the doctor for her old lady check up. She started to act up of course but I chewed on her and she was quiet until she found something else to bellyache about. Honestly, if she really had a problem, she'd never know it. She is so busy finding something to crank about. Reminds me of her mother. She managed to talk over the doctor and the nurse and not listen to them, not answer questions, very aggravating. She tired the old "can't walk on black top" crapola and even ordered me to take her walker back to the van and bring her cane. Why? Who knows? I refuse to have her hanging on me when she has her cane because she doesn't use it properly and throws herself on me. She's put me down before and she won't do it again, that's for sure. I haven't heard since that day so I imagine she is mad at me for having the doctor give her 2 shots (which she has been cranking about getting for months and now all of a sudden she didn't want them), for not letting her go on and on about stupid imaginary stuff, and getting her meds increased. I also interrupted her harrangue to the doctor because really, that little white pill in her med packet is Vit D. The doctor says so, I say so, give it a break. It is the size of a pinpoint. Just something to complain about some more. She is healthier than I am and her blood pressure sure is lower than mine.

I'm hoping the pets are ok. Jimmy is getting home tonight so they will be thrilled to see him. They were very clingy this morning having seen the suitcase out.

Til tomorrow!

From students protesting to everybody marching around the square in Baraboo! I joined in with my friend Susan. She works at the schools and I work at DPI. It was amazing to see so many people gathered, talking, all being polite and peaceful. I did like the one chant though - "we are badgers, Walker is a weasel". That was about the only slightly off color thing. Very well attended!

Baraboo Students March on the Downtown Square

Marching in Madison, marching in Baraboo.....no Gov. Walker we don't like dictators. That's why our ancestors came to America after all!

Another weird day in my life

I'm in Madison staying at the hotel we are having a conference at for work. I started out from home at 6:30 and didn't get to the hotel until 8:15 this morning. Construction, rain, commuters, trucks, closed roads....it was like a war zone. The conference speaker is excellent. The food here is not. When you are on state rate, you don't get much of a choice. For some reason I decided it would be fun to go to the mall after the conference today. So I went and looked at clearance stuff, bought a pair of sandals, looked at mother of the bride dresses. I have a year to go so I have plenty of time to look. Man, there are some butt ugly dresses out there! I am not going to be the "elderly" looking mother of the bride -- no sequins and jacket dresses for me, no way! But I do need to keep the girls covered and contained and I need something that won't make me look like a potato sack with lumps and bumps. I will need all year to find this creation, I just know it. So I bought a pair of sandals. I was trying them on and looked up and realized that there was a transgender person with better legs than mine, and a regular looking guy fingering some high heels. This kind of thing always happens to me when I am out and about by myself.
So then, I go get something to eat and it is very noisy all of a sudden. They have announcements going all the time, stay in the mall, away from the windows, get away from the sky lights....I felt like it was an indoor war zone. It was pouring rain, lightning, thunder, it was awful. And where exactly does one go when there is a tornado warning and you are at the mall? No one seems to know. I waited as long as I could but it was deafening and I was way over my toleration point so I ran for the car. Had to get gas of course. Then it took 40 min to get back downtown. Unreal. I have to get back home and be glad I don't live in Madison. What has happened to this place? People are judgmental and rude, it is crowded and loud, and quite frankly, it doesn't smell so good.
It is also my granddaughter's birthday, number 8, and she is a wonderful blessing. I tried to get her on the phone, but they aren't home. She spent the night with me the other day so we could have our quiet time together. I like those days. It is special. I'm in bed already, watching tv, listening to another storm roll through. Where do you go when there is a tornado warning and you are on the 5th floor of a hotel? No one seems to know.

A view from the bluff trail on Sunday. Eye to eye with the turkey vultures!