There are lots of theories about what names do to us.  The trends in the naming of babies also say things about what is happening in our culture. 

It was only about a decade ago that "Noah" suddenly took the lead as top boy's name...suggesting to me that a lot of people from a Christian culture were getting worried about some great catastrophe like maybe sea level rise.  Instead of thinking that your kiddos are going to suffer because of global warming, it's much more enjoyable to convince yourself that they will be saviors.

I just read that since 2015 the name "Donald" is down by 11%, whereas "Melania" is up 227% and "Ivanka" is up 362%.  Guess the women in that family are more worthy.

...is worth overdoing. That was their mantra.

Completely Recommend.
( is worth overdoing.Collapse )

Eventually all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.
--Norman Maclean

(I'm in the sparkly red helmet and antique yellow boat, with yellow blades on my paddle.)
( notesCollapse )

It's still raining. The roof hasn't started leaking yet, but the puddles are headed for knee deep and traffic is crawling. My new boots which were advertised as waterproof are definitely not. One black mark for Timberland and one for Imelda's. When you tell me it's waterproof, I expect it to be waterproof.

I don't know if you pay attention to the news about China, but the Three Gorges Dam just survived the biggest flood yet. It could have failed, but it didn't.

There's an older husky living here who is on 3 meds. She's on metacam/meloxicam which is an NSAID, for her arthritis. She's on levothyroxine (synthetic T4). And she's on DES (diethyl stilbestrol), yes, the same one that they used to give pregnant women that ended up causing all sorts of malformations in their offspring. DES is used in canines to prevent urinary incontinence. Who knew??

I'm interested in your ideas about where I might consider setting up a naturopathic medical practice in the west. Have any suggestions as to places or people I should investigate in the northern half of the western US? When I leave Flag I am going to explore that region on my way back to PDX, and I have never been there before, so I do not know where I am going. Montana for sure, and Sandpoint, Idaho.
( Arrived in AZ yesterday morning: brain dumpCollapse )

I should have written down my dream this morning. It was a vivid one, and my grandmother was in it. This evening as I think back on it, I don't know that I have ever dreamed about my grandmother before. What I can remember about the dream:
( short dreamCollapse )

Here's a photo of a typical river camp along the section of the San Juan where we were. Imagine however that the area that they are camped on is under 10 feet of roiling fast brown water, and you'll have an idea what it looked like that day in May. And we were in little playful whitewater kayaks, not rubber barges.

I'm still reading Deep Survival and as I read, I remember the many times on my own outings that someone could have died, but didn't. People are often unaware of how close to the edge they are walking. On the river people underestimate the hazard of high water, on the snow people forget about avalanche, in good weather people act as if the weather won't change with no notice. One of the more risky trips was relatively recent. This trip, while it turned out well, was on the very edge of disaster. Let me record what I remember about it.
( the storyCollapse )