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I just had to update this blog, only because on the rare times I now end up here (mostly accidentally, or on the way to edit my more recent blog), I'm met with the picture I posted of Walter on one of his last days on this Earth, and that picture and that memory fucking crushes me.  So here's a picture of Walter on a good day, happy and trusting and full of splendor.  And here's a picture of Bo, the Mountain Pet Rescue dog we got about six months after Walter died. We brought Bo home over Spring Break in March 2022. He's a good dog--great in many ways--but he brings along some traumas and anxieties and reactive behaviors that make him less able to be fully trusted out in The World. Still, I'm so glad to have a dog in our lives. Good dogs.  
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Never again will my puppy

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Never again will my little puppy ... ride with us to Utah for a spring adventure. ... unknowingly take a giant drink of the salty Pacific. That's saltwater, dog. ... kick Josh Clapp in the balls every time he visits, or steal Tara's pizza. ... howl along with the noon whistle. ... faithfully perform your best trick for admiring students. Shut the door, Walter! ... get the zoomies in the back yard, butt-scooting by just out of reach. ... refuse to jump up onto the cabin bunk bed for bedtime while the Black Dog is too close by. ... take joy in even the smallest dirtiest patch of late spring snow, bathing yourself in grubby crystals of the stuff. ... recognize Colleen and Mary and Terry as real family, different from all the other good people in our life. ... pose for a picture with me on my first day of adult summer camp. ... kick up one paw for victory while you sleep, belly-up, in your favorite chair. ... provide Colleen good company on her training runs. ... roll in the foules
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2017: Year in review

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Here are some things that happened this year: 1. Maggie and I got engaged!  Here we are before heading into Little Wild Horse Canyon, an amazing Utah slot canyon, where I proposed: 2. Maggie and I went to Iceland!  In January!  It was about the same temp there as it was in Laramie while we were gone.  But, Iceland also has volcanoes, and glaciers, and hot springs, and tectonic plates, and more! 3. I went to Baltimore and Tampa! For work travel this year, I presented at ACRL in Baltimore (spring) and LRA in Tampa (fall).  Both of these trips were first-time-visits for me, and I liked both places.  I was surprised by how much I liked downtown Tampa--I'd definitely go back! 4. We got to see Cirque d' Soleil!  No pics of this trip, but for Dad's 70th birthday we all (Sarah and Joel and the kids, Dad and Susie, and me and Maggie) went to Denver to see Cirque d' Soleil's Mexico-inspired "Luzia" performance.  It was all so amazing! 5.
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Record keeping: Times are changing

What's changing as a result of Trump presidency and Republican-controlled House/Senate?  Here's an effort to start keeping track of life under a new administration.  Clearly I've got a bias, but I'll try to use this space to provide myself with multiple perspectives on some of the changes. Even by "post-truth" standards, Trump relies on misleading or flat-out false statements to support his views.  And, for people who think it's gotten better since election season has ended: here's an ongoing list . And here's an ongoing list of the ways that Trump oversimplifies, objectifies, and minimizes women. Trump seems intent on destabilizing relations with NATO countries in  favor of an alliance with Russia. Trump is likely to increase military spending ( along with many other countries in the coming decade ).   Military Times reports : "The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has pegged the cost at an additional $150 billion in
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Too far

Also from George Black, in Empire of Shadows : There are times when people push, or are pushed, too far, and things begin to fall apart.  A new line is drawn on a map.  One man steals a horse; another takes one drink of whiskey too many.  An insult is magnified, and the reprisals escalate.  Personal grudges bleed into larger political grievances.  Prejudice breeds fear, and fear feeds prejudice.  Demagogues sieze hold of these unstable moments.  Moderate men chafe at the absence of order and find themselves invoking extreme remedies that end in outbursts of collective madness. (Ch. 15)
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History repeats (?)

"Historian Richard Slotkin says that while the intended mission of the vigilante may be civilizing and socially constructive, his methods assume a 'privilege of violence' beyond the law.  Terror breeds counterterror."  - George Black, in Empire of Shadows
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For consideration

From This I Believe  (1952): "Man is more important than anything he has created and our great task is to bring back again into a subordinate position the monstrous superstructures of our society." -- Susan Cobbs "I don't believe that human life is accurately represented by Viggeland's famous sculpture column in Oslo, of people climbing over one another and trampling one another down.  The Nazis when they occupied Norway greatly admired that sculpture.  They would.  But the rest of us can do better than that; many men and women in every age have done better, and are doing it still." -- Elmer Davis
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