The Hazard Chronicles

"Today while I was going to the bathroom my nose started bleeding and it got really messy but it was okay because my dad cleaned it up with toilet paper!"
-Maren, very loudly, while standing in front of our entire church congregation. Lovely.

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As I'm sure everyone knows, we had a major holiday this past week. It's true- according to Wikipedia, Earth Day is the largest secular holiday in the world, and is celebrated in 192 countries. To celebrate this momentous event, we went to not one, but two different festivals. Yep- we like the earth that much...and there wasn't much else going on this weekend.

The first one we went to was in Spokane. It was characterized by a lot of politically outspoken young people who wanted to save the planet. Most of them had hemp jewelry and/or dreadlocks, wore recycled t-shirts, and had lots of piercings and tattoos of either flowers or tribal symbols. The air was filled with sounds of Indian drums and the distinctive sweet smell of...earthy things (remember, this is Washington). It was interesting, because as I looked around I realized that I probably agreed with them, at least in principal, on most of what they stood for. At the same time, the culture was completely foreign to me, and my own lifestyle probably had very little in common with theirs. I felt a little bit out of place with our little family circus. Also, if I'm honest with myself, it made it so that I was probably less likely to buy into the ideas they were advocating for.

The one kid-centered booth in Spokane. Make a Salmon? Weird...and a little fishy :) It was next to the booth where you can give a "peace blessing" on the earth. The person running that booth was holding an inflatable globe in his hands and singing in a high falsetto "I've got the whole world/in my hands..." You can't make this stuff up.

The second festival we went to was in Coeur d'Alene and this one seemed like it was tailored specifically to families like ours. We got there and the first thing we saw was a huge water table with sand and plastic plants and toy animals that the kids could play with. There was a guy there to explain erosion and stuff to the kids who were interested. A little further down we saw a group of volunteers helping kids to plant their own vegetables in makeshift newspaper cups. Still further was an animal-rescue group who had live-animal demonstrations showing the harmful effects that environmental negligence can have. Other interactive booths and demonstrations were plentiful, and our kids had a great time. The expected political activists were there too, with their booths and petitions and causes, but they didn't seem quite as angry and they actually explained their positions rather than simply raising their fists of solidarity into the air as if that was a good enough argument in itself. I had fun at this one, and I was disappointed that we didn't have more time. Also, I found myself identifying more with the message, and I even got suckered into signing a petition for a very nice young college student who seemed almost timid to talk to me.

Planting vegetables

Maren explaining to me how an owl can catch food with it's sharp talons.

Does anyone else find this interesting? I guess I am pointing out the power that ethos can have in a conversation. When you can identify with the person talking to you, it's amazing how much more credibility they seem to have, and it makes it so much easier for that person to influence you (and vice-versa). Realizing this makes me wonder what ideas or opinions or feelings I think I have for "logical" reasons, but which are really just imposed on me through my own psychological conditioning, and whether or not there is a good way for me to be able to tell the difference between the two. Personally I think there are ways (even good ways) to tell the two apart, but that it requires a great deal of diligence and humility which is difficult, if not impossible, to exercise one hundred percent of the time.

Anyway, just another random Logan-thought for the week.

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Earlier this week, Evelyn arranged a play-date with one of her friends. She made an invitation and everything, and when her friend came over it was my cue to leave with the others. I think Ev had a great time, and I know we did. Everyone got ice cream in the end, so I guess it was a successful evening.

Addy, Jack, Maren, and I went and explored the river before getting hot fudge sundaes- "Papa Sundaes" according to the kids.

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Well, yesterday was my last free Monday for a while. .

Lately, I have been reaping the benefits of having three doctors to split between two practices. This meant that I only had to work 4 days per week, and that I had virtually unlimited vacation time. Well, recently one of our doctors had a great opportunity to open a new practice in Pocatello, and is leaving our group for greener pastures. Who can blame him? And while I'm happy for him and wish him all the best, my selfish side still kicks in a little and wishes it wasn't so. Starting next week I will no longer have three day weekends or free vacations.

Life is so full of first-world problems sometimes.

As a sort of farewell to Mondays, Rachel and I took Maren and Lindsey out to eat at a "fancy restaurant" (Denny's) yesterday, and then went on a hike and to a bounce house. Maren said it was the best day ever. I had fun too. The bounce house had a giant wall of velcro and the kids could put on suits so that you could throw them at the wall and make them stick. There was even a point system based on how high you got them to stick. Unfortunately, Maren wasn't as into this idea as much as I was. Where's Jack when you need him?