February 17, 2007

  • dream interpretation, politics or insanity, and dog racing

    I was asked by spinksy what I made of the dream I reported this week.  One connection that didn’t occur to me at the time, but which probably should have rung a bell, is that Mercury is retrograde.  Leaving it at that would be too easy, though.  I have been thinking about that dream for days and daze now.  There were parts of it that made sense immediately, and still do.  There were other parts that made no sense at the time and still don’t.  Bearing in mind that I tend toward the Jungian approach, in which the symbolic language is my own idiosyncratic set of associations, here’s what I make of it:

    The two apartments represent some choices I now face regarding my physical health, diet, etc.  Much of what I found in those apartments, and my interactions with my husband in the dream, are related to things that Greyfox and I have been discussing.  Lately, our conversations have ranged from mundane matters, through politics, and into spiritual and metaphysical realms.

    I have no clue what the unidentified plant among all the known and recognizable herbs could signify, unless it simply stands for the unknown factors in our current situation.  Likewise, why my husband’s clothing would have been spread out to dry in the closet of the empty apartment… mystery to me.

    All three of the men in the dream seem in general to be associated with various relationships of mine and/or social and interpersonal issues I’m dealing with now.  The bare young woman that I so summarily knocked down and took in hand clearly represents some of my more immature character traits and risky behaviors I have been working on controlling.

    It was only a dream.


    Young Don (congressman for all Alaskans except for you and me and the moose) shot his mouth off again.

    During U.S. House debate on the Iraq war resolution, Alaska Rep. Don Young made a statement so offensive, so contrary to freedom of speech and public debate, so incendiary that he should apologize to his colleagues. Rep. Young said, “Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled or hanged.” He attributed the statement to President Abraham Lincoln. Then he stuck with the message even when he learned Lincoln never said it. Turns out it was a well-documented fabrication from a 2003 column in a conservative magazine, copied thousands of time since then on the Internet, then repeated in a Washington Times column a couple of days before Rep. Young read it on the House floor. Meredith Kenny, Rep. Young’s press secretary, says the congressman will now stop attributing the words to Lincoln but adds, “He continues to totally agree with the message of the statement.”

    Hanging is too good for Don Young.  I still like what these guys said:

    “To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or
    that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only
    unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American
    public.”
    —Theodore Roosevelt—

    “Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most
    to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every
    other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and
    taxes…known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of
    the few. … No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of
    continual warfare.”
    from Political Observations, 1795
    —James Madison—


    Yukon Quest Update

    Lance Mackey has, at last report, a significant lead of several hours ahead of his closest competitor.  The race leaders crossed the international border Friday and are through the Eagle, Alaska checkpoint now.

    Greg Parvin and his team were found safe after having been overdue on their run out of Dawson City.  He has some options regarding whether to be resupplied and continue on, or turn back and be airlifted out.

    Quest rookie J. T. Hessert of Portland, Maine, got booted from the race on grounds of inadequate planning.  He had been late showing up for a pre-race mushers’ meeting, and was fined $500.  He was fined an additional $250 for arriving in Dawson City without the required veterinary records and other documents.  Mushers are expected to have dog handlers along the trail to help with team care in checkpoints and to clean up after the dogs.  Hessert had no handler and has been talking other mushers’ handlers into helping him.  He’s out, but has protested the involuntary withdrawal and intends to continue on into Fairbanks, hoping he’ll win the appeal and that his finish will be counted.

    Aaron Burmeister lost about six hours on the trail, and might have given up a chance at the championship, to save the life of one of his dogs.  This was early in the week, just outside Pelly Crossing.  Coming down a hill, riding his brake to control the sled, he noticed one of his dogs staggering.  At the bottom, Step, a 4-year-old male, collapsed.

    Burmeister pulled Step’s tongue out of his throat and did mouth-to-snout CPR to revive the dog.

    “It took me a good minute and a half,” said Burmeister, a nine-time Iditarod finisher and Quest rookie. “I did four sets before he even coughed once. After about 10 minutes, he was stabilized.”   adn.com

    And how do we know that it’s almost Iditarod time? 

    The Iditarod Air Force has started hauling 86 tons of dog food out to checkpoints along the trail.

Comments (3)

  • r.y.c….not superman, not a saint. do you think, perhaps, that i should let it be known that i’m an ex-postal worker?

  • one suggestion: take a look at an English version of the Neapolitan “Smorfia” (lousy translation “Funny Face”"…) and get the winning numbers for the State lottery…

  • Thanks for answering.

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