Sporting Road

You can look at blankets from Hudson Bay Company (Canada), Pendleton Mills (Oregon), Woolrich (Pennsylvania), Fairbuilt Mills (Minnesota) and see a lot of similarities.  They are are warm and heavy and have been made for over 100 years.  Which are the best?  The answer is, it depends. The HBC blanket, in King (which is 8 points for the plebian, as points designates the size), weighs 10 pounds, the Pendelton 8.5, and the Fairbuilt is currently 6.5, so they are clearly different weights of wool (thicknesses).  So if you want the heaviest weight, get the HBC.  You can even get it with fur sewn onto the blanket, such as this one. https://www.thebay.com/main/ProductDetail.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302023949&PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441826345&R=886456857241&P_name=Hudson%27s+Bay+Company&N=4294966910+302023949&bmUID=mrF2BxA For the Rocky Mountains, Pendleton is more iconic and has more contemporary and old southwest and SW native American patterns than HBC.    The weight is slightly less and, for the price, you could buy almost two Pendletons now for one HBC, so it makes sense in terms of the amount of wool used.  The Fairbuilt is even less thick and the price reflects that, but these blankets are very popular in Minnesota and surrounding areas.  So get what you like, but understand why the prices are different, as the amount of wool used is different for each brand.  The quality is exceptional on all of these.

Wild Wild Country is a Netflix documentary series about the controversial Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho), his one-time personal assistant Ma Anand Sheela, and their community of followers in the Rajneeshpuram community located in Wasco County, Oregon.[1][2][3] It was released on Netflix on March 16, 2018, after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival.[3][4][5][6] Turns out though that Osho wasn't crazy. He was a philisophy major in India, who became known as a sage. He was all over the place in lectures, having said he had read 150,00 books, which I believe may have been true. This created something of a cult following, but there was no control exerted by Osho over his followers, though other "leaders" of the commune may have had other ideas for power. He said meditation in the medicine. The mind is nothing but subtle matter, it can be changed easily. If you are generous you are rich. If you want to be rich, be generous. The riches life has endowed you with are not limited. A lawyer and he lives by words, because court is the very temple of this world. Have you seen the buildings of high courts? They are the temples now. Much is wasted on them. Why? The temples have become tiny but the High Court buildings, I’m getting higher and higher and bigger and bigger. In fact the power is there – the power of violence and murder camera the power of law and language in logic. The lawyer is a logician. The mind is time. Conciousness is eternity. His books are a surprisingly interesting samplings from all of the world's major religions and philosophers, as his his Dynamic Meditation technique. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbfVcigkNao&feature=youtu.be His mediation starts out very similar to Wim Hof's breathing methods, before he plunges into freezing

Osho himself was not wealthy at all. In fact, he owned almost nothing. At most, he may have had a Buddha statue and a bottle of unscented shampoo—and that was it. Whatever he received, he gave away, including watches, Rolls-Royces, and statues of Buddha. It was his followers who were wealthy—some of them extremely so. They were the ones who bought the Rolls-Royces and expensive watches for him to use. His apparent display of wealth was pure showmanship. He wanted to challenge the idea that one must be poor to be religious. He believed that as long as poverty was idealized as a virtue, it would never truly be eliminated. He also welcomed the massive publicity the cars generated, once saying that he wanted to make sure “everyone who is looking for me will not be able to say they had not heard of me.” There were other messages behind it as well, such as parodying American materialism. He didn’t purchase these items himself; he simply accepted a few things because people insisted on giving them to him. Osho was often called the “guru of the rich.” In one interview, he was asked why he didn’t use his so-called “enormous wealth” to help the poor. He replied: “People have been helping the poor for thousands of years—and they are still poor. But who is there to help the rich?”

It's estimated that there are roughly 200 billion galaxies in the observable universe. However, estimates vary among experts, with some estimating between 100 billion and 200 billion galaxies. The exact number of galaxies has been a mystery, with estimates rising as telescope technology improved. NASA estimates that there are at least 100 billion planets in our Milky Way alone. Others estimated that the Milky Way galaxy might have anywhere between 100 to 200 billion planets.  They estimate one in 5 could hold life. That means that 10 x 10 to the 22nd power possibilities of planets that could hold life.

The Kewa Pueblo (formerly Santo Domingo Pueblo) in New Mexico holds vibrant, sacred Corn Dances, typically in the summer (especially August 4th for St. Dominic's Day), as an ancient ritual to give thanks for the harvest and ask for continued blessings, featuring large numbers of dancers in traditional attire shuffling in patterns, accompanied by songs, drummers, and masked clowns in the central plaza under cornstalk arbors.  Key Aspects of the Kewa Corn Dance: Purpose: A deeply spiritual ceremony for gratitude and abundance, deeply tied to the land and community's survival. Timing: Often happens in summer, with significant events around the St. Dominic Annual Feast Day (August 4th). Participants: Involves many dancers in double file (men leading women), with women's hands on men's shoulders, changing formations with the songs. Setting: The dance occurs in the central plaza, often with an arbor made of cornstalks and cottonwoods. Elements: Accompanied by drumming, singing, and ceremonial clowns smeared with clay and wearing traditional markings. Significance: A major cultural event, considered one of the best and largest in New Mexico.  Visiting Kewa Pueblo: Etiquette: When visiting any Pueblo feast day, it's crucial to be respectful, follow instructions, and understand that photography is not allowed or they will confiscate your phone or camera. Cultural Context: These dances are religious ceremonies, not performances for tourists, emphasizing the deep connection to their heritage and land. 

  Both the Crow and Navajo Nations hold deep spiritual connections to specific mountains. The Crow consider the Crazy Mountains sacred, using them for vision quests and ceremony. The Navajo organize their entire cosmology around the Four Sacred Mountains, which define the boundaries of their world. The Four Sacred Navajo Mountains The Four Sacred Mountains mark the boundaries of the Navajo Nation and lie at the heart of Navajo spiritual life. In Navajo belief, each mountain is a living deity — assigned a color and a cardinal direction — and serves as a vital source of sustenance for the Navajo people. For decades, however, uranium mining and other extractive industries have degraded these sacred landscapes, causing lasting harm to Navajo communities. Geographical Location The Navajo hold mountains in especially high reverence, viewing prominent geographic features as bearers of supernatural power. The four sacred mountains define the corners of Navajo Country and are named in sunwise order, each paired with a directional color: Sisnaajiní (Blanca Peak) — white, east; Tsoodził (Mt. Taylor) — blue, south; Doko'oosłííd (San Francisco Peaks) — yellow, west; and Dibéntsaa (Hesperus Peak) — black, north. Within U.S. boundaries, these peaks fall across south-central Colorado, Grants, New Mexico, Flagstaff, Arizona, and the La Plata Mountains of Colorado. Blanca Peak Sisnaajiní — known in English as Blanca Peak and called Pintsae'i'i by the Ute and Peeroradarath by the Tewa — stands as the eastern boundary of the Navajo world. Its Navajo name means "black belted mountain." At 14,351 feet, it is the fourth highest summit in the Rocky Mountains and the tallest peak in both the Sangre de Cristo Range and the broader Sangre de Cristo Mountains. It sits roughly 9.6 miles north-northeast

With rodeo proudly designated as Montana’s official state sport, the state made a strong showing at this year’s NFR, highlighted by Montana athletes earning major wins and thrilling fans in Las Vegas: Sam Petersen and his Bareback Average Championship win; tie-down roper Haven Meged’s Round 9 win with a lightning-fast 7.0-second run; steer wrestlers Ty Erickson and Jesse Brown; and veteran barrel racer Lisa Lockhart.   But Montana doesn’t just produce rodeo champions. It fosters a culture where rodeo is still deeply connected to the land, the people, and the Western way of life. To truly understand why rodeo lives here, you need to experience it in person. Home to some of the nation's oldest and most storied Western traditions, Montana isn’t just a destination for rodeo fans—it’s a way of life for the people who live it every day. Start your journey at RodeoLivesHere.com, your go-to guide for all things Montana rodeo. There you’ll find 2026 rodeo events, including local favorites like the Wolf Point Wild Horse Stampede and Red Lodge Home of Champions, plus regional stops on the PRCA circuit and homegrown competitions across Native nations and ranch communities. You can also explore the stories of people who live and breathe rodeo in small towns with big heart. Ready to plan your 2026 rodeo road trip? Visit RodeoLivesHere.com for travel ideas, event listings, athlete stories, and more. Discover why Montana isn’t just part of rodeo—it’s where rodeo lives.

Photo credit to Stephen Collector by Jim Harrison Let’s not get romantic or dismal about death.Indeed it’s our most unique act along with birth.We must think of it as cooking breakfast,it’s that ordinary. Break two eggs into a bowlor break a bowl into two eggs. Slip into a coffinafter the fluids have been drained, or better yet,slide into the fire. Of course it’s a little hardto accept your last kiss, your last drink,your last meal about which the condemnedcan be quite particular as if there could bea cheeseburger sent by God. A few loverssweep by the inner eye, but it’s mostly a placidlake at dawn, mist rising, a solitary looncall, and staring into the still, opaque water.We’ll know as children again all that we aredestined to know, that the water is coldand deep, and the sun penetrates only so far. Jim Harrison, “Death Again” from Jim Harrison: The Essential Poems. from the Writer’s Almanac Podcast, August 14th, 2019 ______________________________________________________________________________________________For another fun read on Collector and Harrison: https://stephencollector.com/blog/spring-2020-issue-of-the-flyfish-journal

The Weight We Carry My father-in-law once described life to me with a simple metaphor, "Life is like a backpack." You begin the journey with an empty pack. Then, little by little, you fill it. Some things are beautiful. Some are painful. Some carry more weight than others, the added cost of a new home, a family, the full catastrophe.   There are memories, victories, disappointments, people you have loved, places you have been, mistakes you wish you could undo, and lessons you would never trade away. Over time, the backpack becomes a record of the life you have lived. The problem is that we often forget we have a choice about what stays inside.  We carry possessions we no longer need. We carry old grievances, limiting beliefs, expectations, fear, regret and, sometimes, relationships that have become more burden than blessing. We keep adding things to the pack without ever stopping to ask whether they are worth the weight. Grief is different. Some things cannot simply be removed. Grief becomes part of the journey. Its weight may change, but the experience remains with us. Some days the backpack feels almost weightless. Other days, a familiar memory can make it feel impossibly heavy. Eventually, you learn that healing isn't necessarily about putting the backpack down. It is learning how to carry it differently. The same is true of life itself. A seasoned traveler eventually learns that the freedom of a journey has less to do with what you can carry than with what you can leave behind. The less unnecessary weight you carry, the farther you can go. There is a certain wisdom in traveling light. I've come to believe the same is true of getting older.

Working Dogs: Service Dogs, ESAs, and Legal Guidelines While various working breeds like the Belgian Malinois or Doberman share foundational obedience training, their specialized roles, tasks, and legal protections differ significantly.   Service Dogs vs. Emotional Support Animals (ESAs) The fundamental difference lies in their training and legal rights. Service dogs perform specific tasks to mitigate a disability, granting them public access rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). ESAs provide comfort through their presence and are primarily protected in housing under the Fair Housing Act (FHA).   Service Dogs Training Requirement: Must perform specific tasks directly related to the handler's physical, psychiatric, sensory, or intellectual disability. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] Task Examples: Guiding individuals who are blind, performing deep pressure therapy during panic attacks, or retrieving dropped items for mobility support. Public Access: Full legal right to enter public places like restaurants, stores, and businesses under the ADA. [1, 2] Air Travel: Permitted to fly in the cabin under the Air Carrier Access Act (airlines may require documentation forms). [1, 2, 3] Training Note: Professional training is not legally mandated; individuals with disabilities have the right to self-train their service dogs. [1, 2, 3] Emotional Support Animals (ESAs) Training Requirement: No specialized task training is required. Task Examples: None. The animal helps alleviate symptoms of anxiety, depression, or mental health conditions purely through its presence. Public Access: No public access rights; restricted to general pet-friendly locations. Air Travel: No cabin access guarantees; airlines may treat ESAs as standard pets according to their own policies. Documentation Note: Requires an official letter from a licensed mental health professional confirming the medical need for the animal. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] ⚖️ ADA Compliance: