Name choice

"Prairie View" makes me feel a little like giggling. It's the name of a very reputable mental health facility in our area. I'm not laughing at the plight of the people who need their services or at the very necessary service the facility provides. I'm thinking that it's strangely appropriate to associate this identity with the unpredicatable twists and turns my life takes sometimes.
Right now one of our small basement rooms is full of a merry bunch of young people who came to see our son Shane's pictures of his recent trip to Kenya and New York City.
About an hour ago our son Joel and our nephew Yoshinori who is visiting from Japan returned from a snowboarding trip to Colorado.
Earlier, Grant came home muttering about that cow. . . "If I never see another one like that, I'll like it just fine. . ." She was a first-time mother with a very obstinate disposition and no respect for any human barrier to any place she wanted to go. After many attempts to get her into the barn for her first milking, she plopped down in a vile-smelling soup and refused to budge. A halter for her and an attached rope also attached to the tractor finally inched her toward the milking parlor and into place. The process had to be repeated when it was time for her to go back to the holding pen.
I've often thought that working with animals is a wonderful way for children to learn how things like rebellion, cooperation, and obedience affect the mentor and the apprentice. So many hardships can be avoided when the apprentice understands that following the mentor's wishes is a good thing to do.