The Constitution requires that a census be conducted every ten years. We have counted ourselves as a nation every decade since 1790.
Idaho, home to many in our family, had 1,567,582 people living in it, as of the 2010 Census. That represents a 21 percent increase over 2000, making the Gem State fourth in terms of fastest growing states. Idaho ranks 40th among the states in overall population.
The Census also showed that the five most populous cities in Idaho are:
- Boise, 205,671 (a 10.7 percent increase since 2000)
- Nampa, 81,557 (a 57.2 percent increase)
- Meridian, 75,092 (a 115 percent increase)
- Idaho Falls, 56,813 (a 12 percent increase)
- Pocatello, 54,255 (a 5.4 percent increase)
The five most populous counties in Idaho are:
- Ada, 392,365 (a 30.4 percent increase since 2000)
- Canyon, 188,923 (an increase of 43.7 percent)
- Kootenai, 138,494 (an increase of 27.4 percent)
- Bonneville, 104,234 (an increase of 26.3 percent)
- Bannock, 82,839 (an increase of 9.6 percent)
Boise and Meridian are located in Ada County. Nampa, Caldwell, and Parma are in Canyon County.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
2 Quote of the week
A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken.
~ James Dent
3 This week in our family
Our family's calendar for the next fortnight
Thurs, June 2: Talmage's birthday [Dean]
Fri, June 3: Bill & Kelly married 1982 [Gail]
Fri, June 3: Randy & Valerie married 1988 [Lyle]
Tues, June 7: Shauna Reher's birthday [Ray]
Wed, June 8: Jared Sayer's birthday [Jackie]
Wed, June 8: Miriam Hoff's birthday [Dean]
Wed, June 8: Gail died 2000 [Gail]
Thurs, June 9: Louise's birthday [Dean]
Fri, June 10: Chuck & Andrea McAllister married 1993 [Kay]
Fri, June 10: Macallan's birthday [Lyle]
Sat, June 11: Jerry's birthday [Jerry]
Tues, June 14: Flag Day
Tues, June 14: Joseph Card's birthday [Lyle]
Wed, June 15: Camilla Taylor's birthday [Dean]
Wed, June 15: Joshua's birthday [Lyle]
Wed, June 15: Next issue of newsletter
Please let us know if we are missing any birthdays or anniversaries
4 Bits and tidbits
Kay's family
As of last report, Kay's hip surgery was successful, and he and Karen were able to return home to Hurricane after Kay spent a week in Salt Lake City's St. Mark's Hospital. He still has a bit of recovery ahead of him.
Dean's family
Last issue we reported that our daughter Rachael and her family in southern Illinois had to keep a sump pump going around the clock at Easter time to keep ahead of basement flooding from all the rain they were getting. "In the interest of historical accuracy," she pointed out, "we didn't get a sump pump until 8am the next morning; we'd had to bail out the water by hand (well, by WetVac & buckets) non-stop all through the night. Just sayin'."
Dale's family
Keisha and Micah will be getting married on Saturday, June 11, in the Boise Temple. A reception follows that evening.
As of last report, Kay's hip surgery was successful, and he and Karen were able to return home to Hurricane after Kay spent a week in Salt Lake City's St. Mark's Hospital. He still has a bit of recovery ahead of him.
Dean's family
Last issue we reported that our daughter Rachael and her family in southern Illinois had to keep a sump pump going around the clock at Easter time to keep ahead of basement flooding from all the rain they were getting. "In the interest of historical accuracy," she pointed out, "we didn't get a sump pump until 8am the next morning; we'd had to bail out the water by hand (well, by WetVac & buckets) non-stop all through the night. Just sayin'."
Dale's family
Keisha and Micah will be getting married on Saturday, June 11, in the Boise Temple. A reception follows that evening.
5 Our family 50 years ago
Excerpts from the June 1961 diary of Dorothy Batt Cleverly (1915–1982). The full text of her diary can be found online at Dorothy's Idaho Diaries and is updated daily, exactly 50 years to the day after it was originally written. The family at the time lived on Montana Avenue in Nampa, Idaho.
Thurs, June 1, 1961. Dean went to Stake House all day to camporee. Dale & I played 1 game of Scrabble. Ivard got off at 3: & at 6: I called Stockman & told him to go get Jerry from work. I'm getting so mad at him. Ray went out to Pinsters for his Piano lesson.
Fri, June 2, 1961. Ray came home at noon & got ready & went to Idaho City for scout camporee. He's assistant scout master. Ivard did chores & showered & we went to Boise & had Chinese dinner & went to show "Return to Peyton Place."
Sat, June 3, 1961. Jerry came home at noon & took Dean over to work in Boss's yard with him for awhile. I cleaned up house & typed genelogy for 4 hrs. Ray got home from scout trip at 11:.
Sun, June 4, 1961. Ivard - Jerry & Ray went to priesthood & Dean Dale & I played Scrabble. I bathed Jackie & we went to sunday school & sacrement meeting.
Mon, June 5, 1961. Ivard & I went up to Wards & got a new tire for $3: for one we wrecked & had to have rim fixed for $3.50. left Icecream freezer to be welded.
Tues, June 6, 1961. I typed genelogy for 6 hrs. Dean & Dale picked 6 cups of strawberries & tonite when Ray came from work he picked 5 more. I stired up a freezer of strawberry icecream & Jerry froze it after he made two trips to store for ice & salt.
Wed, June 7, 1961. Ivard finished cleaning garage & him & Dean mowed lawn. At 1: the Cub Scouts came for their meeting. Dean milked. Ray got paid, $24. for week. I took Ray out to Pinsters for his piano lesson & scout meeting & had a flat tire comeing back.
Thurs, June 8, 1961. I cooked stuffed peppers for supper, potatoes & califlower with cheese sauce & we had strawberries & cream.
Fri, June 9, 1961. Dean did chores & Jerry made salad while Ivard & I took Dale over to Lincoln Park to sign up for "little legue" ball at 7: P.M.
Sat, June 10, 1961. Dale, Jackie & I went and got some presents for Jerry then went to Caldwell & got him a chess game with S&H Green Stamps. Went to Wards & had Jackies picture taken, 6 poses. I went back up town & got Jerry a hand tuled leather wallet. Jerry made a meat pie & I made biscuits on it. Ivard & I took Jerry to "Gone with Wind."
Sun, June 11, 1961. Jerrys birthday. He was 23. Lyle came up yesterday & goes back tomorrow. Barbra & Kids have been up over a week. Lyle will stay in Air Force.
Mon, June 12, 1961. Ivard broke his foot. Ivard came from work & when he got out of pick up his foot sliped off the running board and hurt his foot he went to bed until noon then we went to Dr at 2: & he exrayed it & his foot was broke. He has a cask clear up to his knee.
Tues, June 13, 1961. Gail left on vacation to Yellowstone Park.
Wed, June 14, 1961. 100 degrees in Nampa. Jerry & Ray went ward Teaching.
6 What in the world
Deadly tornado
It's been nearly two weeks since a deadly tornado ripped through Joplin, Missouri, wiping out two-thirds of the town that had been home to some 50,000 people and resulted in the deaths of 134 people. No members of the Church were killed, although some were injured and some lost their homes.
It's been nearly two weeks since a deadly tornado ripped through Joplin, Missouri, wiping out two-thirds of the town that had been home to some 50,000 people and resulted in the deaths of 134 people. No members of the Church were killed, although some were injured and some lost their homes.
7 A final word
We are finishing the season of school graduations. I liked what New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote this week.
America's colleges have sent another class of graduates off into the world. This year's graduating class has been ill served. They enter a bad job market, the hangover from decades of excessive borrowing. They inherit a ruinous federal debt.
And this year's graduates are members of the most supervised generation in American history. Through their childhoods and teenage years, they have been monitored, tutored, coached and honed to an unprecedented degree.
Yet upon graduation they enter a world that is wide open and unstructured. Most of them will not quickly get married, buy a home and have kids, as previous generations did. Instead, they will confront diverse job markets, social landscapes and lifestyle niches. Most will wander from job to job and clique to clique, searching for a role.
No one would design a system of extreme supervision to prepare people for a decade of extreme openness. But this is what has emerged. College students are raised in an environment that demands one set of navigational skills, and then are cast out into an environment requiring a different set of skills.
Worst of all, they are sent off with baby-boomer theology ringing in their ears. If you sample some of the commencement addresses these days, you see that many graduates are told to: Follow your passion, chart your own course, march to the beat of your own drummer, follow your dreams and find yourself.
But this mantra misleads on nearly every front.
It is of no help to finding serious things to tie yourself down to. The successful young adult is beginning to make sacred commitments—to a spouse, a community and a calling—yet mostly hears about freedom and autonomy.
Today's graduates are told to find their passion and pursue their dreams. They should find themselves first and then live their quest. But, of course, very few people at age 22 or 24 can take an inward journey and come out having discovered a developed self.
Most successful people don't look inside and then plan a life. They look outside and find a problem, which summons their life. A relative suffers from Alzheimer's and a young woman feels called to help cure that disease. A young man works under a miserable boss, and develops management skills so his department can function. A young woman finds herself confronted by an opportunity she never thought of in a job category she never imagined. This wasn't in her plans, but this is where she can contribute.
Most people don't form a self and then lead a life. They are called by a problem, and the self is constructed by their calling.
The graduates are also told to pursue happiness and joy. But when you read a biography of someone you admire, it's rarely the things that made them happy that compel admiration. It's the things they did to court unhappiness—the things they did that were arduous and miserable, which sometimes cost them friends and aroused hatred. It's excellence, not happiness, that we admire most.
Finally, graduates are told to be independent-minded and to express their inner spirit. But, of course, doing your job well often means suppressing yourself. As Atul Gawande mentioned during his countercultural address last week at Harvard Medical School, being a good doctor often means being part of a team, following the rules of an institution, going down a regimented checklist.
Today's grads enter a culture that preaches the self as the center of a life. But as they age they'll discover that the tasks of a life are at the center. Fulfillment is a byproduct of their tasks, and can't be pursued directly. Most of us are egotistical and most are self-concerned most of the time, but it's nonetheless true that life comes to a point only in those moments when the self dissolves into some task. The purpose in life is not to find yourself. It's to lose yourself.
America's colleges have sent another class of graduates off into the world. This year's graduating class has been ill served. They enter a bad job market, the hangover from decades of excessive borrowing. They inherit a ruinous federal debt.
And this year's graduates are members of the most supervised generation in American history. Through their childhoods and teenage years, they have been monitored, tutored, coached and honed to an unprecedented degree.
Yet upon graduation they enter a world that is wide open and unstructured. Most of them will not quickly get married, buy a home and have kids, as previous generations did. Instead, they will confront diverse job markets, social landscapes and lifestyle niches. Most will wander from job to job and clique to clique, searching for a role.
No one would design a system of extreme supervision to prepare people for a decade of extreme openness. But this is what has emerged. College students are raised in an environment that demands one set of navigational skills, and then are cast out into an environment requiring a different set of skills.
Worst of all, they are sent off with baby-boomer theology ringing in their ears. If you sample some of the commencement addresses these days, you see that many graduates are told to: Follow your passion, chart your own course, march to the beat of your own drummer, follow your dreams and find yourself.
But this mantra misleads on nearly every front.
It is of no help to finding serious things to tie yourself down to. The successful young adult is beginning to make sacred commitments—to a spouse, a community and a calling—yet mostly hears about freedom and autonomy.
Today's graduates are told to find their passion and pursue their dreams. They should find themselves first and then live their quest. But, of course, very few people at age 22 or 24 can take an inward journey and come out having discovered a developed self.
Most successful people don't look inside and then plan a life. They look outside and find a problem, which summons their life. A relative suffers from Alzheimer's and a young woman feels called to help cure that disease. A young man works under a miserable boss, and develops management skills so his department can function. A young woman finds herself confronted by an opportunity she never thought of in a job category she never imagined. This wasn't in her plans, but this is where she can contribute.
Most people don't form a self and then lead a life. They are called by a problem, and the self is constructed by their calling.
The graduates are also told to pursue happiness and joy. But when you read a biography of someone you admire, it's rarely the things that made them happy that compel admiration. It's the things they did to court unhappiness—the things they did that were arduous and miserable, which sometimes cost them friends and aroused hatred. It's excellence, not happiness, that we admire most.
Finally, graduates are told to be independent-minded and to express their inner spirit. But, of course, doing your job well often means suppressing yourself. As Atul Gawande mentioned during his countercultural address last week at Harvard Medical School, being a good doctor often means being part of a team, following the rules of an institution, going down a regimented checklist.
Today's grads enter a culture that preaches the self as the center of a life. But as they age they'll discover that the tasks of a life are at the center. Fulfillment is a byproduct of their tasks, and can't be pursued directly. Most of us are egotistical and most are self-concerned most of the time, but it's nonetheless true that life comes to a point only in those moments when the self dissolves into some task. The purpose in life is not to find yourself. It's to lose yourself.
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