And so it begins...

I suppose the best topic to start with would be an explanation of the title of this blog: Ruffled Feathers. Or, as you may have noticed if you looked at (or typed) the actual address of this blog: Feathers Ruffled (www.feathersruffled.blogspot.com).

It would seem that the Internet Faeries definitely had their hands in this whole affair (especially the selection of a name), as I initially hoped to simply name it "Ruffled Feathers." This title felt like an excellent tie-in to my website, Owl Medicine, which was launched in November 2009.

I've been procrastinating on creating this blog since the website's launch, despite my promise that I would have one up and running "very soon." But I have this love/hate relationship with writing and publishing, as many writers do, and thus I've put my clients, my children, my husband, my dogs, my cats, my taxes, and yes, even my yoga class ahead of creating this blog. Thank goodness I didn't hold out for a root canal.

When I finally allowed myself to start noodling around blogspot to see if I could create a blog with my chosen name, of course it got bounced, announcing to me that the name was taken (unfortunately by someone who only posted once or twice back in 2006). Scoffing at the computer-generated "suggested alternatives," I started playing with words myself. Most of the obvious ones, such as owlmedicine (oh how easy that would have made things), were also taken.

Undaunted now that I'd actually begun the process, I kept playing with combinations and actually got a few "hits" on names that I could grow to love. Instead of just seizing the moment and running with it, I lapsed into another lull of procrastination and started writing a list of the potential winners in my Day-timer for the next day under the heading: "Discuss with Karl."

(Side note: Karl is my husband. He will undoubtedly figure in many of my posts, if only tangentially at times, as he is the one who tends to be my centering post. My eldest son's name is also Karl, although he has a different middle name than my husband, and thus is not a "junior." He (Karl-the-son) may also figure in my posts from time to time, but probably less frequently. Then again, maybe not.)

There was a niggling little voice in the back of my head asking, "WHY? Why do you need to 'discuss with Karl' when you know he won't care that much and you know you're just delaying the inevitable!?" I shushed the voice, telling it to be happy I was at least on the blogspot site and researching potential names. Good Goddess, it'd taken me four months just to get this far!

After amassing a list of at least five or six names with reasonable potential (you know, people only read a blog because it has a catchy, clever name), the thought of inverting the title I'd chosen blinked into my mind. I typed it in and hit enter, just as I'd done at least a dozen times so far that evening. Nothing happened. I hit enter again. Up popped some gobbledygook that said two requests for access were being fielded at once or some such nonsense and I had to go back to the previous screen and try again.

I was getting irritated. Time had flown and it was after midnight. My bleary eyes were starting to close and it was time to go to bed. And I had to get up early tomorrow to discuss this urgent naming opportunity with Karl! Re-entering the potential moniker "feathersruffled," I stabbed the enter button one more time, only to have a message appear declaring that name now unavailable as well.

"What? That's bulls*%!" I exclaimed to Sheila, my Boston Terrier, who was snoring loudly at my side. "Tell me someone else just claimed that name?!"

I whipped into hunt mode and looked up this stealth blogger who'd stolen my name. Given that I was indeed tired, it took me a moment to realize that the goosebumps that arose involuntarily when I saw that this person had actually named the blog "Ruffled Feathers" - and the blogger's name was "Lisa" (how weird is that, I asked myself incredulously) were unnecessary. Taking a breath, I realized that this person had not yet posted anything. Odd. And look at that! The blog had only been created in...hmm...February, 2010! (OK, OK, I confess. This all occurred last week and it's taken me this long to write my first post.)

Yeah, duh. I'd created the blog with this name. Another way of looking at it (and which feels much more accurate) is that Spirit gave me a good smack for finding yet another way to procrastinate and just took matters into its own, well...hands, and made the choice for me. No talking to Karl about it tomorrow morning and mulling it over for another couple of days or weeks. Just name the stupid blog and get going!

So here I am, writing my first entry in what I hope will be an entertaining, thought-provoking, and at least occasionally insightful blog. I hope to tackle subjects ranging from assorted activist issues (for which I have a passion) to spirituality (shamanism being my approach to the world), with an occasional political observation thrown in just to add a little danger. Then again, maybe this blog will take on a completely different personality and serve a completely different purpose than I'm even suspecting at the moment.

Finally, over the last week I've come to appreciate the fact that my blog's name is both Ruffled Feathers and Feathers Ruffled. Why? Because sometimes I'll be writing about things that have MY feathers in a ruffle. And sometimes the musings I post will ruffle the feathers of those who read them. (Or at least I hope they will.) (In a good way, of course.)

Thanks for reading. I hope you'll come back.