Rob Breeding

Last week we established that the Tiger Woods/John Daly meme could be useful in examining strains of outdoor-loving humans. Tigers, the meme tells us, are the formal, sometimes highfalutin sort that usually follows the long-established norms of outdoor recreation. These norms sometimes mean how you do it is often more important than how successful you are. Wild Things (that’s one of Daly’s nicknames) are the rule breakers.

There’s a meme I’m quite fond of, and I suspect you’ve seen it too. It’s built on a photo of Tiger Woods and John Daly, staring down one another on the green, during a practice round. Woods, whose back is to the camera, is smartly attired in Nike golfing threads, including a white cap, a white long-sleeved shirt under a black sweater vest, and black trousers.

It’s almost the first week of August, so of course rivers across the Northern Rockies are closing down for the season. It didn’t always use to be this way. Rivers would sometimes shut down, of course. It’s hot in August. But it wasn’t the annual, widespread thing it’s become. This could spoil my late-summer plans.