Look very, very closely at this photo ... is there something amiss?

Ah, yes, there appears to be some new staff on the West Wing team. Thanks to the photoshop talent of one Mrs. Janna Cylka, my husband is forever immortalized as part of his very favourite (pseudo-) political team. Other new additions to the White House team are our friends Steve and Janna Cylka. One of Kev's VERY favourite down-time things to do is to go and hang with Steve and Janna watching the now-cancelled show on DVD.

Endings and beginnings ...

Kevin is counting down the hours ... tomorrow is his VERY LAST DAY at New Life Girls' Home. Starting on Tuesday next week he will only have one job (other than his worship duties at church and seminary courses at Tyndale). Since he's been volunteering at the radio station for the past four years, AND doing worship duties, AND working full-time at New Life Girls' Home, AND doing foundational courses, AND doing occasional contract work with Eagle's Flight (to assist in the income department) this is a substantial reduction in his busy-ness :). He very much enjoyed his ongoing work with Eagle's Flight, however doing the morning show will make this impossible, at least for the near future.

Alison has completed her volunteer duties at the Main Branch of the County Library System. She has had a lot of fun doing it, and they would like to keep her however our schedule won't allow it during the school year. She was really encouraged by her superiors, who provided her with an official "Letter of Recommendation". It was extremely positive and she's feeling quite proud :). At the moment, her plans are to do some volunteering at a local veterinary clinic next summer, hoping that it will then morph into an after-school position once she's in high school.

And Wednesday I have to take a cull ewe and two ram lambs to "Uncle Ted's" (euphenism for the abbatoir) in Wellington. An ending for them, to be sure. And a beginning for me ... do I really have what it takes to raise our own food? Because this unpleasant task is part of the circle, and I'm really, really dreading it.

New link at top right of blog!

For those of you who are auditory learners, Calvary Chapel has an audio Bible that I've linked here. Give it a try! I've also placed a permanent link at the top right of my blog page.

Calvary Chapel (www.twft.com) Audio Bible

Oh! Oh! Guess what I can do on Blogger now!!!!

I have no idea when they added this technology; just wasn't paying attention to the toolbar contents. Do you recall the photo of Jasmine jumping over Alison a few posts back? Well, she was a jumper from lamb-hood, and Alison managed to catch her in action in this video fragment from April 17. Wait until the very end ... :) ...




Pardon the sheep ... they were so disgustingly muddy on this day. And I'm blown away by how much better the older sheep look after being spoiled at our place for 9 months :). They were in rough shape, with fleece breaks due to stress, and scrawny!

BTW, Jasmine is proof positive that sheep are far from stupid. She figured out quickly that if she jumped up on Latifah and rode her over to the fence, she could jump off the other side!

Day of Rest??? and "Welcome, Ricky!"

Happy Sunday to all! After a fun morning at church (VBS Roundup) it was home, bringing one of Claire's friends for the afternoon. BLT's for lunch, then a "simple" fence moving session which ended up taking a couple of hours. It had to be done today, however, because of the rain we've had; the ground is soft and it was relatively easy to push in the "step" electric fence posts. Our "bound-for-the-freezer" trio (Elizabeth, Souvlaki and Stew) had absolutely no pasture munchies left, and they had become very demanding ... the instant their hay was gone they would start hollering for more. The noise was getting old :).

Spent some time early this morning studying fleece colour genetics in sheep ... I tried to deduce the genotype of our four ewes and our probably herd sire this fall, in an effort to figure out what colour lambs we could expect in spring. Found an online photo of Kivu's sire; she is a DEAD RINGER for him, in particular in the area of fleece.

And here is our latest house addition ... in the spring, when Claire's elderly hamster was dying of cancer, the girls discussed what the next pet might be. Both girls agreed that they missed our budgies, and that they would share one. My family has always had budgies, and family folklore is chalk full of tales of bright birds who could recite addresses and phone numbers. I, too, had a budgie when I was unmarried (Jacob), then again when the children were young in NJ (Benny). When we left NJ friends kept Benny and his castle; when Benny was gone, they shipped it up to us in Canada. It arrived in approximately 100 pieces, and became landfill :(. So the girls spent part of our March trip to Burlington and Guelph strategizing the purchase of another bird cage. While in Burlington, the girls and I accompanied Mom to Myrt's house for coffee (another lifelong tradition!) and Myrt and Pat blessed them with a beautiful bird cage and stand. We brought it back with us, and it has been in storage, waiting for a future tenant.

Fast forward to yesterday and a trip to the grand opening of a new pet store in Belleville. They had lovely fancy budgies on for $10.00 (yikes) and they had arrived less than 24 hours before (essential for pet bird imprinting). So the girls brought home their much planned budgie quite spontaneously yesterday afternoon. With no further ado, meet Ricky! (Or Rikki, if he ends up with a brown cere :) ...)



Ricky will be living predominantly in Claire's bedroom, and Mom, this photo is for you to share with Myrt so she can see that the girls have put the cage to good use :).

The song "Degeneration" by the Quebecois Band Mes Aieux ("My Ancestors")

This is a powerful song, shown here with subtitles in English.

Degeneration


If anyone knows how to properly accent using Blogger, please let me know! The song title is a play on words, meaning both "the generations" and "degeneration".

French Lyrics:

Ton arrière-arrière-grand-père, il a défriché la terre
Ton arrière-grand-père, il a labouré la terre
Et pi ton grand-père a rentabilisé la terre
pis ton père, il l’a vendu pour devenir fonctionnaire

Et pi toé mon p’tit gars, tu sais pu c’que tu vas faire
Dans ton p’tit trois et d’mi ben trop cher, frète en hiver
Il te vient des envies de dev’nir propriétaire
Et tu rêves la nuit d’avoir ton petit lopin d’terre

Ton arrière-arrière-grand-mère, elle a eu quatorze enfants
ton arrière-grand-mère en a eu quasiment autant
Et pi ta grand-mère en a eu trois c’tait suffisant
pis ta mère en voulait pas, toi t’étais un accident

Et pi toé ma p’tite fille, tu changes de partenaires tout l’temps
Quand tu fais des conn’ries, tu t’en sauves en avortant
Mais y’a des matins, tu te réveilles en pleurant
Quand tu rêves la nuit d’une grande table entourées d’enfants

Ton arrière-arrière-grand-père, y’a vécu la grosse misère
Ton arrière-grand-père, il ramassait les cents noires
Et pi ton grand-père, miracle, y’est devenu millionnaire
Ton père en a hérité, il l’a tout mit dans ses réers

Et pi toé p’tite jeunesse tu doé ton cul au ministère
Pas moyen d’avoir un prêt dans une institution bancaire
Pour calmer tes envies de hold-uper la caissière
tu lis des livres qui parlent de simplicité volontaire

Tes arrières-arrières-grands-parents ils savaient comment fêter
Tes arrières-grands-parents ça swingnaient fort dans les veillées
Pis tes grands-parents ont connu l’époque yé-yé
Tes parents c’tait les discos c’est là qu’ils se sont rencontrés

Et pi toé mon ami qu’est-ce que tu fais de ta soirée
Éteins donc ta T.V. faut pas rester encabané
Heureusement que dans vie certaines choses refusent de changer
Enfiles tes plus beaux habits car nous allons ce soir danser

Approximate English translation: (I haven't checked this so please forgive me if it's bad ... Kev, what do you think?) Caution ... some language.

Your great-great grandfather cleared the earth
Your great-grandfather laboured on the earth
Your grandfather turned a profit from the earth
Then your father sold the earth to become a bureaucrat

Now you, my little man, you don’t know what to do
In your little 3 room apartment - too expensive and cold in the winter
You want something to call your own
And you dream at night of having your own little piece of earth.

Your great great grandmother, she had 14 kids
Your great grandmother had about as many
Then your grandmother had three, that was enough for her
Your mom didn’t want any, you were an accident

Now you, my little lady, change partners all the time
When you screw up you save yourself by aborting
But there are mornings you awake crying
When you dream in the night of a large table surrounded by little ones.

Your great great grandfather lived through incredible suffering
Your great grandfather collected used, dirty pennies
Then your grandfather became a millionaire
Your father inherited and put it into RRSPs

Now you, my little youth, owe your a$$ to the government
No way to get a loan from a financial institution
To alleviate your desire to hold up a bank
You read books about voluntary simplicity

Your great great grandparents knew how to celebrate
Your great grandparent dance the night away
Your grandparents lived through the rock and roll era
Your parents, it was discos, that’s where they met

Now you, my friend, what are you doing with your evening?
Turn off your TV, can’t stay locked inside
Happily, some things in life never change
Put on your best, we’re going out tonight dancing!

Prince Edward County 4H Sheep Club Achievement Day, 2007

Here are some photos of the day! Here is Claire with Kivu, having some fun. Kivu, who is a "typical" Shetland and tends to be slightly nervous and spooky, was an old pro on Sunday. I think we tired her out :).

Here is Claire under the watchful eye of Judge Margaret Kerr. Marg is a Suffolk sheep breeder in the county, who also breeds cattle, registered Norwegian Fjord Ponies and working Border Collies. She is one busy lady.


Here is Claire setting up Kivu in the line:


Kivu took 1st place in the fleece class. The judge's reasons for putting Kivu first were 1. squareness and excellent conformation, 2. quality and consistency of fleece from front to back, and 3. conditioning. Marg's individual comments were that Kivu was in perfect condition, and that her coat was lustrous.

Small aside: A big thing in 4H is giving "reasons"; the 4H members are all expected to be able to develop their judging abilities themselves, and to be able to intelligently give their top three reasons for the placement of each animal in the group. For the meat market and fleece classes, EACH competitor had to also judge the class with a prize going to the member who came closest to the judge's placement. It can be very difficult with a large group! Marg was great, and even allowed onlookers to judge and give reasons.

Alison's classes with Jasmine were even larger. Here is a closeup of her in her class:


And here is a shot of the whole class. Alison's lamb was the only lamb of woolly parentage; the rest of the lambs were Katahdin, with one Katahdin/Dorper cross. Since they are a dedicated meat breed we didn't think she'd do very well. Marg placed Jasmine 1st in the meat market class, later calling Jazzy the "finest ewe lamb she'd seen in quite a while". Her reasons were 1. squareness and length of carcass, 2. length and musculature of leg (think leg of lamb here) and 3. conditioning.

This photo shows half of the class only.

In addition to taking first place in the lamb classes, both girls took second place in their respective showmanship classes (Alison in Senior, Claire in Junior). We were incredibly proud of them; they have put in a lot of time with their lambs and it really showed.

After the show, our host farm did a big barbeque and we connected with others in the industry. We were thrilled that Linda Swaine, our mentor, was able to attend, but we were sorry that Bill Stearman (our generous Shetland shepherd) was not with us. Next year, the show will be a more traditional 4H event where the lambs will get auctioned off. Eek. Not sure how that will fly with the girls :).

Preparations for Achievement Day

Two completely different kinds of lambs, two methods of preparation. Kivu, the Shetland, is shown in full fleece. No trimming, and only gentle bathing allowed. Basically we added "Mane and Tail" shampoo into a bucket of lukewarm water, and gently dumped it all over her. Then, we rinsed her with 5 buckets of water poured over her. No disturbing of fleece, no massaging in of soap. It is very important that the lock structure of the fleece remain intact, so the judge can see the length of staple and crimpiness. We pressed towels on her, then blew her dry (medium) with no brushing. Here is Claire playing hair dresser:


Jasmine is our market lamb. She was fully sheared 2 weeks prior to the show. We used very warm water with her because we had to dissolve the lanolin, which was turning her slightly yellow in the cool weather that day. And she was scrubbed ... by sponge, face cloth and curry comb. And trimmed. And rinsed. And scrubbed again. Much more elbow grease involved here, but she came out snowy white! Below is the rinse cycle:


Further drying occurred on our front lawn, so they didn't go into their dusty pen and undo all the work. Jasmine amused herself by jumping over Alison.


Friends.


Prince Edward County 4H Achievement Day is now completed as I post this on Sunday night, but my news and photos from the event will have to wait until tomorrow!

Busy, busy!

Working for me, Kev working two jobs, 4H Sheep Club achievement day coming up on Sunday, changes at church ... whew, I'm just tired thinking about it. Or perhaps it's the fact that I've been waking at 4:30 a.m.?

Leaving you with a photograph I took last weekend at a friend's home; momma and papa mourning dove decided to move into a condo/hanging planter to raise their young 'uns. Very sweet :).

For those of you who read "Reader's Digest"

and may have noticed the following article in the June, 2007 edition:


I now present to you the (infamous) Buddha Dog (far right of the photograph below).
The really great thing about this restaurant is that it is a model for the new generation of slow food/100 mile diet. For those of you who have never heard of the 100 mile diet, a quick summary is that we as consumers will eat most healthily if we eat only those things grown within 100 miles of where we live and work. Everything that is served at this restaurant is 100% made/grown in Prince Edward County. Behind the counter, the entire wall has been painted with chalkboard paint, and there is a huge map of the County drawn on it, with all the contributors to the restaurant marked.

You can look at the map and know which abbatoir prepared the dogs, which farm prepared each of the gourmet sauces, (and where the ingredients were grown!), where the lemonade or cider was produced, and where the salad produce was grown.

They are also a very community-minded company, raising many charity dollars each year by sponsoring a hot-dog eating contest on Canada Day. They have been huge supporters to the work our youth pastor has been doing in bringing a skate park to Picton.

Way to go, Buddha Dog :).