Eery Sheep and Random Stuff

The massive stove/oven at the cottage.

Frieda, in response to your question, this is what I cook on. Yet another little adventure. There are two elements for cooking on top - I opened the lid on one of them for this shot. The burner on the left is hotter than the one on the right. The two oven openings on the right are the ones that are used - the one on top is hotter. The heat control is around the left side mounted next to the wall. It's a dial with no heat levels indicated... I just know that low is to the right and high is to the left. It's a major guessing game and all the way to the highest setting barely keeps water boiling. It's interesting.

In response to your other questions, I don't know what heats this place... oil maybe? It kicks in twice a day but I'm usually freezing. I actually look forward to washing dishes because it warms me up. I drive about 20 kms for a decent grocery store, but it's still pretty small. There are towns about 12 kms away with little corner stores, but the prices are higher and selection is limited.

Sheep staring at me eerily.

At the risk of sounding completely insane, I'm going to admit that it's really intimidating to walk down the driveway or across fields when a ton of sheep turn and stare at me. It's a really bizarre experience. When they all have their heads down and they're just chewing grass they seem so innocent, but when they turn with those big, black eyes and there are 30 sheep staring at me... weird. Even though I know they're tremendously stupid, at that moment they seem threatening. I was walking down the driveway yesterday thinking about this as they all stared at me and then one of them let out a loud, low, "BAAAAA" and I burst out laughing. They seem to take themselves so seriously but they sound completely ridiculous.

Another walk up the hill.

When I was walking up the hill today I was able to watch a guy ride an ATV and work with two border collies to herd the sheep in the fields below. I find the process beautiful and fascinating - the energy of the dogs is astounding and from my vantage point it was just an organized swirl of white specs moving together.

The guy eventually rode up the hill in search of a few sheep and he stopped near me and asked, "You alright?" Ah yes, the phrase meant as a friendly greeting over here but it makes me slightly confused and a little defensive as I wonder what's so wrong about my appearance that people think I'm in distress. In Canada, the question, "You alright?" is asked when you see someone pulled over at the side of the road with the hood up, you ask that when someone looks pale and ill, or it's asked when you think someone is lost. How did it somehow morph into a friendly greeting over here?

Mud and Wellies. A beautiful combination.

My Dad and I were chatting on Skype yesterday and he asked about the mud over here. Yes, they make good mud. Mix it with the contributions from the sheep and it's a prime mixture just waiting for me to slip and fall on my face. There are a ton of springs here so even if it hasn't been raining, it's still muddy, mostly in the areas near gates. Not as good as sand between my toes, but it's still fun.

(Just Googled "wellies" and found the best site! How about a pair with VW vans? Or some random circles? Or pink with polka dots? So fun! Or for the truly pretentious, personalized with Swarovski crystals? Wow... they take their wellies seriously over here.)

Qimmiq, a handsome, stubborn devil.