Like lambs to the slaughter.
Update: lots more photos at the link below, mostly scenery. Also, I now seem to be getting comments about my photos from randoms. Not quite sure why, but they are nice comments so its okay by me.
A few photos from Norway here, mostly group-takes. I can't find my card reader here at work, must have left it at home somewhere, so those are all from Jo's camera. Will up mine tomorrow.
Sheep collecting was really fun. It gave me insight into just how stupid mammals can be, and gave me the smug kind of sense of superiority I usually only get when I watch Big Brother, or go to KFC*. By now, most of the sheep we collected are well on their way to becoming the kind of dinners that make people opt out of dates with Tom Cruise (which these days is pretty much any lamb product, short of a meatshake).
After an expensive night on the turps in Bergen, it was bloody hard to get up at 5am for the sheep collecting, but we made it (well, most of us did...). The deal was this: the sheep of several small farms (including Sølvi's family's) are up on a mountainy area for their summer grazing. We have to go up, spread out across the mountains in something approximating a line, and herd them down to the valley, where they will be collected in trucks.
We got the valley between two ridgelines. Sølvi had the ridge to the left, and her sister had the ridge to the right. They would go along the ridges a hundred metres or so ahead of us, moving the sheep towards the valley, and we would grab the ones that tried to run down off the ridge and back up the valley.
Despite being given the (alleged) easiest job, it was very hard terrain. Most of the ground was made up of jagged rocks about 50cm to 1m cubedish, covered over with long grass, with lots of little hidden streams. So you could never tell what you were stepping on, the grass would give way and you'd twist your ankle or submerge your foot in a stream.
Despite the challenge, we brought 13 sheep down ourselves, and assisted with another 10 or 15. If we quit now (which is quite likely), that's an awesome average.
* - reference to a conversation at a KFC we (mestevepetepaulsarah) dined at en route fromVegas to San Diego. KFC Dude: Where are you guys from? Us: Australia. KFC Dude: Wow, how long did it take you to drive from there??
A few photos from Norway here, mostly group-takes. I can't find my card reader here at work, must have left it at home somewhere, so those are all from Jo's camera. Will up mine tomorrow.
Sheep collecting was really fun. It gave me insight into just how stupid mammals can be, and gave me the smug kind of sense of superiority I usually only get when I watch Big Brother, or go to KFC*. By now, most of the sheep we collected are well on their way to becoming the kind of dinners that make people opt out of dates with Tom Cruise (which these days is pretty much any lamb product, short of a meatshake).
After an expensive night on the turps in Bergen, it was bloody hard to get up at 5am for the sheep collecting, but we made it (well, most of us did...). The deal was this: the sheep of several small farms (including Sølvi's family's) are up on a mountainy area for their summer grazing. We have to go up, spread out across the mountains in something approximating a line, and herd them down to the valley, where they will be collected in trucks.
We got the valley between two ridgelines. Sølvi had the ridge to the left, and her sister had the ridge to the right. They would go along the ridges a hundred metres or so ahead of us, moving the sheep towards the valley, and we would grab the ones that tried to run down off the ridge and back up the valley.
Despite being given the (alleged) easiest job, it was very hard terrain. Most of the ground was made up of jagged rocks about 50cm to 1m cubedish, covered over with long grass, with lots of little hidden streams. So you could never tell what you were stepping on, the grass would give way and you'd twist your ankle or submerge your foot in a stream.
Despite the challenge, we brought 13 sheep down ourselves, and assisted with another 10 or 15. If we quit now (which is quite likely), that's an awesome average.
* - reference to a conversation at a KFC we (mestevepetepaulsarah) dined at en route fromVegas to San Diego. KFC Dude: Where are you guys from? Us: Australia. KFC Dude: Wow, how long did it take you to drive from there??
posted by I-Rock at 11:11 AM
4 Comments:
"Sheep collecting"? don't they have a word for "muster"? Sheep collecting just doesn't sound manly enough ..
I like watching sheep. They are funny.
Also - Nice pics! You have been to so many awesome places..!
is it still called a muster with sheep?
Considering where they're going, how about a "harvest"?
No they didn't say that! Really?
That's AWESOME.
You have a very interesting life, I-rock. Your blog is the highlight of my morning.
xx
Really!
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