The Last Two Weeks: Chap. 1

Okaaaaayyyyy. I have a lot to say. So much that I'm dividing what's in my head into two posts. This is post one, on the last couple of weeks or so in the news. Post two will be on what's happening a bit closer to home.

So, in the news. The last week has been very exciting for a guy like me who loves the news. First it was Prince William and Catherine Middleton's (now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge) wedding. I have to admit I watched most of it, and to be honest, it was great. The whole pomp and ceremony and screaming, excitable crowds: it was all just fantastic to watch. And people try to tell us that the monarchy is unpopular! I hope the couple have a long and happy marriage.

The excitement from that was hardly over when BOOM, Osama bin Laden was dead. Assassinated by a crack team of US SEALs that doesn't officially exist. To be honest, my first reaction was delight. But then, I started thinking about it from a Christian point of view, and I got a bit confused. I had no doubt that the actual act had a Biblical mandate. There are several examples of Israelites assassinating enemy kings. The most famous was probably Ehud's assassination of the (unarmed) King Og. But how was I to react to it? The wild celebrations on the streets in New York and other places I thought were probably not right. But, still, I think a measure of satisfaction and gladness at the death of an evil man was in order. Again, what I felt the most was thankfulness to God for the way in which he has dealt with me. "but by the grace of God I am what I am" 1 Corinthians 15:10.

Then, I had a day of peace, and it was election time! We had elections for the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish Parliament/Assemblies, elections for the English councils, and a referendum on whether to change our voting system. So much, so little time! At the risk of sounding very sad, I was up at 3:30am on Friday, just after the first results started coming in.

Alex Salmond, First Minister (SNP)

In Scotland, the Scottish National Party (SNP) made enormous gains from Labour and the Liberal Democrats, and even some from the Conservatives (Tories). They now have an overall majority in the Scottish Parliament, which was meant to be near impossible. The SNP's core principe is independence for Scotland. However, from what I read and see, and despite this...... landslide victory for the SNP, I don't think the Scottish people will vote for independence when the SNP get their referendum out.

Elsewhere, the LibDem's vote all over the place totally collapsed. They were crushed in England, reduced to a rump in Scotland and got a kicking (in their own words) in Wales. On top of that, they lost their referendum on voting, which was their pet policy. I think that:

a) they're not going to recover from this in their current state, and
b) the Conservatives can use this to their advantage.
The Tories are in coalition with a party that now has a very small support, and there is word of the Prime Minister calling a snap election in October, and he can use that threat to keep the LibDems in line. That's what he can do, and should do. Whether he's got the guts to do it is another matter. The Tories are the only party to come out of this without a battering anywhere, which is amazing. So, Scotland is yellow, England is blue and Wales is red.

Finally, there is all this fuss about super-injunctions (S.Is). Dozens of famous people have taken out thesecourt orders that mean that nobody in Britain (or, in one case, the world) can publish claims or photos that could be embarrassing to the person. Usually these are claims of immorality. My opinion? I think they are dangerous. While I am totally uninterested in celebreties' private lives, I am interested in my rulers' private lives, or the financial folks' dodgy dealing. For example, there is talk that Fred Goodwin, the banker who was in charge of RBS when it collapsed, took out an injunction that includes information that may have resulted in the collapse and cost the tax payer billions.

Allegedly.

Anyway, that's my opinion!

PS, This should have been posted a week ago. I only noticed it just now. Sorry!

Jenny Miracle: Lambing Update

The other day - Tuesday - we had a bit of a problem.

Actually, we had several problems, but this one is the more interesting.

A sheep expecting twins was having some serious trouble. A tangle of arms and legs coming out at the same time, confusion ... enough info! Once we got the first one out (it was dead), we started on the second one. We totally expected this one to be dead to but.......... it wasn't

Instead, this is what came out:

Yup, it was black. Coal black. From the tip of her nose to the end of her tail. Now, this may not be unusual in some places, or breeds, but I've never seen the like. Uncle hasn't seen the like. It's a genetic freak. It just doesn't happen to pure Blackfaces. We called it Jenny Miracle. I provided the Jenny (as in genetic freak) and my more soft-hearted aunt called her miracle, cos she wasn't meant to be alive.

And in other lambing news:

 

 This is the other major trouble we had on Tuesday. This pic was taken when he was less than 24 hours old. The massive horns and big shoulders meant we had to call the vet to take him out. He is from the exact same stock as Jenny on the mother's side and has the same father. Like I said, she's a strange 'un!

This one.......... is perfectly ok. I thought I'd better show her to you so you know that not all the sheep have problems. Most actually do give birth without our help

PS I take it back. Just been out helping take a lamb from a sheep. SOME give birth naturally! The rest take pleasure in starting their labour in the worst weather, at the worst times. Sometimes I wonder why we bother ............ but then, we had Lamb Curry last night, and all of a sudden I realise it's worth all the effort.

Spring. And Assorted Other

OK, so I have not been posting much this last wee while.

Well, I haven't been posting at all.

Sorry about that, but normal service is resumed, as of now. I hope.

Ahhhh, so much to talk about. In my life this last few weeks:

Spring: It's in the air. Pity the weather didn't get the memo. Ah well, we don't live here for the climate!

The Communions: We have a communion weekend twice a year in each congregation of our denomination. I'll do a longer post on the Scottish Communions soon, but they are awesome, and I was at two of them in the last four weeks. One of them was our own, and I went forward, or professed faith, at them. They were special.

University: Between the two Communion weekends and a few days of illness, I fell a bit behind in my Law work, so some frantic work took place over the last few weeks. I'm glad to report that I'm all caught up now. (Disclaimer: I accept all liability for the state of the desk. Just in case mum reads this!)

LAMBING: Yup, it's that time of year again. The daffodils are blooming, the sun is....... well, it's still hidden most of the time - like now. But, the lambing goes on regardless. (pics to follow)

I think myself they choose the worst, most awkward days to be born.... when my uncle is at work, it's raining, blowing a gale, and I'm the only one around.

The first lambs were born early last week, four or fives days overdue. That doesn't sound like much, but it is for sheep. They were twins, and, despite me making a general mess of our kitchen, one of them didn't make it. (NB, mum was away, which was why I could have them in the kitchen!) The other one is, I'm glad to report, doing well. So far, it's been pretty good, only one fatality (this morning, at six. What, I hear you ask, were you doing up at that time? All will be explained.)

JACKSON!!: Yup, we now have a puppy. He's a pure bred Labrador, and he's kinda cute. We got him from a place called Dunmore, in Argyll. He's very good, which is just as well, since I drew the get-up-in-the-morning-at-six straw, but it's worth it!

That's it for today. I'll keep y'all posted on the lambing and Jackson in general (pardon the pun).

The Beach

A while ago, I posted photos of the machair, and promised to post some of the beach.

So, at long last, here they are.

See that finger of land in this photo and the next? I'll tell you a story about it later.

 The wind was blowing against the waves today, so it creates that spray.

The land on the other side of the beach is where I took my first photo-just to put things in perspective.

The beauty and majesty of God's creation never ceases to amaze me!

Joys of Homeschool.... pt. 1

Tuesday was a great day


Better than a birthday


Better even than Christmas


On Tuesday............... the scanners came to town.


Yup, on Tuesday morning, all our hopeful mothers-to-be got herded to the fank at the moor end of the village.

No, not the women: we may be old fashioned, but it's the ewes I was talking about.

The joys of homeschooling means Uncle can call on us when ever he needs us!

Tangent.... Isn't it great how the sheep get priority on our roads here. All the cars stop. 

Incidentally, did you know that the right to herd geese through the middle of London is enshrined on the statute books. It would be interesting to try one day.....

You can just see the fank to the right of Catherine, beyond the fences. It's just a glint really.

OK, I'm back. Once at the fank, they are asked (read threatened, forced and shouted at) to climb into this odd looking trailer. There is a guy inside that wee hut thing with an ultrasound scanner and a wee screen, and he tells the guy on the outside whether the sheep is expecting singles, twins, or, horrors of horrors, she might be expecting triplets. Occasionally the dreaded shout will come "dry" and that sheep will be ignobly put out to pasture that year..... if it's her first year dry.....

They process about 7000 ewes in the five days they are on the island

The guy sprays them to signify what they're expecting: one dot on the neck for twins, on the tail for dry, two dots for triplets and a cross if they are well on in their pregnancy.

Do they look like happy mothers to be to you? Hard to tell really.

As for our own sheep... well, we had a reasonably good year. Roll on March!!

Midweek Meeting

The other night (Wednesday) is mid-week meeting night. The minister preached on the end of John 7, the story of how the Sanhedrin's plans to capture Jesus at the feast were frustrated. Most of this post will be drawn from the lecture.

Jesus came to Jerusalem and preached, against all expectations. His life, after all, was being threatened. People were starting to wonder: starting to talk of Him in whispers, in the homes and inns (v31).

The Sanhedrin were not impressed with this usurper taking the attention away from their feast. They tried to put a stop to it by arresting Him (v32). However, when the officers returned the next day, all they could say to them was "never man spoke as this Man" (v45). How they hated that! How dare this man, this pretend Saviour, pervert even their own officers?! Were they not the guardians of the law, educated in the Torah from youth? Was their word not as good as law? This man was guilty! You can almost hear the sneering tone when they say "have any of us believed on Him?". It's like they're saying, "what right have you to believe something we don't believe?" (v47-49). And yet, puffed up in their arrogance and pride, they forgot to check for chinks in their armour of self-righteousness.

One last player is introduced. "Nicodemus, who came to Him by night." (John 3) Nicodemus, who seemed so weak in spirit, stood up and blew their whole facade of righteousness out of the water. How did he do it? A long, eloquent oratory perhaps, espousing Christ, maybe pointing to the Scriptures to prove His claim? No, Nicodemus brought down the might and power of the Pharisees, of which he was part, in one simple sentence. "Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?" (v51) With that one question, Nicodemus destroyed the Pharisees' credibility. The Pharisees were reduced to throwing the mob's arguments, the mob they had been so disdainful of , back at Nicodemus. They said "Search (the scriptures) and look: for no prophet arises out of Galilee" (v52). Of course, they seem to have conveniently forgotten that Jonah was of Galilee!

The Church of Christ today is under attack like it rarely has been before. Evolution, built on a foundation that is an embarrassment to science, is trumpeted as fact. Sunday, as a rest day dedicated to God, is under attack by people using economic arguments that would shame an economist. "Multi-culturalism", "alternative lifestyles" and "toleration" (to everyone but the Christian) are portrayed as the only way to go by the ruling class, the media, and even sections of the mainstream church. To us it seems there is no way the church can rise again to its former glory. Yet, two thousand years ago, in the city of Jerusalem, the church was under attack by all the might of the ruling class, and all the authority of the religious leaders: yet it survived. And not only did it survive, but the next day, thousands followed Jesus out the gates of the city and onto the Mount of Olives to hear what was possibly the greatest sermon ever preached: one from which we are still benefiting today. The Church overcame adversity and prospered! Another encouragement comes in the form of Nicodemus' words: or lack of! Despite the poor attempt at a defense of Jesus, Nicodemus managed to reduce the educated elite to the level where they had to lie and misquote just to save themselves some face. Just one sentence, yet what a result. We must never be afraid to speak out in defense of God - and who knows? maybe God will use our words to His glory.

Sheep

Sheep.

They are possibly the daftest animals on earth. They are conclusive proof against evolution. If beasts evolved, sheep would know that:

1. wandering in the middle of the road is bad,
2. when the shepherd comes with the scissors/medicine/anything else, it's good for them.
Thousands of years of domestication, and not one tiny sign of any sense.

Anyway, despite all that, I give up many, many days a year to help my uncle work on them.

Work on them? With them? Around them? Whatever.

My uncle's sheep are Blackface. That's the name, of the breed, not a description of the sheep. Although they do mostly have black faces. No lack of imagination there. To be honest, it's the only breed worth having.

These are the pride of the flock. Rams we (well, my uncle plus me..) have brought up from tiny wee lambs.

Well, when I say worth having, it's from a point of view of personal preference, not financial gain....

 Anyway, last Saturday was one of those sheep days. We dosed the pregnant ewes, and shifted the lambs from the croft onto the machair. 

This isn't a pregnant ewe, but it was the closest I could find. This picture is from last year's lambing season

The bible says a lot about sheep. Christ is called the Good Shepherd. It compares Christians to sheep, who need constant guiding and feeding. Left to fend for themselves, they waste away, and put themselves in dangerous places. (Matthew 9:36) Yet we have a Shepherd that not only showers us with blessings, but gave His life for us. (John 10:11). For that, He deserves our very best, lacking though that may be.

These are not Uncle's sheep. I just added it to show WHY we have Blackfaces, and not these....... other breeds. These are Texels.