Busy, sunny weekend

Saturday Rich put the finishing touches on the chicken yard and temporary chicken house made out of our old shower stall. We moved the chickens in and they were very happy to finally be outside with lots of room. Lots of fun all day eating bugs and scratching around in the dirt and eating all the leaves off the little roses that we foolishly included in their yard.

Last night we went out to dinner and so weren't here to supervise chicken bedtime. It was their first experience with night and darkness, as they have lived their whole life so far under a heat lamp. They didn't know what to do, and when we got home we found them huddled together in one corner of their yard. We had to pick each one up and put them into their house to get them to sleep in there. They did the same thing at dusk tonight, so again I picked up each one and put her or him into the house. They will figure it out. Just a little slow.


Today it was time to start shearing sheep. We have been working up to being able to catch them by letting them out of their yard to graze in our yard and not threatening them at all. So today they trotted right out. We closed a couple gates and then chased them in to their inner corral and trapped them. Then I sat in there with them for quite awhile just reading and ignoring them to calm them a little. Then Rich came in and we got ahold of Percy, and put the halter on him. Rich held him while I sheared. I think it took us about 2 hours. Had to flip him on his back first so I could do the belly. Then we stood him up and tied him close to the fence so I could do the rest. He has very dense thick wool. No shots during because we were both a little busy, but here's before and after!
Not a great job - lot's of second cuts and I didn't get him close enough, but not terrible for the first time either! I didn't quite finish, because I was being so careful not to cut his skin as I was doing the final trimming around his butt, and I cut my finger. Lots of blood, so I had to go in the house and deal with it. Hopefully we can catch him again. We have to wait a couple weeks to do Grizel. It's supposed to rain next weekend. It will also be good to give her a little time to forget about being trapped!

After we were done, we pulled our lawn chairs up closde to the chicken yard, opened a few beers, and watched chicken TV. Rich commented that we used to watch baby TV. Many years ago. Sigh. Since we have no grandchildren to stare at and marvel over, we're making do with toddler chicken TV.

Harrison Ford & Kelly Osbourne

See, exciting things do happen in Newberg, I just never find out about them until after the fact.
Harrison Ford is shooting a movie in St. Paul. At some dairy farm, I guess. They had highway 219 closed last night from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM (we know this because we went to the Woodburn Outlet Stores), and the reason for the closure (which we didn't know at the time) was for filming. From what I read, they will only be filming in St. Paul for a week or so. They will be in Oregon for a total of 3 months, some in Portland and some other locations.

And rumor has it that Kelly Osbourne was in rehab in Newberg about a month ago. Didn't see her. Oh well. Maybe when I'm retired I'll hang out in coffee shops in Newberg and learn more about what's going on!

A Lovely Neighborhood, Except for This One "House"

Something exciting happened, not just in Newberg, but ON OUR STREET!
I saw them out there when I left for the gym yesterday evening - I just thought it was Ken Summers out there BSing with other neighbors...
Not so! Read all about it here...

It's the "problem" lot between Paul & Katherine's house and Stan's house - the one the people stole from Carol and then burned down the house and pulled a trailer in. This guy in the article is a renter I guess. The people who stole it from Carol don't live there anymore. We learned all this gossip at the annual water meeting a couple weeks ago.

Stupid

I am afraid that the people in charge are stupid.

Good Customer Service

Does everyone know about Zappos?
Last night I ordered a new pair of Chacos, because I needed more.

I received the confirmation email at 7:55 pm Pacific time. Zappos is located in Kentucky.
I opted for the free shipping, which was standard 4-5 days delivery time.

Then, at 8:58 pm I received an email saying they had been shipped, and the following message:
"Although you originally ordered Standard (4 to 5 business days) shipping
and handling, we have given your order special priority processing in
our warehouse and are upgrading the shipping and delivery time frame for your order.
Your order will ship out today and be given a special priority shipping status so that
you can receive your order even faster than we originally promised!"

At 11:44 PM last night I received the email with the UPS tracking number.

When Rich got home from work today about 4:00 pm, the UPS truck was right behind him, delivering my new shoes!

Plus, I paid $18 less than what they cost in the shoe stores.

Exciting times in Newberg, I guess!

The Way the Wind is Blowing...

We have lived in Yamhill County for 22 years, except for about 10 months when we lived in Tualatin. Every election year I have been frustrated to always very early see Republican campaign signs and rarely any Democrat campaign signs. We have worked on election campaigns and it is always a somewhat futile effort, as no matter how incompetant or bigoted or otherwise ridiculous the Republican candidate is, they always win. In the final tabulation for statewide offices, even though the Democrat wins statewide, the Republican always wins in Yamhill County.

This year, driving through the backroads of Yamhill County, I have seen LOTS of Obama signs in front of farms, and NO McCain signs. (Except now, there is actually one on our street, which might be the subject of a later blog...).

And then this morning I was looking at the Yamhill County Democrats website, and saw this little bit of AMAZING news:

Obama outraises McCain by 2X in Yamhill County

A recent tabulation shows that Obama has 4 times as many contributors (440) as McCain (99) in Yamhill County, who collectively have given 2 times as much, for a total of $48,168, to Obama.

Looking at Voter Registration data for Oregon, there are still more new Republicans registered in Yamhill County than Democrats, but I think the money thing is pretty significant.

Here's the voter registration stats through August for Oregon, county by county. (You have to go to this site, then click on the link for August, because I don't know how to just make a link to the PDF file.)

Shame in Newberg

Some of those good little Christian students who attend George Fox aren't so very Christian, I guess. Is this the influence Sarah Palin is having on the country?

The good thing is that the University administration had an immediate, strong, very appropriate response. I was going to call them up and yell at them, but they said all the things I would have said:

Baker, the college president, denounced the incident in the strongest possible terms and reiterated his vision of a campus that "more broadly represents the Kingdom of God."

"We absolutely cannot hate those around us and say we love God," he told the crowd. "It is not possible."