A hungry nation is an unstable nation, a.k.a. the natives are restless.

Some of the natives. Essential and her twins. Sorry the picture quality sucks. Blame it on the camera phone.
Maxine in a glass. Need I say more?

I watched a really good movie this week. Most of the time I watch television series through Netflix, "Hercules," "Xena," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," various old westerns, that kind of thing. The other night I actually buckled down and watched a whole movie online, which is kind of a pain in the ass since video only downloads a little bit at a time and the amount of time it takes to watch a whole episode varies with the weather. Anyway, Ned Kelly with Heath Ledger was great. Loved the horses and the characters. It didn’t go into as much detail about things as Peter Carey’s novel, The True History of the Kelly Gang, but having read one really improved the other, although both stood on their own.

200 pages into Elizabeth Gaskell’s Wives and Daughters and I’m finally hooked. That new Mrs. Gibson pisses me off so bad I end up slamming the book down in frustration, stomping away, getting another beer, then stomping back and reading some more. Sounds a little like a story told about my grandpa with a book called Truman.

9U lost his momma today. Dad and I went horseback riding and came back (luckily) along the east fence line. 9U was born with curled over ankles and stiff knees. He’s gotten better, but he still has trouble keeping up with the rest of the class. Dad and I got the tractor and brought him up to the barn to reunite him with 119M. She’d apparently forgotten she had a calf. Of course, she hasn’t raised one in two seasons through no fault of her own. She has every reason to forget her calf. Luckily, once little Bug got reunited with Mom, he kicked back into gear. He nursed and moved around good. So we’re keeping Essential and her twins, Pammy and her heifer, and 119M and 9U up at the barn for the time being. It’ll give the sheep something else to think about if nothing else.