A group of far-right activists is assumed to have targeted the mosque, near Ramallah, in a “price-tag” attack in retribution for IDF actions carried out at the same time, when soldiers demolished a home and a chicken coop at the unauthorized Mitzpe Yitzhar outpost near Nablus.
After they broke into the mosque in the Burka village, the vandals lit a fire in the women’s prayer section on the top floor. The blaze was extinguished before it spread to the rest of the structure.
The vandals also spray-painted red Hebrew words on an interior wall: “Mitpze Yitzhar” and “war.” Graffiti with the words “price tag” were written on the mosque’s exterior wall.
Later in the morning, angry Palestinians threw rocks at police who tried to enter Burka to investigate the attack.
“It was impossible to go inside,” police spokeswoman Nurit Tzemah said. “We had intended to collect samples from the crime scene.”
Police plan to either enter the village at a later date or use photos from the scene taken by the Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria.
Palestinians also stoned two Israeli buses, lightly wounding two child passengers near Ramallah and a woman on a bus near Kalkilya.
Separately, a 23-year-old Israeli was arrested by the IDF after allegedly being caught spray-painting graffiti such as “Nazi” and “price tag” on concrete blocks surrounding an army position in Samaria.
The incidents further inflamed tensions in the West Bank, which were already high after three price-tag attacks late on Monday night and early on Tuesday morning, in which Jewish activists vandalized an army base, assaulted two IDF commanders and breached the security fence with Jordan.
The price-tag attacks sparked fierce debate among politicians, rabbis and settlement leaders, with Defense Minister Ehud Barak calling for the extremists to be treated as terrorists.
Netanyahu rejected that call but came down harshly on the extremists. He ordered that they be tried in military courts and that administrative detentions be used against them.
On Thursday night, the prime minister was careful to distinguish between the pricetag vandals and the settlers as a whole, most of whom, he said, were “loyal” and “law abiding” citizens.
As for the extremists, however, he was less sanguine.
“We will act with a strong hand and make sure they’re prosecuted. The law is the law. Justice is justice,” Netanyahu told the Likud central committee.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s people who attack our security forces in the Ephraim Brigade base or in [the Palestinian village of] Bil’in,” he said.
But in the Mitzpe Yitzhar outpost, located on the outskirts of the Yitzhar settlement, settlers looking at the debris of the small modular home that had been demolished at dawn said it was the IDF that had launched a war against them.
Settlers were careful to explain that they did not condone attacks on the army. They said incidents took place within a context in which the IDF was acting as if they were the enemy by destroying settler homes.
“They are trying to demonize us,” Yitzhar resident Yoel Noiman said as he stood by the debris of the home where a young man had hoped to start a new life with his bride in another month.
The people who live here are in danger from both the Palestinians and the IDF, said Noiman, who said he had been shot at by Palestinians three times as he drove in the West Bank.
When his children see a policeman, “they want to know, is this a good officer or a bad one,” he said.
After two or three nights of warnings, the soldiers sneaked into Mitzpe Yitzhar around 3:30 a.m., he told The Jerusalem Post. Activists who placed burning tires, barbed wire, stones and oil on the road leading to Yitzhar could not stop them.
Settlers learned that the soldiers were coming less than an hour before they surrounded the small caravan.
As Noiman’s daughter, Tiferet, eight, searched through the ruins, he described how the soldiers had sneaked up the hill on foot, through the adjacent Palestinian village.
Noiman had trouble reaching the home set for demolition because soldiers and border policemen kept stopping him. At one point they grabbed him roughly and in another they knocked his glasses off, breaking them.
Noiman said that he now wore a spare pair.
The security forces took almost everything out of the home and then brought cranes at around 5:40 to knock it down, he said.
According to Yitzhar spokesman Avraham Binyamin, the security personnel also destroyed a chicken coop. Roosters and chickens wandered loose through the debris.
“There were no significant confrontations or arrests,” police spokeswoman Tzemah said.
The state had promised the High Court of Justice that it would remove the two structures by the end of December because they are located on land classified by the state as belonging to individual Palestinians. Peace Now had petitioned the court to enforce the law in this matter.
The state, however, did not move against the other five homes at the outpost because, it said, they were on state land.
2011年12月15日星期四
2011年11月24日星期四
Forever family
The Nipomo home echoes with the pattering of eight small bare feet on hardwood floor, darting down the hallway into bedrooms, racing to slide open the patio door that leads to a backyard found in children’s dreams.
Thinking only of the idle trampoline, playground and chicken coop, some of the four young siblings are so overcome with excitement after a full day of school that they rush outside without stopping to put on shoes.
Jacque Barnett jokes with her daughters, Kate, 6, left, and Emily Rose, 5, at their home in Nipomo.
The Nipomo home echoes with the pattering of eight small bare feet on hardwood floor, darting down the hallway into bedrooms, racing to slide open the patio door that leads to a backyard found in children’s dreams.
Thinking only of the idle trampoline, playground and chicken coop, some of the four young siblings are so overcome with excitement after a full day of school that they rush outside without stopping to put on shoes.
By the patient tone in Jacque Barnett’s voice as she kindly yet firmly reminds her children of the rule, it’s apparent this isn’t the first time they’ve been forgetful.
Katie, 6, and a bouncing Emily, 5, step into matching pink clogs and join their brothers John Riley, 10, and Nicholas, 8, on the slide and swings.
Jacque stood smiling, monitoring the activity on an early evening last week with husband, James, marveling at their “forever family” — a term often used to describe a family that takes in and then adopts foster children.
The Barnetts are proud of their family, and they are proud to raise awareness for adopting foster children during National Adoption Month and for National Adoption Day, which was last Saturday.
The National Adoption Day Coalition expected 4,500 children in foster care to be adopted Nov. 19, which for 11 years has been designated as a day to finalize adoptions for foster children to families across the country.
“I think it’s great because there’s lots of kids who don’t have a forever family,” said Jacque,
who stays at home with her kids and helps out in their classrooms at Dorothea Lange Elementary School. “We’re really blessed.”
Jacque, 41, and James, 40, met while studying at Cal Poly.
She was from the San Joaquin Valley, he hailed from the Bay Area, and they settled on the Central Coast as a couple in their early 20s, ready to start a family.
After seven years of trying to get pregnant — discovering they both had fertility problems — and giving up on expensive fertility treatments, the Barnetts, then living in Grover Beach, turned to private adoption.
A brown-haired John Riley came first from a mother in Hayward, and Nicholas arrived two years later from Georgia.
Unofficially, the Barnetts said, they’ve been foster parents since John Riley arrived as an infant and they waited for the adoption paperwork to become finalized.
The Barnetts officially became certified for foster care around the time Katie arrived at 3 months old, taken from a mother in Santa Maria who had drug-abuse problems.
“We went into foster care because we wanted to adopt more kids,” said James, who teaches at Miller Elementary School in Santa Maria. “We knew we wanted girls.”
It took 18 months to finalize Katie’s adoption, the longest of the four. Nicholas’ adoption was the quickest at 8 months.
They welcomed Emily at 3 days old from Santa Maria for reasons similar to Katie’s placement in foster care — except Emily’s mother still was using drugs while she was pregnant.
The Barnetts were able to adopt the now rambunctious, smiley girl with a blonde-bob haircut, acknowledging that Emily would and does have some special needs and might have Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) like her brother, John Riley.
Both girls were adopted through Aspiranet, a nonprofit charity that has for 35 years worked to ensure that California children are placed in permanent, loving homes — touching the lives of more than 10,000 children.
Adoption is not a truth the Barnetts hide from their children, especially since they don’t look like the typical family, although they clearly function like one.
“Of course we stand out,” Jacque said, noting Nicholas’ black skin and her and James’ fair skin and light hair. “But people on the Central Coast are very kind, very accepting.”
The kids have seen their baby pictures, birth certificates, even their adoption papers.
On a day last week, the family flipped through photo albums together until the youngsters could sit still no longer.
They understand that their family is a bit different, but they love each other as siblings do.
“Adoption is a great thing ... for kids who don’t have homes,” Nicholas said, as he and John Riley looked up from a Lego magazine long enough to good-naturedly hassle each other.
“Sometimes we tickle each other,” John Riley added.
After 17 years of marriage, James and Jacque have moved their family into a bigger house and property in Nipomo, and they are out of the foster-parent business.
They know they’re lucky they were able to adopt foster children because that’s not always the case.
“They call adoption a ‘back-pocket plan’,” Jacque said, adding that foster parents should have their hearts in the right place going into the process.
This is the first year all four kids are in school, which means the Barnett family only will get busier from here on out with sports, clubs and homework.
School is a challenge the couple readily accepts, just as James and Jacque set their mind on parenting more than a decade ago.
“In the end,” James said, “it’s worth it.”
Thinking only of the idle trampoline, playground and chicken coop, some of the four young siblings are so overcome with excitement after a full day of school that they rush outside without stopping to put on shoes.
Jacque Barnett jokes with her daughters, Kate, 6, left, and Emily Rose, 5, at their home in Nipomo.
The Nipomo home echoes with the pattering of eight small bare feet on hardwood floor, darting down the hallway into bedrooms, racing to slide open the patio door that leads to a backyard found in children’s dreams.
Thinking only of the idle trampoline, playground and chicken coop, some of the four young siblings are so overcome with excitement after a full day of school that they rush outside without stopping to put on shoes.
By the patient tone in Jacque Barnett’s voice as she kindly yet firmly reminds her children of the rule, it’s apparent this isn’t the first time they’ve been forgetful.
Katie, 6, and a bouncing Emily, 5, step into matching pink clogs and join their brothers John Riley, 10, and Nicholas, 8, on the slide and swings.
Jacque stood smiling, monitoring the activity on an early evening last week with husband, James, marveling at their “forever family” — a term often used to describe a family that takes in and then adopts foster children.
The Barnetts are proud of their family, and they are proud to raise awareness for adopting foster children during National Adoption Month and for National Adoption Day, which was last Saturday.
The National Adoption Day Coalition expected 4,500 children in foster care to be adopted Nov. 19, which for 11 years has been designated as a day to finalize adoptions for foster children to families across the country.
“I think it’s great because there’s lots of kids who don’t have a forever family,” said Jacque,
who stays at home with her kids and helps out in their classrooms at Dorothea Lange Elementary School. “We’re really blessed.”
Jacque, 41, and James, 40, met while studying at Cal Poly.
She was from the San Joaquin Valley, he hailed from the Bay Area, and they settled on the Central Coast as a couple in their early 20s, ready to start a family.
After seven years of trying to get pregnant — discovering they both had fertility problems — and giving up on expensive fertility treatments, the Barnetts, then living in Grover Beach, turned to private adoption.
A brown-haired John Riley came first from a mother in Hayward, and Nicholas arrived two years later from Georgia.
Unofficially, the Barnetts said, they’ve been foster parents since John Riley arrived as an infant and they waited for the adoption paperwork to become finalized.
The Barnetts officially became certified for foster care around the time Katie arrived at 3 months old, taken from a mother in Santa Maria who had drug-abuse problems.
“We went into foster care because we wanted to adopt more kids,” said James, who teaches at Miller Elementary School in Santa Maria. “We knew we wanted girls.”
It took 18 months to finalize Katie’s adoption, the longest of the four. Nicholas’ adoption was the quickest at 8 months.
They welcomed Emily at 3 days old from Santa Maria for reasons similar to Katie’s placement in foster care — except Emily’s mother still was using drugs while she was pregnant.
The Barnetts were able to adopt the now rambunctious, smiley girl with a blonde-bob haircut, acknowledging that Emily would and does have some special needs and might have Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) like her brother, John Riley.
Both girls were adopted through Aspiranet, a nonprofit charity that has for 35 years worked to ensure that California children are placed in permanent, loving homes — touching the lives of more than 10,000 children.
Adoption is not a truth the Barnetts hide from their children, especially since they don’t look like the typical family, although they clearly function like one.
“Of course we stand out,” Jacque said, noting Nicholas’ black skin and her and James’ fair skin and light hair. “But people on the Central Coast are very kind, very accepting.”
The kids have seen their baby pictures, birth certificates, even their adoption papers.
On a day last week, the family flipped through photo albums together until the youngsters could sit still no longer.
They understand that their family is a bit different, but they love each other as siblings do.
“Adoption is a great thing ... for kids who don’t have homes,” Nicholas said, as he and John Riley looked up from a Lego magazine long enough to good-naturedly hassle each other.
“Sometimes we tickle each other,” John Riley added.
After 17 years of marriage, James and Jacque have moved their family into a bigger house and property in Nipomo, and they are out of the foster-parent business.
They know they’re lucky they were able to adopt foster children because that’s not always the case.
“They call adoption a ‘back-pocket plan’,” Jacque said, adding that foster parents should have their hearts in the right place going into the process.
This is the first year all four kids are in school, which means the Barnett family only will get busier from here on out with sports, clubs and homework.
School is a challenge the couple readily accepts, just as James and Jacque set their mind on parenting more than a decade ago.
“In the end,” James said, “it’s worth it.”
2011年11月16日星期三
Chicken ordinance fowled up
Feathers flew and squawking was heard in the town board chambers last Monday night.
And all for some chickens.
After the Nov. 7 work session, which seemed to resolve the lingering chicken-keeping questions, last Monday’s regular session saw the issue blow up again, and instead of passing an ordinance extending chicken-keeping rights in town for another year, the town board tabled the ordinance until the Nov. 28 meeting.
“There’s been an exorbitant amount of time spent on this,” said board member Kristie Melendez during the discussion.
A proposal to allow the raising of backyard chickens inside town limits was brought to the board during a meeting in April 2010 by Jared and Ashley Schwader. The couple put together a packet of information that debunked myths and suggested regulations for keeping chickens.
The ordinance allowed residents to keep up to six hens, but no roosters, per property in town. Other requirements include the size of coops and neighbor notification if the coop is going to be located less than 15 feet from the property line.
The ordinance was set to sunset on Jan. 1, 2012.
So at the Nov. 7 work session, the town board took a look at the ordinance and agreed on a couple of changes.
The first change defined a chicken as a bird of a certain species from the moment of its birth, to clear up confusion over whether a non-laying chicken was still a chicken.
The second change dealt with coop removal if a chicken-keeping permit was revoked or the owner ceased keeping chickens for six months.
The sunset clause was also retained, meaning the board would discuss whether to keep chickens in town for another year in Nov. 2012.
Town Attorney Ian McCargar also added language bringing the maximum fine up to $1,000, which is in keeping with the rest of the fines charged since the town made the transition to a court of record.
“That’s not to say that amount has to be charged; it’s just the maximum,” McCargar said.
But the discussion went a-fowl last Monday.
Mayor John Vazquez, who was not present for the work session, was concerned about the strict limit on the number of birds.
“It makes sense to me to allow for a certain number of chicks to replace chickens who no longer lay,” Vazquez said. “People need to maintain their flocks.”
Vazquez was also unhappy that the sunset clause had been retained.
“We don’t have any other ordinances with sunset clauses,” he said.
Board member Don Thompson suggested allowing residents to keep several chicks until they reach the age to lay eggs, at which point the previously agreed-upon number of six would kick in.
Board member Robert Bishop-Cotner was not in favor of that suggestion.
“Why did we do this?” he asked. “We were trying to allow people to keep a few chickens, not run chicken businesses.”
There are 28 chicken-keeping permits that have been issued in the town, and of those, three have caused problems. One of those three is currently in municipal court.
Board member Don Shanfelt said he thought the board was creating a code enforcement nightmare.
“Are we going to ask our officers to check out the birds to make sure people are complying?” he asked. “How are you going to enforce this?”
He went on to say that his concern is not about the chicken-keepers who have not caused problems, but those who are.
Melendez suggested taking out all the suggested changes except the one about the fines.
“We can extend this another year and look at it more later if needed,” she said.
Vazquez told the board he would vote no on the ordinance in that case.
“There’s no consideration for future stock, and the sunset clause is not necessary.”
McCargar said he would bring the ordinance back at the end of the month.
And all for some chickens.
After the Nov. 7 work session, which seemed to resolve the lingering chicken-keeping questions, last Monday’s regular session saw the issue blow up again, and instead of passing an ordinance extending chicken-keeping rights in town for another year, the town board tabled the ordinance until the Nov. 28 meeting.
“There’s been an exorbitant amount of time spent on this,” said board member Kristie Melendez during the discussion.
A proposal to allow the raising of backyard chickens inside town limits was brought to the board during a meeting in April 2010 by Jared and Ashley Schwader. The couple put together a packet of information that debunked myths and suggested regulations for keeping chickens.
The ordinance allowed residents to keep up to six hens, but no roosters, per property in town. Other requirements include the size of coops and neighbor notification if the coop is going to be located less than 15 feet from the property line.
The ordinance was set to sunset on Jan. 1, 2012.
So at the Nov. 7 work session, the town board took a look at the ordinance and agreed on a couple of changes.
The first change defined a chicken as a bird of a certain species from the moment of its birth, to clear up confusion over whether a non-laying chicken was still a chicken.
The second change dealt with coop removal if a chicken-keeping permit was revoked or the owner ceased keeping chickens for six months.
The sunset clause was also retained, meaning the board would discuss whether to keep chickens in town for another year in Nov. 2012.
Town Attorney Ian McCargar also added language bringing the maximum fine up to $1,000, which is in keeping with the rest of the fines charged since the town made the transition to a court of record.
“That’s not to say that amount has to be charged; it’s just the maximum,” McCargar said.
But the discussion went a-fowl last Monday.
Mayor John Vazquez, who was not present for the work session, was concerned about the strict limit on the number of birds.
“It makes sense to me to allow for a certain number of chicks to replace chickens who no longer lay,” Vazquez said. “People need to maintain their flocks.”
Vazquez was also unhappy that the sunset clause had been retained.
“We don’t have any other ordinances with sunset clauses,” he said.
Board member Don Thompson suggested allowing residents to keep several chicks until they reach the age to lay eggs, at which point the previously agreed-upon number of six would kick in.
Board member Robert Bishop-Cotner was not in favor of that suggestion.
“Why did we do this?” he asked. “We were trying to allow people to keep a few chickens, not run chicken businesses.”
There are 28 chicken-keeping permits that have been issued in the town, and of those, three have caused problems. One of those three is currently in municipal court.
Board member Don Shanfelt said he thought the board was creating a code enforcement nightmare.
“Are we going to ask our officers to check out the birds to make sure people are complying?” he asked. “How are you going to enforce this?”
He went on to say that his concern is not about the chicken-keepers who have not caused problems, but those who are.
Melendez suggested taking out all the suggested changes except the one about the fines.
“We can extend this another year and look at it more later if needed,” she said.
Vazquez told the board he would vote no on the ordinance in that case.
“There’s no consideration for future stock, and the sunset clause is not necessary.”
McCargar said he would bring the ordinance back at the end of the month.
2011年6月29日星期三
It’d be a sin to eat Oscar, the world’s smartest chicken
There used to be a lot of sheep in this country. Much to the consternation of more than a few cowboys, it was actually the sheep that made the big ranches. One ol’ boy told me that the cattle business was sort of a luxury, and a fella has to run sheep until he can get money enough ahead to trade himself into a herd of cows.
Maybe he was right, but then there’s the other well-healed big operator that started right out in the cattle business. The old boy sure didn’t look the part, though. He wore old brogan clod-hopper shoes tied up with binder twine, and raggedy old clothes that would make a sheepherder look like a fashion statement from Madison Avenue. The old guy looked for all the world like a bum that had just fallen off a freight train.
*
Someone asked him once why he dressed like that, with as big an operation as he had.
“Well,” was his reply, “ever’ time I got money enough ahead to dress like a cowboy, I just decided to buy out another homesteader instead.”
Everyone has their priorities, I guess.
It takes a special sort of a guy to herd sheep. The work is pretty lonesome. It’s just one old boy and his dogs out in the middle of no place with a band of sheep to keep on good grass and water. The guys would be all alone for weeks on end with no one to talk to except the critters around them. Of course keeping the coyotes and other predators from packin’ the lambs off was pretty much a full-time job.
Coyotes are a piece of cake compared to what some guys had to deal with. One old herder up in the Dupuyer country used to nail the grizzly ears to the side of the wagon box so he could keep score, and he’d get quite a collection by the end of the season.
Marvin DePriest was herdin’ sheep for Bud Gordon years ago, and on one of Bud’s trips to the north range to re-supply the herders, Marvin was lettin’ the boss know how sick he was getting of the groceries. With no refrigeration in his wagon, the cuisine was pretty limited.
“Boy, what I wouldn’t give for a good fried chicken dinner,” Marvin commented, with his mouth watering at the very thought. “I’m sure gettin’ sick of soda crackers and mutton.”
Bud was a good ol’ boy and certainly wanted to keep his herders happy if he could, so he promised to bring Marvin up a young rooster the next time he came around with groceries.
A couple of weeks later, Bud showed back up at Marvin’s camp with another load of groceries, and sure as the world, he had a good young rooster in a crate in the back of the pickup, just like he’d promised. Marvin was elated. He could hardly wait.
As soon as Bud’s dust had settled on his trip back to headquarters, Marvin started in unraveling an old gunny sack to make a little string to tie his rooster up. He fastened the string around one of the rooster’s hind legs and tied him up to the spoke on the wagon wheel with 20 or 30 feet of slack, so he could scratch around out there on the prairie.
Exactly why he didn’t eat that rooster the day he got him remains a mystery. Maybe the idea was to fatten him up a little more, I don’t know. Well, the plan sort of backfired. Being lonesome like he was, Marvin got kind of attached to his new feathery friend. He even named him Oscar.
Now, chickens aren’t really known for their great intellect. I think they’ve got a brain about the size of a pea, and most of them are dumber than a sack of hammers, but Oscar was different. He was one smart rooster. Whenever a chicken hawk would come close, Ol’ Oscar would beat feet under the wagon and crawl up on the reach (that’s the long pole that holds the two axles together). He spent the nights roosting up there under the wagon, too. No critters were ever going to get him where he was hiding. Not with this super hiding place and Marvin’s dogs laying right there close.
As time went on, Marvin and Oscar became fast friends, with the sheepherder becoming more impressed by the day with how that chicken could effortlessly evade the hawks, owls, and coyotes that would have loved to have him for lunch. The two developed a unique relationship, not often seen between man and bird. Some say the two even carried on philosophical discussions concerning economics and politics, but I really find that a little hard to believe.
Be that as it may, Marvin just couldn’t bring himself to eat Oscar. A fella just can’t chop the head off his friend and then eat him for dinner. Marvin made up his mind to send him back with Bud the next time he came up with groceries.
A couple of weeks went by, and here came Bud again; surprised to see that rooster still tied with 30 feet of string to the wagon wheel. He asked Marvin why he hadn’t eaten him yet.
“Oh, I can’t eat him. That’s the smartest rooster I’ve ever seen,” the herder explained. He went into great detail about how Oscar watched the sky and dashed under the wagon at the very sight of a hawk. “You just need to haul him back to the ranch and throw him in the chicken coop where you got him.”
“I can’t do that,” Bud explained. “The other roosters will kill him, now. He’s been gone for over a month, and a strange rooster in the coop will cause the biggest fight you ever saw. I’m afraid they’ll kill ’im, Marvin.”
Marvin just stood there in silence for a moment as he mulled all this over in his head. “I don’t think so,” he finally answered. “That’s one smart rooster, and I can’t bear to eat him, so just take him on back home with you. Movin’ the wagon with a rooster tied to it ain’t the easiest thing I’ve ever done. I’m afraid I’ll run over him, an’ that’d be a real waste. Jus’ take him back home and turn him loose.”
Bud could see that Marvin’s mind was made up. He was pretty sure of what would happen when he threw that young rooster back in the coop, but he crated him up and hauled him back to the ranch anyway.
Sure enough, Bud had barely turned his back from releasing Oscar back into the chicken coop, when the awfullest chicken fight you ever saw broke out. It was a real dog pile with feathers flying everyplace as every rooster in the coop piled on top of the stranger.
Bud just shook his head. “I knew that was going to happen,” he said to himself. “Marvin should have fried that rooster when he had the chance.”
The chicken squawkin’ continued for several minutes as Bud did a few evening chores around the place. In fact, the ruckus was sill going on when he stuck his head back in the door to see what was left of Marvin’s fine feathered friend.
The fight was still going strong, but much to Bud’s surprise, there over in the corner on the top rung of the roost sat Oscar; a smug look of victory on his beak. Somehow he’d managed to sneak out from under the bottom of that pile of fighting roosters, and was content as could be to sit out the rest of the scrap ... safe and sound on his high, safe vantage point.
Oscar was one smart rooster. What his ultimate fate was, I never did hear. All I know for sure is that I agree with Marvin. It’d be a sin to eat a chicken that was that smart.
Maybe he was right, but then there’s the other well-healed big operator that started right out in the cattle business. The old boy sure didn’t look the part, though. He wore old brogan clod-hopper shoes tied up with binder twine, and raggedy old clothes that would make a sheepherder look like a fashion statement from Madison Avenue. The old guy looked for all the world like a bum that had just fallen off a freight train.
*
Someone asked him once why he dressed like that, with as big an operation as he had.
“Well,” was his reply, “ever’ time I got money enough ahead to dress like a cowboy, I just decided to buy out another homesteader instead.”
Everyone has their priorities, I guess.
It takes a special sort of a guy to herd sheep. The work is pretty lonesome. It’s just one old boy and his dogs out in the middle of no place with a band of sheep to keep on good grass and water. The guys would be all alone for weeks on end with no one to talk to except the critters around them. Of course keeping the coyotes and other predators from packin’ the lambs off was pretty much a full-time job.
Coyotes are a piece of cake compared to what some guys had to deal with. One old herder up in the Dupuyer country used to nail the grizzly ears to the side of the wagon box so he could keep score, and he’d get quite a collection by the end of the season.
Marvin DePriest was herdin’ sheep for Bud Gordon years ago, and on one of Bud’s trips to the north range to re-supply the herders, Marvin was lettin’ the boss know how sick he was getting of the groceries. With no refrigeration in his wagon, the cuisine was pretty limited.
“Boy, what I wouldn’t give for a good fried chicken dinner,” Marvin commented, with his mouth watering at the very thought. “I’m sure gettin’ sick of soda crackers and mutton.”
Bud was a good ol’ boy and certainly wanted to keep his herders happy if he could, so he promised to bring Marvin up a young rooster the next time he came around with groceries.
A couple of weeks later, Bud showed back up at Marvin’s camp with another load of groceries, and sure as the world, he had a good young rooster in a crate in the back of the pickup, just like he’d promised. Marvin was elated. He could hardly wait.
As soon as Bud’s dust had settled on his trip back to headquarters, Marvin started in unraveling an old gunny sack to make a little string to tie his rooster up. He fastened the string around one of the rooster’s hind legs and tied him up to the spoke on the wagon wheel with 20 or 30 feet of slack, so he could scratch around out there on the prairie.
Exactly why he didn’t eat that rooster the day he got him remains a mystery. Maybe the idea was to fatten him up a little more, I don’t know. Well, the plan sort of backfired. Being lonesome like he was, Marvin got kind of attached to his new feathery friend. He even named him Oscar.
Now, chickens aren’t really known for their great intellect. I think they’ve got a brain about the size of a pea, and most of them are dumber than a sack of hammers, but Oscar was different. He was one smart rooster. Whenever a chicken hawk would come close, Ol’ Oscar would beat feet under the wagon and crawl up on the reach (that’s the long pole that holds the two axles together). He spent the nights roosting up there under the wagon, too. No critters were ever going to get him where he was hiding. Not with this super hiding place and Marvin’s dogs laying right there close.
As time went on, Marvin and Oscar became fast friends, with the sheepherder becoming more impressed by the day with how that chicken could effortlessly evade the hawks, owls, and coyotes that would have loved to have him for lunch. The two developed a unique relationship, not often seen between man and bird. Some say the two even carried on philosophical discussions concerning economics and politics, but I really find that a little hard to believe.
Be that as it may, Marvin just couldn’t bring himself to eat Oscar. A fella just can’t chop the head off his friend and then eat him for dinner. Marvin made up his mind to send him back with Bud the next time he came up with groceries.
A couple of weeks went by, and here came Bud again; surprised to see that rooster still tied with 30 feet of string to the wagon wheel. He asked Marvin why he hadn’t eaten him yet.
“Oh, I can’t eat him. That’s the smartest rooster I’ve ever seen,” the herder explained. He went into great detail about how Oscar watched the sky and dashed under the wagon at the very sight of a hawk. “You just need to haul him back to the ranch and throw him in the chicken coop where you got him.”
“I can’t do that,” Bud explained. “The other roosters will kill him, now. He’s been gone for over a month, and a strange rooster in the coop will cause the biggest fight you ever saw. I’m afraid they’ll kill ’im, Marvin.”
Marvin just stood there in silence for a moment as he mulled all this over in his head. “I don’t think so,” he finally answered. “That’s one smart rooster, and I can’t bear to eat him, so just take him on back home with you. Movin’ the wagon with a rooster tied to it ain’t the easiest thing I’ve ever done. I’m afraid I’ll run over him, an’ that’d be a real waste. Jus’ take him back home and turn him loose.”
Bud could see that Marvin’s mind was made up. He was pretty sure of what would happen when he threw that young rooster back in the coop, but he crated him up and hauled him back to the ranch anyway.
Sure enough, Bud had barely turned his back from releasing Oscar back into the chicken coop, when the awfullest chicken fight you ever saw broke out. It was a real dog pile with feathers flying everyplace as every rooster in the coop piled on top of the stranger.
Bud just shook his head. “I knew that was going to happen,” he said to himself. “Marvin should have fried that rooster when he had the chance.”
The chicken squawkin’ continued for several minutes as Bud did a few evening chores around the place. In fact, the ruckus was sill going on when he stuck his head back in the door to see what was left of Marvin’s fine feathered friend.
The fight was still going strong, but much to Bud’s surprise, there over in the corner on the top rung of the roost sat Oscar; a smug look of victory on his beak. Somehow he’d managed to sneak out from under the bottom of that pile of fighting roosters, and was content as could be to sit out the rest of the scrap ... safe and sound on his high, safe vantage point.
Oscar was one smart rooster. What his ultimate fate was, I never did hear. All I know for sure is that I agree with Marvin. It’d be a sin to eat a chicken that was that smart.
Ballardites to welcome the Chicken Coop and Urban Farm Tour into their backyard farms
On Saturday, July 9, Seattle Tilth’s Chicken Coop and Urban Farm Tour will visit fifty unique sites throughout the Seattle area to showcase backyard animals and gardens.
Seattle Tilth has been organizing this community event for over a decade, originally to encourage people to raise chickens in the city. Since then, the event has expanded in both topic and turf to include urban and suburban sites, as well as a wide variety of animals and agricultural practices.
In Ballard, tour participants will get a look at mini dairy goats, chickens, vertical growing, rainwater harvesting, and more.
"Having chickens is absolutely doable in Ballard," said Ballard resident Wendy Barrington.
Nicknamed "The Barrington Farms" by their neighbors, the Burlington family has a flock of five chickens that they keep in their garage which has been retrofitted into a coop.
"We have a pretty small backyard so we used what we had to accommodate the chickens and make it aesthetically pleasing," Barrington said.
Barrington said she always wanted to "own a farm in the city" and that her children, age 10 and 7, wanted chickens.
"You don't save money by having your own animals. You should do mostly for the fun," she said.
The family has five chicken, some of which they've raised since they were only two or three day old. The newest member in their coop was adopted around Christmas time from the Humane Society.
"She was our little christmas bonus," Barringtonn said. "Not a lot of people know that the Humane Society sometimes has chickens but there are a lot of predators for stray chickens in the city such as raccoons and dogs."
Barrington said she found that having chickens to be a lot easier than expected.
"It's easier than having cats and dogs," she said.
In addition to giving the family fresh eggs, Burlington said the chickens are affectionate.
"They're social and affectionate. They each have their own funny individual personality," she said.
Barrington said the chickens like to crawl all over the family's chocolate lab and the cat has learned to "not
mess with the chickens".
Ballard resident Ingela Wanerstrand, expert in edible garden designs and tree pruning, has been leading the way in the urban livestock movement for years.
In 2007, Jennie Grant of Madrona wrote to the Seattle City Council and formed the Goat Justice League. With the support of Councilmember Richard Conlin, Wanerstrand and 1,000 others who signed a petition joined Grant in convincing Seattle that goats were pets, and they were tacked onto the list of allowed domestic animals.
Wanerstrand is one of about 12 people in Seattle who keep goats and the only one in Ballard. She also has chickens and grows fruit and vegetables.
She became interested in mini dairy goats after she discovered that was allergic to cow's milk but can consume goat dairy.
She now milks her four goats daily for fresh milk and makes her own goat cheese as well.
"Fruit and animals are my passion," Wanerstrand said.
Wanerstrand has converted her backyard in an urban farm filled with fruit trees, animals and other edibles.
"It's fun and beautiful," she said.
Wanerstrand said keeping an urban farm is "totally doable".
"I manage to maintain a house, a business, and all my animals," she said, adding that it takes her 45 minutes to an hour every morning to milk and feed her pets as well as do some minor cleaning.
"It's all in the design," Wanerstrand said, which is where her expertise as a landscape designer comes in.
"You want to make it as low maintenance, beautiful and productive as possible."
She said it was relatively low-cost to build the goat-shed and chicken coop as she used all recycled materials and enlisted her friends to help build it with a building party.
Wanerstrand said the best things about goats and chickens is that "they're pets but also productive".
"It's hard to quantify the love I get from my cat but the goats and chickens give me eggs, milk, cheese, and fertilizer," she said.
For Seattleites who have been thinking about converting their backyards into mini farms, the Chicken Coop and Urban Farm Tour might be the perfect way to see how it's done. Tickets are $12 each, with discounts for groups and families and Seattle Tilth members.
Seattle Tilth has been organizing this community event for over a decade, originally to encourage people to raise chickens in the city. Since then, the event has expanded in both topic and turf to include urban and suburban sites, as well as a wide variety of animals and agricultural practices.
In Ballard, tour participants will get a look at mini dairy goats, chickens, vertical growing, rainwater harvesting, and more.
"Having chickens is absolutely doable in Ballard," said Ballard resident Wendy Barrington.
Nicknamed "The Barrington Farms" by their neighbors, the Burlington family has a flock of five chickens that they keep in their garage which has been retrofitted into a coop.
"We have a pretty small backyard so we used what we had to accommodate the chickens and make it aesthetically pleasing," Barrington said.
Barrington said she always wanted to "own a farm in the city" and that her children, age 10 and 7, wanted chickens.
"You don't save money by having your own animals. You should do mostly for the fun," she said.
The family has five chicken, some of which they've raised since they were only two or three day old. The newest member in their coop was adopted around Christmas time from the Humane Society.
"She was our little christmas bonus," Barringtonn said. "Not a lot of people know that the Humane Society sometimes has chickens but there are a lot of predators for stray chickens in the city such as raccoons and dogs."
Barrington said she found that having chickens to be a lot easier than expected.
"It's easier than having cats and dogs," she said.
In addition to giving the family fresh eggs, Burlington said the chickens are affectionate.
"They're social and affectionate. They each have their own funny individual personality," she said.
Barrington said the chickens like to crawl all over the family's chocolate lab and the cat has learned to "not
mess with the chickens".
Ballard resident Ingela Wanerstrand, expert in edible garden designs and tree pruning, has been leading the way in the urban livestock movement for years.
In 2007, Jennie Grant of Madrona wrote to the Seattle City Council and formed the Goat Justice League. With the support of Councilmember Richard Conlin, Wanerstrand and 1,000 others who signed a petition joined Grant in convincing Seattle that goats were pets, and they were tacked onto the list of allowed domestic animals.
Wanerstrand is one of about 12 people in Seattle who keep goats and the only one in Ballard. She also has chickens and grows fruit and vegetables.
She became interested in mini dairy goats after she discovered that was allergic to cow's milk but can consume goat dairy.
She now milks her four goats daily for fresh milk and makes her own goat cheese as well.
"Fruit and animals are my passion," Wanerstrand said.
Wanerstrand has converted her backyard in an urban farm filled with fruit trees, animals and other edibles.
"It's fun and beautiful," she said.
Wanerstrand said keeping an urban farm is "totally doable".
"I manage to maintain a house, a business, and all my animals," she said, adding that it takes her 45 minutes to an hour every morning to milk and feed her pets as well as do some minor cleaning.
"It's all in the design," Wanerstrand said, which is where her expertise as a landscape designer comes in.
"You want to make it as low maintenance, beautiful and productive as possible."
She said it was relatively low-cost to build the goat-shed and chicken coop as she used all recycled materials and enlisted her friends to help build it with a building party.
Wanerstrand said the best things about goats and chickens is that "they're pets but also productive".
"It's hard to quantify the love I get from my cat but the goats and chickens give me eggs, milk, cheese, and fertilizer," she said.
For Seattleites who have been thinking about converting their backyards into mini farms, the Chicken Coop and Urban Farm Tour might be the perfect way to see how it's done. Tickets are $12 each, with discounts for groups and families and Seattle Tilth members.
2011年4月10日星期日
Valley Coop Tour gives chicken farmers opportunity to share wisdom
Patrick Burns built a chicken coop in his backyard after watching instructional videos on YouTube, he said. It has wheels and was supposed to be mobile, but it’s too heavy to move.
Sharing that lesson and others with chicken farmers was the Burns family’s goal Sunday as they participated in the Pioneer Valley Backyard Chicken Association’s Valley Coop Tour. As the first of seven stops on the tour, the Burns family drew more than 20 people to their chickens’ humble abode.
Patrick Burns and his wife, Christine Burns, who began keeping chickens about a year ago, said they average four eggs almost every day.
“They taste like eggs, but better ... because they’re fresh,” said Christine Burns. “We love the eggs, but more than anything it’s the whole experience.”
The Burnses told tour-takers how they keep their chickens warm in the winter, cool in the summer and producing eggs regularly.
Patrick Burns said one of his favorite parts of raising chickens is caring for them when they’re young.
“They’re like babies in the womb,” he said. “I don’t think I could bring myself to eat them.”
So, just the eggs, then. But, unless it’s a special occasion like the Coop Tour, at which a dozen eggs from the Burns family cost $3.50, they aren’t for sale.
“It would be like work,” said Patrick Burns. “We still want it to be a hobby.”
Keeping chickens in residential areas is a point of contention in many cities, including Holyoke, which has been debating the issue since at least last year. The Burnses, however, live in a part of the city where it is allowed.
“I think that people should be allowed to do it,” said Christine Burns, who said she also sees how it can be a problem. “I think there should be strict guidelines” such as how many chickens can be kept in a certain amount of space.
John Perdrizet, a Holyoke veterinarian who came to see the Burns’ coop, agreed.
“I’m a big advocate of bringing back small farms in local communities,” said Perdrizet. “It’s needed not just for healthy living and fresh food, but for the humane treatment of animals.”
There were six other stops on the Coop Tour in Pelham, Northampton, Amherst, Florence, Haydenville and Williamsburg.
Sharing that lesson and others with chicken farmers was the Burns family’s goal Sunday as they participated in the Pioneer Valley Backyard Chicken Association’s Valley Coop Tour. As the first of seven stops on the tour, the Burns family drew more than 20 people to their chickens’ humble abode.
Patrick Burns and his wife, Christine Burns, who began keeping chickens about a year ago, said they average four eggs almost every day.
“They taste like eggs, but better ... because they’re fresh,” said Christine Burns. “We love the eggs, but more than anything it’s the whole experience.”
The Burnses told tour-takers how they keep their chickens warm in the winter, cool in the summer and producing eggs regularly.
Patrick Burns said one of his favorite parts of raising chickens is caring for them when they’re young.
“They’re like babies in the womb,” he said. “I don’t think I could bring myself to eat them.”
So, just the eggs, then. But, unless it’s a special occasion like the Coop Tour, at which a dozen eggs from the Burns family cost $3.50, they aren’t for sale.
“It would be like work,” said Patrick Burns. “We still want it to be a hobby.”
Keeping chickens in residential areas is a point of contention in many cities, including Holyoke, which has been debating the issue since at least last year. The Burnses, however, live in a part of the city where it is allowed.
“I think that people should be allowed to do it,” said Christine Burns, who said she also sees how it can be a problem. “I think there should be strict guidelines” such as how many chickens can be kept in a certain amount of space.
John Perdrizet, a Holyoke veterinarian who came to see the Burns’ coop, agreed.
“I’m a big advocate of bringing back small farms in local communities,” said Perdrizet. “It’s needed not just for healthy living and fresh food, but for the humane treatment of animals.”
There were six other stops on the Coop Tour in Pelham, Northampton, Amherst, Florence, Haydenville and Williamsburg.
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