Jim and I spent 10 days touring around Ireland.  He was interested in beautiful shoreline and vistas - I was interested in sheep, cows, donkeys and ponies.  Fortunately we both got what we wanted.

     But first a bit about the roads in Ireland.  You start with a road large enough for a large cart and horse - which is flanked on either side by stone walls (which is the preferred method of property lines in Ireland).  Then you pave it.  Add a healthy dose of pot holes, tar patches, the equivalent of ice heaves and loose gravel.  Paint a white line down the middle and allow two-way traffic - including any and all mechanized or people powered vehicles, i.e. 18 wheelers, large tractors, construction equipment, motorcyles and bicycles (in packs of course).  Now add in people walking on either side of the road and sheep grazing on the side of the road.   Finally, add in a multitude of hair-pin turns (we're talking 90 and 180 degree curves) along with an average speed limit of 60 mph (yup that's right).  You now have the picture of the road conditions in Ireland.  In all fairness - not ALL roads are like this - just the ones we drove on.....  There are two types of drivers in Ireland - the natives and the tourists.  Not sure who outnumbers who.  Anyway - the natives are extremely friendly - they waive and smile at you as they run you off the road.  Natives drive 60-70 mph - tourists drive 30-50 mph.  You can see the conflict.   In addition to the sheep, we also encountered a cow who was apparently disastified with her herd or her grazing situation and managed to jump the fence - when we came face to face with her she was jaunting down the road having a fine old time. 

       Back to the sheep.   Sheep outnumber people in Ireland about 3-1 so you can't go very far without seeing sheep.  The primary breed is a Scottish Blackface - with beautiful curled horns and agility not unlike a mountain goat.  These sheep have to graze in a variety of environments  - including steep rocky slopes.  These sheep are amazing as well as beautiful.  It was lambing season of course and there were plenty of lambs to gawk at.  It was common to find sheep grazing by the side of a road.

SCOTTISH BLACKFACE

STREET WALKERS

      This appears to be a cross between a Jacob and a Scottish Blackface.  The folks at Kisane are not real sure but sure makes for fun conversation.

     We visited one particular farm - Kissane Sheep Farm in Kenmare, County Kerry where I had the chance to actually hold one of the lambs.  They are big!  Tried to convince Jim I needed to bring one home - you know how far I got with that....  Here's a picture of me with the little guy I'd have gladly put under my seat on the airplane:

       At this same farm we watched a demonstration of working sheep dogs.  It was unbelievable - had never seen this before - except when I saw Babe - they use these dogs to move thousands of sheep from one pasture to another or to collect them up for a variety of reasons.  Here's one of these brilliant dogs:

       Ireland has a lot of donkeys - they were heavily used at one time for farming.  They also have a special breed of horse - called the Connemara Pony - which comes from Connemara (duh) as well as a Kerry Cow.  I have video of the cows but here is a photo of a donkey and a Pony I found along our travels

       Also came across some pretty cute pigs:

      A herford cow with an Irish brogue

And a red deer (these are native to Ireland)

        I won't bore you with the many pictures we took of the coastline and the church ruins - you really had to be there for those.  I will attempt to put together a video which I will post here. 

        One more thing before I sign off.  I've never considered myself much of a domestic goddess nor a determined homesteader.  I'm perfectly content buying my meat wrapped in celephane and chickens cut up in pieces with the skin removed.  However we do live in Southern Virginia and it is a BIG DEAL here to plant a garden so I broke down and planted pickling cucumbers, dill and tomatoes.  Foir those who couldn't possibly imagine my pulling off such a feat - here's a real - not touched up - photo of my cucumbers and tomatoes (the dill is hidden by the cukes).  How cool is this......

     Wishing you all the best and many blessings. 

Sharon Kinsey