Soay humor pops up in the most unlikely places
Could there be a more unlikely topic to intersect with the high-tech world of computing in the clouds than castrating Soay sheep?
Bet that got your attention.
Today was castration day on the farm, Priscilla having much belatedly persuaded the Chief Shepherd that we are keeping — “just in case” — way too many rams. After weeks of dithering about it, the decision finally was made a couple of days ago that today would be The Day.
For those of you who either don’t remember your farm jargon from childhood, or who never knew it at all growing up in the city, the preferred method these days for all but the smallest lambs employs an instrument of torture euphoniously named “burdizzo.” Don’t even ask why.
When I went to enter the scheduled activity in my iPad calendar a couple of days ago, Mr. Jobs’ brainchild insisted on changing – over and over again – the word “burdizzo” to “bird dizzy.” Based upon what I observed of our unlucky then-rams’ behavior this morning, I’m inclined to say the iPad word police could have done worse.
And people wonder why we are having so much fun raising Soay sheep!
For now …