Irish Experiences

I'll bet you were all shocked and horrified that I didn't post yesterday, wishing you a Happy St. Patrick's Day. My Irish-loving ways suddenly seemed cheap, artificial, and put-on. A fraud.
But that is not the case, my dear friends. Do not doubt me. I was in fact celebrating the Irish ways and didn't have time to post.
1. The Irish love food. I was cooking it. Nearly all day. There is a men's retreat going on right now, and let me tell you they eat A LOT. Jeanette does way more than me and she only got 30 minutes off between (approx) 7 AM- 7 PM. EEEK! But she will get her reward soon, as she's heading off to Mexico for Spring Break today!
2. The Irish raise sheep. As it would happen, one of the girls that lives here grew up on a sheep farm right here on Quadra Island. Her mom still runs the place, and yesterday evening we got a phone call saying, "Come right away if you want to see a lamb born!"
We raced out the door to their farm and arrived just as the ewe started to give birth! AMAZING! What an unbelievable experience! The lamb was black and very big and cute and slimy! I was actually very surprised how quick and clean the birth was though.
We hung around for a bit and held some of the older lambs (VERY CUTE!) and then discovered that the ewe was going to give birth to ANOTHER lamb! Then Sarah's mom told us it was a "breach" (I think everyone knows what that is...) and we all got worried.
The legs started coming out (it was whiteish) and she pulled the rest of it out and quickly wiped away the slime from its nose and mouth, but it wasn't breathing. Explaining everything as she was doing it, she began to swing it by its hind legs which would have been really funny if we weren't so worried. She said that this would make all the goop that was clogging its lungs come out of its mouth and then it would be able to breath. For a few minutes we just watched as she alternately swung and wiped.
It began to breath a little!
Very exciting!
Eventually it was doing just fine, and it even began to walk and nurse a little. What a resiliant little thing! Compared to her brother, she was very skinny and small. And covered in poop because of the "strain" of the difficult birth...gross. Thinking I was being sympathetic when I said, "Poor little Crapper.", I actually cursed her with the name, and she will henceforth be known as 'Crapper'. You just can't win sometimes.
3. Yes, the Irish love their pubs and alcohol. Last minute the girls asked me to come along with them out for a drink to celebrate St. Patty's. How can I say no to celebrating all that is Irish? I admit I was a teensy bit nervous because...all right here it is...I've never been to a pub before! As a good little homeschooled Christian girl I never did underage drinking. But now that I am 19, the time seemed right.
We went to the Heriot Bay Inn which was actually quite nice. Guiness was the special but I didn't think I would enjoy/be able to finish it, so I ordered a Mike's Hard Lemonade which tasted like pop. Mmm. We talked for a while there, and I told the story of St. Patrick because I was the only one that knew it, and we all had a good time. It was very fun!
So that was the most Irish day of my life so far. I'm hoping to improve it by spending St. Patricks in Irleand one day!