Scotland the Brave, & etc.

As promised, here is some more bagpipe music. This is the drill for all of the contestants: the band marches in as demonstrated in the first video, then, as demonstrated in the other video, the band forms a circle with the bass drum in the middle and plays a song while 4 judges in kilts walk around and around looking at the band and writing madly on clipboards. I was going to take lots of videos like these two, but ended up watching the games instead. Maybe next year. Oh yes, you may notice that the picture isn't quite lined up correctly with the band - it was very bright & I couldn't see the display on my camera, so I had to kind of guess what was being shot.

This band was pretty representative of the quality and size of the groups. Hope you enjoy.

The Pipes, The Pipes Are Callin'

Yesterday morning was a great finale to my two years as the Regional Welfare Specialist. Although I have not received a formal released, a letter from the First Presidency to all priesthood leaders went out last month indicating that all those in my calling will be released and welfare regions will cease to be. It has been a great calling, and I am very grateful for the opportunity to have so served. So yesterday morning was the final welfare leader training seminar in Gridley for the 3 southern stakes. I think it went well, but ask Uncle Peter if you want a second opinion - he gave the keynote address and did superbly.

Yesterday afternoon we took Emily & her friend Whitney to the Scottish Games in Woodland. I told Addison Reid I would go in his stead while he is in Argentina. I have never gone in the past, but was very impressed. It is a really big event with the games (caber turning, hammer throwing, & weight tossing) going on constantly in four corners of a large field. I have a bunch of video clips that I need to find out how to string together for presentation here. When I have edited all of the clips I got of this event, and post them, you will be able to see what the announcer is talking about in the video below. The other caber was metal and really giving the participants fits.

You can't see it very well, but this is the women's hammer-throw. The woman shown here threw it a lot further than anyone else. Later we saw her do the caber-turn and she did great there also.

Adjacent to that venue the bagpipe competition was going on continuously. With that, and the other bands practicing, it was non-stop bagpipe music everywhere you went. I have a couple of fairly lengthy videos that I thought to include here, but am having difficulty.

There was also a place where they were playing harp music in an ensemble setting. I have never seen harps played like this, and it was very nice. They also had a dance competition, but we were too late for that - the trophies I saw being hauled out were enormous, however - one girl had hers strapped to one of those luggage carriers on wheels. And of course, lots of vendors of food, knives/swords, tartans, UK food (HP sauce for example), and other craft-kind of stuff. Lots of people selling kilts, or taking orders to have them made in Scotland. Also a whole area of booths devoted to family history, and another devoted entirely to explaining the history of Scotland and ancient living there. Pretty cool. These two guys had a whole bunch of weapons there and were explaining how they were used in combat.
There was lots of armor and swords, etc.
And there were cooking demonstrations - did I mention that there was food?

And here's a little guy we saw wandering around by the kettle corn booth (oh yes, there was lots of food!)

Here's a video of some dancers. That little girl in the middle was a lot of fun to watch.

And did you notice the corn dog stand in the back? With cheese on a stick? Did I mention the food?

It's Up & Functioning

So here it is - the grape arbor! It is all done except for the staining and planting the grapes & jasmine. The grapes are purchased and waiting patiently for their day in the sun, so to speak. As for shade, I checked and at 5:00 p.m. there was a pretty decent amount of shade. Of course this isn't July, but we'll see how it tracks. Any comments are welcome. I am actually not happy with how the 2x8 lattice work turned out, so I may fine tune that in the days to come.

Squirrels

From the guy who loves RFDTV - here are exciting videos of the squirrels in our back yard! I love sitting at the window watching them. We have counted 5 out at once, so we know there are at least that many in the tree, but who knows how many more there may be now or later. And although they are fun to watch, I fear for our garden, especially our corn.

One Grape Arbor - Going Up

And here it is - not quite finished, but pushed down the road a considerable distance - the grape arbor (which, by the way, is intended to provide shade to the patio, but only after the sun is down in the sky quite a way). We still need to put on the trellises, and the cross bars on top, but the heavy lifting (so to speak) is done. We greatly appreciate Byron and Peter helping to put the finishing touches on it.

The dirt you see in piles here is now gone, and tomorrow or this weekend we will work on planting the grapes: Thompson Seedless (this is Yuba City, after all) & either Concord or Black Seedless.

Oh yes, this strange creature showed up at our house on Monday night. Funny looking thing, with no ears, and trailing these little pellet-like things.