My inspiration for this comes from Suzy Speaks blog that you can find here. I thought this was an awesome idea so I'm going to give it a try. Without further ado, here's my list! End Date: October 29, 2018 Here are my 101 Things In 1001 Days:
Let's see where this list takes me. XOXO, Carlee
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Let's Do this Shit. As the first month of 2016 is coming to an end, I've finally decided what my New Year's Resolutions are going to be. Of course, I have waited almost an entire month to finally make a decision, but I'm not good at doing things on time anyway.
I have more but I feel like they are going to be better on my 101 in 1001 list. More on that later. I'm just starting out with this whole blogging thing, so we'll see how this goes. Until next time, XOXO. -C As I write this in the car on the way home (isn't technology wonderful at times?) I can't help but be humbled at the amazing trip of a lifetime I've had the past couple of weeks. I'm so thankful to my wonderful parents for helping me pursue this trip. Monday is going to come way too soon. I'm not ready to leave yet.
Today was the first official day of the Royal Highland Show, William and I left for the barns at six this morning while Karen and Seonaid did the work at the house before meeting us there. I helped William feed and he washed the cattle while I remade the beds. Everyone around us finished arriving and got settled in. William and Karen entertained Argentinians today, showing them around and touring the cattle, so Seonaid and I made sure we were checked in and took care of the cattle at the show. She introduced me to many of the Angus showmen there. I love how close knit the show family is here. They don't just have personal campsites like we always did, but they group together as a breed and you're able to hop from breed to breed and socialize with all the different people. I had the pleasure of riding in Richie tonight on the way home from the barns. Karen really has something to be proud of because her Range Rover is absolutely gorgeous! He does all sorts of cool tricks from a backup camera to finding restaurants in the area when Karen tells him she's hungry. I wasn't really a huge fan of Range Rovers until I rode in hers. I love it even if the steering wheel is on the wrong side. ;) I'm so excited to see the show tomorrow but i'm not so excited about getting up at the ass crack of dawn to get there. It's only 8:30 but I'm going to shower and try to be in bed before 10! G'night! XOXO -C In honor of it being exactly one week until I'm back in Texas,
here are the seven things I miss the most: 1. Ranch dressing 2. Actual summer weather 3. Dos Equis 4. The Dixie Chicken 5. Ranch dressing 6. Coffee that isn't instant 7. Did I mention Ranch dressing? So back to how my day went... :) We started the morning like we have every other one with chores around the barn. I helped Karen powerwash a couple of sections of concrete and we were able to finish all of it. After lunch, William took me to see the shorthorn and wagyu cattle. The shorthorns grow to be massive creatures. I was able to see the breeding bulls, steers, and cows spread out in a couple of different barns. The way that the cattle are run is interesting to compare to what I know from the US. When we looked at the wagyu, I was amazed at how scrawny they appeared to be. They look like frail angus cattle. William took me into the main office where Martine explained their wagyu operation. She is in charge of selling the different cuts of meat. Lucky for me, she is also a very visual person so she has big sheets up on the wall with all of the information laid out. She showed me different pictures of cuts of meat and I am still amazed at the marbling the wagyu produce. The cattle do not fully mature until 34 months of age and the difference in the marbling between a mature steer and a younger calf is astounding. The marbling throughout the meat is almost like a spiderweb in appearance. The wagyu and the wagyu cross create so much marbling that the meat is almost white. I soaked in as much information as I could from Martine because the job she has is very, very interesting. Her and her husband, Mohsin, run Highland Wagyu and HW Shorthorn. They have a massive amount of knowlege they have acquired in the past four years. It's inspiring to me how many cattle they have now and how far they want their company to grow. After tea, William, Karen, and I settled in front of the TV and watched The Biggest Loser and of course, Karen and I enjoyed a glass of wine. :) I'm heading to bed early! XOXO -C This morning we finished up the morning chores and then Seonaid, Stuart, and I headed into Edinburgh to the Zoo. We met up with Seonaid's cousin and she gave us the grand tour around the zoo. We saw meerkats (all of which I named Timone), penguins, rhinos, snakes, ants, otters, lions, zebras, koalas, birds, bears, monkeys, and all sorts of other creatures. My favorite animals to see are always the penguins. After the zoo, we made our way to Edinburgh Dungeons. It's basically a haunted house through some old dungeons underneath Edinburgh. I had a blast and discovered I'm not near as jumpy as I used to be. Stuart, Seonaid, and I had dinner at TGIFridays and made our way back to the house. It was a nice way to spend Sunday. :)
XOXO -C This morning we loaded up the cattle and headed to the Stirling Show. The way they present their animals is completely different than in the U.S.
When dressing the cattle, they do not blow dry their hair or wash them at the shows. The cattle are shown more naturally without all the primping. For the Angus, they use black spray glue, oil, and water to leave the cattle partially wet with curly hair. The huge, double muscled Charolais cattle are sprayed with white hair glue and left with their hair going every which way. It's strange that the cattle are shown still damp with all sorts of colored spray on their hair. After helping push the calf alongside its mother, my hands were black. I told Seonaid that would never fly at Texas shows. The main difference I have noticed in the cattle is the sheer size. The cattle here are massive. When they show, they have individual classes and then they put the cattle into groups of two or three and show as a "team." It was interesting to watch the show structure, I'm now even more excited for the Royal Highland Show. Shortly after the McLaren's finished showing, William took Seonaid and me back to the farm. We had lunch and then finished feeding around the barn. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and had take-out and watched movies. XOXO -C I'm finally getting the routine of the morning chores down. This morning we finished up chores relatively early and William and Karen both went off to do chores they needed to get done this afternoon. I was able to take a glorious nap before heading into Edinburgh to an Ultimate Jump place called Ryze. Seonaid, Alasdair, Stuart, and a couple of their friends all joined us for an hour of bouncing fun. The place had trampolines on the floors and up the walls, there were foam pits to jump/fall into, a basketball goal, a dodgeball pit, a tightline, and things hanging from the ceiling that you could try to jump and climb on top of. After signing our lives away in the waiver, we jumped to our hearts content all over the place. I realized how out of shape I am! Jumping into the foam pit, I felt like a turtle on its back not being able to get up. I had a ton of fun meeting some of their friends and watching some of the people doing flips and other tricks.
After the hour was up, our group made it's way to McDonald's for supper. (First time I've had fast food on the trip.) They were out of ice cream which caused for a couple of upset people. When we all finished dinner, we made our way home and I slept like a rock. :) I'm getting too old to stay out late and still being able to function at 6 in the morning. Haha. XOXO -C This morning we started by getting the cattle clipped for the show on Saturday. The process is nothing like we do in America. We just ran the calves through the shoot, trimmed all the hair down their backs and completely shaved the tail-head off. The head cut reminds me of pictures of cattle my dad showed in the 70s and 80s with the harsh line right at the ears. The bulls are left with all of the hair on their faces, as scraggily as it may be. The McLaren's do not wash their cattle with soap and they leave any glue they put in the hair for volume. They also paint the feet black. In Scotland, they present their animals with a much more natural look and not all of the primping that goes into American show cattle.
We were able to finish up the work shortly after lunch and when Rachel got off work, Rachel, Karen, and I caught a train into Edinburgh to explore the city. Luckily we're still having good weather! When we got off the train, we went straight to street level and bought our tickets to an open bus tour. Our big green bus arrived shortly after and we loaded up and headed to the top to soak in the rays and have an unblocked view of the city. Our tour guide did an amazing job of telling us about the places and throwing in humor and stories to make the city more personable. We drove through different parts of the city and were able to see many important places in a short amount of time. After the open bus tour we found The Elephant House which is a cafe that JK Rowling wrote the first couple of chapters of Harry Potter in. It claims to be the "birthplace of Harry Potter". With the views of Edinburgh Castle, the rolling hills, and old town, it's easy to imagine the inspiration of JK Rowling's writing. We explored a bit more of the city before heading to a tour of Mary King's Cross. Mary King's Cross was a section of the old city that was covered to create what we now think of as street level. Below our feet, there are three to four stories of houses and businesses preserved from our time. Most of Mary King's Cross was infected with the plague that ran through Edinburgh in the 1600s, killing off many of the residents. The few remaining residents abandoned the area not long after so that the government could begin its construction of the new street level on top. Basically they picked a floor and demolished everything above that and closed over everything below it. It was interesting to explore where and how people lived in the times of the plague. After our trip back in time with Mary King's Cross, we made our way to an Italian food restaurant called Vittoria's. It was absolutely delicious! Karen, Rachel, and I ate ourselves nearly into a food coma and loaded the train back home. I truly had so much fun exploring Edinburgh with two people that knew the city. They seemed to enjoy doing the touristy things as much as I did. :) After a full day, I'm ready for bed. So until next time... XOXO -C This morning I got the official tour of Netherton Angus Farm. The countryside here is so gorgeous. I know I've already said that but I can't get over how beautiful the view is. Karen, William, and Seonaid (pronounced Shona) let me work alongside them. I learned their process of feeding, taking a calf to market, and even met Joshy, Karen's favorite sheep. After feeding cattle in different fields, we took a breakfast break. William took me to United Auctions Market in Stirling where the biggest bull sale of the area is hosted. It still stresses me out being on the wrong side of the truck while driving on the wrong side of the road, especially pulling a trailer with a calf on it. We unloaded the cow and he showed me around the sale barn. After a quick tour, we stopped at the shop in the front of the building to pick up some show supply for the Royal Highland next week. After getting back to the farm, We moved Cracker the bull to a pen full of his girlfriends and after lunch Karen took me to meet Joshy. Josh came running to the fence when Karen called her name. She was super cute. We finished work up pretty early in the day and made our way back to the house.
William grilled steaks and Karen, William, Rachel, and I enjoyed a delicious meal for tea. After tea, I went for a drive around the area with Rachel. Rachel took me to see the amazing Loch Earn. The loch was sparkling and the natives seemed to be enjoying the weather in their shorts and t-shirts. I was in pants and a jacket and still a little chilly, but apparently this is the hottest it's been all year. The McLaren's keep telling me I brought the good weather with me. Spending time next to any body of water is my favorite way to pass time, but with the luscious rolling green hills, glassy blue water, and rocky shore, that view is hard to beat. Next we visited Stirling Castle and the cemeteries close by. Since we arrived a little later in the day, we weren't able to go inside the castle but we we're able to explore outside. With how old the castle is, we were expecting to find headstones dating back to the 1600s, but were surprised to find that the earliest ones only dated back to the late 1800s. Around the castle, dainty purple flowers grew up the stone walls. We crossed the village of Stirling to the Wallace Monument. We decided that the parking lot was close enough for that adventure because there are well over 2,000 steps leading up to the top. We drove around a bit more before heading home and enjoying a glass of wine before bed. XOXO -C Howdy all!
I can officially say I have arrived in Scotland! Erin and I departed ways at the airport around lunch today. I've had my first experience with customs and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. When I got out of the airport, I met Mrs. Karen McLaren. She is a joyous, lovely woman and I'm so excited to learn all about her and her husband's cattle company. On the hour drive from Edinbugh airport to Netherton Angus, Karen explained some of the area, their background, and pointed out different points of interest along the way. I was able to see the William Wallace Memorial and the Stirling Castle from the road. Someone once told me that you will see 40 different shades of green in Scotland. I thought they were exaggerating, but they most definitely were not. It is BEAUTIFUL here. Everything is so green and lush. The views from their farm are breath taking. We did a quick tour and headed in for tea (AKA supper). Karen and I ended the night with some conversation, wine, and a little bit of TV. I headed to bed pretty early so I can get a headstart in the morning. XOXO -C |
AuthorCarlee loves doing hoodrat things with her friends and trying to act like an adult. Archives |