Just another reason for Vegetarianism...

I think my culinary friends will get a kick out of this, but I have to warn you if you this gets a little gross...  So on Wednesday I had the wonderful task of cleaning out the chicken coop, duck house, and Emmy's home.  I started with the duck house which didn't take too long but had the most effect on my gag reflex.  The smell of wet straw and duck shit was rather overwhelming and I had to take a few breaks to get some fresh air.  After that I moved on to the chicken coop.  It took me over an hour to get it looking nice again.  First I had to get all of the dirty straw out of there.  Then came the gross part; the chickens started going crazy over the old stuff I was taking out.  They were picking at it and eating bits of straw mixed with their own feces.  I became eternally grateful for not eating animals that eat their own droppings.  They then started going insane, clucking around and staring up at me while I scraped and brushed the cement floor which was coated in a good couple inches of shit. I then continued to but new clean straw in all of their baskets.  I thought to myself, "this is gross, eating animals that just get filth everywhere."  I then began to give it some more thought, "if this is how these loved, free-range chickens live and I am disgusted by it, how much worse is it for the commercially raised chickens?"  These birds get fresh backed bread in the mornings and occasionally wander into the kitchen and under the table just to see what's going on.  They are loved and very well looked after.  I wouldn't eat them because I would feel horrible taking them from their beautiful life.  On the other hand, I wouldn't eat other chickens because of the gross factor.  I think I am pretty justified in my refusal to consume poultry after this experience...
The rest of Wednesday was much less disgusting and far more exciting.  Julia dropped Heidi and I off in Durrus at the secondhand shop.  We are going to my friend Nicola's birthday party tonight and were looking for things to wear.  After about thirty minutes we were very discouraged at the lack of dresses that would fit us.  Just as I was about to give up I spotted something turquoise on the floor.  The woman in the shop had just emptied out a bag of clothes they had gotten that morning.  The turquoise item was a skirt.  I also found an adorable black cardigan, a purple dress, a black sparkley shirt, and a simple blue dress.  I also had found a really cute pair of espadrille shoes.  The woman in the shop loved me as I came out and showed them everything I tried on while them drank tea.  I nervously held up the items I wanted to the woman running the store to see how much they would cost. I almost gasped when she said, "is 10 ok for the clothes? and 2 for the shoes?"  I couldn't believe I was getting five items of clothing and a pair of shoes for only twelve euro!!  Sadly Heidi didn't find anything so we decided we would go into Bantry to look at the second hand stores there.  Julia had already gone home so we decided to hitch in.  Luck was on our side as a car stopped after only a minute or so.  Even better it was a young woman driving who had a baby seat in the back.  We figured she was safe enough which is what she said about us.  She dropped us off in Bantry no problem.  I then called our friend Sheila who often goes through Bantry on her way home from work.  She happily said she could collect us.  We spent about two hours going through shops without a whole lot of luck.  I did manage to find a cute pink dress.  Sheila then picked us up and took us back to her house for a cup of tea.  All in all it was a lovely afternoon.
Last night we went out to this place called the Boathouse.  It's not actually a pub and is technically illegal.  It is more of a private shed type building where people gather to play music and drink.  Heidi had been recording with a  friend of Mike and Julia's, William that day.  He goes to the boathouse every Friday to play music and we decided it would be nice to go.  We ended up having a brilliant time just hanging out by the fire.  William and Heidi sounded great together and all of us were singing along and drumming on our knees.  Around 10:30 we went back to William and his wife Elise's house with another couple from England.  We stayed there for another hour and a half until the thought of the lasagna Julia had made earlier at home was too much.  After an excellent evening we headed home to to our beds and food.  Tonight I am going out to Kenmare, which is about an hour from here and now I have to get ready!!!