Life is prachtigdebachtig!! (sorry, there's no translation for that word)

Hi there,

From now on I'll write my posts in English, just because the number of my English fans is growing every day... I heard that there were already translators hired who were trying to translate my blog, so I think this will be easier for eveybody. The pictures will still be in Dutch.

The last time I wrote a new post I was just back from a walk through the snow at Garsholm Farms. Since then, a lot of things have changed, Canada isn't white anymore, for example. At this moment the sun is shining and the grass is starting to get greener and greener. Nice! At the picture above you can have a look at the parlour where a really learned how to milk. It's the parlour at the Garrett's, where the cows are milked at 5 am and 4.30 pm, with 2x8 milkers. If there isn't too much going wrong, Dwight and I (or somebody else) can be done in an hour. Friday, March 3th, we left for an open house somewhere in the area. You can just walk around, have a look at the brandnew barn, parlour etc. and (if you know people) talk to people. There where 1000 cheeseburgers and more than enough donuts from Tim Hortons! So I enjoyed myself. That night some of Dwight's sisters, Yvonne, Patty, Paula and Jeff took me with them for tubing. (Jeff is the husband of Paula, no sister).
You just get a tube, run or walk (or get pulled up by a lift) up the hill, wait for the 'yes-you-can-finally-go-because-the-whole-tubing-lane-is-empty-sign, throw the cord in your tube, jump in your tube and of you go! It was pretty cold (-10), but I was well dressed and we had lots of fun. There are some bumps in the tubinglane and you can hold on to eachothers tubes. Saturday I joined in a soccerteam, indoor, because they didn't have enough players. We were a little bit late, we had to pick up a puppy first, so we playd in two games, won one and lost one. We made it to the 1/2 finales (the b-finales). It was defenitily good to run again, because when there are no cows that need to be catched, I barely ever get out of a car.

On Sunday, after church, I started packing and at 15.00 Doug and Nancy picked me up to drive me to the next farm; Jasper Jerseys, owned by the Sparling family. The farm is less than an hour driving up North, in Varna and under Bayfield and close to Lake Huron.
In this first pictures you see Tammy and Jim Sparling, hanging out of their truck... You can see them on pictures later on, but there are three kids; Melissa (18), J.J. (16) and Katie (11). Most of the time Melissa wasn't home, because she's studying in Guelph. The University students will be done for this year in a couple of weeks... On Monday Tammy took me on a tour around the area, and I've seen touristical Bayfield, Exeter, home of the white squirl, and a lot of other smaller things around Varna. Jim doesn't start too early with working, so sometimes the sun was already up when I woke up. Mostly I was in the barn at 7 am and I honestly thoughed that that was pretty late... Weird things can happen. At the moment there are 35 cows being milked at the moment.
On a warm and sunny day we left for a walk in the land, to try to let Beezer (the dog) loose some weight, so here you can see the farm from the side. At this farm I was close to almost enough observing cows for my assignment. Hours and hours in the barn, or in the sun outside... Just sitting on a pale or bale and writing down what they're doing for 15 minutes per animal. I guess it keeps you of the streets!
One day Tammy, Jim and I went to a Farm Show in London. We've seen a lot of big and huge tractors, machines, silos and a lot of other things that you might or might not need when you're a farmer. I already recognized a lot of the things, machines and companies.
This is Beezer, sitting in the sun in the middel of Tammy's garden. On the first Wednesday Tammy showed me Goderich and it's saltmines, located on Lake Huron. Most of those trips were related to (grocery) shopping. The groceryshops here are pretty big, and you can seriously get anything that you want, anytime of the year. And the vegetables are automatically sprayd every minute. I've also spend a lot of hours in the car with Tammy and J.J., because he plays icehockey in a team of 'The Lakers'. I've seen a couple of practices and one real game. I think it's a fantastic sport; fast, exciting and rough. The game was in a city around Toronto, so that was a two hour drive, one way...
On Monday the 13th we went to Guelph, Tammy for a meeting and I just to be able to talk to the people at the Jersey Canada office. It was an almost two hour drive, so in the afternoon we visited Melissa who gave us a guided tour around one of the best Agricultural Universities that Canada's has. Very different comparing to Dutch Universities, no bikes, first year students live in a small room in a residence where they can't cook and don't have to clean. And all students are free for FOUR months a year, so I know where I'll be studying next year... Bij de weg, this picture with the floathed bridge is in a park in Exeter (home of the white squirl!!), to show you what happens when all that snow starts to melt.
During my stay at the Sparlings I've seen a bit more nature, we've walked in a Conservation Area, for example. At one of our little hikes I found this scul and I have no idea what it is. If you know and tell me, you can comefind me and get a kiss. I would like to know what it is.


This is a picture from the hockeygame in Missesauga, the Lakers against the Senators; 5-4!!!

The second week was March breack, so J.J. and Katie where at home. But it didn't mean that I had to work less... I showed Katie why it were the Dutch that invented the skates. It was too bad that the skates I was wearing were way too small, so it was a short enjoying of the ice. On Wednesday (15th) Jim and I took the truck, picked Jim's friend and his sun up and did an organized tour. We saw three Holstein farms and one Jersey farm. And again a lot of Tim Hortons donuts and beer. Thursday I saw another hockeypractice and on Friday Tammy, Katie and I visited the heifferfarm, five minutes down the road. We had a walk in their own bush and on their own land. It's such an amazing idea to own your own forest... I also enjoyed the country in another way. J.J. owns a fourwheeler, so sometimes we just left Jim alone in the barn and went for a drive, through the muddy land, the thick bushes or the creek, mostly while the sun was setting... Superdebuper! On Sunday Tammy, Katie and I went to Guelph again to see the last part of College Royal. I had a good laugh while we watched some more square dancing, we saw the results of some projects of the students, we saw a kind of a dogshow and the New Mc Donald Farm.

Yes! I found a beautiful thing... Most people here think that Heineken tastes good, but they just have to wait till the day that they tast this best beer. Jim is a beerlover, so I did my job, bought some of these 'swingtops' and here we have another Grolsch-drinker. The most funniest part is when Canadians try to pronounce the name. At night we watched a movie or hockey (depending on who had the clicker first) and, thanks to Katie, we also playd a lot of cardgames and crocinole (or however you write it). I have no idea where I can compare it to.
On Monday Tammy and I went to the Dutch Shop in Clinton. We bought real Venco drop, Blooker cacao, Droste chocola, mentos and stophoest! It was weird to see all those really Dutch things in the middel of Canada. But it defenitily tasted good! Specially the stophoest... Mmm. I took the picture of the hamburger, to show you the slaightly strange food that some Canadians eat. Just put some chips on top of your hamburger, for the extra crunchy taste! For everybody who uses this idea, Jim Sparling would like to receive 1 dollar. Other reactions welcome too.

Just a picture of one of the many sunsets that I've seen overhere. The people who live here claim that this whole Eastern coast of Lake Huron is one of the best places in Canada and even on earth, to see the sun set.
This is a picture of Jim and me, weening a calf. Somewhere between the age of 3/4 till 5/6 months they move from their lonely hudge to a pen with some other calves. (Pay attention to the blue sky)





Are you melting already? ;-)







What's this?





This is me, sitting in the barn on a straw bale, observing cows and talking to Jim at the same time. The rest of the third week was filled with observing, groceryshopping, renaming all my pictures, work (of course!), big lunches, four wheel driving, walking through rivers wit hTammy and on Friday Tammy and I had a day full of shopping in Goderich. I got a very wise and smart watch and bibs. I'll use them the rest of my time here in Canada, so they're very usefull.

This is a fresh trail of a bever; the national symbol of Canada

These are the footprints of a raccoon, till now I've only seen one that was still alive
(nobody likes them here)

And this is me, catched on camera while I was leaving my trail behind...

On Saturday, March 25th, there was another beautiful sunset. During almost every sunset I was busy in the barn, so because I was almost leaving and because I really had to see the sun set at the Lake, Tammy and I dropped everything and jumped in the car. This is the result.

Sunday was a beautiful sunny day. After chores, a nice brunch with wafels and some packing, all sixs of us took the farm truck to 'grandpa's bush'. We walked in a 80 acre private bush with the warmth of the sun everywhere. The were not many trails and nobody cares where you walk, and there was nobody else. I love it!

















This is the whole Sparling family al together; Melissa, Katie, J.J., Tammy and Jim. We had an early meal and Melissa, Tammy and I left around 19.00, back to Garsholm Farms again! This time I wouldn't be staying at Dwight and Leanne's house, but at his parents place, Doug and Nancy, 50 metres further away from the barn. After some searching I arrived in a full and busy house.

That was it for today. Next time I'll try to be quicker, but these two weeks I don't have access to the internet. But you'll here from me soon. I hope you all leave a message, so I've got lots to read the next time.

P.S. It is the hip of a Jersey cow, with the light of a setting sun on it