Of future oxen and future artists...
Posted: Thursday, 20 September 2007 |
Today my stot calf received his first scolding and he listened! I can't believe that the critter actually responded to my voice - I figured I was so far out of his loop that he'd never listen to me. I'm not a cow. I'm not his mother. I'm just some scary thing that shuts him in a pen and scratches his shoulders.
Mummy Moo tied in her stall so she can't come beat me up. (She's acctually a very sweet cow. But a mum moo is a mum moo regardless!!)
Anyway, yesterday my friend, who is a horsewoman, came by and gave me some pointers as I've never trained anything. She told me it was vital that I teach the stot calf that he is not allowed to kick at me or shake his head at me. She asked, "What do cows do when their calves misbehave?" and I told her, "They shove them with their heads." Unlike horses, cattled don't kick and bite - they use their heads on each other. Obviously I am not going to butt my calf with my weak human head haha! So Friend thought for a minute and said that when the calf so much as lifted a leg at me or twitched his head at me I was to give him a shove and say, "No!" in a firm voice.
My calf, "He's Gettin' Jiggy With It", in his pen. I put him in here so I can handle him without having to chase him around the barn.
So, this morning when I held out my hand for him to sniff at he gave his head a good threatening shake and I gave him a firm shove and said, "No!" in a deep voice. WOW! You would have thought I was his mom cow the way he acted! And after that I let him sniff my hand three times in a row and each time he sniffed and then turned his head to the front in a very pointed manner and I would give him scratches and say, "Good boy." His body language was so obvious - he had understood that shaking his head at me was naughty! Or whatever the cattle interpretation would be. I'm so surprised that he picked that up so fast.
Well, I stopped the lesson then so as not to over tax the poor calf. I have him a nice dose of scratches and then let him out of the pen to go have a sook and be with his mum. (I try to use the sook as a reward at the end of a training session since cattle don't seem to take food treats very easily.)
Something I've noticed in the past day: the calf looks right at me when I speak. He seems to pay much more attention to me whereas before I was just one of many objects to look at. I'm assuming this is a good sign!
Now, on to the artist stuff: I've joined a community class at Orkney College called, "Drawing and Painting." It's a 20 week class so I'll learn a lot! One of many things that really impresses me about Orkney is how active the community is in the arts and music and writing. This place...you don't have to sit around moping all winter!! It's just like Fairbanks, Alaska in so many respects - except I can't hardly understand folk...
Anyhoo, I'm determined to be an artist by golly! And this class is perfect for total beginners like me. I'm such a beginner I showed up without so much as a pencil because I had no idea what to bring! And then I was like, "What's a drawing board?!" Thankfully our instructor remembers what it's ilke to be a total novice and he showed us all of the materials we needed to buy. And then he started us off with line drawing. "Does everyone understand what I mean by 'line drawing'?" he asked and while everyone else nodded I said, "Er...no." hehehe! So he gave an excellent demonstration that showed me things I had never even heard of before! Then he had us chose still life objects to draw.
I chose this curly piece of birch bark and some dried twig things with weensy flowers on the end. OH BOY! I couldn't draw the bark to save my life. But then the instructor came over and he showed me how to draw the general shape and "the space" that the object took up before I drew the details. It was like he opened a door in my brain and WOW it made so much sense! I struggled for about twenty really hard brain-cell-smoking minutes and wouldn't you know it - everything started to fall together. I've NEVER experienced that when drawing! It was so cool!!
Anyhoo, I'm not saying I did fantastic at the drawing. But suffice it to say, I'm a professional rookie/novice by now and I know you don't gain a skill unless you work hard and practice, practice, practice. Here's my first line drawing of the season:
Ok then, back to writing the books...
Mummy Moo tied in her stall so she can't come beat me up. (She's acctually a very sweet cow. But a mum moo is a mum moo regardless!!)
Anyway, yesterday my friend, who is a horsewoman, came by and gave me some pointers as I've never trained anything. She told me it was vital that I teach the stot calf that he is not allowed to kick at me or shake his head at me. She asked, "What do cows do when their calves misbehave?" and I told her, "They shove them with their heads." Unlike horses, cattled don't kick and bite - they use their heads on each other. Obviously I am not going to butt my calf with my weak human head haha! So Friend thought for a minute and said that when the calf so much as lifted a leg at me or twitched his head at me I was to give him a shove and say, "No!" in a firm voice.
My calf, "He's Gettin' Jiggy With It", in his pen. I put him in here so I can handle him without having to chase him around the barn.
So, this morning when I held out my hand for him to sniff at he gave his head a good threatening shake and I gave him a firm shove and said, "No!" in a deep voice. WOW! You would have thought I was his mom cow the way he acted! And after that I let him sniff my hand three times in a row and each time he sniffed and then turned his head to the front in a very pointed manner and I would give him scratches and say, "Good boy." His body language was so obvious - he had understood that shaking his head at me was naughty! Or whatever the cattle interpretation would be. I'm so surprised that he picked that up so fast.
Well, I stopped the lesson then so as not to over tax the poor calf. I have him a nice dose of scratches and then let him out of the pen to go have a sook and be with his mum. (I try to use the sook as a reward at the end of a training session since cattle don't seem to take food treats very easily.)
Something I've noticed in the past day: the calf looks right at me when I speak. He seems to pay much more attention to me whereas before I was just one of many objects to look at. I'm assuming this is a good sign!
Now, on to the artist stuff: I've joined a community class at Orkney College called, "Drawing and Painting." It's a 20 week class so I'll learn a lot! One of many things that really impresses me about Orkney is how active the community is in the arts and music and writing. This place...you don't have to sit around moping all winter!! It's just like Fairbanks, Alaska in so many respects - except I can't hardly understand folk...
Anyhoo, I'm determined to be an artist by golly! And this class is perfect for total beginners like me. I'm such a beginner I showed up without so much as a pencil because I had no idea what to bring! And then I was like, "What's a drawing board?!" Thankfully our instructor remembers what it's ilke to be a total novice and he showed us all of the materials we needed to buy. And then he started us off with line drawing. "Does everyone understand what I mean by 'line drawing'?" he asked and while everyone else nodded I said, "Er...no." hehehe! So he gave an excellent demonstration that showed me things I had never even heard of before! Then he had us chose still life objects to draw.
I chose this curly piece of birch bark and some dried twig things with weensy flowers on the end. OH BOY! I couldn't draw the bark to save my life. But then the instructor came over and he showed me how to draw the general shape and "the space" that the object took up before I drew the details. It was like he opened a door in my brain and WOW it made so much sense! I struggled for about twenty really hard brain-cell-smoking minutes and wouldn't you know it - everything started to fall together. I've NEVER experienced that when drawing! It was so cool!!
Anyhoo, I'm not saying I did fantastic at the drawing. But suffice it to say, I'm a professional rookie/novice by now and I know you don't gain a skill unless you work hard and practice, practice, practice. Here's my first line drawing of the season:
Ok then, back to writing the books...
Comments
You are certainly keeping busy, Michelle. Glad the art class is going well. Your drawing looks OK to me, I can't draw anything but your flowers are perfectly recognisable, and that's got to be a good start.
Jill from EK
Great job on the first drawing! Mayhaps your book will also be "illustrated by the author"?
Bound4Orkney from Washington, DC
my guess is it doesn't understand a word you say--but the way you say it!! if you speak quitely and nicely it will know by the sound of your voice you are pleased,so it will be good(or maybe i'm wrong,as usual)
carol from knowing nothing about animals
Excited for you about the drawing class! I like your drawing especially the twisty bark!
jackie in the City from 25th floor ...office
Is this a woman thing, one of those things that men don't understand? Or is it just me? I'm meaning the art bit. I'll stick the heed on yer coo fur ye Moo-Moo, I've been using my head all my life, just like they teach you in school, "Always use the head" Maybe there's another meaning??
Tws from Lewis Artisans
"except I can't hardly understand folk... " I suspect you mean, that you CAN hardly understand them? After more than a year married to a local farmer, and living in the community? There is nothing else to do Moo but to request the curriculum committee of Orkney College to develop a course "Orkneyan as a second language, step by slow step" With Bound4Orkney on the way, you should have the minimum quorum of two.
mjc from NM, USA
May you have much success in your artistic efforts! Nioo ye can be writing a dictionary of Orkneyan blather withoot troubling yer heed and paint it to boot.
Plain Catholic from http://plaincatholic.blogspot.com/
Wonder what happened to Moo: did a tornado hit Dounby? # As the Santa Rosa,NM, weekly once said when a tornado hit a small village nearby: "San Miguel (I am making up the name: my life is precious) hit by tornado: 250,000 dollars worth of improvement." The joke is no reflection on Dounby (I have never been there. A little bird tells me the village is famous for its ice-cream, and Moo lives nearby of course).
mjc from NM, USA
Hi michelle, congratulations on the completion of your book.(by the way,love your photos) Alison,(Geoffs daughter).
alison, from brentwood,essex
I like the drawing and it sounds like you have a good tutor, love the calf training too,
island threads from lewis
So...I traded my quiet cabin in the Alaskan woods for the howling winds of Orkney and life on a farm. 
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