Ram Lambs

I had 14 ram lambs born here this year. Being optimistic, perhaps half of them at best would be registered and sold as breeding stock. After another evaluation I only sold four ram lambs and kept one for myself. Two others that were registered...well one is VERY SOFT, very crimpy, high% UK, spotted, poll carrier and ok I'll say it. Exquisite!

But he is very narrow when he walks away from you and that really bothers me. He stands square, but I cannot feel good about selling him to someone with that obvious fault.

The other, a solid black ram lamb with scurs, he is very square but his fleece is just not as soft like butter like the ram above. I'm going to hang onto them over the winter to see for sure, but at this point I'm just not happy selling them. I was to bring them to Jefferson to sell, but maybe I'll just bring them along and get others' opinions on them.

Anyone who raises ANY kind of animal knows that not all of their offspring are going to be breeding quality or show quality. Those that sell ALL of their lambs as such are fooling the buyers and themselves. Even from an amazing ram and ewe, not every lamb is going to be a knock out, it just doesn't and can't happen. Your chances are lower yes, but still its there.

I think in all mammals the ratio of good males to females is always in the favor of the female......or we are able to 'fix' things easier with females than males. In dogs, whole litters cannot be show quality. Its a reality. Most litters if you are lucky might have one, maybe two. And this is from breeders of my CWC breed for the past 30 years.

Its the same in sheep, or cattle, or goats. You only keep the very best males to improve your female base. A pen full of amazing bulls and three heifers isn't going to get you very far.....the females only produce once a year. In our dairy cattle operation we had we only kept the best heifers and sold the rest and sold ALL the bull calves; relying only on AI (artificial insemination) to improve our dairy cows year after year after year, using only the best the breed had to offer.

How was your breeding season? Did you get a knock out ram or stud dog? Maybe a great buck or bull? In all reality you cannot have a knock out lamb crop and sell them all as show quality or breeding quality, its just not realistic. Same with puppies. You can't show the whole litter, you are kidding yourself if you do.

I think more people need to pay attention to this when they are going through evaluations of their stock. Its only better for every breed and species when you are more diligent in what you sell as breeding quality and breed improvement happens a lot faster too.

Better

I'm feeling better today. Not only did I have to work all day, but I felt much better after all the private emails, phone calls and text messages from my cyber family. Thank you. You are all loved! Thanks for your friendship. It also helps that I have my sheep and dogs to help me through these times. If I didn't have them I don't know what I'd do!

I found out today that I'm babysitting for 2 Pembrokes and 2 Italian Greyhounds Sunday and Monday. The pems have been here before but not the IGs and they are 'iffy' dogs to me...don't know that pottying outside is better than in their crate or in the house. I'm not sure what my dogs will think of them....the IGs aren't terribly friendly to me even (but they live with the Pems).

I"ll keep you posted and pray to God that I can find the time to take photos of them!

Wish me luck!

Enjoy your long weekend!!!

Life is short! Break the rules!
Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly!
Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. .

And never regret anything that made you smile.

In a funk

This is not a fun post. Its rather sad, or dull. Either way its not typically me.

I'm in a real big funk this week.

This was the week to get ALL of my landscaped beds weeded (there are over 25 and counting). I was to clean all of my pigeon pens, sheep pens in the barn, pick up around the yard and in the drought, even mow every one's yard in anticipation of the end of the month. Little did I remember that its Labor Day weekend. Ugh where has my mind been?

I've had no desire to get any of this accomplished and I think I'm overwhelmed. I typically get like this in the winter when I'm bored and have cleaned the house from ceiling to floor, every closet and cupboard scrubbed and cleaned and organized.

But this is August. And I think it has to do with family. No family is perfect. Every one has its family issues or arguments. This week has been weighing heavily on me. My dad and I seem to disagree about everything, especially when it comes to how to farm, where to put the emphasis on and about my sister's dogs.

I'm mechanically inept and have asked several times to learn how to do things for my own equipment (I run a lawn care and landscaping business) but to be quite honest I hate it. Anything to do with mechanics and they always seem to happen when I'm in a rush. For the past few days my primary mower has been waiting to get its blades sharpened and new shear pins put in. Tonight I find that I need new threads on a spindle (whatever that means) and I'm now two solid days behind schedule. But that's not my parents fault or my sisters. Its mine. I let it go this long. Too stubborn to ask for help again and too hurt to talk to most of my family.

My dad said some things last night that really hurt me and typically in our Ramsay style of arguments, are forgiven and forgotten by the following morning.....with everyone acting normally and without guilt, disgust or anything. Its an odd situation but it seems to work.

Living 100 yards from my entire immediate family would be a dream come true to most people. I don't typically see my family much but it seems that when I do we either get into arguments or into discussions I don't want to get into.

Everyone has long days, add onto that stress from work, life situations and other factors. Heck that's what makes us human. I wish I were a dog or sheep. They have a lot less to worry about.

Today I tried to busy myself with around the farm duties. I did all my chores. I unloaded a wagon of small square straw bales. I tilled and weeded what's left of my sorry looking garden. I watered some of the trees and turned the sprinkler on my row of Red Osier Dogwood shrubs. Usually being busy keeps my mind off of things.

I"m not one to dwell or stew about something, and I try to forgive those for their mistakes or flaws or faults. Heck I'm not perfect, no one is. I think its deeper than that.

I'm lonely.


I live alone, I eat alone, I sleep alone (well with 5 Cardigans too), I work alone and I'm on the road to dog shows and sheep shows alone. Everyone thinks I'm the life of the party, and I can be, but its really about being with people. That's why I go somewhere every weekend. To stay sane. This town I live near is a great place to raise a family or retire with your loved one, but its not for single twenty-somethings. Or maybe not just me.

Every year I sit and think "what would life be like somewhere else? What would it be like doing a different job where there were other people to interact with? Would I appreciate my evenings alone more? Would I not be blogging about this for all 7 billion people on the planet to read?

I do a lot of soul searching. Lots of praying, or talking to God. I've been on a Christian music kick for the past few weeks, hoping that that will lift my spirits. I've been reading the Bible more diligently. It seems that the songs that stick out in my head are of forgiveness and of Salvation. The Praise and Worship songs are the ones that I love to lift my hands to the Heavens and praise His name. Maybe this is a wake up call from the Lord; maybe I'm just depressed and am trying to seek comfort in His Word.

I was baptized, confirmed and raised a Lutheran-Missouri Synod. Out in a country church where all of my ancestors are buried and where they went to church while farming the same land we are today. Its a neat place to worship, but really not what my body and soul are looking for.

I also think that by being single I feel less of a person because I am not 'going on dates' 'showing photos of my babies' or taking kids to classes (dogs don't count here). I'm not sure what it is, but I hope I realize soon what it is and start to walk the road to fix it.

So if you are Christian, please pray for me, and think of me these next few days or weeks. If you are someone who believes in 'balance' and karma, think good thoughts for me and hope that whatever my doings are, that they be fixed ASAP.

At any rate I hope to be over this soon, and figure out what to do.

Sorry for the ramblings

Ready or not, here we go! (to Jefferson!)

Well I have diligently been tying out and trying to walk the three lambs every day that I have time (which is most weekdays). Centennial and Lyons are walking on lead fairly well, especially with a bit of grain. Sheridan unfortunately thinks I am the devil himself! Every time she sees me she lays down and thinks I can't see her. She was never a friendly ewe, but you'd think she'd get used to the idea by now! Centennial and Lyons when they were younger decided that they liked me. I nearly cried when I started halter training them and they would run the other way when they saw the halters in my hand. They are now starting to warm up to me again and stand stacked while I scratch them.


This is WhitePine Centennial. She was my very first lamb of the season and was my favorite girl (and still is). She is quite consistent from front to back, with some britch wool, but is very crimpy and soft. Her back half is more bluish fleece while the front half is more creamy. She's a gem! She is out of Jazz and Chloe.



These next two photos are of WhitePine Lyons. He is my favorite horned ram of the year and is in the process of going from black to dark brown to shaela (what all of my shaelas do anyway) He is very very soft, crimpy from front to rear with little britch wool. His horns are perfect and he is friendly enough, but not overbearing. He has a perfect tail, nice length and height, he is slightly hocked but other than that a very fine specimen. He is the best at walking on lead.


Sheridan lays down as I approach............will I ever gain her trust?


When she realizes I'm not there to 'abuse' her to learn to walk, she stands on the opposite side of the tree LOL. She is black. Her father is Jazz and her mother is Shasta. Its interesting that she has no crimp and will have a more intermediate style fleece. She's soft, but only has crimp just now coming in on the front half of her body. Both parents are very crimpy. I chose her as I knew the judges prefer the longer fleeces and she has a perfect build, wide rear end, straight legs, level topline. We'll see what the judges think.........

udpate at 4pm (Sheridan walked on the lead, if only awkwardly! We finished on that note!)

A few photos I've been meaning to post!

A couple of photos of Merrymoon Ebonwald I'm a Q.T. "Ell" at the Bismarck Kennel Club shows the beginning of August.



A picture of "Zoe" Bendi Ebonwald Smthing 2 Prove at the Bismarck Kennel Club shows.



My moorit gulmoget smooth polled ram lamb from Juliann. I believe his name will be Lil'Country Barkley. He could carry spots as well.



And this is Suzanne Nevada's ewe she bought from Stephen called Sheltering Pines Snow Cloud. She's getting bred her this fall to Wintertime Jazz in hopes of getting some spotted katmogets!

Another fun weekend!

I had a great weekend with Mary Morris and Barb and Steve Peterson! We had many laughs from Thursday until Sunday and boy was my throat sore from laughing so hard!

It was also great to see the Mumme's and Lynn Stoltzmann, as well as Diana and Mackenzie and Donna and Mike Johnson, Mike Ekwall and every briefly Dawn!

After being point fodder for nearly two years, I have finally had some winnings these past few months and its a good feeling. I'm not the most competitive person, but it does feel good to win once in a while....it makes the dog showing even more fun than the social aspects and dog strategy talk!

Zoe was Winner's Bitch (WB) and Best Opposite Sex (BOS) on friday and Saturday. On saturday she was also Best of Winners (BOW). Two more points now puts her at 8 points.

Mac was Winner's Dog (WD) on Saturday for another point, he now has 4 points.

Ell was WB, BOS and BOW over a dual Champion dog on Sunday for two more points which puts her at 5 points total now. We'll wait to have her get more coat and we'll see what happens. Both girls are still under 16 months so there is no hurry, I'm just impatient lol

Chase Aaron Tibbetts

Well this is also late in coming! Last week was a whirlwind week and I'm finally taking the time to sit down and tell the world about my very first nephew!

He was born to my younger sister, Lindsay, and her husband Aaron last tuesday around 7:30pm. He weighed in a 7 pounds and 20 inches long. He is the most adorable thing I've ever seen and I'm not be partial at all! Honest!

My babies (the dogs) are excited to have him grow up so they can play with him!

here is a photo of Chase at one day old and me holding him

A few new sheep

I wasn't able to get ALL of the photographed but here are a few:


Sheltering Pines Fleur de Lis. She is a grey katmoget smirslet yearling that Stephen didn't breed as a lamb. She is out of Underhill Thelonius Monk and Justalit'l Too Unique.



This is Sheltering Pines Nessebar (which is an ancient Bulgarian City). She is a grey katmoget ewe lamb out of Sheltering Pines Starry Night and Sheltering Pines Morgan le Fey. She is a stunning ewe lamb and I'm so excited to see what she can produce!



Sheltering Pines Myra (which is an ancient greek city) is a beautiful fawn katmoget ewe lamb out of Sheltering Pines Starry Night and Canosia Farm May. May is mioget so Myra should carry the modifier. She is also quite stunning and Stephen will slap himself next spring when he sees her lamb out of Jazz :)



Here are two photos of Sheltering Pines Burma (another ancient city/country...Stephen's theme this year...ancient cities/countries). Burma is a natural colored "English Blue" pattern. He is out of the Carry House/V2 line and is fine fleeced and quite the center of attention. I'm excited to see what he will produce with some Shetlands and the BFLs in the future!

Thanks Stephen! More photos of the others sooN!

MFF, good times

This post won't have any pics. Just a few stories or tidbits of my weekend.

I left Wednesday morning at 4am with little White Pine Rye in the trailer, with 9 other sheep that found a new home! I met Sue at 8am in the same Target parking lot I always meet Mary Ellen in! After a quick exchange and a washing of the hands, I was back on the road. Stopped at Cynthia's house to pick up a ewe for Stephen named Alafair and then continued on. Little did I know that there would be triple the price of a normal 'toll' with a trailer in tow. One way was almost 30 dollars instead of the 8 or 9 dollars it would normally be.

I got in to stephen's just after 10pm Eastern Time (9pm my time) and we left the girls in the trailer over night after feeding and watering was done. We sat up and talked a lot before I had to crash. driving wears a person out!

The next morning we got up early and headed up to Brenda and Marks' farm to see the BFLs, and take my girls back to stephen's, along with some hay and straw for the show. They had a full trailer as it was! What started out as a short trip, was over four hours long! My head hurt afterwards having learned so much in such a small amount of time. We were able to look at tons of photos from their trips to the UK, were able to see all the yearling rams, their mature ram Titanium (who is amazing by the way) and their lambs, both show and stock. All amazing, all nearly cookie cutters of one another. Then out to the ewe pasture. I immediately found Blackwater Dee who last year had me falling in love with her.......and then we found the mother's of the ewe lambs I purchased. Thanks again for the great fountain of information and education!!

Stephen and I were off again to his house and I couldn't wait to see his sheep. He has amazing conformation and the structure of the fleece is very crimpy with little britch wool. He has come a long way in a few short years! You should be very proud!

I was overwhelmed again and my head hurt from all the new sheep that I had seen that day. Juliann arrived shortly after and we all agreed to go out for a few drinks and some great food at an English Pub in Plainville. After a ton of hearty laughs and good times we headed back to get a good nights rest before an early morning the next day.

Bright and early we headed to the fairgrounds to unload our sheep, get the pens ready and say hello to everyone who was getting there! Chris and Alan Greene were already penned in, as were Steve and Carol Densmore. Shortly thereafter the Ludlam crew, Gail Former, Carol Bator and the Lelli's all arrived. Soon it was mass chaos with people getting their pens ready, sheep unloaded, cleaned and the bonds of friendship renewed as everyone caught up with each other.

Friday night a large group went out again to a restaurant called Sam's Place and after we pigged out on good food and drinks, we headed next door to a neat bar called 747, where we all had amazing desert! Some of Stephen's spinning friends came along and MAN are they a HOOT! I wish they all lived closer to me ...I'd be out with them every night! :)

Saturday AM we were up again early and prepping the sheep for the show, pulling VM out and cleaning heads and legs. I was not surprised to see that the judge (same as last year) hadn't learned anything and was still placing, larger, longer fleeced (primitive) and coarse sheep in the first spots, instead of the FINE wooled shetlands of more moderate size. The ram lamb class was a surprise as she placed two smaller sized rams (smaller is relative to the size of some of the other lambs) with nice crimp and luster. After that it was all downhill and she even mentioned that although they were coarse, were of the proper fleece length. Sheesh. To each is own, right?

Of interesting note, both the Champion Shetland Ewe and Champion Shetland Ram were LARGER by at least 1/4 again as big as the CH Icelandic ewe and ram. Amazing considering Icelandic are supposed to be much larger. I couldn't believe it, I have truly seen everything. I'm not saying that you shouldn't or can't raise bigger sheep but when they are bigger than the Icelandics, isn't that saying something?

Saturday afternoon I finally picked out my picks for sheep at Stephen's and we loaded them up and got ready to go to the Ludlam's farm for the hog roast. Heather and Mike are two of the nicest people I've ever met! So inviting, considerate and fun to hang out with! Mike makes his own beer and it was truly wonderful! The pig was great and I even got to go out and see their sheep in the pasture. They have an amazing set up for the sheep and their pastures were amazingly green and healthy. To only have a fraction of that green right now here in the dust bowl! It was nice to chat more with Theresa Gygi about fleeces, sizes, production and such, as well as see Gail Former and Maureen Koch, Tim and Jen, Carol, Laura Matthews, Elizabeth (one of stephen's beer drinkin' spinning friends) and Char, the friend of Stephen's who breeds Cormos. Heck she even bought a BFL fleece of one of my lambs I had just purchased......for next spring...amazing huh?

Sunday morning I got up extra early and got to the fairgrounds to load up my sheep. Most everyone else was sleeping or not at the show yet and i quietly loaded my guys and headed out. Stopped at Cynthia's again to pick up my girls and I was home and unloaded by midnight sunday.

Of an interesting point or two:

One of the spinner's in Stephen's group claimed " Its not bad for Shetland"

A fiber mill gal asked what breeds I raised and i said "Shetlands and BFLs" her lip curled when I said Shetlands and immediately went into hysterics when I told her BFLs. Is there something wrong here? Shetlands are to be the softest and finest of the British breeds, not the BFL whose main purpose is to be a terminal sire, not a fleece animal! The BFLs I have, have microned lower than I bet 90% of all North American Shetlands. That is truly sad. Let's correct that everyone! I want people to WANT to spin shetland, not be forced!

On a stupid note: I stopped in Rochelle, IL at a Wendy's to get some food. The pop machines did not have mello yellow or Vault, but they had other coke products like diet coke, coke, etc. I asked her if they had mello yellow or vault and the girl behind the counter who looked to be my age (28 for those wondering) looked at me in disgust and disbelief and said' UM NO! We only have coke products here!"

I had to stop and shake my head. I was too tired to fight it. Honey that's why you are working at Wendys............

MFF, people

Meeting of the minds: from l to r : Juliann Budde, Maureen Koch, Gail Former, Carol Bator, Tim and Jen Carrey (spelling could be way off on that last name!)


Here, Theresa Gygi steps in to listen to what is going on!


Jen, Juliann and Maureen



Here are Stephen and Juliann outside of the restaurant we passed (as we were talking yet AGAIN!)



This was taken in the dark as we waited for a 5-way traffic back up in a small town called Plainville, MI. I kept saying we needed to do a Chinese Fire drill but no one else wanted to play :(

Back seat are Juliann, Stephen and Karen Valley. Middle row are Jen and Gail. Luckily Tim and I were not in the photo ;)
I didn't get a ton of people photos, but wow did I laugh a lot! My throat and jaws were sore from laughing so hard and so often! I wish MFF was all year round! How fun would that be?!

MFF, Shetlands

Why yes, there were Shetlands too!


Here is my great friend Juliann Budde of Lil'Country showing off one of her boys :) She has amazing smooth polled rams, single coated, soft, crimpy and structurally correct! WOWZA!

Her smooth polled fawn kat and moorit boys ready for the show!

All serious in the ring.....

Pair of lambs...can't remember if they were rams or ewes...sorry!


One of Carol Bator's gulmoget ewe lambs. I was really hoping to get one of them but just didn't have any more trailer room! Honest! I'm glad that Juliann got her....at least she's "still in the family"

MFF, farm visits

Stephen Rouse is an amazingly funny man. He makes me laugh constantly! He is also very talkative like myself and before I knew it I was asking him repeatedly how to get to Mark and Brenda's farm. Every turn, every road, he would say " I'll remember it when I see it. TRUST ME". That is now my new official slogan! He used it all weekend for a host of things, it was too funny.

Next time Stephen bring your reading glasses! :P


Here is a nifty feeder that does both hay and grain. These are a few of the lambs that they are holding back.


A few of the ewes at Lelli's farm. I believe the one with the navy tag is the mother to one of the ewe lambs I purchased from them.


My favorite ewe, that I fell in love with last year, BLACKWATER DEE is shown here in this photo. She is just to die for!



Here is Brenda with her ewe flock trying to find the mother to one of my lambs that I purchased. You can see in the background the sheep barn with a 'tack/feed' room, five pens, a grooming/shearing area and in the center, a big hay area. It was a great set up!



These are the three ewe lambs I ended up taking home with me. The smaller one in front is a twin from a yearling ewe who fed them both herself. She is out of an F1 CarryHouse V2 and high percentage UK. The natural colored ewe is out of GlennFiddich who is now owned by Carol Bator, and the other white ewe is out of Drambuie, an F2 Barleas Titus (I believe).

The way home was the same thing.......Stephen and I were too busy talking and we ended up missing our turn :)

Once we got back to his place I was dying to see his sheep!


Here is his flock of what seemed like 400 sheep running for what they thought was 'grain'. What it really was, was a ploy to get them into the barn so I could see them. Shortly after this photo it torrentially rained and we ran them into the barn so they wouldn't be soaked. You NEED to biggify this photo as to see the line/steady stream of sheep coming in.

Here are two BFLs with Justalit'l Black Lambo, who I purchased from Stephen for the AI this fall. She is seven.


A group photo of some of the sheep at Sheltering Pines


Here is another group photo. The natural colored ram lamb on the right is my "Burma" aka Bubba that I purchased from Stephen. Ok traded. I brought my little Rye to Michigan in trade for the BFL ram lamb.

This manure spreader is alot like the push fertilizer spreaders we use on our lawns. THis however is pulled, and when the wheels turn, the prop spins and throws the maure out. Its so cute and little. Reminds me of when I was little playing with my little machinery and Tonka toys. Stephen is in the photo...like a proud dad LOL

MFF, BFL post

This is the sheep building at the Allegan County Fairgrounds that puts on the MFF every year. Its a nice sized building with plenty of pens, ring space and spectator seating.


These two yearling rams belong to Beechtree Farms. Handsome devils aren't they?



Two photos of the Junior Ram Lamb class where Mark and Brenda Lelli, Steve and Carol Densmore and Carol Bator are in the ring showing their boys.



Here you can see "Lance" and Carol with matching shirt and halter followed by matching shirt and halter Carol Densmore :)


Here are Steve and Carol Densmore with Steve's daughter and friend showing the four boys that they brought for sale, and to show. A nice consistent bunch of boys!


I'm too tired to 'tweak' this photo, but here is Carol and Steve in front of their farm sign. Its a very amazing sign. I need something like that!


here is Brenda Lelli of Beechtree Farm getting one of the yearling ewes ready for the show. I do believe she went on to win Champion Ewe? Brenda, refresh my memory. And for the record....I assumed the fleece was more coarse due to the type of fleece, I didn't say it WAS :P Its very soft!



Here is BFL lane, where BeechTree, Crosswind and White Pine were all bedded in the same area.



My two ewe lambs that I purchased from CrossWind Farms (Densmore's) before they are shown. You can tell they are stressed! HA!

Flock tested negative!

Just a quick note to let everyone know that my entire flock of sheep tested NEGATIVE for OPP and Johne's. My last four Pygmy Goats (which are for sale) have tested NEGATIVE for Johne's, CAE and TB. I didn't suspect them to have any of these things but its great for peace of mind!

Buddy, 1998-2008

This is a long time in coming. He passed away last Monday and I sadly have had no time to post this.


This was the first day I brought him home. I was 18 and it was the summer after we graduated from High School (1998 for those of you checking). I was at the fair displaying my pigeons and I was in the "children's petting barn". At that time they were still having kittens and puppies in there for give away and Buddy and his brown/white brother were absolutely adorable. We had just a month earlier, had lost our 11 yr old Border Collie, Sammy from cancer. He looked a lot like Sammy (who was a girl) and the entire family immediately fell in love with him. I remember having to decided if Buddy or Charlie was a better name. In a democratic way, we voted 3-1 in favor of the name "Buddy".


Buddy at 7 years old on a crisp fall afternoon.



Here is an undated photo of Buddy. I'm guessing he was younger, probably 4 or 5 years old. This was the time of the 35mm cameras, no digital!


Sadie absolutely adored Buddy. He had never had another dog on the farm and was always trained to chase off 'intruders'. While Sadie was part of the family, he never really liked her, but put up with her and she tried her hardest these past 4 years to try and get him to like her. Even the day he passed, she was licking his ears and face and he actually let her. He must have been that much in pain. SHe followed him everywhere, just like a shadow and he dealt with it :)



Sadie again with Buddy after her attempt to face lick ended LOL.


Here is buddy the night we decided to put him down. In less than four days, Buddy had gone from acting like a 5 month old puppy, to refusing to eat, excrete, or move. We found out after a morning at the vet's office that he was anemic, his white blood cell count was 3 times higher than it should be and that he was bleeding from a burst tumor near his spleen and it had gotten into his lungs and stomach. My sister and Grandpa put him in the garage and he had made it to the barn, mostly likely to die quietly away from the family he loved. It was with a tremendously sad heart that I watched the vet and her daughter help to ease his suffering. Moments after he passed, I went to pick him up, just like I did the day I found him sleeping in the petting barn with his brother, but this time I carried him over to a hole that had been dug, next to our last dog, Sammy. In the peaceful rain, in the fading moments of the day, I buried my Buddy, my pal, the who I laughed with, played with, and yes, got mad at. But at the end of the day he knew that he was loved by many, and that he loved us.

I'll see ya when I get there my friend........