Full day

[altivo]

But I'm not sure what it was full of. Spent some time watching the sheep from a distance only to confirm my suspicion that the one who is off his feed and looking distraught is in fact being bullied by the other males, who butt him, push him around, and won't let him eat or sleep in peace. No wonder he spends all his time hugging a wall or a fence.

Gary's musical friends, or at least some of them, came over for a rehearsal this afternoon. That meant we had to clean house this morning (much needed anyway) and everything was disarranged so I had nowhere to work for a while though I was able to spin and listen while they practiced.

Then I spend about 40 minutes editing and printing up a lead sheet for him of "Summertime" from Porgy & Bess because I had suggestions about the way in which they were doing it. Their rendition isn't bad, but could be much improved by a few tiny changes, in my opinion. Go Lilypond. I'm getting fairly good at it now.

Then I got caught up in explaining the chord symbols to him, because he'd never seen augmented, diminished, minor 6th, or 9th chords before. Once we managed to get to where we were speaking the same language (he only plays weird instruments like the hammered dulcimer and the concertina, neither of which lends itself to straightforward music theory that is easy to see on a keyboard) I was horrified to see him open Access and put in definitions of those new chord structures (so many notes, and the number of half-steps above the tonic for each note) and then give a print command and out popped a full set of chord charts for the concertina, including all the new chords he had defined. I kid you not, chord charts. The printout had little graphics with the buttons for each hand blacked in and arrows indicating whether it was a pull or push on the bellows. In the time he must have spent writing and debugging that in Access (shudder) he could have just memorized all those chords, or at least learned the theory to figure one out in his head.

Comments

[corelog.livejournal.com]

*slyly* Well, would it have been a better scenario if he'd written that database in something Linuxy instead of Windows-Accessy? ;)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

No, actually. Access is a horrid thing to do complex stuff in, I do believe that, especially stuff like he was doing, but my reaction was just to the whole idea of using a computer to do that when he could have just learned the necessary theory in half the time it took to write the program. I'd have the same reaction, no matter what software or operating system was involved.

He's had this program for quite a while, actually. I knew it existed, I just had no idea how detailed it was. Concertinas are keyed diatonic instruments. So to change keys from say, G to A, you switch concertinas. The program transposes chord symbols and layouts from one key to another, as well as working out where they lie under the player's fingers. It's an impressive piece of work, but a very roundabout approach to a straightforward problem.

[tanamin.livejournal.com]

I remember seeing a Saturday Night Live sketch with Garrett Morris (Most of these kids today are going, "Who?" Young whippersnappers. Get the hell off of my lawn!) singing selections from "Porky and Bess" with an exagerated stutter. What the heck, I thought it was funny at the time.

I should really get back into the music habit. I bought a native recorder from a recent trip to Sedona, Arizona that has a beautiful, mellow voice. I think I'll start taking it to work and noodling with it to get the old chops back.

I'm sure there are evolutionary reasons for the sheep behavior, but it does suck when viewed from a human perspective. While I try to avoid anthropomorphising *real* animals, it still makes you feel bad to see things like this happen to the wee beasties. Even thought you know intellectually that it's just their nature, it still tugs at your heart strings.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yeah. It must be hardening of the sensibilities associated with age or something, but at one time I would have been really torn up about the sheep thing. My mate still is. If it were a horse or a dog, I'd still be having a hard time over it, but sheep just don't have a lot of brain cells I'm afraid.

On the other hand, the parallels to the ways I was treated by other kids when I was in school are striking and disturbing if I start to think about it.

[songdogmi.livejournal.com]

Do you think there's something physically wrong with the poor bullied sheep? More precisely, was he sick before the other sheep started pushing him around, so that their behavior could be described as trying to protect the flock? Or are they making him decline?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

It's very difficult to be sure with sheep. Even a vet might not know except by autopsy. Medical knowledge for inexpensive herd animals is focused on herd treatment. Cut the losses, isolate the sick, use preventive care for the flock or herd. Sheep, goats, rabbits, poultry all fall into that pattern.

Other than the ram, this one is the oldest male we have. All except the flock ram are in fact neutered. Wethers, they are called. Salt (the one being ostracized) has always been a bit of an outsider as the flock grew in size. Hung around the outside of groups. Didn't push for his share of the food but waited for the leftovers. He was the white lamb in a pair of black and white twins. His sister, Pepper, was the one we gave away to friends last year, along with her own twin black and white lambs. His mother is still in the flock but she's a loner too for the most part, though she does tolerate him near to her. Interestingly, the ram also tolerates him, with a sort of indifference. But the other four (three of them are neutered males) all clearly dislike him and feel a need to show their dominance. I'm sure it's all normal flock psychology, but from a human point of view it's cruel.

And, from my own point of view, as someone who was often treated in the same way, it seems particularly nasty. I just don't know what to do about it. Salt and his parents are now the oldest sheep we have, and that may be part of it. He and his mother are genetically isolated from the rest of the flock too, with the rest all being twice descended from the ram (who is their father and grandfather) so in a clannish sense they are outsiders.

There's actually a similar situation with the ducks. We have only five of them left, two hens and three drakes. Three different breeds in the group, which doesn't matter to the ducks themselves. But the male runner, who is physically lighter and smaller than the other two, is very much bullied by the other two males. His behavior shows it, as he rushes to get out of their way or even hide from them. Though I haven't seen it happen, the state of his feathers in the spring often suggests that the others have been mounting him, probably as a dominance display.

Frankly, if I needed evidence for evolution and the connection of humans with the rest of the animal kingdom, this would be enough. But I have no doubt that evolution is basically true. Can't imagine how any intelligent person could deny it.