Intended Audience

When I was in elementary and middle school and we had to do writing projects (which were a favorite part of school for me) one of the rules which was always repeated was, "decide who your intended audience is first".   When I started this blog, the audience was my family back in West Branch, who is still primarily who I write this for (particularly the political posts-haha), but a few times lately, I've had some vivid reminders that just because that might be my INTENDED audience, it by no means IS my audience.

The first time I ran into the problem of unexpected readership was when I entered a radio contest with a poem to win lobster or something and then when I lost (undeservedly so!! haha) I complained about it on here and one of the judges of the contest left a comment.  I had never suspected that one of our local radio broadcasters was a reader of my blog.
Then, over Christmas, some of the cards we received included comments that mentioned following the blog.  And not people that I would have expected to follow it.
Since then, two incidences in particular have made the anti-anonymity of the blog a little too real.  One, was when the son of the owner of Bio-Ag (who we are now dealers for) came for a visit from Ontario and in his email before arriving wrote something along the lines of, "..and I've been reading up on the blog, so have some idea what I'm getting into", or "what to expect" or something.
Second was when I got called for an interview for the Maritime Noon radio show and the journalist mentioned reading up on the blog and that they would not be mentioning my Peter McKay comments.

So, with all these things in mind, suddenly my stream-of-consciousness, ranting and op-eds are not quite as easy to channel. 
That said, I'm not one to censor myself very well and there is nothing on here that I wished I hadn't written (especially the Harper and McKay comments!), so I'll probably just continue to embarrass myself and remember that despite reading the blog and 'having ideas of what to expect', both the Bio Ag rep and the journalist continued thier initial missions of dealing with us/me and I think both rather enjoyed my...er...spirited self.  ?

Actually we had a great visit with Parry, from Bio-Ag and although there's a lot to learn, Mark and I are looking forward to learning even more about the products and seeing where this venture takes us.  We're hoping to get to Ont. sometime to check it all out and meet the crew.  It is really nice to know we're supporting a 'small' company rather than a huge, faceless, corporation.
But our visit to Ontario will have to wait because Mark and I are off to Nfld. for a little getaway in Feb.  Yes, I realize the Rock is not exactly a vacation hotspot in Feb. but according the agricultural calendar that is the only time we can reliably get away with the least amount of responsibility left behind.  It's two weeks before Rosie's due to calf, the lambs have all arrived and there's no chickens on pasture.  The kids of course are a large load of responsibility, but my tireless mother is a bugger for punishment and has graciously accepted that load. 
We have friends in St.Johns who we're really looking forward to seeing, but I think we'll probably mostly just enjoy eating at our pace, using the washroom without interruption or an audience, sleeping past 6am, reading a real live book, and going to some pubs.  If anyone has some suggestions for St. John's attractions, please let me know!  We're flying and only there for a few days, so given the time of year, will probably not get very far out of the city. In preparation for the trip (and to lessen the monotony of reading the same damn books of the kids') I've started reciting the favorites with a strong Nfld. accent.  They get a great kick out of it, although I think my accent is probably pretty terrible. 
Check out this hilarious YouTube video I saw the other day, speaking of Nfld (although it could be Cape Breton too).  The video is pretty funny, but the commentary near the end is FAR funnier.  Make sure you have the volume up to hear both voices near the end.  (warning-a little explicit for the kiddies if they're watching).

     
Feb. may be the best time farm-wise to leave, but it still leaves our snowblowing customers a bit up a snowy creek. Thankfully we have a neighbour who can fill in, but here's hoping for a dry spell while we're gone- for everyone's sake-including ours while we're in the air!

Well, this entry has been pretty tame, so I'll be sure to pep it up it a bit next time.  Heavens, I wouldn't want to be considered one them green 'radicals' that our dear friend Joe Oliver is all worked up about.  argh.
barf. 

Hope this finds you cozied up on these frigid days!  Makes for some mighty rosy cheeks and really makes ya question the effort in getting the 400 piece snowsuit on three kids for a grand total of 5 minutes of fresh air.

-Sally