As I was getting bored following the road on the Burren Way, I, from time to time made loops into the countryside. On one of them I came upon this... which I take to be a sheep or goat's jaw bone. What I can't figure is why that is the only part of the carcass remaining...
Back on the road, I was wondering why this particular road was the 'Burren Way'. Maybe it goes through areas of outstanding natural beauty, I though. Then I looked to the side of the road (photo) and realised that wasn't it!
Much further on, I went off the beaten path again and found a major piece of western Irish folk architecture... This structure is only ten feet tall, seems to date originally from the 18th century and was the seat of government for the West of Ireland Leprechauns, and home to the King of the Leprechauns from then until the late 1970s. The structure was renovated in the early part of the 20th century but has remained empty since the dreadful ethnic cleansing of 1978 when the new Irish prime minister Charles Haughey, sold them ot the Walt Disney Corporation and they were forcibly transported to Disneyland. ;O)
Still later, I got to see the megalithic wedge tomb at the top of Deelin Beg.... (Checked it out, there wasn't even a jawbone left...)
In fact, the wedge tombs, of which there are many in the West of Ireland, not just in the Burren having been simply decorative for thousands of years, achieved a certain level of functionality during the middle of the last century, between 1930 when motorised buses came to Connacht and the aforementioned ethnic cleansing of 1978, as there were used by Leprechauns as bus shelters!
This creative ruse was of limited value though, as most of them were not on bus routes...
What Fun, Mike!
Mike, as to the leprechauns' plight, my father says what the US needs (more than certain things that would get me into politcal trouble) is a giant mousetrap - two, actually - one in Florida and the other in California.
About the sheep jaw, it is a proven fact that the jawbones of sheep and other ruminants are the strongest part of the body, surpassed in this particular bit of anatomy only by certain female residents of small towns. Sheep are particularly noted to be rare gossips and the combination of nibbling on tough herbiage and spreading rumors has developed their jawbones into formidable artifacts. Following in the stories of the jawbones of asses being used in battles of Biblical proportions, the US military is now looking into ways in which sheep jawbones can be utilized.
LOL Kathleen!
I needed that this morning.
