Thursday, April 9, 2009

Congress to Buy Sheep for the White House Lawn



WASHINGTON (DP) Sheep may safely graze on the White House lawn for the first time since the Wilson administration.

Congress shepherded in a special financial allocation for the purchase of sheep to crop and fertilize the lawn at the Executive Mansion. The use of sheep will eliminate the need for gasoline-powered lawn mowers and petroleum-based fertilizers.

The Congressional bipartisan, ad hoc committees formed last month to support the White House vegetable garden have been a resounding success. Starting today, two new committees will expand the scope of Congressional aid to the White House grounds.

Organic Lawn
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)

Sheep
Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO)
Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)

The vegetable garden committees established a few weeks ago are still accepting new members.

The Sheep committee, however, is being quite selective and turned down an application from Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA).


20 comments:

Janet, The Queen of Seaford said...

pretty good Daffodil Planter!

Becca's Dirt said...

Nice blog. This is my first visit to your blog and I'll be back to read more. Have a Happy Easter to you and your family.

Unknown said...

Too funny. Hey I put sheep on my post today - only they look more like long haired shaggy dogs with hooves. ;-)

VW said...

So ever since I made a comment on your "Congressional Support for WH Veggie Garden" post about being in charge of the pest-eating sheep because of my last name, I've been meaning to come back and correct the comment. Of course I know that sheep eat grass, not pests. If they ate earwigs, I might keep one in my backyard. My kids currently have stuffed animals that we refer to as the Woolley lambs (and we feel so witty while saying it). Maybe they could all get REAL LIVE Woolley lambs to trim our backyard. Wonder how the HOA would feel about that.

Anonymous said...

First a vegetable garden and now sheep. Where does it end? Making up the deficit with the White House Petting Zoo, Tomato Stand and Tilt-a-Whirl?

Actually, sounds like fun. Count me in.

Heather said...

I will watch all the new stations on earth if that ever really happens. I love it!
Heather

"Daffodil Planter" Charlotte Germane said...

I feel somewhat sheepish (ouch!) to be responding to your kind comments so late in the day.

Anyone who reads this far deserves a reward, so here is a bonus round from yesterday's contest: What is the connection between the word "sheepish", an older sister of the Dowager Duchess, and Evelyn Waugh? The first (only?) reader to answer correctly will be lauded and prominently featured in a future post.

"Daffodil Planter" Charlotte Germane said...

Janet, Nice to give a morning laugh to the Queen of Seaford!

Welcome, Becca's Dirt! Thank you for stopping by and please come again. I'll be visiting you too.

Hi RainGardener, Yes, the sheep in your photo still had their big winter coats on. Shaggy and cute.

VW, A family named Woolley has got to investigate this. Would the HOA let you have a pair of miniature sheep?

SusanGardenChick, I'm liking your fairground theme. There are a couple of Representatives, Fudge and Goodlatte (I'm not making this up!) who could do the concession stand.

Heather, Truthfully, I think sheep and an organic lawn would be an excellent plan. When Mrs. Wilson was First Lady she had the sheep's wool sold to benefit the Red Cross. There's already lots of security at the White House, so the sheep would indeed be safe.

Tessa said...

Thanks for the laugh tonight! I sure like you're sense of humor- keeps me going!

Rob (ourfrenchgarden) said...

The green, greenhouse encore. They'll keep the lawn trim and create lots of lovely manure.

Rob

Jenny said...

Well, I have to admit I didn't know the answer to your bonus round question off the top of my head, but I had enough of the idea to know where to dig, so to speak! Decca Mitford, three years older than her sister Diana, our friend the Duchess of Cavendish, had a pet sheep named Miranda that she was extremely fond of. She referred to things that she liked as "sheepish" and things that she didn't as "goatish." Evelyn Waugh, who seems to have spent a lot of time hanging around those interesting Mitford sisters, picked up the notion of "sheepish" as a term of praise. But he was strange even before he got bogged down with the Mitfords. Hey, if you're really going to feature whoever answers this question, I promise to actually talk about gardening and not some of my other off-beat interests!

"Daffodil Planter" Charlotte Germane said...

A WINNER IN THE BONUS ROUND!

Jenny, of the marvelous blog http://streamsandforests.wordpress.com/ also listed in the "non-gardening" section at the bottom of my blogroll, has done it!

Older sister Decca (Jessica) did indeed own Miranda the sheep. Ed. note, the Dowager Duchess is Deborah, not Diana. Waugh used the word sheepish in his novel Vile Bodies.

Huzzah for Jenny!

"Daffodil Planter" Charlotte Germane said...

DirtDigger, Thanks for laughing!

Rob, The White House is greening up so fast I can hardly stay ahead of it with my jokes. i wait to see who is the first U.S. journalist to use your moniker for the place!

Anonymous said...

The committee members will need a committee too. I wouldn't think the White House would ever need to haul in fertilizer. They have a surplus.

"Daffodil Planter" Charlotte Germane said...

Flowergardengirl, I was waiting for the "politicians/fertilizer" joke, and here it is at last!

Luke said...

Well, the next time the government tries to pull the wool over our eyes, at least it will be local, organic wool.

"Daffodil Planter" Charlotte Germane said...

Maranta, Love the way you wove that into the conversation.

Carol said...

I think it would be great to see sheep out on the LAWN ... once chemical free! Great Idea and the best laugh would be to make it so.... Call Congress! Why Not? Love Maranta's comment too!

"Daffodil Planter" Charlotte Germane said...

Welcome Carol! I will highlight this post for Earth Day--seems like a practical idea to me, once the lawn is safe to eat.

Rhonda said...

Just ROFL...the wolf thing really got me...what fun it is to visit you..LOL