Chad and I have now been staying with John for over a week.  Sylvia is still recovering from her surgery in the hospital, but is hoping to get out soon so she'll be here at least a couple days with us.  Even though the days go by really fast, it seems like forever ago that we first came here.  Every morning we let the animals out of their pens; feed and water them, water Sylvia's garden, pick any vegetables or apples that are ready, take the dogs for a nice long and exhausting (for us) walk, and then feed and close up the animals again at night.  In the in-between time, we've done a little bit of lots of other things, the ones I can remember right now include painting shed doors, repairing the tractor barn (Chad did most of this; I held some spider-covered boards), potting strawberry plants, weeding, and doing the cooking.  We made a mince-meat marrow dish I'm going to try to remake when we get home.  (Marrow, I have come to find out is actually just zucchini.  When I explained this to John, he asked, 'whose bikini?')  Chad would like me to add that one of our daily jobs is to chase away the Irish banshees.  This, of course, is blarney. 
We went to see the Mitchelstown Caves yesterday which were huge and gorgeous.  (http://www.dirl.com/tipperary/mitchelstown-cave/)  Sometimes they hold concerts and church services down in one of the largest caverns which would be incredible to see.  The acoustics would be unbelievable.  We were tempted to break away from the group and go spelunking by ourselves down the many dark and winding passageways that we weren't allowed to go on.  The tour only covered a third of what was actually down there. 
Today we went into Cahir, which is a nice little Irish town, best known for its immense castle.  (http://www.castles.ancientireland.org/cahir/index.htm)  The whole castle was so well preserved, it actually felt like we could have been walking through centuries ago, when lords and ladies lived there.  Chad pretended to be a knight.  We found our way down dark winding steps to the dungeons.  Not where you would want to have a picnic, for sure.  The same family, The Butlers, who owned the castle also owned the 'Swiss Cottage,' which was about a mile down the road.  This was their 'play house' where they would entertain guests, and even though it was a very large and fully functioning, they never actually spent a night there.  The 'cottage' was built with a nature theme, and was used when the aristocrats wanted to go 'pretend they were peasants,' as was the fashion for rich people to do for fun back in the day.
Congratulations to Uncle Matt and Naomi on your wedding!  We are so happy for you and so wish that we could have been there! 

Dia dhuit! ('hello' in Gaelic....at least according to google) - there really is no way to be sure; seeing that I've only met one person here who actually speeks Gaelic and ,as charming as he is, I can barely understand him.
          This is Chad, by the way. As you've probably noticed, Jillian has been doing all of the blogging thus far. But I thought I'd take a shot at it.
          So it's day #5 and already Ireland is begining to feel like a second home. The narrow, one lane road makes taking the dogs for a walk seem like a safety hazard with these European speed limits; and the ducks don't have an easy time of splitting up into their assigned huts in the evening. But these slight quirks just make Jillian look frantic and crazy....which I enjoy. Sylvia sent back a recepe from the hospital for a blackberry liquor which she would like us to make. So today Jillian and I went out to pick blackberries from the bushes along the road. All was going smoothly and the bag was beginning to fill up; but the repetition of berry picking started to take it's toll on my attention span. Being in another country doesn't change the fact that I'm still a little brother....and that we have duties. So I took aim and lobbed a particularly mushy berry at Jillian's face. Score. Seeing that I normally get away with these types of acts completely unscathed, I went back to my picking without a care....Well, the Irish in Jillian must be letting loose because no more than two minutes later I had a neck full of berry juice. That was the moment that blackberry warfare broke loose. In the end, more purple than not, we truced and washed off in a nearby creek. I think we've still got enough berries for the liquor :).
           We had dinner at the home of some freinds of John and Slyvia. It was an inctredibly beautiful home set on a hillside that is just as breathtaking. After purchasing an old farmhouse that stood vacant for many years, they gutted it, tore much of it down, and entirely remodled it; complete with stone walls and a thatched roof. So I think I may move in with them after I retire....hope they don't mind. Anyhow, all that was a set up so that I could talk about what we had for dinner. The potatoes, applesause, stuffing, ham, pork, and red wine were all delightful; but the big kicker of the meal for me was the crackle. Crackle is wonderfully crunchy and has a really focused flavor, it gets cooked along with the pork and the ham, and comes from the same source. It's the skin of the pig, and although it probably has health factors equivilent to that of bacon grease, I thorougly enjoyed it.
            Alright, I'm off to bed.

Our second day in Dublin was spent in museums and parks.  We took pictures with the Oscar Wilde statue in Merrion Square, took a nap in St, Stephen's Green, Chad ogled over ancient swords in the National Museum, and we stared at a giant assortment of stuffed animal in The Natural History Museum.
We have now been at our first farm a day and a half.  We are staying with Sylvia and John, who are an English couple who moved to Ireland several years ago, and could not be more charming.  Sylvia had a hip replacement just before we arrived, and so will be staying at the local hospital while we are here.  They have animals literally all over the place.  Everytime I turn around I see another cat perched upon a cabinet, or another rooster waddling towards me in the yard.  They have a retired racehorse named Puff, who we are already in love with.  One of our jobs is to do the cooking while Sylvia is away, and Chad has already cooked some fine steaks and chicken.  John drove us into the mountains up to a beautiful lake so that we could see some Ireland scenery.  He wanted us to bring his three dogs with us as we climbed to the lake, and 'take a gamble' with them even though the leashes were not in the car.  Chad and I, knowing nothing, thought this would be a fine idea and took off down the path running with the delighted dogs, and taking carefree pictures of ourselves on a beaten path in the mountains of Ireland.  In Irish mountains, the sheep roam about freely, something we found to be charming.  As it turns out, so did the dogs.  One second they were on the path with us, the next they were down one side of the mountain and halfway up the other after the unsuspecting sheep.  We took a moment to freak out, and then bolted after them.  Chad eventually was able to wrestle Lucy, the Belgian Shepherd, off a sheep and rally up the other dog.  The first dog that Chad caught and gave me to hold somehow knows how to escape her collar and she bounded away to join the others.  We somehow got them all back in one piece.  Fortunately, I didn't learn until after the fact that farmers shoot dogs that chase after sheep in Ireland.  It was our first real adventure!

We're in Dublin!  We made it here without any crazy mishaps and they let us into the country without too much trouble which is significantly wonderful.  The man checking our passports was a little wary- he had never heard of WWOOFing before and found the organization hilarious and slightly suspicious so he took our mug shots and information.  So now we are in the system and they can keep an eye on us. 
Spent the day walking around parts of Dublin.  We toured an old church with a crypt full of mummies underneath that you had to climb down a dark winding staircase to reach.  Our tour guide knew we were Americans so asked us about the Yankeys throughout the whole tour.  We had crepes (Chad got the 'Irish breakfast crepe,' which justifies having a French meal our first night in Ireland) for dinner and are now going to have to go to bed, as we have both been trying to fight jet lag all day. Love to all.