A baaa start for Art Cart's 40th summer
The Citiparks’ Roving Art Cart is more than a cart. It’s an entourage of people under tents leading children in creating various forms of art, from puppetry to easel painting, for nine weeks in a different park each week day.
Art Cart has been rolling out its free summer program for 40 years and it started its first day of the summer this morning in Allegheny Commons Park on the North Side under leaden skies.
Opening day featured something completely different — sheep shearing and wool spinning.
Near the Story Mobile, Jean Adams and her sons had corraled eight sheep from their family farm in Perryopolis. Greenfield Farms trots out its sheep for petting zoos and provides its Belgian horses for carriage rides but it is primarily a farm that has been in the same family for five generations.
Carol Cragos of Manchester set up her spinning wheel and baskets of supplies under a tent to demonstrate to children how the rough, dirty-looking piles of wool that are sheared from a sheep can become yarn for a sweater. She had clean examples that had already been carded.Jean set the first of six sheep she would shear today up on it’s bum with its front legs in the air, explaining to a bevy of open-mouthed children that when their feet leave the ground, they are disabled enough for her to work on the belly without too much fuss.
"This isn't their normal way of relaxing," she said. "But this way they don't mess with me."
As she shaved the first animal down to its birthday suit, several children sat, fascinated. One little boy had a worried look as he watched.
The wool was clearly ready to come off; it had already begun to hang from the animals' flanks in dull ropes like the hair of anarchist hippie chicks. As Jean sheared down the belly of one ewe, the animal tussled mildly.
“It’s like a 2-year-old getting his hair cut,” she said. "They don't mind it a lot, but they’d rather be doing something else.”
1976-77 season saw him go 15-11-5 with a 2.94 goals against average, one shutout and lead the Penguins to a playoff berth. During that spring's postseason, Herron (right) had a 1-2 record with a 3.67 goals against average. In 1977-78, he has had a losing record of 20-25-15 with a 3.57 goals against average and made 1,920 saves, a mark which remains a franchise record. He rebounded in 1978-79 by going 22-19-12 with a 3.37 record and once again led the team to the playoffs where he went 2-5 with a 3.42 goals against average. In the 1979 offseason, he was traded the Canadiens along with a draft pick for Pat Hughes and Rob Holland. After spending three seasons in Montreal and earning a Stanley Cup ring, the Vezina and Jennings Trophies, Herron once again returned to the Penguins in the 1982 offseason when the Canadiens traded him back to Pittsburgh for a draft pick. In 1982-83, Herron saw action in 31 games, went 5-18-5 with a 5.31 goals against average with one shutout. During 1983-84, Herron appeared in 38 games, had an 8-24-2 record with a 4.08 goals against average and one shutout. His final full NHl season was 1984-85. He played in 42 games, went 10-22-3 with a 4.65 goals against average and one shutout. He was limited to three games in 1985-86 and went 0-3-0 with a 4.67 goals against average. Herron was released in the 1986 offseason. Considered one of the more underrated players in franchise history, Herron appeared in 290 regular games with the Penguins, third-most in franchise history among goaltenders, and compiled a record of 88-133-44 with a 3.88 goals against average and six shutouts. In 10 postseason games, he was 3-7 with a 3.49 goals against average.
-Happy 47th birthday to former Penguins defenseman 
There are ramifications a deal like this and the one the Stars gave defenseman Sergei Gonchar ($5 million per season) last week have around the rest of the league as well. If an above average defenseman like Streit (right) is worth $5.2 million, what does an all-star like Kris Letang command when he's scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent next offseason? How are small market teams expected to compete, even with a reduced salary cap, with a salary like this?
Pacific Division