Tuesday, October 20, 2015

October 20, 2015 - Party's End


The hills look like frosted cakes, awash with delicious icing and dotted with gumdrops.  And even though more and more of the trees are becoming bare, the band continues to play and the party goes on.  In the far background the cows still enjoy the meadows and feast on the seeds, a delicacy which fattens them up and gets them ready for the cold.

The party is winding down.

The factory farms cheat nature by feeding a great deal of grain to the animals to make them very fat all at once, much fatter than they would normally become.  Nature’s way is to provide the seeds slowly at first as they ripen in the fall so that the cows can deal with the adjustment in digestion.  Too many seeds at once can cause serious gastric distress.  A gradual increase makes it much easier on the cows.  Then they fatten naturally in the fall and use the extra weight to help them get through the winter.

Everything is the way it should be.  The party cake will disappear soon, and the decorations will come down.  It will be as bittersweet as it was when you were a child and a birthday party was over.  Everything was so festive!  The anticipation of games and food and presents was so exciting.  Then it was all done and the music stopped playing and the colorful streamers were all removed.  The balloons were given out or deflated.  The garlands were folded up and put away again.  The few party hats and horns that were left were already broken.  Then the house was put back to normal and vacuumed and made quiet once again.