Weekend... Ya

[madshutterbug]

Installation of TurboTax took 1 hour 30 minutes. Most of which was the search for, downloading, and intallation of the "updates" since the CD was made and shipped. And that on a high-speed Internet connection. Oh, I just lerves me some software bloat, I does. Software bloat: the Microshaft Virus.

Herself is off to a local SCA horse-related event. Those as attend, with horses, will be qualifying to partake in medieval re-creation equestrian events at the upcoming Gulf Wars. Possibly I will be driving over and photographing some things, as a day trip. Then again, possibly not. I've the Ranch Critters watch, and there are things I really, really want to see done around the house. They are hiking up on my annoyance value list as something which, when done, will help make life more pleasant.

We'll see. One reason for going to the event is could I partake of Roast Hogge, one of the two which we ... hmm, didn't mention that here. OK, brief aside, for those of my LJ readers/friends who may be vegetarian/vegan or simply feel strongly about animal rights. I am a rancher. We raise livestock, and I've been known to say these animals are not pets, they are shares in the "live stock" market. I, too, believe in animal rights; my animals have a right to a healthy environment, to be protected from predators (wild and domestic), to not be abused. We raise our animals essentially "organically", meaning we know what they are being fed, there are no pharmaceutical supplements in the feed (steroids or antibiotics), there are no animal by-products in the feed, and much of what they eat is natural range which grows on our ranch. They do receive pharmaceutical supplements if and when they need them because of their health, and only so long as they need them for that reason.

And as I said, they are not pets. I believe in taking care of them well, because, well, "Gglückliche Schweine sind geschmackvolle Schweine." And on Monday two of them became "geschmackvolle Schweine." Past this date, if there's any discussion about such more... earthy ... aspects of our owning the Ranch, I will put up a notice and a cut. If this aspect of my life is distasteful to you, I understand and accept that.

It will not change the fact, though, that one of the reasons for me going to this event will be to partake of some "geschmackvolle Schweine" prepared by a cook who prides herself on her ability to do true medieval period recipes and have them be very tasty. In this case, very tasty pig. Meanwhile, it's time to go take care of those critters.

Comments

[singingnettle.livejournal.com]

I'm not a big meat eater, but one of these days I do hope to partake of one of your piggies.

We were talking about this sort of thing on a tiny scale the other day. We feed goldfish to our turtles; they are predators and they just can't get everything they need from pelleted food. And I really like the goldfish, which are pretty, smart, curious fish capable of recognizing individuals and bonding with them. Because I'm a wimp, we set up a tank today and pulled out some of our favorites to keep as pets. But the majority of them are food. Until they get eaten, they're ecstatic: coming from the horrible overfilled feeder tank at the pet store where they are starving and attacking each other, they have a 110-gallon pond with ultraviolet radiation and lots of places to explore and plenty of food (and the turtles to tease...until you doesn't jump fast enough. It's all fun and games 'till someone loses a tail.)

Some animals are at the lower end of the food chain, but that's no reason at all, ever, to mistreat them, up until the moment they become food.

[ihgreenman.livejournal.com]

Incidently, this is how we also ended up with a tank of guppies. :)

[singingnettle.livejournal.com]

And why we're never going to have an animal that eats mice, rats, or rabbits.

[madshutterbug.livejournal.com]

See, despite the fact that this seems a contradiction (cats, after all, are preditors with each of those species on their "shopping" list), I understand that. It is possible to keep such conflicts of interest as it were under control. Dogs, for example, are another preditor, and we keep them because they are very helpful on the Ranch and also fun to have around. But we can not tolerate a dog that starts killing livestock. If we've got time and control, we'll find another home for the dog. Otherwise, there's a very difficult choice to be made.