As an admirer of nature and all her various species, I keep an eye out for any curious or interesting scenes that I might encounter on my journey along the way. I want to share with you some of the scenes that I spotted on my recent outing onto the road less travelled. My region of the planet is quite open and spacious, with plenty of land and not many people. However, there are numerous interesting animals that I come across, dotted along the path. Here are some fascinating and picturesque images for the collection, showing just how beautiful life is in all its variety.
Goatee
Now here is a little chap that was quite a handful. My nurturing side was exercised when I had the opportunity to spend some time feeding this baby goat. I got to feed him some milk formula in a baby’s bottle, which he devoured eagerly each time. His mother wasn’t around so I had to hand feed him instead, three times a day. It was quite a business, I’m sure you can imagine.
I don’t know if you’ve ever spent time with these characters but they can really get up to mischief if left untended. They love to follow you around like a pet dog. In fact when I went walking with the dogs, he jumped into the pack and followed along as if he was one of them. Charming, yet also a reminder not to let your guard down, when he’s around.
As you can see, he will casually wonder in to the farm house and roam around, if given a chance. And he will eat all your flowers and carefully cultivated garden plants at any opportunity, so fences and animal husbandry is crucial if you’re going to have these guys around in your life.
Cowboy
Fortunately Goatee had a friend to hang out with. I eventually had to put him in a stable, or manger, if you prefer. He spent some time with the young calf that needed tending and the two of them were like chalk and cheese. Goatee couldn’t sit still and bounced about restlessly in constant search of some more milk. Cowboy on the other hand, was the epitome of peace and calmness, as you can see in these photos of them together.
I can understand why the devil is traditionally depicted as a goat because they can be quite mischievous. The cow, on the opposite side of the spectrum, is known to engender a calm disposition in whomever has the chance to observe them for some time in their natural environment. That’s excluding the raging bull season, of course, when the horns can also be rather dangerous. That is the rare exception though, and generally the cows are placid and docile, making them one of the wonders of the natural world because they feed humans with their milk and don’t run away. This makes them easy to corral and harness as a source of food, without actually killing them.
I personally am totally against any animal slaughter, having been a vegetarian since the age of 19, over 30 years ago. Cows are like one of my mothers, as I learned in India, and the mother of society, thanks to their milk. Thus I prefer to respect and protect my mothers, rather than abuse or exploit her. It depends on your upbringing, and more than that (because I was raised a meat eater) it depends on your capacity for compassion, a dying quality in the world today.
Ideally love of nature leads to respect for all life, particularly warm-blooded mammals who have the same nervous system as we humans do. As the apex species on the planet, we humans have the responsibility to care for the lesser creatures. Sadly that concept is long lost upon our brutal world in this degraded age. We are now conditioned since birth by wicked and low class people to put profit above life, and so morals and ethics went out the window a long time ago.
Nevertheless, I have cultivated my own standard of morality, based on my world wide education which included a year of study and travel in India in my youth. It was there that I learned what a true civilized life could be like. And it included cow protection and respect for all life, and the need to avoid behaving like a polished animal myself. This is a mature and sophisticated approach to life, originally found in the ancient Vedic culture of old India, where cows are respected.
Snake in the grass
Here is a very rare sighting and photograph of a deadly snake called the puff-adder, common in these parts. I just managed to glimpse him as I drove by. I stopped to capture a photo, but these shy and elusive snakes tend to retreat rather than confront anyone - unless they are stepped on, of course. So the photos is not great but at least it's a record of just such a rare encounter. Actually they are all over among us in the long grass all the time, and we may not realize how close we are to one of nature's killers.
Bascat
I will leave you with this slightly cheesy cat picture, even though I was bashing cat photos the other day for the depth of their cheese factor. Anyway, all that fondness for cows has inspired my appetite for cheese. So here is my cat photo with which I will leave you. Ponder on the realization that a cat or a dog is exactly like a cow in feeling and nervous system. If the thought of killing our pet cat or dog seems repulsive, then why is it so easy for us to kill an even bigger sentient and feeling creature like a cow? It shows to me some sort of flawed logic.
Each to their own I guess. We all have different insights and philosophical perspectives to the nature of reality on this planet. We share it with such lovely creatures and today I share my experience of these natural treasures with you for your pleasure.
(photos my own)