Thursday, July 15, 2010

Don't Think About What Else Your Food Looks Like

Bigger Girl works with cows. She has learned to love them, or at least most of them.

She has come to like watching the mama teach her calf how to lower his head and threaten anyone who comes by.

She talks to them, and she likes watching how they respond.

She has not made any progress at learning to like Kamikaze, the cow that she claims keeps trying to kill her. That is understandable.

The cows at the research center have a very easy life. Cows produce a fluid in the uterus that they use to incubate horse embryos that they are genetically researching. Twice a week, Monday and Thursday, some of the cows are herded in and the fluid drained. They make sure no one cow is drained more than twice a month.

The cows are considered contaminated because they have been at a research institution, so they cannot be sold for slaughter, so when they get too old, they are just put out to pasture.

Part of this procedure of getting the fluid the cows produce involves making sure the fluid doesn't become contaminated by what I will delicately call "cow pie ingredients." So they take care of that business end of the animal first.

Bigger Girl loves cows now, and she loves spinach soup. She no longer loves spinach soup on Mondays and Thursdays.


Today is

Birth of Setekh -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (god of dischord)

Cow Appreciation Day

Feast of Rowana -- Druid (rowan tree goddess)

Festival of Castor and Pullox -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Festival of Santa Rosalia -- Palermo; Sicily

Get To Know Your Customers Day (celebrated quarterly)

Gummi Worm Day

Ides of July -- Ancient Roman Calendar

I Love Horses Day

National Tapioca Pudding Day

No-Hitter Day

Petal-Hopping for Beginners Day -- Fairy Calendar

Respect Canada Day

Shark Awareness Day

St. Bonaventure's Day

St. Swithin's Day

St. Vladimir of Kiev's Day


Birthdays Today

Tanner Maguire, 1998
Emily Roeske, 1991
Brian Austin Green, 1973
Beth Stern, 1972
Forest Whitaker, 1961
Kim Alexis, 1960
Jesse Ventura, 1951
Linda Ronstadt, 1946
Jan-Michael Vincent, 1944
Alex Karras, 1935
Clive Cussler, 1931
Mother Cabrini, 1850
Thomas Bulfinch, 1796
Clement Clarke Moore, 1779
Rembrandt Van Rijn, 1606


Today in History

Christian soldiers take the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after the final assault of a difficult siege, 1099
John Ball, a leader in the Peasants' Revolt, is hanged, 1381
Alexei Chirikov sights land and sends men ashore in a longboat, making them the first Europeans to visit Alaska, 1741
The Rosetta Stone is found in the Egyptian village of Rosetta by French Captain Pierre-François Bouchard during Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign, 1799
Zebulon Pike begins an expedition from Fort Belle Fountaine to explore the west, 1806
Napoléon Bonaparte surrenders aboard HMS Bellerophon, 1815
A fire destroys the ancient Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, 1823
Georgia becomes the last of the former Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union, 1870
The stratovolcano Mount Bandai, Japan, erupts killing approximately 500 people, 1888
In Seattle, Washington, William Boeing and George Conrad Westervelt incorporate Pacific Aero Products (later renamed Boeing), 1916
Eighteen Nobel laureates sign the Mainau Declaration against nuclear weapons, later co-signed by thirty-four others, 1955
AOL Time Warner disbands Netscape Communications Corporation; the Mozilla Foundation is established on the same day, 2003

2 comments:

  1. That sounds a bit like the research unit at our state college nearby, they have lots of animals that would be wonderful for having, but can't be because they are 'research' animals, and might contaminate or cause problems with other animals. But it's fun to see the sheep barns in spring!

    I must say, you come up with some interesting items for your "date" items!

    Cat

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you, Cat. This research area has only horses, goats, and cows.

    Lots of sites to check for those dates, and I try to research the accuracy. Sometimes it is a judgment call, though.

    ReplyDelete

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