Winter doesn’t officially start until the 21st,
but according to our thermometer, it has already made an untimely and largely
unwelcome appearance. Bringing us recent lows of -13° F to -18° F and highs
only in the single digits, winter has rather rudely deposed autumn.
Of all our animals, the cows seem the least
bothered by the cold, perhaps because we keep them on the chubby side to
insulate them for just such untoward weather. They also have abundant pasture
to provide calories as well as fuel for the rumination process. In a cow’s rumen, which is essentially a
60-gallon fermentation vat, millions of microorganisms break down
carbon-hydrogen-oxygen bonds, producing heat. The more fiber in the rumen, the
more heat is produced.
Meanwhile, we humans rely on Thermoses of coffee
or hot tea, numerous layers of under- and outerwear, our warmest boots and
hats, and multiple pairs of wool socks and mittens to keep us warm when we’re
out doing chores. But still we get cold and scurry back into the house, where
we pretend we have rumens and need to eat another Christmas cookie to keep us
warm!
 |
| Princess, relaxed and napping this 8° F morning |
“While the earth remains,
seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night
shall not cease.” –GENESIS
8:22 (AMP)
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