Things are different

The horses and mule above make a nice tableau. Ben, the mule lying in the midst, has gathered a nice bunch of friends and is their protector. At least it seems that way. The big horses really love him. Usually when you have geldings and mares together, the mares are the dominant ones. And when you toss in a mule, he/she is at the total bottom of esteem. Ben’s different, and is totally accepted by the horses. Whether he’s really dominant, we don’t know. He is just about the biggest animal around if that counts for anything.

Though you can’t tell from the picture above, this year we have grass so high it’s difficult to walk through it without a map and a GPS receiver or you get lost, corn-maze-like. (In the rest of the world, is it “Maize-maze?”) The horses are slowly evolving giraffe-like necks in order to eat it. Trees, shaded by the tall grass, are growing pale-colored stunted leaves, and may not produce nuts this season. Low-flying aircraft are getting grass stains on their underbellies. Grasshoppers can only go up the stems so far till they fall off, gasping for breath, not only from the rigorous climb, but the thin air.

Things are different.