This paying of respects comes late, partially because news of her demise was unexpected, but I must pay them.

Humans seem to perceive fairly intuitively that canines – dogs – share some form of sentience with them, some form of perception and experience within range of theirs. And perhaps they perceive this about cats. In my case, with goats, as well. On the tree of Earthly life, we mammals exist on nearby branches and share relatively late-coming ancestors.

Bovines also occupy one such branch, but they'd often struck me as distinctively apathetic. (Why shouldn't they be apathetic? Farm cows typically have little to do but wander fields and roost.)

Daisy (at Caen Hill) was the cow that caused me to perceive this about cows. She was bestowed bananas on my 14000th day (requested by a thoughtful younger sister), which she generally loved. It was one of many occasions on which her unmistakeable enthusiasm – about the opposite of apathy – was forefront, and stood to inspire many more than me.

Daisy, apparently, tested positive for tuberculosis, an infectious disease of the lungs. I don't think the official word was supplied, but I gathered this meant that relocation or euthanization were the only practical options, both of which would have been considered woeful but necessary. Among those carrying the torch of her spirit is Widget, who also receives regular bananas.

It's hard to think of a less deserving being for such a fate, but gratifying to remark on a day-to-day life of such apparent fortune. I don't know whether Daisy would agree if she could have been asked, but I think I decided some time ago that I would take a shorter and richer life over a longer and poorer one.

🍌