Early in my veterinary career I developed a respect for the machinery used to restrain large beasts.

We all face our own addictions – to chocolate, horse training clinics or chewing tobacco.

The countryside is being checkerboarded by a new wave of settlers identified by ad agencies as rural lifestylers.

I took a trip back in time.

Oh, no, just when they were beginning to wear me down, a new study concludes that by 2100, forests in the mid and high latitudes will make some places up to 10 degrees warmer than they would be if the forests did not exist!

I was walkin’ back to the house about 9:30 p.m. It was dark.

Why do the names “The Conservation Fund” and “Natural Resource Defense Council” send a chill down my spine?

• I like chicken. I only wish it tasted more like chicken. • Hungry people don’t protest genetically modified foods. • What is the difference between the people who worked for F.E.M.A. in the wake of Hurricane Katrina vs. the reporters, politicians and movie stars who jostled each other for sound bites?

I was having a nice visit with the proprietor of Family Meats in his butcher shop in Caloundra, Queensland. His specialties included chopped beef and kidney pie makings, BBQ ronelli and lamb loin chops for A$16.99 a kilo. A sign at the counter said, “Antibiotic and Hormone Free!”

This last winter and spring drought stalked its way down through the sandhills of Nebraska, across Kansas and Oklahoma, stopped long enough to torch the Texas panhandle, scorched New Mexico, then drove a stake in the heart of Arizona’s rangeland.