A bit of preaching as Easter approaches

This Easter, don't do the following:

• Buy or support businesses who buy dyed or colored chicks. This is sick. Don't endorse it. They usually croak, anyway, and . . . well . . . eew. Just say no. 

• Buy a live housemule. Sure, a rabbit is the perfect symbol of spring—cute, fuzzy, and fertile! If you want a surprise for Easter morning, do your research now and then give a gift certificate good for the adoption of a spayed or neutered rabbit from your local animal shelter. Be prepared to house, exercise, feed, socialize, and clean up after a destructive and lively housepet for upwards of a decade thereafter. 

• Give your dogs chocolate. Even by accident. It's poisonous to them. Rein in your "chocolates for Fido" impulse and channel it into some "carrots for Trigger" behavior instead. 

• Eat a factory-farmed ham. I'd like to say "why eat meat?" but since not everyone loves grasses as much as me and FarmWife, I'll limit the proselytizing to, "why not buy from a local farmer who cares about his stock?" Delicious doesn't have to be synonymous with tortured. 

Do, however, do this:

• Play. 
• Bray. 
• Feast. 
• Breathe.
• Shine.

Ears to you,
Fenway Bartholomule