Folks,

Dux:
Really OT!

One could do worse I think than have Britain as a friend. Perhaps this naming of places is a shared but sincere form of flattery?

Groan! Gag! Before everyone gets to see what I had for lunch, don't you have any kind of meat inspection in the UK? Surely after the 'mad cow' mess a while back something has been instituted....

All meat has to pass vigorous inspection over here. Anything packaged as meat must have actually been part of a living animal at some point recent or past. It can't stink too much or have too much fur or feathers on it. More and more animals are being accepted as worthy of slaughter and ultimate consumption these days. Buffalo and ostrich are two new critters that spring to mind.

Around here there is a lot of deer hunting. Deer are multiplying rapidly and man has encroached upon their dwindling habitat. They are a real nuisance in some areas, a danger in others. All of us motorists have either struck or been struck by deer at some point. Little boys get their first gun with their first pair of pants if not sooner around here. I know several hunters who pride themselves on their venison sausage. Frankly that is the only way I eat venison these days.

There is a little market just outside of town that specializes in packaging all the various parts of the porcine race. I dare say that if you wanted to construct a pig from scratch you could get all the necessary parts there in only a few minutes. They care about quality and make great pork sausage.

We all love hot dogs. And hot dogs are actually sausages. I defy anyone who has not already done so to read the label on their next package of wieners. Not all but many include tripe and various other unpalatable sounding ingredients, snouts, ears and the like. All but the skeleton of brer piggy is considered edible by someone. It is good then not to be a pig.