Skip to main content

Public Notice: Mules May Be Beneficial To Your Health

Mule ownership can have its perks—and who knows? It may extend your life, or at least your appreciation of what years you're allotted. Here, for your edification and enjoyment, are five reasons why a longear a day keeps the doctor away, improves your overall well-being, and justifies the expense and trouble of large-animal husbandry.

1) Mules make you smile and laugh. We are funny, endearing, interactive and amusing characters. Studies show that time spent with a pet can boost endorphins, alter mood, and lower blood pressure.  If this can be said for a two ounce parakeet or an eight pound chihuahua, surely a 900 pound mule can offer these benefits and more!

2) We give you a workout without breaking you down. Like horses and cattle, we mules produce many pounds of useful manure every day. This gives you, the humans, the chance to get up and muck out our accomodations—a healthy move in this sedentary modern life! The musculoskeletal and cardiovascular exercise is sure to add years to your life. Unlike horses and cattle, however, we mules know how to manage our manure and keep a clean heap. This means you'll get your daily dose of light work without the risk of repetitive strain injuries that you might have with a slobbier equine. Tennis elbow—or in this case, Manure Fork Elbow—is less of a risk when your animal makes a strategically placed, well-organized and consolidated heap with ideal accessibility and limited sprawl.

3) We grow food, too. See item 2. When composted with straw bedding, our stools are the ideal amendment for a healthy organic vegetable garden! You wanted to eat better? I'll tell you how. Start with plenty of carrots and apples, and don't forget to share!

4) Mules are better than a team-building seminar for improving your interpersonal relationships. We can teach you how to succeed in business and in life: have clear expectations, open communication, and honest and prompt rewards and reinforcements. Respect individual personalities, but maintain sight of your goals. Have patience, persistence, empathy, and a calm, kind, assertive leadership style. Spend more time listening, less time talking. Keep the lines of communication open. Read body language, and know what yours is saying.

5) Mules keep you young. If your passion is climbing on a brilliant, beautiful, half-ton creature and going off into the woods with him, you can't afford to get old. There's too much to live for.

Love,
Fenway


Comments

  1. Your wisdom leaves me at a loss for words-a quite unusual state for me!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fenway, I just wanted to tell you how good of an idea putting links to the feed-lot bound/unwanted longears was! It will help many mule-ish creatures get good homes. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dunewood, I'm flattered, and Lady Longears, it's the least I could do. Please let me know if you find more listings!

    Fen

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks in Advance for Your Mulish Opinion!

Popular Posts

Here are the Cloud Dog's X-Rays

Here, for your edification, are the X-rays of dear Paisley's leg. There is, apparently, no new break (since his Monday siezure) but there is, of course, a great deal of abnormality caused by years of living with a shortened ulna. His pronounced lameness, the vet says, may temporarily improve. Unlike me, Fenway Bartholomule, poor cloud dog can't expect much in the way of a full recovery.   Not having the $$$$ for surgery to fuse the joint, we are working on making some sort of rigid splint to support the limb and prevent further degeneration. That is, the humans (with their space-age material inventions and their opposable thumbs) are working on making a splint; I am working on giving cloud dog brayful looks of support and encouragement every time he totters into the yard to relieve himself. As always, he fears me (me?!) and keeps his distance.  Ears to you,  Fenway

Vegan Spring Rolls

I, Fenway Bartholomule, am a vegan: of course I only eat plants, not people! My human is too, so I'm sharing my blog with her today so that she can participate in the 2014 Virtual Vegan Potluck ! When you're done perusing the recipe for these delicious spring rolls, click "back" or "forward" for the entire potluck experience! Virtual Vegan Potluck: Spring Roll Appetizers Beautiful? Check. Healthy? Check. Delicious? Check. Easy? Check. Fancy? Check. Quick to clean up after? Check. Vegan? OF COURSE! If you're looking for something portable, colorful, and crowd-pleasing for your next potluck, look no further than these simple vegan spring rolls! The best part? You can substitute ANYTHING. I never make these the same way twice, so play around with cilantro, kale, cabbage, scallions, or whatever you think sounds good! Ingredients Veggie mix: 2 carrots (grated) 4 oz mung bean sprouts 1/3 cup chopped peanuts (raw, or roasted and salted) or ...

2025 State of the Farmlet Address

A red stag photographed by Farmwife in Scotland, from whence the family descends and to where they voyaged in September 2024.  Dear Mules and Countrywomen,  It is my pleasure to report to you today, from my forested vantage point, that the Farmlet is well.  It has been eight years since my family had a Farmlet to report upon, and this one is among the best. It is 25 minutes south of Casa de Bartholomule-Teaspoon, where you may remember the family lived for a time, and situated on the same verdant island. It is 120 minutes south of Bent Barrow Farm, where the ancient rhododendron still blooms and where FenBar's old barn of many colors still stands and shelters farm machinery. This place has rhododendrons, too, encircling a lawn which slopes down to my barn and paddock. We call the barn Hoofhouse, and it is going to be painted black in the spring to match the house and my companion, Puck.  My paddock, by design, does not overlap the lawn but instead winds through a mix...

Catastrophy

This is the emergency broadcast system. This is not a test. I was going to entertain you with more haiku today, but something terrible has happened. I need your support. Today was supposed to be a regular spa day—a nice little hoofie trim, a fresh mane roach, an ear massage, and a handful of sunflower seeds (for shine). Instead of merely taking care of my beauty routine, however, FarmWife spent a full hour in contemplation of and attention to my overall physique. The upshot? A revision of my condition from Plump to Obese. (Her actual words, upon removing my blanket for the first time in a few days, were "Oh my God! You've ballooned!") She has decided that my fatness has become a health risk, and has resolved to exercise me as often as possible. It gets dark at 4:30. Her husband gets home at 5:30. She has small children and no sitter. This, my friends, means that I will end up being longed. Longed at the end of a stupid, smelly old rope. Forced to walk and trot...