My chickens are not pets, and they have a large enclosed yard where they can eat the naturally occurning seeds and bugs. They also eat the small snakes and mice the come into their yard through the fence. But I provide them with supplemental feed so they can get what they need to be healthy. Young ones get medicated feed because they are hatched with certain pathogens in their systems already and need looking after from day one. I also add a few drops of clorox to their water to keep the waterer sanitary for the health of the chickens who use it. When they get older I also use a wormer twice a year to keep them from a miserable death. Maybe it isn't "natural" to give them all these things, but it's healthier for them and also for us. You could use the analogy that humans are naturally supposed to be vegetarieans and to live naturally we shouldn't put chemicals in our bodies. That would include the innoculations against dreaded diseases that wiped out thousands of people in past history. I like it better this way. My three children grew up healthy and my 84 year old mother has had regular health care all her life and she's doing fine. Health care isn't "natural" but it's better than the alternative, both for humans and for our animals. Cheryl

Lucille and sephia, today I am also pizza. But the low carb version: I was called "lame" by my coworker AND weight loss competition teammate for eating it like this. Oh well. It tasted good to me like that.🤷‍♀️

Lark and Termite ... Jayne Anne Phillips and the beautiful ballet set to that music by Bruce Marks. The illusion of a bird flying over a golden wheat field, disappearing into the sky at the end, was perfect.

"Cattle car waits "   How odd.  A Canadian friend and I were visiting Sydney a while back. My friend became ill on a Friday night. I was able to get on line and book an appointment with her at a local clinic near our hotel for the following morning. No line up at all.  And I don't know Sydney particularly well.And it was a busy family clinic in the center of the city. There are clinics which only "bulk bill" (ie charge Medicare rates) and there are clinics which charge higher fees(except to people who are on government pensions or disability).  Medicare pays the base fee and the individual pays the "gap."   Many people, with or without insurance, are quite happy to pay the gap fee and get quick service. The gap fee runs around $30 - $60 for a GP visit depending on the length of the visit. Bulk billing, walk in clinics in major cities may well have line ups (I daresay there are similar lineups in inner city New York or Philadelphia), but the clinics I've used, in 3 states and 4 cities, operate  by appointment, even the ones that do bulk bill.    This notion of cattle car service is about as accurate as the notion that every American has full insurance coverage and immediate access to top flight health care.  And in fact, in the studies I've cited in the past, while countries like Australia and Canada do have waiting lists for public health care, access in general is still better than in the US. I am about done with Elmer and his"Australian friends". I didn't intend this to become another personal debate coloured by inaccuracy and animus. I raised the subject of the bowel screening program as an example of what I think is an effective public health measure that extends screening for colorectal cancer to a broader range of people.  Nothing more. I don't dispute that colonoscopies are the gold standard, but they are simply not accessible to everyone for a whole lot of reasons. Not here, not in the US. Bowel screening is much more accessible and picks up a significant number of cases, often early enough for treatment.  Never forget that the pursuit of excellence is often the enemy of the good.  That adage applies here.