Ox

 

You can almost immediately tell the difference between people who have been raised around farm animals and those who have not by the way they refer to the animal shown above. I have overheard many folks, including well-meaning mothers and fathers, refer to it as a "cow". Well, I guess in the broadest possible sense, they are at least on the farm, if not quite yet in the barn. 

It's actually an ox. While there are many more specific reasons why it's an ox rather than a cow, I like this explanation:

"An ox . . . is a bovine, trained and used as a draft animal. Oxen are commonly castrated adult male cattle; castration inhibits testosterone and aggression, which makes the males docile and safer to work with. Cows (adult females) or bulls (intact males) may also be used in some areas.

Oxen are used for plowing, for transport (pulling carts, hauling wagons and even riding), for threshing grain by trampling, and for powering machines that grind grain or supply irrigation among other purposes. Oxen may be also used to skid logs in forests, particularly in low-impact, select-cut logging." -- Wikipedia

Photoreceptors

 

I find red maple trees fascinating, especially around this time of year when they offer a whole range of colors. And I've heard that different people actually see different colors, depending upon the particular array of photoreceptors in their eyes. 

Sky Blue

 

Linking again today with Skywatch Friday.

Red Maple