Cow-lectibles The Hottest Craze Since The Far Side

        Though the cow is not man’s best friend, it is often his best food, or at least best-tasting food, and is possibly the funniest animal on the planet.  Though this may be hard for some city-dwellers to fathom, I can assure you Mississippians and other inhabitants of the southeastern states were laughing at cows long before The Far Side was a twinkle in Gary Larson’s eye.

        Yes, many of us, with rather warped mind-set, would imagine what the cows were saying. “Got Milk?”, was not one of the most asked questions.  It was a given.  But as we would pass the cows, and there were many, down the many lazy country roads in Ms. we would make believe, as children, that we were the cows talking to each other.   Of course our intrepretation paled in comparison to The Far Side but we were able to make each other chuckle.

       Until the Internet came along, I felt certain this was a regional thing. By the time I was twenty, I was already collecting “All Things Bovine” as were so many of my peers.  It was just the thing to do.  Corn was semi-funny, but how many puns and jokes could be made from corn aside from “The Jolly Green Giant had to have been a stalker” or “The Jolly Green Giant’s son is grounded after school as he was caught viewing web corn”.  Corny, sure, but had to be said.

     And nothing funny at all about cotton.  This left cows.

     Now I know there are cow figurine and other type collectibles, or cowlectibles as I like to call them, worldwide, and I have corresponded with many. 

     Maybe it is the way they stare at us with their souldful brown eyes. Perhaps it is the way they stand patiently while being milked for all they have.

     Maybe it’s because Ol’ McDonald had a cow e-i-e-i-o. Who knows? We just love our cows.

     After high school and well into college when my peers were all checking out med schools, law schools, and how to become CPA’s, I was trying to figure out what cow items would sell the best. I would be the cow selling king of Mississippi if not the world. I had grandoise udderly ridiculous ideas and still do.

     After many an informal focus group, I have discovered that many of the most popular cow collectibles today come in the form of funny cartoons manufactured onto products.  Aprons, hoodies, t shirts,  mouse pads, and other types of gifts that can be utilized are favorites of many.  This pertains to me too. I collect a great many cow t shirts for instance and sometimes sweatshirts, a few aprons and mousepads, but I always like them to be funny or silly. The sillier the better.

     Many of us are visually-oriented people.  We instinctively know that if we are not feeling well, sad, blue, depressed or whatever, we can look at a funny picture or cartoon or product featuring a cartoon, and we will often “snap out of it” and even share it with a friend or neighbor.

    This is why “cowtoon collectibles” make great gifts as well.  I give them to people who grew up in the city. Oddly enough, they seem to enjoy them even more. Maybe its because many of them were not used to seeing cows growing up, and, upon first glance, notice the beauty and serenity of the cow persona (is there a cow persona?); well there is now.

Best Major Depression Therapy: Dogs

Though it is not something of which I am particularly proud, I struggled with major depression since age thirteen. It may be even further back than that, that is my first memory of “feeling different”. I am now fifty three.

Of course I did not even know it was depression, and even if I had discovered it was, it would have been hidden, as, in the polite society of rural Mississippi, at the time, one did not see a therapist or psychiatrist and remain in society. He or she was hidden in the closet. Today things have changed and there are many modern- day state-of-the-art recovery programs and mental health clinics in the region. Alas, mum is still the word. I now live in southern California, where, at social functions, therapy and recovery are often a common them at social functions and events.

It was not until late in life, when I discovered a stray dog named “Thor” that I learned about alternative therapy. I had often heard that owning an animal can relieve depression and even lower blood pressure, but the dramatic changes were yet to be seen for the first few months of owning Thor. I noticed I wanted to get out more and walk him, as he loved that activity. This in itself lifted my depression. A long walk can, in fact, increase endorphins in the system.

Thor introduced me to people. People will open up to a cute dog faster than they will a human, hence they open up to the human as well. Thor loved people. I had owned dogs in the past, but Thor was my first rescue dog. The jury is out whether he rescued me or I rescued him. I did not adopt him from a shelter, but surely would have had I found him at one. He showed up in the rural Mississippi woods with a pack of two other dogs. He was the sickest of them, obviously abused and/or hit by a vehicle as he limped, and was a matted ball of fur. A vet friend took him home and put him on drips, shaved him, and gave him to me.

I researched and put him on the b.a.r.f diet. (bones and raw food). I put him on the same herbal tinctures I was taking. He never had another vet bill for a decade and lived to be nearly twenty two. He had ten very happy years as did I; mostly depression-free. Both of us were quite depressed when we found each other. He passed away nearly a month ago today. I continue to grieve over Thor but feel soon I will be ready for another rescue dog. I will visit the shelter. It is not completely selfless; I understand fully now the meaning of “they do much more for us than we do for them). A rescued dog remembers. He/she gives unconditional love and we get that gift to pass on to other people. I can’t begin to tell you the difference in the way I am treated now by other people, and, the way I treat them. I do my best to do what Thor taught me; that is, love them unconditionally. He saw me as one of God’s creatures; to him I was a god, and now I see all living creatures as part of God’s creation. I never was that religious and am not now. But how can I not be spiritual. Thor helped cure my incurable depression.

Rick London is an e-entrepreneur and cartoonist. Many of his cartoon products are dog-related and a percentage of each sale goes to benefit various animal causes. He is also the founder of the Internet’s top cartoon site, Londons Times Comics.

Several of his stores that carry dog-related cartoons are Rick Londonwear www.ricklondonwear.com ,  The Rick London Collection www.ricklondoncollection.com and Londons Times Superstore www.LTSuperstore.com