The other day I went hiking at the Helen Putnam Regional Park in Petaluma. With its verdant grasses, clusters of oaks, and gently sloping hills, it reminded me of the ol’ “Happy Cows Come From California” cheese commercials, especially when I spotted a lone cow standing majestically atop one of those hills (pictured above). I always thought those TV ads weren’t fair to our state’s poor bovines, who are often raised in horribly overcrowded and filthy feed lots—which you can smell from miles away as you drive through the Central Valley—before their inevitable slaughter. But if I were a cow grazing lazily in Petaluma . . . maybe, just maybe, life wouldn’t be so bad.

So the lesson of the day: When it isn’t burning, California is actually very pretty. Especially when the clouds paint the sky.

Also: I’m grateful not to be freezing like much of the country is right now.

I didn’t actually take many photos of the cows I saw, but here are a few pics from in and around the park. . . . Now excuse me while I go think deeply about what, if anything, truly makes cows happy. (Maybe a cow underbelly massage? I imagine it would be udder bliss! Because everyone loves a good milkshake, right? And it would create many happy mammaries. Add to that some hoof massages . . . it would be leg-end-dairy!)