I lurk on your blogs, but I had to come out to say that the photo is great and that the handwritten posts are charming. I adore them.
Pat D. July 29th, 2011 @ 8:53 am
For many years I lived in rural central California, where a local rancher grazed beef cattle (Herefords, I think, the red and white ones) in the pasture north of our property. Their “moos” carried a long way, especially at dawn and dusk.
Jenny C July 29th, 2011 @ 9:12 am
Well, I started laughing when I saw Charlie charming the carnival snake, then I just had to hoot at the photo of Daisy and Frisco lettin’ ‘er rip for Fiona to check in… NOW. Of course, then you had to crack me up with your narrative of moos-in-the-‘hood and, well… that was FUN!
kay July 29th, 2011 @ 9:21 am
How rich, to experience all that animal communication and interaction. Thks for sharing with us town-bound readers.
Heidi July 29th, 2011 @ 9:23 am
I LOVE that picture. I LOVE cows, they are so intelligent, loving, and protective. You are so lucky you get to see this on a daily basis. Much love to you and your farmily this summer. Happy Day Shreve! :)
spenlo July 29th, 2011 @ 9:24 am
Love, love, love your blog and the spell you cast with words (handwritten) and photos. Your creativity is phenomenal!
Thanks for the info and the humor.
Love the different “MOOS”.
My cats have different “MEOWS” and I can tell who’s meowing even when they are in a different room and
whether it sounds like trouble, need help, where is everyone, happy that I found something interesting to watch or play with, need food and the ever popular, hurry up its snack time.
GREAT description, beautiful photo as always. And I have to tel you that your mountain-top style of hand-writing your blog posts is pure genuis. Would you take it as a compliment and not a copy if I, well, copy it?
Maggie July 29th, 2011 @ 10:07 am
wow. and I also love the hand written posts!
Dana July 29th, 2011 @ 10:26 am
My dogs use different barks to communicate with us and one another. We have 9 of them, so it is chaotic at times, but they have formed a pack with us. They have the different barks for if it is a strange car coming up the drive, another animal, our car, barks for hunger and to be let out and barks between each other saying back off or where are you. All animals communicate in their own ways.
My neighbor has cows and sometimes late in the night there is frantic mooing and I wonder if a Coyote is lurking or one is hurt or what is the matter. You can tell it’s a alarmed mooing.
Penny in Co July 29th, 2011 @ 11:01 am
Awesome…I just LOVE the handwritten posts…so much more personal than the typed word! Last summer I heard this crazy cacophony of sound in my yard at about 6 a.m. Extremely loud….about 50 cows and their babies had gotten out of the pasture across the highway and were meandering all over the neighborhood. They were in my yard! All 50 of them! They looked so big! I ran out and tried to coax them out of my flowers (gasp…my FLOWERS!). They moved on up the road and I spent the morning with a shovel…..”cleaning up” after them, if you know what I mean. :)
Nathalie July 29th, 2011 @ 11:11 am
That’s so cool, and I agree with Maggie. The hand written posts are so in line with you right now, I love them.
bonnie July 29th, 2011 @ 11:23 am
my grandfather was a dairy farmer. (and raw milk crusader, by the way, he’d want me to add that.)
he kept his heifers in a pasture right next to his house. if any of them were having difficulty birthing during the night, the others would come over to the fence and moo at the house to call for help.
shreve July 29th, 2011 @ 11:27 am
marie – go for it! and email me a link so I can see yours when I get down (though I have decided I am NEVER LEAVING this place!)
Thanks all!
I’m in love with this photo too.
Jeff July 29th, 2011 @ 11:53 am
I, too, am loving the hand-written notes. I can almost hear the moooo-ing as I read.
JoDi July 29th, 2011 @ 11:56 am
Haha! Love the “moo” translations. So cool that you’ve been able to spend so much time with them in their natural environment and learn more about how they interact. How exciting!
This post reminds me of the time I realized this country girl was now a city girl. I grew up in the country and while all of our neighbors had cows, we didn’t. But all summer we’d hear them mooing from the fields around us. A few years ago after I had moved to the “city” I camped out in a friends families cow pasture (cows were elsewhere that week) as part of his birthday celebration. I woke up to the sound of what I was convinced was a cell phone vibrating. You know the sound a muted cell phone makes when it vibrates. I had eve checked to see if it was my phone after I heard it a few times.
Yeah, no. It was a cow mooing in a nearby pasture.
It is incredible how fascinating you make something like cow communication! Especially enjoy that you don’t go in for too much of the anthropomorphizing, and just translate for them. They get to keep their own unique voices when you write for them!
Also, like other comments, I’m loving these handwritten posts. That was a great idea. Thanks for sharing your life!
Karen July 29th, 2011 @ 2:05 pm
I used to visit my grandmother’s farm in Minnesota as a child. Grandma and my uncle raised dairy cattle and sheep, and the area around the house was part of the sheep grazing territory. I remember clearly the high-pitched “Maaa” call of the lambs, always answered by the low-pitched “Baaa” of the ewes. Each ewe recognized the call of her own lamb, of course, and these conversations of “Mama, where are you?” “I’m here, sweetheart,” went round the house. As a city kid, I felt so lucky to be there.
Claire July 29th, 2011 @ 2:53 pm
Loved the picture. To capture both of them mooing at the same time is so cute. All animals have their own behaviors and communication. We just need to stop long enough to listen. Thanks for the great explanation of the different moo callings. They live such a simple life.
Lesley July 29th, 2011 @ 2:54 pm
Your posts confirm my choice to support local free range organic dairy farmers.
All cows deserve to be happy and content, like your cows are.
this is seriously the only reason i still have internet, Shreve’s blog.
Janet H. July 29th, 2011 @ 7:44 pm
I love that photo! It’s wonderful. And like everyone else I’m really enjoying your handwritten posts. I think younger people who never write letters and journals by hand are missing a simple pleasure (though I hasten to say that I also enjoy the ease of using a computer keyboard to write).
I’m always amazed at people who think that animals don’t really communicate much. Every kind of animal I’ve ever had or known communicated in varied ways. Our cats have personalities that differ as much from each other in their own way as humans’ personalities do. Even the 2 gerbils we had when we lived in a tiny student apt. after we were first married had their own system of squeaks to communicate to each other and to us.
karyn July 29th, 2011 @ 7:59 pm
I have to say, Shreve, I really like your handwritten notes, they are like artwork, and so much more expressive than typed entries!
This was a very moo-ving post! Loved it!
Melissa July 30th, 2011 @ 7:06 am
I think someone should put out a CD of Cow Moos. You know, like the whale and dolphin sounds. I grew up on a farm and miss the sound so much. I would listen to that over the whales and dolphins any day :)
yokel yorker July 30th, 2011 @ 7:40 am
Wow, next feast will remember steak juice jumping off my chin once frolicked in sunshine with love!
Marlene July 30th, 2011 @ 11:12 am
Shreve, why don’t you record some of the moo’s??? wouldn’t that be cool?? never been done..describe what each one means…hehehe I would love it!!!… love the handwritten post also makes it more personal touch…Marlene from Cambria
Barbara July 30th, 2011 @ 11:25 am
Looks like they are on the O in Fi-OOOOOO-na.
Linda Duncan July 30th, 2011 @ 1:54 pm
Shreve; sitting here eating watermelon, smiling at the cow picture and reading your descriptions of “moo’s”. Love your hand written posts.
mlaiuppa July 30th, 2011 @ 2:44 pm
Well, that makes perfect sense. Otherwise, cows wouldn’t moo.
I hate commenting for the sake of commenting – but need to leave one here. I come here just about every day because this Honey Rock Dawn blog of yours is so very wonderful to read. You’re an extremely talented writer and I appreciate that. Thank you!
TC – it’s what Cartier-Bresson called “the decisive moment”!
Bruce August 1st, 2011 @ 9:40 am
I’ll be moooing you, who who who who you. (to the melody of “I’ll be Calling you” by Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald)
Chelsea D August 1st, 2011 @ 8:14 pm
Shreve, have I told you how much I love your posts? Well, I’m saying it again. I love everything about your site(s), your writing, your choice of lifestyle. After having followed you for a few years now, it just keeps getting better:)
I thought I’d jump in here to tell you how much I love reading the handwritten posts, and please don’t ever convert them to type. But, maybe I didn’t need to, you seem to have lots of comments on that already!
Beautiful photo of beautiful animals living a beautiful life. Thanks.
EvaM August 4th, 2011 @ 2:29 pm
Most animals are the same way, including horses. Separate them, and there’s a chorus to be heard. Such sweet pictures; thank you.
Gabrielle August 6th, 2011 @ 6:59 pm
How can there be so many elders? Aren’t these animals being raised for human consumption?
Pat D. August 8th, 2011 @ 10:20 am
Gabrielle, I think the core of the herd is the breeding stock, which are the best cattle and are kept.
July 29th, 2011 @ 8:32 am
that picture makes my heart happy
July 29th, 2011 @ 8:36 am
LOVE this. I grew up surrounded by farms. I <3 cows.
July 29th, 2011 @ 8:38 am
Ditto what hello haha narf said. This whole post makes me happy, in fact. :)
July 29th, 2011 @ 8:45 am
I love the hand-written posts :) Thank you for continuing to blog while you’re up in never never land!!!
July 29th, 2011 @ 8:46 am
I lurk on your blogs, but I had to come out to say that the photo is great and that the handwritten posts are charming. I adore them.
July 29th, 2011 @ 8:53 am
For many years I lived in rural central California, where a local rancher grazed beef cattle (Herefords, I think, the red and white ones) in the pasture north of our property. Their “moos” carried a long way, especially at dawn and dusk.
July 29th, 2011 @ 9:12 am
Well, I started laughing when I saw Charlie charming the carnival snake, then I just had to hoot at the photo of Daisy and Frisco lettin’ ‘er rip for Fiona to check in… NOW. Of course, then you had to crack me up with your narrative of moos-in-the-‘hood and, well… that was FUN!
July 29th, 2011 @ 9:21 am
How rich, to experience all that animal communication and interaction. Thks for sharing with us town-bound readers.
July 29th, 2011 @ 9:23 am
I LOVE that picture. I LOVE cows, they are so intelligent, loving, and protective. You are so lucky you get to see this on a daily basis. Much love to you and your farmily this summer. Happy Day Shreve! :)
July 29th, 2011 @ 9:24 am
Love, love, love your blog and the spell you cast with words (handwritten) and photos. Your creativity is phenomenal!
July 29th, 2011 @ 9:35 am
Thanks for the info and the humor.
Love the different “MOOS”.
My cats have different “MEOWS” and I can tell who’s meowing even when they are in a different room and
whether it sounds like trouble, need help, where is everyone, happy that I found something interesting to watch or play with, need food and the ever popular, hurry up its snack time.
July 29th, 2011 @ 9:38 am
GREAT description, beautiful photo as always. And I have to tel you that your mountain-top style of hand-writing your blog posts is pure genuis. Would you take it as a compliment and not a copy if I, well, copy it?
July 29th, 2011 @ 10:07 am
wow. and I also love the hand written posts!
July 29th, 2011 @ 10:26 am
My dogs use different barks to communicate with us and one another. We have 9 of them, so it is chaotic at times, but they have formed a pack with us. They have the different barks for if it is a strange car coming up the drive, another animal, our car, barks for hunger and to be let out and barks between each other saying back off or where are you. All animals communicate in their own ways.
July 29th, 2011 @ 10:30 am
Darling explaination… darling photo. Moo! (Thanks!)
July 29th, 2011 @ 11:00 am
My neighbor has cows and sometimes late in the night there is frantic mooing and I wonder if a Coyote is lurking or one is hurt or what is the matter. You can tell it’s a alarmed mooing.
July 29th, 2011 @ 11:01 am
Awesome…I just LOVE the handwritten posts…so much more personal than the typed word! Last summer I heard this crazy cacophony of sound in my yard at about 6 a.m. Extremely loud….about 50 cows and their babies had gotten out of the pasture across the highway and were meandering all over the neighborhood. They were in my yard! All 50 of them! They looked so big! I ran out and tried to coax them out of my flowers (gasp…my FLOWERS!). They moved on up the road and I spent the morning with a shovel…..”cleaning up” after them, if you know what I mean. :)
July 29th, 2011 @ 11:11 am
That’s so cool, and I agree with Maggie. The hand written posts are so in line with you right now, I love them.
July 29th, 2011 @ 11:23 am
my grandfather was a dairy farmer. (and raw milk crusader, by the way, he’d want me to add that.)
he kept his heifers in a pasture right next to his house. if any of them were having difficulty birthing during the night, the others would come over to the fence and moo at the house to call for help.
July 29th, 2011 @ 11:27 am
marie – go for it! and email me a link so I can see yours when I get down (though I have decided I am NEVER LEAVING this place!)
Thanks all!
I’m in love with this photo too.
July 29th, 2011 @ 11:53 am
I, too, am loving the hand-written notes. I can almost hear the moooo-ing as I read.
July 29th, 2011 @ 11:56 am
Haha! Love the “moo” translations. So cool that you’ve been able to spend so much time with them in their natural environment and learn more about how they interact. How exciting!
July 29th, 2011 @ 12:59 pm
That photo is priceless. Love it.
July 29th, 2011 @ 1:25 pm
Great words. Great photo.
Thanks for the smile. :)
July 29th, 2011 @ 1:39 pm
I also love the new handwritten posts.
This post reminds me of the time I realized this country girl was now a city girl. I grew up in the country and while all of our neighbors had cows, we didn’t. But all summer we’d hear them mooing from the fields around us. A few years ago after I had moved to the “city” I camped out in a friends families cow pasture (cows were elsewhere that week) as part of his birthday celebration. I woke up to the sound of what I was convinced was a cell phone vibrating. You know the sound a muted cell phone makes when it vibrates. I had eve checked to see if it was my phone after I heard it a few times.
Yeah, no. It was a cow mooing in a nearby pasture.
July 29th, 2011 @ 1:41 pm
Shreve,
It is incredible how fascinating you make something like cow communication! Especially enjoy that you don’t go in for too much of the anthropomorphizing, and just translate for them. They get to keep their own unique voices when you write for them!
Also, like other comments, I’m loving these handwritten posts. That was a great idea. Thanks for sharing your life!
July 29th, 2011 @ 2:05 pm
I used to visit my grandmother’s farm in Minnesota as a child. Grandma and my uncle raised dairy cattle and sheep, and the area around the house was part of the sheep grazing territory. I remember clearly the high-pitched “Maaa” call of the lambs, always answered by the low-pitched “Baaa” of the ewes. Each ewe recognized the call of her own lamb, of course, and these conversations of “Mama, where are you?” “I’m here, sweetheart,” went round the house. As a city kid, I felt so lucky to be there.
July 29th, 2011 @ 2:53 pm
Loved the picture. To capture both of them mooing at the same time is so cute. All animals have their own behaviors and communication. We just need to stop long enough to listen. Thanks for the great explanation of the different moo callings. They live such a simple life.
July 29th, 2011 @ 2:54 pm
Your posts confirm my choice to support local free range organic dairy farmers.
All cows deserve to be happy and content, like your cows are.
Mooooooooooooo :)
July 29th, 2011 @ 2:59 pm
I think you should write all your posts from now on in long hand. I love reading your story while drinking in your wonderful penmenship. Thanks!
July 29th, 2011 @ 3:38 pm
mooooooooooooooooooo
July 29th, 2011 @ 4:10 pm
I LOVED your “moo” breakdowns…It made me smile!
July 29th, 2011 @ 5:49 pm
I marvel how EVERY SINGLE TIME , a simple little story can amuse me, make me feel good inside and make me smile! You are truly a wonder to know!
July 29th, 2011 @ 6:42 pm
How many times have I wondered about this! I’m SO happy to know the answer…and what a fun answer it is. The Shreve Touch.
July 29th, 2011 @ 7:41 pm
this is seriously the only reason i still have internet, Shreve’s blog.
July 29th, 2011 @ 7:44 pm
I love that photo! It’s wonderful. And like everyone else I’m really enjoying your handwritten posts. I think younger people who never write letters and journals by hand are missing a simple pleasure (though I hasten to say that I also enjoy the ease of using a computer keyboard to write).
I’m always amazed at people who think that animals don’t really communicate much. Every kind of animal I’ve ever had or known communicated in varied ways. Our cats have personalities that differ as much from each other in their own way as humans’ personalities do. Even the 2 gerbils we had when we lived in a tiny student apt. after we were first married had their own system of squeaks to communicate to each other and to us.
July 29th, 2011 @ 7:59 pm
I have to say, Shreve, I really like your handwritten notes, they are like artwork, and so much more expressive than typed entries!
This was a very moo-ving post! Loved it!
July 30th, 2011 @ 7:06 am
I think someone should put out a CD of Cow Moos. You know, like the whale and dolphin sounds. I grew up on a farm and miss the sound so much. I would listen to that over the whales and dolphins any day :)
July 30th, 2011 @ 7:40 am
Wow, next feast will remember steak juice jumping off my chin once frolicked in sunshine with love!
July 30th, 2011 @ 11:12 am
Shreve, why don’t you record some of the moo’s??? wouldn’t that be cool?? never been done..describe what each one means…hehehe I would love it!!!… love the handwritten post also makes it more personal touch…Marlene from Cambria
July 30th, 2011 @ 11:25 am
Looks like they are on the O in Fi-OOOOOO-na.
July 30th, 2011 @ 1:54 pm
Shreve; sitting here eating watermelon, smiling at the cow picture and reading your descriptions of “moo’s”. Love your hand written posts.
July 30th, 2011 @ 2:44 pm
Well, that makes perfect sense. Otherwise, cows wouldn’t moo.
July 30th, 2011 @ 4:12 pm
I hate commenting for the sake of commenting – but need to leave one here. I come here just about every day because this Honey Rock Dawn blog of yours is so very wonderful to read. You’re an extremely talented writer and I appreciate that. Thank you!
July 31st, 2011 @ 9:44 am
How’d you get that great photo?
Oh, and….
Moooooooo!! Moo moo?
July 31st, 2011 @ 11:00 am
TC – it’s what Cartier-Bresson called “the decisive moment”!
August 1st, 2011 @ 9:40 am
I’ll be moooing you, who who who who you. (to the melody of “I’ll be Calling you” by Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald)
August 1st, 2011 @ 8:14 pm
Shreve, have I told you how much I love your posts? Well, I’m saying it again. I love everything about your site(s), your writing, your choice of lifestyle. After having followed you for a few years now, it just keeps getting better:)
August 2nd, 2011 @ 2:14 pm
Shreve, why so MOOOO-dy?
Couldn’t help myself. Love you and your cows!
August 4th, 2011 @ 12:23 pm
I thought I’d jump in here to tell you how much I love reading the handwritten posts, and please don’t ever convert them to type. But, maybe I didn’t need to, you seem to have lots of comments on that already!
Beautiful photo of beautiful animals living a beautiful life. Thanks.
August 4th, 2011 @ 2:29 pm
Most animals are the same way, including horses. Separate them, and there’s a chorus to be heard. Such sweet pictures; thank you.
August 6th, 2011 @ 6:59 pm
How can there be so many elders? Aren’t these animals being raised for human consumption?
August 8th, 2011 @ 10:20 am
Gabrielle, I think the core of the herd is the breeding stock, which are the best cattle and are kept.