Eli & Rue

I’ve been getting a bunch of questions on The Daily Coyote about Eli, and why he’s not in photographs much anymore, and this is why. He runs all night and sleeps all day. All day. Charlie sleeps all night and plays all day so there’s not that much overlap, but when Eli does grant Charlie the thrill of his presence, Charlie is as submissive and worshipful as ever. Both Charlie and Chloe defer to all the cats, actually.

The Farmily began with just Eli and me, and he has been so chill with all the animals who have moved into his house ~ saintly, really ~ and if he doesn’t want to model, I don’t make him model. That’s it!

My Giant

Star’s Baby (and Star’s butt)

Good Things

organic strawberries + cream from a cow who loves me

I blended it up and had it for dinner in my outdoor tub last night.

It’s the little things.

And also the big things! My first (only) angus heifer had her first baby yesterday! Remember this story? The calf that 16 barreled down the mountain for, through fences and over cattle guards to return to, was a girl and Mike gave her to me for Christmas that year. She grew up to be the most gorgeous heifer ever ~ she is the femme fatale of angus cows. Short hair, round little body, very distinct face… Her name is Star.

Star inherited her mother’s disregard for cattle guards, but while 16 only crossed them out of maternal duty, Star walks the cattle guard daily to go to a neighbor’s abandoned field to graze. We knew she was getting close to calving, so Mike and I locked her in the corral two days ago so she wouldn’t have her calf on the county road ~ sometimes heifers don’t know what to do with their first calf and walk off and leave them, and sometimes they have trouble with the birth ~ it’s always good to keep a close eye on them in case they need help.

Not so with Star, on either count. She calved at three in the afternoon and was instantly, obsessively, in love with her baby (also a girl!). Also the noisiest mother I have ever seen, honking (there’s no other way to describe the noise she was making ~ a flashback to her uncle Ricardo?) at her calf between licks. The calf was up and sucking right away and then bounced around on wobbly legs, exploring the corral as Star honked along behind her, trying to call her back to get in a few more licks.