Having a ribeye steak has not only a feeling of satisfaction on producing a quality product on your own farm, but it also has a bit of feeling of payback.

6:45 a.m., a call from Lynn, our neighbor, ‘I have a cow by my garage!’ So wake up Christian, get a bucket of feed and start calling the cows to get them to come up by the barn. I was cussing, wondering how the heck they got through 4 strands of barbed wire, and thinking, ‘OK, maybe put up a strand of electric wire on the inside of the barbed wire fence?’ and dreading having to do that in this heat. So the cows are coming in from 2 different pastures, and there running up the driveway is Chuck, last year’s spring calf. How the heck did he get through the barbed wire?!? Then comes one of the twins. All the rest come in from the pastures. Ah hah! I know how they got out! I had left the big barn door open to clean barn, and they shinnied under or over the inside pen. When they’re that young, they are like deer, over and under.

Cows are all back together, barn door is shut, and I’m going to finish my computer work and try to make some beads before it gets too warm.

It’s been so hot that I haven’t been making beads, so I’ve been trying to decide on something else to do until the heat is past. It’s between embroider, quilting, oil or watercolor painting, or pen and ink (I was working on cross stitch until Chunk, the ferret, got up on my desk and overturned a plant onto it. That kind of killed the enthusiasm for that!).

My bookcase is progressing! Just about ready to start stacking books!!!

I’ve been enjoying the colors of the flower gardens and all of the baby birds. Here’s a mama Oriole feeding baby,

And here’s baby taking a bath,

All fluffed up and clean, time to dry off,

And here’s Honey taking a nap on my kiln (she likes to sit up there and watch the birds and drool),

ETA: More oriole babies!! Mama feeding one of her babies,

The one grabbing the big mouthful is Mama, the other three are babies squawking to be fed,

Baby getting a mouthful of jelly,

and here’s baby trying to get some by himself,

Whoops! Planted a foot in the food instead of on the glass rim,

The simple pleasures of life, supper was creamed green beans on toast, with beans just picked from my garden. Yummm!