This Week on Copper Ridge

Tom turned 59 years old today and I believe it was a little rough on him. He usually takes birthdays in stride, but now the big 6-0 is looming just ahead, and it's making him thoughtful. I'm pretty sure I can guess what he's wishing in this picture - but I'm not telling.

A birthday in the mountains, with kids and grandkids, plenty to eat and lots of good music...well, maybe turning a year older isn't so bad after all.

In other news, the cows are in the backyard. Ron re-configured the electric fence so his little herd can get over into this section where the brush and the kudzu tend to go wild. We're glad to see them. Not only will they neaten things up down there, but they're just good company.

Some of them get pretty bold and come right up the hill behind our house. Look at all that kudzu. Eat up, my loveys, eat up!

Now this big fella could just stay over in the other pasture as far as I'm concerned. If you read the post about the old Ervin-Penley house down in the holler behind us, you've seen a close-up of our good buddy here. Ron told us that a couple of neighbors were trying to coax him across the road into the pasture with some other cows to...well....um...you know....and when Rick turned around with the feed bucket, this big boy bumped him about 10 feet straight up into the air.

This was taken from our side porch without using a zoom.

This one was zoomed, but not really a lot. In other words, these cows really are right behind the house! Thankfully they're down over the hill or Minnie would be barking herself into a frenzy. I don't think she's seen them yet. One did get over the fence somehow and was on our property, but luckily Mike shooed her back before she actually walked up into the yard. Jake would probably greet them like old friends, but truly, I believe Minnie would have a stroke.

While Nadja and I were watching the cows, we noticed that the big cactus around the birdhouse pole has begun to bloom. When I took this photo a couple of days ago, there were only a few blossoms, but it had dozens of buds. I believe I'll snap some more photos tomorrow.

And one final little bit of happiness this week. Our neighbor, Odas Qualls, has some beehives over at his daughter Rita's house (Rita is the wife of Rick who took the short flight courtesy of Mr. Bull). He "robbed" the hives one afternoon this week and brought us a jar of honey still warm from the sun. I had some the next morning with biscuits. Now, you can't beat neighbors like that, or a breakfast like this.