Day: September 20, 2013

I once lived in a dank house of confusion and pain,

with a divine old dog who tried to scratch his back,

on the stars. I could barely breathe there.

But then I met my lover, we started laughing,

and singing all night, and making love,

the house of confusion and pain turned ugly,

and scared the old dog and threatened me,

“you better stop that loving and laughing and

singing all night, or I will fall on you and smother

you with dust.”  I ran to the old and smelly dog,

the fleas scattered in a cloud, I picked him up,

my lover grabbed some clothes, we rushed out the door,

just before the walls collapsed,

there was a huge cloud of dust.

We live in a new house now,  a bright old

house with no name, but big windows and tall ceilings,

a big bed for the divine old dog to sleep on.

At night the house whispers to me,

“I love you, you will always be safe here.”

And, the house said, I love the way you smile.

Fear, I answered, sinks the boat.

At the Cambridge Valley Veterinary Service,  three young men from Cambridge came by to check out the turtles in the aquarium.

Red’s encounter with hookworm triggered worm week at Bedlam Farm, everybody got tested for heartworm and is now on monthly heartworm medication. I’ve always had some mixed feelings about heartworm medication, it is rare in the Northeast, it usually occurs here in rescue dogs brought up from the South. But if you live on a farm, it makes good sense to get this medication because all kinds of worms and parasites thrive around sheep and donkey and chicken feces, not to mention the Labrador love of eating chicken droppings.

Worms love farms, dogs love to eat things with worms in them.

I confess I was too short-sighted about this, so this week we have wormed up at the Cambridge Valley Veterinary Service, Panicure in powder form for the hookworm, heartworm blood tests (negative as usual) and heartworm medication which covers hookworm and some other worms that show up around here.

Frieda is great with me at the vet, I held her head in my arm for safety’s sake and Linda and Cassandra drew some blood. She didn’t make a sound and just let me hold her, she is a very good dog, she has come a long way. I remember the first time we took her to a vet, this was in Granville, N.Y., it was not pretty. Lenore of course wagged her tail throughout her blood test, they are all home and have taken their medications. In a few days we will be worm free here, and I will do the heartworm thing every year.

Neither Simon nor Red were in my life several years ago, both have changed my life, and both were surprises, brought to me by generous people who love animals. At first, these two did not get along. Red was close to Rocky, our Appaloosa pony, and Simon mistrusted both of them, tried to drive them both off, attached each of them. Rocky is gone, Red and Simon are often seen together, at the fence, in the pasture. I am uncomfortable using the word friendship to describe a relationship between a dog and a donkey, but there is a connection between these two, it seems both comfortable and professional.

Both are loving creatures, both are healers, both love people and attention, both take their work seriously, the one in protecting his herd, the other in working with his sheep. Simon was brought to me by an animal control officer named Jessica Bartlett, Red was give me by a breeder and shepherd named Dr. Karen Thompson.

In a sense, both came to me through my books. Jessica knew I had two donkeys and so did the New York State Police who helped her  take Simon off of the farm where he lay near death and and Dr. Thompson had read about my hospice work with Izzy, she wanted that kind of a life for Red.

Life is so curious, I often write about the right way to get an animal, to be careful, thoughtful, knowledgeable and here came two remarkable animals out of the blue. Simon is a rock star, people drive for hours to our Open Houses to meet him, hug him, give him carrots. Red is becoming even more famous, he is a therapy dog now as well as a sheepdog and is living the life Karen wanted for him. He has so many friends and admirers everywhere, and his generous and trusting soul is eager to greet all of them.

Both are wondrous symbols of life, of chance, of generosity, and of openness. Simon opened me up in a way no animal had, and he paved the way for Red, who is continuing that work. Simon is my next book, out next year, Red figures prominently in that story, and I have no doubt his own story with me is just beginning. If you are open to it, animals can take you places you never imagined.

Zelda is one of the strongest presences on our farm, she is the Queen Of The Sheep. She and Red have worked out a professional accommodation, she no longer knocks  him down regularly, she no longer leads breakouts off of the farm, but she has evolved into a vigilant, commanding and very protective presence for our sheep.  She is far from docile or pliant, but she is an anchor here, even a symbol. Maria and I are going Sunday to pick up the yarn made from Zelda and the other sheep, Maria is offering the yarn for sale.

Wherever Red and I go, Zelda is watching. She is a very unusual ewe.