The Call to Life at Bedlam Farm just got louder. Winston III, our new rooster, went off around 5 a.m., just after I got up to write, and Simon greeted me with a spectacular bray to get me going on my work. A rooster’s crow is a call to life also. Winston was born as a companion to an elderly man wanting company, and he was facing some tough realities in life when he came to the farm. We took two of his hens with him, and they are all in the barn.

Winston I was one of my favorite animals. He was he best friend of Orson, the border collie who led me to the farm and who I decided to euthanize after he injured three people. I loved Winston’s early morning crowing and was happy to have the new rooster sound off from the barn, where he will be for a few more days.

Simon appears to be nuzzling up to Lulu, who is in heat, perhaps a reason for his lusty and mournful bray this morning. I consider these animals as calling me to life, and I intend to honor that. Life is a choice, and we have to make it every single day, as these animals do. Bedlam Farm has some rousing new sounds for the morning. You can hear them. It was pitch dark when I got up, so the video is dark at first. I love the idea of the farm returning to life. Maria has a lot to do with that. The rooster and the hens came by way of a conspiracy between her and Meg Southerland, which I haven’t quite put together. It was effective though.