I was surprised when the black sedan cruised back and forth in front of the pasture, I say a young’ish man with slicked black hair lean out of the car and shoot some video of Simon and also of me practicing some sheepherding with Red, as we do every day. It is common for people to slow down and take photos of Red working, but rare to see an official looking black sedan. The man driving and watching me and Red closely in the front seat had big black sunglasses and an earpiece microphone sticking out of his ear.

Simon was curious and delighted, visitors usually mean carrots. I went over to the fence to get closer to the car and the man in the front seat stepped out to stand in front of me. “Hey,” I said, “you can come over to the fence and watch the sheepherding.” The two men conferred a bit, and then a man in a black suit with a white shirt and dark tie got out and I was surprised to see that this was Sen. Ted Cruz, who has been leading the fight in Washington to shut down the government if the new health care program isn’t postponed or eliminated.

“Hey,” I said, “I’ve been hearing about you all week, what are you doing here?” He looked around, and then came over to me. “Well,” he said, “the government shut down, so I have nothing to do there. And the truth is…I wanted to meet Simon and see Red herd the sheep. I love to watch that…And I’d love to see Maria’s studio, I want to bring something to my kids.”

I cleared my throat, flattered a bit. Sure, I said, sure. “I don’t know if you know me, I’m a five-time New York Times Bestseller, I’ve written 23 books and I have a blog that is quite popular…” Sen. Cruz cleared his throat and nodded, “yes,” he said, “my staff Googled you. Haven’t read any of your books, to be honest, been busy, it is not simple to shut down a big government, but I wondered, you know my wife would love one of her potholders and my daughters might like one of those donkey pillows. I love Maria’s work, she seems quite special.”

Well, she is, I said, and you are very welcome. Sen. Cruz pulled  his tie off and stuffed it into his pocket, I warned him to take his shiny black leather shoes off, and I offered him a pair of rubber boots. “Never wear shoes into a pasture that you don’t love.” He is from Texas, I expected he knew this.

But he wasn’t listening to me, he was already moving around to the back of the house, and in a flash, he was in the pasture. “What a great looking dog,” he said of Red. I had Red do his thing, some come-byes and away-to-me’s, had him lie down, move the sheep, show off his spectacular outruns. Sen. Cruz was astonished. “I’ve never seen anything like that,” he said. I told him Red’s story, and then he kneeled down and and cuddled with Red and when he looked up, his eyes were misty. Red gave him h is best therapy-dog stare and leaned into him, and I thought the Senator was going to melt right into the ground.

Then Simon gave over, and I gave the Senator some carrots to feed to him and Simon leaned into him and pressed his forehead into the Senator’s chest and the two of them just began to commune with one another. “He’s a healing creature,” I offered, and I saw the Senator’s face change, he was quiet and asked me all kinds of questions about Simon’s mistreatment and his recovery.

I saw that the Senator was crying, and the other man came over and handed him a handkerchief. “Is this between us?,” he asked. Yes, I said, except for the blog. I am pretty committed to sharing things on the blog, I said. “Oh, well,” he shrugged, “nobody in Washington would ever read your blog.” I said nothing, but was secretly quite relieved, I thought I must be on the right track.

I asked the senator if he wanted to do Tai Chi with the donkeys, and he asked if there were any photographers around or cameras. He didn’t want to be up on Twitter or You Tube doing Tai Chi with donkeys, he said, not good for the image. I put my camera a way and we went into the Pole Barn, it was quite hidden from the outside world and I began doing my Tai Chi movements and Ted – we were on a first-name basis by now – moved up and down gracefully and then Simon and Lulu and Fanny came and encircled him and they did Tai Chi together.

I got to show him two or three movements, and we went through them together, the donkeys snorting and leaning  into us, all of us doing Donkey Tai Chi together. “They would not believe this in Washington,” he said. “Too bad,” I said, “it would be a great way to start the day down there.”

The senator seemed to mellow quite a bit, he finished up smiling and talking softly to himself.

Senator Cruz cuddled with Red some more and then came back to Simon, and offered him more carrots. The two had bonded, another strange man connecting with a donkey, an old story. “I wish they had more animals in Washington,” he said. And then, he left us and went into Maria’s Studio, spent a half hour in there and came out with a chicken potholder, a donkey pillow and a quilt for his mother-in-law. “I ordered a scarf for my mom,” he said. I have him a copy of my children’s book “Lenore Finds A Friend,” for him to take to his daughters.

We sat in the Adirondack chairs for a few minutes, talking about kids and work and the challenge of dealing with modern technology. “I’d love to have a farm,” he said, “It seems like a perfect life.” It is not a perfect life, I said, it is a good life, but it does take a certain kind of personality.

Then, he said he had to go. I’ve got to get back to Washington, he said, but he seemed a bit sad. He changed back into his leather shoes, put his tie and jacket on, combed and brushed his hair. He thanked me for the tour and the chance to meet Simon and see Red work. He shook my hand and it wasn’t until he was gone that I saw there was a $20 bill in my hand.

“I’d love to have a donkey,” he said, as he drove away.