The most remarkable thing about animals to me is their adaptability, their drive to live, they do not get caught up in the emotional struggles of life the way people do. Before Maria and I went away, she and her brother Jake were inseparable. Now she and Pumpkin, Sock’s lamb, are inseparable. Debbie is already a beautiful ewe, her coat is coming in, she is strong and healthy. She and Ma have moved on, they are not looking for Jake, I think life has become easier for Ma.

Whenever we look into the pasture, Deb is with Pumpkin, they are a fun couple. We are thinking of giving the sheep to a farmer sometime later this year. Life is about change and adaptation for us, too, the lambing experience has helped Maria and I both to see that we want to focus on the work we love – we have a lot of it to. We will always have animals, but we do not need to have sheep.

Many of you have wondered about Red, and that is a good and interesting question. Red is more than eight years old, and he has a full and engaging life. He does therapy work with veterans and others, and I would like to expand that work, he has a special gift for it. Red also is my right arm and shadow, he goes everywhere I go, his life is busy and full. I can also take him to sheep farms that are nearby to give him work to do.

Red will be fine. We see that we need some rebirth and renewal if we are to keep the creative focus in our lives. We have some big decisions to make, including the sheep. But I think we both know what is central to us, and that is how have to keep focusing and re-focusing are lives. We will never get there, it will never be done, but we get closer all the time.