There are a lot of newcomers on the blog – welcome to you – and I get a lot of questions about the animals in my life, so I thought it would be nice to pause and offer an update. I get questions every day on the Facebook Page from people wanted to know what happened to Rose or Elvis – these are readers of my books – and I can’t answer those questions, people have to read the blog to figure out what is happening here.

It’s good to offer a bit of a summary, though. At present, I have three wonderful dogs. Red, an eight-year-old border collie, a working dog – sheep and therapy work. He is from Northern Ireland and has been with me for two years. Karen Thompson, a wonderful human and breeder read one of my books and decided God wanted me to have Red. So I have him.

Lenore is an eight-year-old black Lab, the Hound of Love, the subject of several children’s books. She was bred by the best breeder I have met, Gretchen Pinkel of Kee-Pin Labradors.

Frieda, a/k/a the Helldog is about 15 years old, she is a Rottweiler-Shepherd mix, she is the dog who kept men away, she has a wild backstory, told in my last book, “Second Chance Dog.” She is getting old, but hanging on. I credit Fromm Family Food with the good health of my dogs. None have gained a pound in years, they have no allergies, their stools are healthy, their coats shiny and rich. I believe Fromm Senior food has kept Frieda going into her 15th year. Fromm is a sponsor of the this blog, the only one ever. They are the oldest family owned holistic pet food company in America, they do not outsource their food, they have never had a recall.

Rose and Izzy died several years ago. Elvis the Swiss Steer developed awful leg issues and was sent to slaughter, he fed homeless people in Glens Falls for a year. At one time at the first Bedlam Farm, I had four dogs, 35 sheep, two steers and a beef cow, two barn cats, three goats, and a half-dozen chickens. I learned a lot from them all, but there were just too many animals to care for well or get to know. It was a clear sign I was losing my perspective, to put it mildly.

We have three donkeys – Simon, the subject of my next book “Saving Simon,” Lulu and Fanny. Two barn cats, Minnie and Flo. Four unnamed chickens. Eight sheep. This is a good number for us. It is easy to care for donkeys, and our other animals, we get to spend time with all of them.

Hope this helps.  This is a wonderful configuration of animals for Maria and I, they are all gentle and easy with one another, it is a Peaceable Kingdom. We work hard at that, there is a spirit about the farm and the animals seem to pick it up and share it with us.

Red, Lenore and Frieda are very different animals, but they all exist very comfortably with one another, and with us. We are lucky to have them.