Status Updates From The Farm in the Green Mount...

“We just had to hold the broom in front of us, like a witch who is ready to mount her broomstick to ride to the Blocksberg, and the animals scattered and took to flight in the desired direction.

They were all afraid of the broom: the fowl, the dogs, the cats, all the animals except the goats, who even went so far as to nibble at the broom straw.”

“I chauffeured, and Winnetou had the job of keeping the four goats off my neck.

The little Saanens put their forelegs on Winnetou's shoulders and nibbled at her hair. Heidi licked my neck and ears as though they were a block of salt. The goats' behavior and the tickling sent Winnetou and me into foolish, tortured giggles.”

Best chapter ever, The Pet Animals

“…afterwards I promised myself never to become attached to or to love another animal.
I succeeded in remaining true to this vow for quite a while. Then in America animals began to besiege me, to force themselves upon me, and to lay claim to ownership by me without my being able to defend myself against them.
A cat was the first.”

“In this snow-loneliness I heard the comforting sounds of the morning. I heard Zuck get up, I heard him lay the fire and go into the kitchen to make breakfast.. I heard the rattle of dishes, smelled the hot, poured, slowly dripped coffee and began to feel warm, protected, and safe.”

“The twelve-foot-long wooden table, a refectory table from a Swabian monastery, became our dining room table. He, the Owner, brought us beautifully turned church benches, discarded from his Catholic church, which went splendidly with our monastery table.”

The new home described in heart warming detail