Hi All,

While Lowell tells us wonderful stories about his life with Zima, today I have one about Don's life with barnyard animals.

I drug him out of the house today, all the way to Sacramento to see a car for my daughter to drive. He was gracious and willing to have an inspection to be sure it was safe and worthy of her ownership. But after that things changed.

When we were nearly passing Petaluma on the back roads I spotted a wonderful Pumpkin Patch full of people and it was so decorative, and I told him, lets go look at the pumpkins. He said, Alllll right.

Well, not long after exiting the car the first thing he saw was a sheep with a baby lamb. There he was, bent over the fence and stroking the animals fur. I had to feel it as well and got a true understanding of why sheet don't care if it rains. That fur is very deep and dense. So I spotted lots of displays of wreaths, goards and other assorted decorative items and he said, "I'll stay right here."

So after I had a look see and two arm loads of purchases I came out of one of the buildings to view two horses. I was a little shy about touching them as I do have a fear of horses, but Don came over and got one of them to hang out near the fence so I could touch him. Little did I know he wanted to eat the dried flowers I just purchased. But I did get to feel his head and stroke his neck and he didn't try to bite me.

Ah, but next, the cutest yet. Two little pink piglets, and next to them a baby cow. It was really small and one of the workers came over with an oversized milk bottle and fed it. Ah, it was so cute. Don seemed really comfortable in this environment. Something for both of us; home dec for me and the barnyard for Don.

I was hoping to buy some fresh corn which was offered, however it required picking it ourselves and I didn't have the time. But I will say, this was the most elaborate Pumpkin Patch I've ever seen. All around were bales of hay, farm equipment, life size raggedy andy's, a scary house for kids and innumerably dried flowers and some fresh ones as well. Yeah, it felt like Petaluma alright. All done up and catching the festive atmosphere of autumn.

I wish you could have seen Don though, he really fit in. Cute as a bug in a rug.

Though this tale is not adventerous like Zima, it was nice.

Petra