The world is without question a better place when you encounter people who are kind, courteous and competent. In my town, in my life, there are many such people. The spiritual gurus and the therapists all say good people come to you when you are ready to receive them, they appear when you have opened yourself to them. I do not know if this is so or not, there is something to it.  At the farm, it does not hurt if our UPS driver also loves dogs and all animals.

Bernie is, we believe, the world’s finest UPS driver, and we have never had a bad one.  Bernie brings the outside world to me – clothes, books, computer supplies. He protects packages from the rain, is always helpful and cheerful, works hard,  maneuvers his big brown truck through rain and snow and ice, he always has biscuits in his pockets. I think he loves his job, but if he didn’t, he wouldn’t tell me, he does not complain about his life.

If we are not home, he has even braved Frieda to get fragile packages inside in bad weather. Lenore loves UPS drivers in general, Bernie in particular. At our other farm in Hebron, she hopped into the back of a UPS truck and drove off with the driver, who was astonished to see her in his truck when he stopped a few minutes away. He returned Lenore quickly and apologetically, Lenore’s tail never stopped wagging, I am sure she would have happily gone home with him for awhile.

Today, when we got back from a walk, Bernie was pulling into the driveway. Lenore, thrilled to see him, came bounding over the truck and jumped in, she got a biscuit. Red saw this from the pasture gate and joined in, they both got some biscuits. Bernie is a friend,  he follows the blog sometimes, we appreciate him, he comes to our Open Houses, is interested in our life, brings great stories of the animals on his route – he has many photos of them in his Iphone.  Bernie is one of the first people I give copies of my signed books too. After all, he brings them to me.