Love Story: Signal to the world

  June 25, 2008 –  The story of Lenore and Brutus has rocketed past this blog and out into the world. This morning, a column I wrote for Slate.com appeared in the online magazine today, and the surge in traffic was so sudden and strong that it overwhelmed the servers that serve Bedlamfarm.com in Glens Falls, N.Y., and the people at Mannix Marketing got cracking and fixed things up in a few hours.
  I’m on a new, faster and more powerful server now.  It was a bit unnerving, though.
  I love this blog, and have worked hard at it, and feel very supported by many people who read it, link to it, and encourage me to keep working on it. I do work hard at it, and it is a labor of love, not work.
   I don’t like to have the site crash, but I am touched and humbled by the number of people coming here. It is an affirmation for me, of sorts, and of my idea of a website – open, graphic, continuous and non-commercial –  and affirmation also for the many people who contribute to it, from Raeanne Wright to who designed it to Mannix Marketing who are re-designing it and maintain it. I thank them.
  And I thank the many people who enjoy it and let me know. Makes me feel very good. Many of you are like family to me, and I appreciate you. My writing and photography have grown because of you.
  We are living our lives together, and coming to know and trust one another, and even to work out kinks in our relationship.
  Still, the real players in this story are a remarkably loving 10-month-old Lab puppy, Lenore and a gentle, odd ram named Brutus whose relationship seems to have touched the popular imagination in a moving way.
  Seeing it every day, I can understand why. Lenore is only a puppy, and through her Hospice work and her relentlessly loving ways, has brought light and affection to many people, places and creatures. And her work is only beginning, as is my work with her. She will be a great dog, and do great things. I will see to it.
  I still don’t really know what’s going on with Lenore and Brutus, but it sure is a pleasure to see the bond between these two, who look for one another all the time, and seem to defy many of the natural laws governing sheep and dogs, and animals in general.
  I will keep an eye on it, take photos of it, and my editor and I talked today about working this into one of m my future books. I don’t want to do a children’s book, really, it’s not what I do (thanks to many people who suggested that). It should be part of the books I write, and will continue to write.
  Anyway, I love this blog, and the farm that feeds and supports it, and inspires it. Lenore and Brutus are only one of the many stories running here on different tracks, from me and my bumbling efforts to figure out my life, and the donkeys, cows, dogs and people around me. Those of you reading this have somehow become a part of it, and how strange and interesting that is.
  I think today Lenore and Brutus sent their signal to the world, loud and clear.

http://www.slate.com/id/2193851/