Bedlam Farm Blog Journal by Jon Katz

The Mission, for me, is always the same: Practical Good, Every Day, Small Acts of Great Kindness. We can’t alter the nature of things, we can fill the holes in people’s lives.

Sometimes, I find, the small things mean the most. Flowers, balloons, cookies, stuffed animals, puzzles and books. A celebration when it’s all over. So far, so good.

Nothing dramatic, nothing expensive.

We went room to room visiting each of the Mansion residents, saying hello, checking on them, offering to help, asking what is needed. Alice was delighted to have a cookie, she said she wanted to savor it, take her time eating it.

She loved holding Red while she chose, I could see this settle her, keep her grounded, touch the familiar. Maria carefully explained each cookie and we left a bunch for Brittany, then Tia, to distribute after dinner.

Ruth and Wayne seem very happy, even during the Mansions’ current troubles. The two have been dating for a couple of weeks now, I have never seen Wayne so happy, and Ruth seems smitten with him.

Their rooms were not in the part of the Mansion damaged by water last week, they spent most of the day downstairs by the door, a center of activity there now.

They didn’t have to leave.

I brought Ruth some sugar free chocolate jellies, which she loves, and gave Wayne some large print books. The two hold hands all day and smile around  each other.

A bright spot at the Mansion, it is fun to visit with them.

We visited every Mansion resident at the Danforth Monday to offer them some freshly  baked cookies – oatmeal raisin, chocolate chip, ginger – and to see if they needed anything I might be able to provide.

We talked to the Danforth Chapel to talk and distribute some cookies. Jean appreciated her comfort doll, she loves her baby very much. Alice loved her  African violets and was watering them faithfully.

Brittany was happy to let go of the doll for a few minutes, I think she had been carrying her around for much of the day.

I was impressed, as always, by her patience and good humor.

The strain was evident on some of the residents. One has been sleeping most of the day, another waved  her balloon at her roommate in frustration.

They are all healthy and well cared for, just anxious and eager to get back to their “home.” I don’t know when that will happen, I think it will be soon.

I’ll be back in the morning with some books and Word Search puzzles.

Maria wanted to come with me today to see the Mansion residents who have been evacuated to the Danforth Adult Care Center, she and I stopped first at the Mansion to check on the residents left behind there, we then went to the Round House Cafe to pick up some cookies to bring with us.

We were surprised to be greeted at the door by Sylvie, Jean and Mansion Aide Brittany, who was holding Jean’s  comfort baby doll for her while they went for a walk through the hallways.

It is always uplifting to see Brittany’s loving and patient with the residents, she was holding the comfort doll for much of the day.

Jean is holding up one of the cookies Maria gave her from the Round House box.

Brittany was working hard to provide activity for the eight or nine Mansion residents at the Danforth, they had told me that they were bored.

One Mansion aide is always available at the Danforth.

My visits to the Danforth have helped me to appreciate the work Julie Harlin does at the Mansion to provide the residents with nearly continuous daily activities from outings and trips to crafts to movies to art classes and readings to concerts from local musicians.

Brittany asked for some help in getting a hold of Word Search Puzzles, which the Mansion residents love.

I got a dozen cookies at a local Dollar Store and will bring them tomorrow (tonight is my first acting class in Bennington, Vt.) I ordered eight of them on Amazon, they will arrive in a day or so.

The work at the Mansion continues, nobody can say exactly when the residents will be permitted to return, it could be as soon as Wednesday, it might be as late as the weekend.

New York State health officials have to okay the resident’s return, they  were evacuated hurriedly last week after water began leaking from the roof.

The cookies were a hit, but not, of course, a substitute for getting home. I don’t know when our Homecoming Party will be held.

I can see the strain on the residents from their sudden move out of the only home they know now and into an unfamiliar place. Their fragility and dependence on routine has ever been more evident.

I’ll continue to visit them every day.The flowers on Saturday helped, so did the stuffed animals, and  hopefully, the cookies. Tomorrow we’ll add puzzles and animal books to the list.

Many of you are asking if it would be helpful to send packages, thanks but this isn’t a good time. It’s not clear how long the residents will remain where they are, and the staff is extremely busy now. Unwrapping and distributing packages would be difficult.

The residents are scattered in different places.

Last week, much to my surprise, I broke Bud’s intense and somewhat disgusting habit of eating animal feces – dogs, donkeys, sheep and chicken. I used my Pet Corrector aerosol spray to break him of this habit, it worked in a couple of days.

Several people wrote to chastise me for the spray, saying it was “aversive,” and not positive, the way I say I like to train.

They are write, of course, it is not positive.

But it’s pretty benign too. You can stand 20 feet away from the dog and hold the can behind your back and hit the button, and they will stop what they are doing – eating junk, jumping on people, chewing shoes – instantly, and in Bud’s case,  never do it again.

If I wanted to train him out poop eating in the positive mold, t would only take  month or two and a few more cans of Odor Off and Lysol to clean up all the vomit and diarrhea that was becoming a new reality of our little farmhouse (a little stench goes a long way in there.)

It’s common for dogs to eat poop, but it isn’t particularly healthy. There are plenty of worms and parasites in the poop around here, and Bud is a heartworm survivor.

We don’t need to do that again.

I opted for the can, and and have no regrets. We have moved on, and the can is gone.

Without stopping to eat gobs of donkey manure, Bud now happily sails past the sheep and donkey droppings and runs happily around the pasture, exploring the wood line and the pond and getting to run, which he loves and doesn’t do when eating poop.

He also comes when called, even from a good distance away. Positive training can work too. The problem with absolutism with someone like me is that I am not always positive.  I can get angry and pissy in a flash, I have a short attention span, and am easily frustrated.

This post-poop pasture era has opened up a whole new world for me. I can bring Bud out there when I do the chores. I don’t have to yell at him at all, which is profoundly positive, and he can run, which he loves, and get on with his farm dog life.

I like the Post-Poop period, beyond the poop is a richer life for us all.