I knew it wouldn't take long.

Like so many other animals in the barn, Norma Jean (the THIRD name for our rescued turkey, and the one that will stick!!) seems to need Rambo somehow. Hannah the sheep sure needs him. She desperately searches for him when she's let out each morning, her pace increasing to a sort of rapid march and her bleats growing agitated until...aahhhh....there he is, her boy, her Rambo...she runs to him and her whole body lets go.

Two ancient Underfoot Family members Jack and Lama sure need him. Jack is a blind sheep, Lama has a permanent injury that causes lameness, and though their stall door remains open during the day to encourage them to come out, they mostly rest in their hay. When the pigs get too rambunctious, which they do about 314 times a day, Rambo guards the entrance to Lama and Jack's stall, preventing the pigs from entering. "No," his stance says. "They need quiet."

This morning Rambo is lying in one of his favorite spots in the big barn. It's just outside the goat stalls. Norma Jean is lying next to him. Rambo, once the most violent and dangerous animal I've ever known, allows this--even allows the turkey to peck at his wool, pulling at whatever bits of hay she finds interesting. He's her source of comfort and security, as he is to Hannah, as he was to Dino the pony, as he will continue to be, I expect, to many more who sense the strength and wisdom of this great wise beast, whose many acts of exceptional wisdom and breathtaking compassion are depicted in Where the Blind Horse Sings.