For years, I've walked the fields and trails along the Potomac River with a furry companion - most recently with Flannery, my family's Great Pyrenees who loved romping in Virginia Bluebell flowers and sinking her paws into mud. Animals have always been a part of my life. I've mucked stalls, herded ewes and lambs, evaded headbutting rams, cuddled pigs, milked goats, trimmed hooves, and named a farm dynasty of cats and kittens names like "Nefertiti" and "Isosceles" (after Egyptian royalty and geometry terms). Animals and their personalities are a source of endless interest for me. “If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans.” ~James Herriot