Arrietty Update

The girls and I visited Arrietty in Sequim yesterday, and I was reminded that she's exactly where she needs to be right now for her health, happiness, and safety. Her weight looks good. Her feet look great. Her stall is warm and dry and her hay is sweet.

The girls and I miss seeing her every day, but she's bonded with her new friend Zoe and we've enjoyed the leisure of mornings and evenings without mule chores. I'm really impressed with how clean and dry her paddock is (the Olympic Penninsula is mostly temperate rainforest, after all). Sue, her foster human, dotes upon her.

Sue asked me—as I've asked myself—why I didn't pair Arrietty and Dahlia up, rather than leasing Arrietty out and adding a mini cow. Several reasons, including timing (back then, Dahlia was happily housed with a cow herd) and above all my conviction that herd animals deserve same-species companionship. Arrietty and Fenway were like a married couple—affectionate, bonded, physically and emotionally intimate with one another. They spoke the same language.

The cultural translation that it would take for a cow and a mule to bond is possible, sure—and yet I think both of my beloveds deserve the ease of living with friends who understand them.

I reminded Sue that if ever her circumstances change, Arrietty can come home to me. In the meantime, I'm so glad to see her happy.