Nevada sheep rancher Sabine Eckleberry’s life is in shambles. His wife has decamped to Arizona to run a dog-grooming business; his youngest daughter needs a husband; his irrepressible son VJ wants to turn the ranch into an ostrich-breeding operation; and the wild burros he has adopted to guard his sheep can’t get along with their charges. Now his family and friends are about to descend on the ranch to celebrate Sabine’s seventy-second birthday. The ranch is soon a chaos of budding and blighted romances, mistaken identities, rampaging poodles, runaway sheep, schemes of seduction and sudden wealth, and a newly hatched ostrich chick in search of love. Novelist Michael A. Thomas has created a cast of memorable human characters, a supporting cast of realistic animal personalities, and a colorful setting in Nevada’s rangeland. His keen ear for dialogue and his perfect timing support a plot as complicated and satisfying as a Shakespearean comedy.

Michael A. Thomas received his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Washington. Thomas co-directs the University of New Mexico's University Honors Program's Conexiones summer institute. He lives on a small farm in Socorro, New Mexico, with his wife, daughter, and an assortment of animals.