BOARDMAN — It took a pandemic to slow Sandra Payne down enough to fulfill her girlhood dream of writing a children’s storybook.

“Three Naughty Donkeys” features a trio of Eastern Oregon donkeys that escape from their pen and wreak havoc on their farm. Payne, a Los Angeles writer/producer/director, has written children’s television, including episodes of “Barney & Friends.” Her production company, SPwrite Productions, creates digital content and commercials.

“During the pandemic, all the distractions finally went away,” Payne said. “It lit a fire under me to get my book out.”

The tale about three miniature donkeys living on her parents’ Boardman farm had been simmering in her brain and was almost fully formed. Payne’s father, Fred Walters, served as inspiration for the character Farmer Freddy. Without the usual interruptions, she finished the book, researched how to publish it and found Seattle artist Rachel Yew to provide illustrations.

The yen to write a children’s book kicked in early when the family lived in Fairbanks, Alaska, and her father told fantastical tales to Sandra and her two siblings.

“Dad’s stories — they were the Adventures of Gimple Pup,” Payne said. “He made them up. They were wild, hilarious adventures about this pup, and we loved them. I remember when I was 9, I got the typewriter out and started typing up the stories he was telling us. I said, that’s what I’m going to do, I’m going to be a children’s writer.”

Her first children’s storybook would have to wait for years, though. The family moved to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, where Fred, a civil engineer, worked on a dam that supported the mining of the second-largest nickel deposit in the world. Sandra finished eighth grade there, then spent the next year at boarding school in the Austrian Alps, where she perfected her skiing technique. Then came a move to Washington, college, marriage and graduate school for a master’s degree in English, where she took a class on screen writing.

“Five minutes in, I was, oh yeah, this is what I’m here for,” she said. “I loved screenwriting from the moment I started.”

Payne and husband Perry lived in Dallas, Texas, where Perry flew airplanes as an Air Force pilot and then flew for American Airlines. Sandra graduated after writing a screenplay for her thesis and started looking for a job. In Dallas, at the time, there were two shows written for television — one was “Barney & Friends” and the other was “Walker, Texas Ranger,” she said.

So, Barney, it was. Payne did two seasons as a staff writer for “Barney & Friends” and wrote the script for a movie, “Be My Valentine, Love Barney.” The couple moved to Los Angeles, where Perry flies internationally from LAX and Sandra rebooted her career in the City of Angels. Her resume expanded to include various web series, short films and commercials.

In 1997, Fred and Arlene Walters moved from Atlanta to Boardman. Fred worked at the now-decommissioned Umatilla Chemical Depot to facilitate the destruction of chemical weapons, such as nerve and blister agents stored there since the 1960s. Fred specialized in cost estimation.

He and Arlene settled in on a small farm, and over time bought horses and three donkeys, Neddy, Cocoa and Burrito, to roam the 3-acre pasture. Payne visited every Fourth of July and fell in love with the trio of charismatic donkeys. She decided to put them into her then yet-to-be-written children’s book. Cocoa, Neddy and Burrito eventually became Cocoa, Marshmallow and Muggs in the book, but the storybook donkeys had similar physical characteristics as the originals. The story is a rambunctious romp accompanied by Yew’s delightful drawings.

The real donkeys remain in Boardman, but Fred and Arlene moved to Montana in 2018 after 20 years in Eastern Oregon.

“The big worry when they sold the house was what happens with the donkeys?” Payne said. “Those three little dudes were buddies and they were their own little herd. You don’t want them split up when they’ve been their own little herd for 20 years.”

The answer came when Mark and Linda Glenn made an offer on the place after Mark accepted a job with Amazon. The couple had noticed the donkeys and even mused the Walters might suggest a package deal, which they did. The Glenns accepted.

“The donkeys got to stay in their home,” Payne said. “(The Glenns) are super sweet and they’ve cared for the donkeys and loved them ever since.”

Linda Glenn said one of the donkeys, Cocoa, eventually died of old age, but Burrito and Neddy (renamed Nacho to pair better with Burrito) continue to roam their pasture and take naps under the mulberry trees. The grandchildren like to brush the pair.

“The donkeys are pretty quiet,” Linda said, “but at feeding time, they bray.”

When Payne’s book came out, the Glenns quickly got online and purchased a copy. The book is available on Amazon and on Kindle.