Don't Fence Me In!

     Actually, DO fence me in. Our fence...correction...our NEIGHBOR'S fence, fell down during the hurricane last fall. She refused to fix it, and finally, without warning, she took part of it down. That would have delighted me except my dogs ran through the space left b/t her bushes. Everytime I let the dogs out into the yard I had to make certain I eye-balled them carefully or else they - no, RUSTY (my dacshund) got out. Yesterday Rusty got into the next yard and started scrabbling with Jake, the neighbor's dog. Then we had to track Rusty down the street, 'cause he took off fast. Today was ANOTHER story. 

     I let the dogs out and watched them. Cocktail (our shepard/chow who is 15) and Tiemann (maltese, aged 10) wandered to the right side of the yard and behind our cottage. Rusty headed for the non-fence, but I told him NO! and after a few seconds he came into the house. Two minutes later, Cocktail came in. I came in too, leaving Tiemann out, as he will come to the door when he is ready and bark to come in. After 4 or 5 minutes I looked for Tiemann and couldn't find him. I called and called, looked all over the yard and the house, and then went out front. There was Tiemann, coming BACK to the house from the corner, with a look that said, "Oh - hi Mom, were you looking for me?" Here's how I think it went down: As I let them out, Rusty must have said to Tiemann, "OK - now's your chance. I'll pretend to go to the fence, and when Mom calls me to come in and I do so, she'll never realize that you are out here. When she goes into the house, you make a break for it, through the bushes and out the neighbor's front yard. Go ahead, take a chance for once in your life, be a man!" It HAD to be that way...it's ALWAYS Rusty's fault!! He's the teenager of the bunch!

     As all this happened, Gerry and our friend John were in Home Depot, getting the materials to put up a new fence. Here is the finished produce. They only had to do one side of the yard, as the rest of the fencing is in tact. They had to make sure that they were nto on HER property line. In fact, the fence is about 8 inches past the line and into our yard. It's just easier to lose a few inches of our yard than to have to deal with her. The last fence was actually put up by Gerry & John years ago, but she claimed it as HERS, since it was 2 inches onto her property. Well, not anymore!!! And the dogs are safe and sound in our yard - sorry, Rusty!