Not again . . .

I had just finished my last post and decided to head outside to check on Daisy . . . 

See, we've been having a little problem with her getting out.  The first time was a couple of weeks ago.  I wasn't at home, but John was sitting on the couch watching TV and suddenly saw her running through the front of the other yard.  (We have two houses and two yards in case you're not familiar with the layout of our property.  Daisy lives in the back of the other yard.)  She'd pushed through the fence right where it ended at the far corner of the other house.  John solved the problem by rigging up a 6 foot steel post and some rope.  However, night before last I'd gone with him to deliver a ton of feed to some friends.  We were gone no more than an hour and a half and returned to find the front gate on "our" side chained shut, which it normally isn't.  Daisy had gotten out again and had made her way down our driveway to the open gate -- I know this because I could see her hoof prints!  Fortunately, some unknown but very kind stranger seems to have gotten her back in and then shut the gate.  This is one of the many ways people help each other out in the country, and while we would have done the some for others, I feel extremely indebted to whomever it was.

We escorted her back to her designated territory, and while I'm not 100% certain, I don't think we had any trouble with her getting out yesterday.  The reason I can't remember for certain, however, is that she's gotten out at least 4 times today.  The first time, I was laying in bed this morning when I heard a very distinct "Moo!" right outside the bedroom window.  I was prepared for what I'd find when I looked out, but she was a bit surprised that there I was hollering at her.  A bit perturbed, I got up to survey the damage (same fence, same spot) and put Daisy back on her side.  But first, when I got out to the driveway, she stood looking at me with an expression that said, "Well, it's about time!  Where have you been?"  I walked next door and she followed right behind.  After feeding her, I gathered up every last steel post stashed around both yards.  We had five posts on our side, and there were six more next door.  That should have been plenty to reinforce 30 feet of fence, right?  I left the posts for the time being and had a bit of a chat with my fence guy. 

Daisy stayed put until just after lunch.  John took a break from his work, and to reinforce the weaker garden posts in the area where she'd been knocking down and walking across the fence, we installed 6 of the heavy steel posts.

That lasted until mid-afternoon.  Because John has been working hard all day to get a gate built, the only thing I could do was put her back again and shut the front gate just in case.

He ran to Laurel at 4:45 for parts and some groceries.  When he got back, she'd gotten out again.  We installed the remaining five posts -- so that's 11 steel posts plus the weakling garden posts plus those on both ends of the 30 foot stretch.  By then, John was pretty pissed off, Daisy looked triumphant, and I was a little worried about both of them.

I came inside, wrote the last post, and walked out to check on her.  There she was, standing in the front, in the driveway, and in trouble.  She'd jumped a section about 4 feet wide and had to have cleared 3.5 feet of the fence to get over it. 

I'm quite certain that as of this time tomorrow, she will be very familiar with electricity as John is planning to put up electric fence to keep her in.   Hopefully he only has to install it in the one spot, but as I'm learning, fences are mere deterrents for cattle and not really barriers.  As long as Daisy doesn't figure that out about the rest of the yard, we might all continue to get along.  For her sake, however, she better start to believe that if she wants to continue to be a good neighbor she won't mess with good fences.