Smooch and I noticed some odd criminal activity on our walks this past week.
The top strand of our electric fence had been breached in several places.
Never in our almost 11 years here has this been a problem.
The calves and pronghorn antelope crawl under the fence,
stretching the bottom and middle strands,
but what could be messing with the top strand?
My initial thought was that perhaps one of the very large ravens supervising the ranch
made the unwise decision to perch on it. But ravens are too smart for that. Hmm.
Smooch: Please don't post this picture. The seat belt makes me look fat.
Smooch: Please don't post this picture. The seat belt makes me look fat.
Besides, I didn't find any black feathers on the fence,
but I did find dirt and some suspicious short hairs.
Smooch: I think we should dust for fingerprints. Or paw prints. Or some kind of prints.
What do I know? I'm a dog.
Not so coincidentally, a few new trespassers showed up behind the barn Saturday night –
a small herd of mule deer. I'd seen them on the road a few times recently,
but in all the time I've lived here, they've never come on the property ... until now.
When I went out Sunday morning to fix fence, I didn't need any special forensic tests
to confirm my suspicions – the deer hair was a dead giveaway.
I can only hope that they: a) move on or b) learn to jump a little higher.
