Not necessarily in that order.
My friend Kelly was staying in the guest room last night and was walking around the yard this morning. She came to tell me there was a deer beside the house with a very badly broken hind leg! The leg was just hanging down and swinging in every direction. I strongly suspect it was broken when she tried to get through the fence. Not having a clue what to do, I called the RCMP. The officer said if I just wanted the deer put down he would send someone over to shoot it. As much as I hate seeing an animal die, it was the only choice. While I was talking to him the deer wandered over to the section of fence where I suspected they were getting through and went through into the bush behind. When I told the officer he said they were not going to look through dense bush for a deer and to just, "let nature take it's course".
The Bad:
I figured enough was enough! No good little faerie was going to come around and fix the damn fence for me. The spot was on the steepest, wettest, muddiest, slipperiest section of the yard. My feet and balance are not the best and I did not feel confident going up there. I am not 75 anymore! Well, yes I am 75 but you know what I mean. Kelly climbed up first and told me pretty much what I needed to do the repair. I cut an 8 foot steel "T" post to 6 feet, grabbed a small sledge hammer and some zap straps and headed up. I made the repair without falling on my head and got back down. Two or three months of worry solved in a half an hour.
The Good:
I have been trying to find a young, agile person not afraid of a little work to do odd jobs (like this) around the house. I can handle most jobs myself but sometimes need a little help. I had discovered that my next door neighbour has a 19 year old son who is unemployed because of the Virus. I talked to him a day or two ago and he said he was usually available, "but not right now". I took this to mean I could not depend on him. After I finished the fence repair guess who wandered into the yard? Yes! He was now available! Not to look a gift horse in the mouth I set him onto the job of making the rolling front gate deer proof. I had stretched piano type wire across the gate but the deer had discovered they could get through it if they got their head through and just kept pushing, separating the strands. I had a leftover roll of the game fence Brooks had put around the yard and got my new friend to get it out from under a pile of wood scraps and weeds behind the workshop. We measured out a 4 by 24 foot piece to fit the gate and he set about cutting it out with my wire cutters. He then removed the six strands of piano type wire and we got the fencing into position. He took over, stretched it into position and zapped it in place. He did a good job and earned what I paid him for his two and a half hours. He left happy and promised to be available when I needed him next. A good day all in all!
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