Fences

When we bought this place, it came with barbed-wire perimeter fencing.  Not the prettiest, especially up front, where something must have tried to get in, or out.  It was 3-strand fenced in some places, but down to 2 strands in others.  I never thought barbed wire could have knots in it, but ours did.  Boy, howdy.


This is Tucker.  He's my part-time dog.  He belongs to Jay, who lives across the street, but I feed and care for Tucker when Jay is out of town.  I also pet him during the day when Jay's at work.  Tucker loves me, and I love Tucker.  Tucker is a good, good dog. 


Smart, too.  He never leaves his own yard....at least, not when Jay is home.  When Jay is away, he will sometimes zip over for a pet and a cuddle...then he runs straight home.

Well...not exactly straight.  Remember that fence I mentioned?  To get to me, Tucker has to run down his driveway, look both ways and cross the road (really, he looks!), then along the fence for a bit until he gets to my driveway.  Then he comes barreling down my driveway, full speed ahead.


Tucker's brakes aren't the best, and he's knocked me tail over teakettle on more than one occasion.  But it's all about the love.  We have something special.  Once we've had a little time together, he reverses his path - up my driveway, along the fence, look both ways, then he barrels up his own driveway to get back home.

We decided to clean things up on our side of the road, so a couple months ago we took down the barbed wire and t-posts along the front of the house.  It does look better (or at least it would, if I'd get out there and mow) but I noticed something a while back. 

Tucker still comes out of his driveway, looks both ways, and walks along the fence line.  You know...for the fence that isn't there anymore?  

It got me to thinking about how we humans do things, and how old ideas can keep us in places or out of places, even when the old ideas aren't the truth anymore.  Even when we've figured out that they aren't true, sometimes, we still keep to those old fence lines.  And so, thanks to Tucker, I'm thinking about that a lot more, and watching myself a little differently, and seeing where I'm letting old ideas get in the way of freedom.

Meanwhile, I tried to call Tucker from places where he'd 'see' that the fence wasn't there, and he still went around the long way.  I encouraged him (it's good that my neighbor doesn't read my blog, or I'd probably get be in some trouble at this point) to come straight from his drive to me, but he couldn't do it alone.  We walked it a few times together, though, and now he understands, and it's shaved a good 1.4592 seconds off the time it takes Tucker to get from his front deck to knocking me to the ground. 

Fences.  Old ideas.  People who walk alongside us and help.  Freedom.  For those of you who have walked by my side from time to time through the years...who have helped me see where old ideas get in my way, thank you, from the bottom of my pea-pickin' heart. 

Have a great week!
-Laura at TenThingsFarm

P.S.  I mowed up front today...until the (new) drive belt on the mower deck shredded.  Can I borrow some sheep?

Comments

Rhonda said…
Cute story. Tucker looks like a great doggie neighbor.
Anonymous said…
Laura,
You have done for me the same thing you did for Tucker,taught me new ways of looking at things and I as a person and my budget thank you for it.
God bless,
Helen
Laura said…
Thanks, Rhonda - Tucker is the best. We love him to pieces!

Helen, you're so kind! I'm glad you've been able to use some of the things I learned to help you too! God bless you, my friend! :)
Unknown said…
Tucker is awesome and very, very lucky to have you as his neighbor!
Laura said…
I agree, Joan - Tuck's a great dog, but I think I'm the lucky one! :)

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