Did you ever read The Poky Little Puppy when you were a kid? If you didn’t, it’s a story about puppies digging under a fence against the explicit instructions of their mother, with the poky one lagging behind a little and eating up all of the dessert. Pearl, our now two-year-old cocker spaniel, has reminded me over and over of that book this week. We’re moving our chicken coop which is not an easy task since it was never built to be moved. It was built to keep the chickens safe. But we are moving it nonetheless, which means that temporarily the chickens have free reign over most of the backyard. Pearl is not a fan. She loves to run and hunt lizards and chase squirrels wherever she pleases. This move, however, has required a temporary barrier to keep Pearl and the chickens apart.
At first, it was fine. Pearl sulked in the rose garden, staring longingly at her yard filled with chickens. It probably doesn’t help that cocker spaniels were originally bird dogs. It’s instinct for her to go after them. So, one day, we were sitting on our porch and Pearl just takes off at a full sprint along the back fence. We were worried she would run into our temporary barrier. Nope. She dove under it like it wasn’t even there. She must have been plotting this escape all day.
Once she discovered the weakness, she kept escaping and desperately chasing the chickens. So just like the mother in The Poky Little Puppy, we tried to seal the hole. We used bricks and boards. To no avail, she wriggled through. One morning, I took her out, thinking she wouldn’t bound away at such an early hour, and actually watched her as she negotiated the maze of items we put in her way, popped her snout under the fence and squeezed through like she was a contortionist in a circus. No strawberry shortcake for her! And now I’m in a mad rush to complete the chicken coop move. Pearl needs her yard back and the chickens need their safety.
While dogs and chickens run amok in our yard, it’s easy to ignore another beauty that calls our garden home. Butterflies! Even though we are approaching winter, on warmer days, there are still plenty of nature’s little miracles floating around. And this Saturday at 10am, we’re hosting the rescheduled Butterfly Seminar. Come out in your costume if you like for Halloween (I’ll be dressed as Indiana Jones) and learn all about ways to make your garden the most popular butterfly destination on the block.
