THE GREAT HOUDINI

You'll never believe what I saw this week! This is the fence we installed around our Cantina Garden, so I'd have a fighting chance with all the critters hereabouts.

It's a good six feet tall, and there's eight inches or less between the posts. Just to be on the safe side, John ran some strong fishing line back and forth between the posts, down towards the bottom, to discourage some of the shorter, smaller critters.

So, a couple of days ago, in the middle of the day, I come down the stairs and round the corner just in time to catch a full grown deer in the garden. What does he do? He stares at me for a sec, then turns around and walks out. No clattering of hoofs. No running leaps. He walks. Between two posts. I didn't believe my eyes at first. Perhaps I blinked, and he somehow jumped the fence in the nanosecond that my lids were down. There's just no way a full grown deer could fit through an eight-inch space. Is there? Besides, what about the fishing line? I walked over to take a closer look.

Woah! The line had been cut where I thought I saw the deer exit. Not only that, it was cut in the one and only spot around the entire perimeter, where one could actually walk straight out onto level ground, without any kind of drop-off or impediment in one's way. It's as if it was cut there intentionally.

Perhaps these deer are a lot smarter than we give them credit for...and a whole lot more malleable!

My temporary fix, until we figure out what else to do. May have to resort to ugly black netting everywhere.