Michael "Dog3" wrote:


> There is a nest of underground type bees on the west side of our house
> that I've left alone for nearly 3 years. We're very careful not to
> disturb them when we're gardening on the small strip of land there. That
> side of the house is not fenced. The bees tend to keep the neighborhood
> children out. For some reason the kids like to use that strip of land to
> sneak into our back yard. Never could figure out why they want to go out
> of their way to get into or yard but that's kids for you. Since we've
> left the bees alone, haven't had a problem with the neighborhood spoiled
> brats.

The kids from the neighborhood behind ours used to come over the privacy
fence and cut through our yard to save having to walk two blocks up the
street and around the corner. I didn't want them doing it because A)
Zane is extremely territorial and protective of his domain, B), the
fence is old and they'd already broken a couple of slats clambering over
and C), they'd failed, on more than one occasion, to latch the front
gate going out, which meant the dogs could get out.

I knew the kids in question, had told them repeatedly I didn't want them
on the fence or in the yard, and why, but it evidently didn't make much
of an impression. Until one afternoon when I heard Zane roaring like a
rabid werewolf. I dropped what I was doing and ran outside, dreading
what I might find.

What I found was one of the young rocket scientists from the
neighborhood behind us, a 13 year old boy, dangling upside down from the
top of the fence, the hem of his parka snagged between the slats of the
fence. His friends had abandoned him, leaving him to his fate when Zane
came raging from the far end of the yard.

Zane could have had him, could have shredded him if he'd wanted to.
Instead, he'd settled for scaring the kid nearly comatose, snarling at
any movement, any effort to free himself. He was a human pinata and
Zane wasn't wearing a blindfold and didn't need a bat.

I snapped a shot of him with my cell phone (leverage) then fetched a
step ladder and got him unhooked. I knew the boy, knew about his family
situation, so when I told him that I would refrain from telling his
stepdad about what had happened in exchange for a promise to stay out of
my yard I knew he'd agree and count himself lucky.

To the best of my knowledge, that was the last time any of them cut
through my yard.