@Kapidolo Farms @maggie3fan I know you both will appreciate this thread.
This is the south fence of Dudley's yard, with Texas and Russians and DCTs on the other side of it:
Walking west along the fence, we come to this, the area with Texas tortoises on the other side:
And then the fence between the Texas tortoises and the CDTs. Off in the distance you can see the shelter I started tearing down, and a big space where there used to be a separating fence between the CDTs and the Russians:
A closer look at the space separating the CDTs from the Russians:
And the piece de resistance:
Here's Dudley, in all his glory, in the Russian yard! Why oh why couldn't he have done this when my house was full of company? I had to wrangle all 100+ pounds of him all by myself back into his own yard, then into his shelter so I could close the door on him and lock it. And, of course, you know he didn't want to go the way I wanted him to go. I knew I wasn't going to be able to get him through the broken fences, so I opened the Russian gate and Dudley's gate and tried to herd him that way. No--o-o-o, of course, he's NOT going that way. Up onto the front porch, tipping over my lawn chair, barreling through my potted Sansevarias, Under the porch swing, which I had to raise up off his back before he pulled the screws out of the overhead. Then he headed towards the garage. I spied my wagon so I quickly pulled the wagon over in front of him, making him change direction. And he was not just meandering, he was MARCHING! Using the wagon I was able to direct him towards his gate. Took about 10 minutes to go about 15'. I quickly closed his gate and rushed over to the broken fence. I have a bit of a rotten stump that's just laying in his yard, so I put the pieces of it (every time I tried to pick it up, pieces broke off) behind the fence to hold it up then went back to him to try to make him go into his house. Once he actually SAW his doorway (before this he was just marching and not really looking where he was going) he went right in. I slammed his door shut, but it wouldn't close all the way, I couldn't get the pin in. I had to open it and scrape the poop out of the door jamb. Thankfully I was able to get it cleared before he decided to come back out. All this was happening as dusk was falling. It was getting darker and darker, and he was getting pushier and pushier, trying to find his safe place for the night.
So tomorrow, instead of the work I had planned, I have to repair fences. And wouldn't you know it? This portion of rotten fence is in the area where the City was going to tear down the fence to put in my new driveway. So I have to waste good wood to keep that monster contained.
Once a tortoise has learned there's more to the world than what's inside his four walls, they want back out. I only hope I can keep him contained until the City has replaced fences on the side of my new driveway. He'll be living in my backyard until the City work is finished. If I can keep Dudley in his yard until this week-end I'm going to ask my son-in-law to come over and load the critter up in the wheelbarrow so I can move him around to the back yard where the fences aren't over 25 years old and rotten.
This is the south fence of Dudley's yard, with Texas and Russians and DCTs on the other side of it:
Walking west along the fence, we come to this, the area with Texas tortoises on the other side:
And then the fence between the Texas tortoises and the CDTs. Off in the distance you can see the shelter I started tearing down, and a big space where there used to be a separating fence between the CDTs and the Russians:
A closer look at the space separating the CDTs from the Russians:
And the piece de resistance:
Here's Dudley, in all his glory, in the Russian yard! Why oh why couldn't he have done this when my house was full of company? I had to wrangle all 100+ pounds of him all by myself back into his own yard, then into his shelter so I could close the door on him and lock it. And, of course, you know he didn't want to go the way I wanted him to go. I knew I wasn't going to be able to get him through the broken fences, so I opened the Russian gate and Dudley's gate and tried to herd him that way. No--o-o-o, of course, he's NOT going that way. Up onto the front porch, tipping over my lawn chair, barreling through my potted Sansevarias, Under the porch swing, which I had to raise up off his back before he pulled the screws out of the overhead. Then he headed towards the garage. I spied my wagon so I quickly pulled the wagon over in front of him, making him change direction. And he was not just meandering, he was MARCHING! Using the wagon I was able to direct him towards his gate. Took about 10 minutes to go about 15'. I quickly closed his gate and rushed over to the broken fence. I have a bit of a rotten stump that's just laying in his yard, so I put the pieces of it (every time I tried to pick it up, pieces broke off) behind the fence to hold it up then went back to him to try to make him go into his house. Once he actually SAW his doorway (before this he was just marching and not really looking where he was going) he went right in. I slammed his door shut, but it wouldn't close all the way, I couldn't get the pin in. I had to open it and scrape the poop out of the door jamb. Thankfully I was able to get it cleared before he decided to come back out. All this was happening as dusk was falling. It was getting darker and darker, and he was getting pushier and pushier, trying to find his safe place for the night.
So tomorrow, instead of the work I had planned, I have to repair fences. And wouldn't you know it? This portion of rotten fence is in the area where the City was going to tear down the fence to put in my new driveway. So I have to waste good wood to keep that monster contained.
Once a tortoise has learned there's more to the world than what's inside his four walls, they want back out. I only hope I can keep him contained until the City has replaced fences on the side of my new driveway. He'll be living in my backyard until the City work is finished. If I can keep Dudley in his yard until this week-end I'm going to ask my son-in-law to come over and load the critter up in the wheelbarrow so I can move him around to the back yard where the fences aren't over 25 years old and rotten.
