The doorbell rang and I opened the door to an old man I'd never seen before. He reported to me that "Looks like someone's driven through your fence and your cows are out in the road." I hurried to wake my son, Zeke, who was sleeping in. I grabbed a couple of buckets of corn had ran out to the pasture. Sure enough, the fence was down, completely flat for 20 feet or so. The tire treads showed that someone had missed the turn and gone right through clear into the field taking out fence posts, fence and barbed wire with it.

I cajoled our 2 steers back inside with the help of the corn and checked out the fence while I waited for Zeke. He came out with acouple of pairs of fence pliers and a roll of wire. Three posts were completely broken off at the ground and 2 more were bent. The barbed wire was still there. The fence was crumpled and there was a piece missing. Must be on the grill of the vehicle still. I went and got a fence post out of my garden and found a roll of old fence behind the old playhouse. I couldn't lift it into the Jeep so I had to kind of flip one end in and then lift the other end in.

For three long hours we worked on trying to repair the fence well enough to prevent another escape. It was just a patch job and we didn't have the right equipment but we were able to get it done well enough. We were sweaty and tired by the time we finished but I felt good...a sense of accomplishment. It's a feeling that I think is rare in society today.