A sheep with a one track mind...

Doppleganger Ursula wrote to say that a sheep had been visiting their garden each morning and helping itself to the finest and most expensive plants in the place. Their garden is supposedly secure as it is surrounded by high stone walls and fences in most parts, but a sheep can jump six feet on to the wall no problem, then it drops down into the yard. Once it has found a flower bed of choice, it can't help returning. Its as if they are programmed to do it. Problem is, once sheep are in the garden, they have trouble getting out.

Ursula and her husband have been chasing the darned creature out of the garden for two weeks now. The garden is full of droppings and a lot of their prized plants have been destroyed. Yesterday in despair she approached the farmer who sold them manure and told him of her plight. He was most sympathetic and eager to help. He asked her to describe the sheep and the markings and immediately said it wasn't one of his. He said he would come over and look at it, but he suspected it was Farmer B's from down the lane. Ursula said she had just shooed the sheep out so it was gone now. Anyway next time it appeared, she was to call immediately and Farmer B would be over in a jiffy.

A few hours later there was the sheep again, chomping away in their garden. Once called, Farmer B came whizzbang with two sheep dogs, a small tractor and a farm hand. Sure enough, it was one of his sheep. Well catching the sheep was not easy at all. It ran round the house four times and nearly flattened Ursula's husband in its frantic attempts to avoid capture. It went to the four corners of the property, chased by the dogs, with farmer whistling and yelling strange commands that appeared to confuse the dogs no end. They'd not seen such grand entertainment in their garden for many a long year.

Eventually the sheep was cornered. Farmer B said it was a ewe in lamb, and once the lamb was born it wouldn't bother climbing walls to get into their garden. He said he would put the sheep in "a secluded spot", whatever that meant. And if it came back, it would be put in an even more secluded spot. I have images of pens with sheep in leg irons, but hopefully it won't get that draconian. Farmer B said even if you took the sheep five miles away and left it out in the open, it would work its way back within a day or two.

So Ursula enjoyed the sight of the farmer driving the tiny tractor with the miscreant ewe held tightly in his lap, with one sheep dog on the hood and another behind, parading out through their garden gate with the farm hand trailing behind.

Ursula reports so far, no sight of said sheep. I suspect she would quite like it to return, as the subsequent theatrics of the farmer, tractor, dogs and all seem to be much better than anything that appears on television these days.