Egg on my face...

Yesterday my sister and her husband brought their five year old grandson, over to my "farm" to see the baby lambs and the chickens.   I decided to get everyone fed and watered before they came.   I also wanted it to look as spiffy as possible.   The duck pond was pretty darned dirty looking.  I'd better clean it out and fill it with fresh water.  That's when I got into trouble:

I went into the "chicken yard" as I call it...it's totally enclosed in chicken wire (to keep the chickens in) and a small mesh layer all around the bottom (to keep other critters out).   I wrestled the black plastic pond over to the edge of the enclosure and tipped it up so the water would drain out and down the hill.  Then I went to fetch the hose so I could refill it.

The door (see picture) wouldn't open.  It had latched behind me and no amount of jiggling would unlatch it.  The wire around everything made it impossible for me to reach around.

I just stood there for a minute, trying to gather my thoughts...I looked around but the only other opening was the teeny tiny square "door" for the chickens at the bottom of the hen house.  Out of the question.  First of all, I wouldn't fit.  I'll leave it at that.

I DID, however, have my telephone with me and I HAD had the foresight to enter the telephone number of one of the neighbors when I first came.   I dialed the number keeping my fingers crossed that she'd be home.  She was!!  She laughed and said she'd send her son over to spring me from my prison.

A minute or two later he came with his sister...they were about 10 or 12 years old.   I pointed to where the latch was and he popped it open.  Took all of two seconds.  I was free!!

I thanked them profusely for rescuing me and he said, "no problem."   Then he looked at me and said, "Isn't there a string attached to this on the inside?"   Um...uh huh...there is, indeed.

Gah!!

NOTE:  It's 11:30 a.m.  I just returned from feeding "everyone" and I checked that latch.  It's not a string, actually.  It's a black plastic cord coming out of a tiny hole in the wood.  Why I didn't see it is beyond me except that it could have been pulled through more to the outside at the time...that MUST have been it.  It was too short.  Works for me.