I came back from the beach and our dog Mexico had got out and was in the road! There he was, waiting at the gate and asking politely to be let back in.

We have been through a lot to keep that mongrel dog in our yard. At first, he was squiggling through the railings on the verandah and jumping into the gully. We shut the iron gate to the verandah. Then he started getting out of the yard over the back wall. We fortified various weak spots with blocks. Then he climbed the stairs on to the roof of the new two-story building and leaped off into the neighbor’s yard. We blocked off the stairs with a piece of plywood. How did you get out this time, Mexico Dog of Talent? Turns out he went in to one of the new rooms and out the bathroom window. What a dog! Kumbo, who has been mixing cement for us, said he saw him out in the road mating with a female.

This evening there was some exciting activity in the road with dogs barking and rushing around. Mexico was in a passion. Yipping and moaning he bounded up the stairs heading for the bathroom window but Bobo raced ahead and slammed the door shut. I guess some other contender made out in the road tonight.

People sit around outdoors a lot here and they get much amusement from the dogs. It’s not just dogs, there are a lot of communities to observe. There are chickens with their pecking orders and their common fowl stuff. Those roosters bossing everybody around and the hens clucking and coddling their little broods. The dogs, of course, with their social lives and dramas; the goats, and then the people. There is nothing as interesting as people.

Mexico escaped after all. He jumped over the plywood barricade, ran up the stairs to the roof and leaped over to the neighbors. He missed his chance, though. The drama was already over by the time he made it.