There's a spot at the top of the fence that is behind a large volunteer honeysuckle that needs to be mended, but I haven't gotten around to it, as I would need to go into the neighbor's yard to renail the top of the fence back to the post.
This morning, though, it became apparent that we'd need to do something, as a gap had opened up in a different section of the fence. We didn't realize this small, non-obvious gap was there. But when Ruby went out on squirrel patrol this morning (missed by that much!), she found it quickly and plunged through into the neighbor's yard. This allowed her to recover the ball that had gone over the fence due to an errant throw by a little girl. Ruby was very proud of this. And because the neighbor's yard was fenced in, she apparently decided she was still in her newly-extended yard. At least, when Gretchen called her, she came in. Mercifully.
So when we got back from breakfast, I pulled out the box of sinker nails and headed down to the fence line with Gretchen. It turns out this was another of the fence sections that had been nailed through one of the planks on the fence into the post instead of through the crossbar. This puts all of the stress on the tiny nails holding the plank onto the crossbars. Eventually, those tiny nails come out, the fence goes walkabout, and the dog escapes. So I pulled the plank off, knocked the nails out of it, pulled the fence back in line, nailed through the rotting crossbar (which will need to be replaced next summer), and then nailed the plank back in place.
All in all, a quick and successful repair.
I wonder where the fence will break next...
So does Ruby.