Silly Olive went to town, walking backwards, upside down

Last night, I had a glimmer of hope when we got a call from our neighbor and friend who is so graciously feeding our animals while we're on vacation.  Another neighbor had been feeding them, but when he left for vacation on Wednesday, Richard and Linda stepped up to the plate in an emergency.  That's what good friends do.  Richard called to say he had found a note on one of our cars saying that a Polish hen had been found at the brickyard, and they had brought her home.  Assuming it was Olive, he looked around last night, but didn't see her.   I was so afraid to let that glimmer of hope grow just to be dashed all over again. You can't imagine how overjoyed I was when Linda called back to tell me that OLIVE IS BACK!

The brickyard is not very far away - on the other side of the railroad tracks from our property line.  I would have never thought to look there because in order to get there, she would have had to walk down the busy highway which would be nigh-impossible without getting run-over by a car - or she would have had to run from our yard, go through our neighbors yard, fly down a steep embankment, cross the RR tracks and end up on the brickyard's property.  Either of these scenarios would be totally out of character for our scaredy cat, never fifty feet away from the house Olive.

My dear Olive - how many tears have I shed over that silly chicken?  I was convinced that she was dead and had even accused, tried and convicted the neighborhood dangerous dog for killing her.  I'm still pretty sure that Dangerous Dog had something to do with it.  Our neighbor, Ken, told me today that he saw him again on the day Olive disappeared.  When Olive is faced with dangerous situations, she can run pretty well, and can fly for short distances.  She was probably chased through Ken's yard and flew off the steep embankment.  Once she got down, it would be difficult to get back up through the thick overgrown brush. 

Fifteen days she was gone!   They must have been feeding her over at the brickyard - how they knew she was mine, I'll never know.  Now I can't wait to get home and baby her.  She loves bread as you remember from one of my blogs back in May (Olive on Youtube).   A blackberry pie will be in the making for the sweet soul who brought her home - I will be forever grateful!

I am going to find some way to protect her without caging her - even if it involves fencing in our back yard - which will be a chore.  I can't let her die on me again!  She's deserving of a series of children's books with her exciting adventures.   I could feed off the style of Audrey Wood's children's books - you know, like "Silly Sally Olive went to town - walking backwards upside down".  No, I think they call that plagiarism, don't they?  Between the two of us, we'll write some good stories, Olive and I.  Like a Facebook friend suggested yesterday, the first one may be called "Olive Goes on Vacation".