Tricker seals her fate. #7

    From when she was small, John would turn Tricker out of her cage and stay with her as she explored the yard, the alley, etc..  She never went too far, never created problems and  went back to her cage, when John herded her back.  But as Tricker matured, she spent more and more time travelling the tree tops, eating fruit, and who knows what and generally becoming more independent.  John would start trying to corral  her an hour or so before dark and, eventually Tricker decided that she liked night time operations perhaps even better than daytime operations.  So there were days when John would give up, go inside and wait until Tricker let herself back into the house or cage on her own.  She was able to open our back screen doors, which were locked only by a latch at the top, by pulling the bottom of the door frame and then push her way through.  Eventually, Ruth decided that a second latch should be added to the bottom to put an end to that.   Seemed like a great idea and actually worked, as well, until there was a night when Tricker wouldn't come down from her tree.  John gave up at some point during the night.  Tricker, thwarted by the second latch , decided she could just go ahead and get in by burrowing through the roof.  When John, who was often on the roof for a variety of reasons only known to him, soon saw the massive hole over the play room which was clawed through the shingles, tar paper and all the way to the wood he figured one or both of them were goners.  Sure enough, a field trip to the dove fields was arranged for the both of them... but one of them would not return.