Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Of Neighbors and Fences

You already know that I have a fix-it drive, so it won't surprise you to hear that it also appears at home.

This is what the view from the back door looked like when we bought our house eight and a half years ago:



In 2006, we tore down the old garage and put up a replacement. (Which, by the way, has soured me on EVER having major construction done around my house again. If you've dealt with contractors in the past, I don't need to go into detail, so I'll boil it down to three words: broken leach field. That was, in the most literal sense, the shittiest day of my life.)

Over the weekend, with help from our neighbors and our kids, we installed a privacy fence. (You'll be happy to know that my marriage to Old Dog is intact.) The people who live behind us helped every step of the way, and the fellow across the street, who is a cement contractor, brought over BOTH of his Bobcats to help us dig through a stubborn tree stump.

This is what the view from the back door looks like now:


I still don't know if it's true that good fences make good neighbors, but I do know this: good neighbors make good fences.

23 comments:

  1. Girl.

    Will y'all come work on our place?


    i'd love y'all for.ev.er. No question.

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  2. I love all the work you did.

    I have a long list of things I should do, but not such a long list of things I have already done to the house.

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  3. It looks beautiful...and you are too funny!

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  4. What does that say when the neighborhood comes over to help you put up a fence??? hmmmm....

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  5. What a great community! We had a new fence put in 2 years ago- took down the falling apart privacy fence and went with plain old chain link (which is what most of our neighbors have). Our neighbors became so much friendlier and there is all kinds of chatting that happens now! However... no one helped us with the tear down or the build up!

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  6. Seeing those pictures it's hard to believe how it use to look, I've done a lot of hard work to make your house look nice :)

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  7. Subtle, old stuff dead flora dark dreary New stuff bright full of life.

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  8. It does look like it was all worth it. Hope so.

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  9. LOL That is great and yes contractors cause hives! The place is looking great girl!

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  10. We have a saying where I come from. 'Birds of a feather flock together'
    Your neighbours sound great. But I suspect you are a great neighbour too.

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  11. good neighbors make good martinis I am told. Well, if your my neighbor at least.

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  12. Your neighbor has a Bobcat? That sure comes in handy!

    It looks much more cheerful! Nice team work. I love a good barn raising party!

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  13. My neighbor had a tiller, but after he did it, I just stared at the back yard for a few weeks before I got out in the heat and planted anything!

    I know all too well what contractors are capable of, and do not hear the use of 'soured' since I moved to the NE...

    Glad it all came out well...

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  14. Oh, can you send some of those good neighbours our way?

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  15. We are thinking about putting up a fence because we have the nosiest in-your-face neighbors. Other neighbors asked us not to, because all of our backyards are open, like a common ground.

    So, could you please send your neighbors to me so they'll put up MY fence?

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  16. Crazy transformation. Just crazy.

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  17. What a difference!! You did a fantastic job! :)

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  18. Good job. My husband and I would be filing for divorce if we did a project together right now.

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  19. oh please come here.My porch is falling apart Oh please I'll bake you cookies. Okay, who am I kidding? I'll go buy some cookies

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  20. I'm glad your marriage survived the fencing :)

    Definitely interested in the soup recipe - why not blog it?

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  21. My neighbor bought a trampoline for his kids when they were young. I informed him the liability for such a toy required as much protection as if you had a pool in your back yard. $500 tramp, $2000 fence. After he had it built, I asked if I could tie into it with a fence between our houses..cost $200! What a maroon...

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  22. Good post. Ha! Get it?? FENCE post...

    Ah jeez...

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  23. Looks much better! Sounds like you have good friends in your neighbors.

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