I recently finished replacing the fence on the south and west portions of my house. Both my neighbors helped me in putting up the fence. I didn’t know Mike (backyard neighbor) before I started the fence and Bill, my next-door neighbor and I have done some projects together.
I have read in a couple of books how suburban USAmerica has lost it’s *front porch* and how people have forgotten to be neighbors. One book talks about how garage door openers and privacy fences have gone a long way to isolating us from our neighbors to where we no longer know them. It talks about how our homes have become virtual prisons or castles where we are protected from having any sense of community in the neighborhoods where we live. How can we have community if we don’t know our neighbors?
Mike has a couple of kids close to the age of mine. A couple of months ago, the fence started falling apart and pickets started falling off. At first it was one, then two. The boy and Mike’s boys starting talking through the hole in the fence and soon more pickets were missing and they were coming and going. Eventually, there were about 8 pickets missing. Mike’s wife and I fixed it down to a 4 picket hole so the kids could still come and go, but it didn’t look so bad.
While we put in the south fence, we installed a gate between our yards for easier access for the kids to play. That way, no one has to walk all the way around the block to go play. We have gotten to know Mike and his wife and have started developing a friendship with them.
So maybe fences do make good neighbors after all…
