A Simple Fence Can Lead To Much More

Mending fences is never easy, especially when a fence is almost 25 years old.

You can replace its rotting posts. You can patch the knot holes that look like the Grand Canyon. You can prop up the sections that have more sway to them than a Sammy Kaye orchestra.

You can stain it. You can paint it. You can camouflage it with ivy. You can even decorate it with clay sundials, colorful banners and hanging flowerpots.

But one day, when the dog sneezes and the fence moves, you realize that the gig is up. It’s time to tear out the old and put up new.

But new what? Wood? What kind of wood? Boards? Grape stakes? Brick posts? Chain-link? With inserts? Stone? Stucco?

And since you’re going to go to all the work of taking down the old and the expense of putting up new, it might be cost-efficient and energyefficient to redo the entire yard while you are at it. (At least that is what I suggested to my husband).

I can see it all now. Extend the borders. Expand the yard. Sod more turf. Put in more sprinklers. Pour more concrete. Plant more flowers. Buy more patio furniture. Put up more lights. You get the picture.

One might ask why bother with fences at all? (My husband’s been singing “Don’t fence me in … ” a lot lately.) There are people living in towns all across America who don’t believe in fences. One back yard just flows into the next and they don’t seem to mind too much who trims the hedge or whose dog roams where or whose kids play where.

Some people think that those of us who live out West have a fence fixation, that we cannot live anywhere without a fence.

Is it so wrong to want to have privacy? Of being able to walk through your house in your underwear with the blinds open and not worry about someone seeing you? To be able to let your kids and pets have the run of your back yard? Of being able to light up the Weber and grill some hot dogs without having everyone in the neighborhood mosey over?

Even many of us who live in rural areas and don’t have close neighbors still have fences. Sometimes it’s to keep in the dogs or to keep debris from blowing into the pool. Sometimes it’s just the need for a feel of privacy. Or the need to have boundaries.

Whatever the deep, psychological reasons, I want a new fence. And a new yard. A new outlook out back.