Fence this

One of the first remarks I made about this house was that it needed some sort of fencing in the back yard — and by that I don’t mean the intense competition of the popular Olympic floor sport, itself at the very core a physical debate, a cunning exercise in attack and defense. No, we needed something to shroud the fishbowl that was our back yard.

Kerry and I explored every option — installed privacy fence, installed chain-link, doing part of it ourselves, etc. None fell anywhere near what we thought. That’s something else we have to get used to. But the fence was a necessity, not only for our privacy and whatever peace of mind you can establish with four houses all around you.

This what it looked like before, when they first started. It looked like absolute dog shit.

See that white shed and play area to the right? That’s my neighbor’s, and those houses to the back? It gets no better to the right, where a 3-unit apartment building is our neighbor. They’re cool, though. Well, they seem quiet, and young. And even if they do get loud or hard to sleep to, it will be short-lived. Trust me. But that is what they call an “aside.”

So yes, the back yard was wide open but the fence seems to be working out well. Kerry’s colleague added a true opinion on the fence. He said it’s like adding another room to your house. I agree.

Yes, I'm enjoying the sort of sequestered confines of our back yard of my suburban Detroit community. However, I'm the most gassed when I think about my fence not being there, when my boundaries are defined by the edge of some serious acreage, or that I don't need to worry about seeing or hearing my neighbor because he's on the other side of the lake. I love where I am and with who I am.