Good Fences Make....

Note:  This blog is more about my observations about life, people, and whatever I want to discuss. It's my way of venting, so to speak.

...Good Neighbors

The idiom Good fences make good neighbors is from a 17th century proverb (incorrectly attributed to Benjamin Franklin, among others) that is repeated by one of the neighbors in the poem Mending Wall by Robert Frost.  Many people have their own take on what Frost really meant by including this phrase in his poem.

In real life, however, art sometimes imitates life (to borrow from another cliche).  Earlier in 2013, I had to deal with my backyard neighbor whose wood fence had been deteriorating for the past 2 1/2 years.  It had gotten into such bad shape that my sister-in-law was nervous that our dogs would somehow knock it down, escape, and terrorize the neighborhood.  (Maybe not a bad thing.) Or worse, the dogs would run off.

A little over two years ago, we met at the fence line - much like the characters in Frost's poem - and my neighbor said he had a guy who could come shore up the sagging sections.  He also thanked me for nailing some of the boards back to the post.  The fence was pretty cheaply made and was there when we first moved in over 19 years ago.  I still remember his wife loudly proclaiming, "It's a neighborhood fence!" before retreating to the sanctity of their garage.  At that time, I knew in my heart that these people would never fix or replace the fence.

Fast forward to early 2013...now the fence is truly in need of repair, and this same neighbor meets with me once again at the fence line.  In a series of brief conversations, he runs the gamut from its his fence, to he and the other former neighbor put it up, to "Oh, I thought it was your fence."  Every time I held my ground and told him, "It's not my fence."  It was amazing how - with holes through major portions, and an entire section missing (see the pic below) - my neighbor refuses to deal with his problem, which somehow has become my problem.

Not a "good neighbor"

That was the kicker for me...."Oh, I thought this was your fence..." Then he has the audacity to demand that if I don't do anything about the fence - apparently he doesn't like the orange construction barrier - he was going to have it taken down.  He wouldn't even talk to me about it.  Just left a somewhat rambling voicemail on the house phone.

A couple of quick notes - (a) without sounding too ugly, this "neighbor" has always been a self-centered, narcissistic blowhard, who - as several other neighbors observed - has plenty of money to fix "his" fence and (b) he doesn't know a thing, nor have I offered to tell him, about my cancer.  Not that I would want him to feel sorry for me, anyway.

Just gotta love people....Now the fence is gone and we have a wide expanse to look into the other neighbor's backyard all day long.

Thanks for letting me vent........

Note:  If you want to leave a comment, just choose "Anonymous" from the Profile Selection drop down bar right below the Comment box. (It's the very last choice.)  Sorry for any confusion.

Also, please make sure you leave your name or sign-in somewhere in your comment.  Thanks.