By the time she died two years ago, the unbeloved fence had become the scaffolding for pokeweed and native vines.... The fence had been built in a shadowbox style, and the gaps between the boards gave reaching vines room for twisting.... After our neighbor passed, a developer bought her modest, meticulously maintained house and reduced it to rubble.... The new fence sits on top of a concrete wall.... Unlike the old shadowbox fence, this new fence has a front side and a back side, and it’s the back side that faces us. Worse, its unbroken expanse gives climbing vines no purchase. It took 30 years for the realization to dawn, but once the new flat-board fence went up, I finally understood that my late neighbor had gone to some expense to make the fence she built as attractive on our side as on hers. This choice was her version of neighborliness. I was just too caught up in my own contrary definition of neighborliness to see it....
You can listen to Frost reading his poem, "Mending Wall," here. And here's the text of the poem, which is not entirely about the literal wall. The NYT essay is about a fence. It's quite literal. Renkl has a lot of feelings about fences and neighbors — different kinds of fences and different kinds of neighbors. Do you have neighbors who bring up Trump when you thought you were just talking about your gardens? Well, let me assure you, the NYT essayist does not bring up Trump. It's lovely, all that wall wall wall and never a peep about Trump's wall. Yes, I know, I'm bad to bring it up. But how can you talk about not bringing something up without bringing it up.
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33 కామెంట్లు:
It's literally called a "good neighbor" fence.
In many jurisdictions, the “good” side of the fence must face the neighbor, and at least in my city the authorities will require the fence to be corrected to face the right direction.
I have friends who you cannot have a conversation with without them getting some dig in at Trump, no matter what the conversation is about. I call the syndrome "TDS Tourette's.:
Buy the way, climbing vines on fences are a bad thing. They are destroying the fence.
You can attach a lattice to the new fence and grow vines or you can put in free standing lattice fencing on your side and grow vines.
A neighbor once put up a privacy fence on our line, anticipating that they would be installing a pool later. They never did, but - they did put the 'nice' side toward their own backyard, giving us the backside. After it was completed, the neighbor approached me and said the fencer advised him that the convention is to put the 'nice' side outward, and he offered to convert our side to a 'shadow box' type fence, which I agreed to. I didn't point out the finer details of our HOA covenants, which stipulate that all sides of a privacy fence must be visually appealing - I just thanked him for being a good neighbor.
We planted wisteria. Climbing vines aren't necessarily a 'bad' thing, they just imply an ongoing commitment to keep them trimmed up and under control.
ron winkleheimer said...
“Buy the way, climbing vines on fences are a bad thing. They are destroying the fence.”
Same for brick and mortar work. Although some species (specifically some types of ivy) are not bad.
@Eva Marie
We attached a lattice to our fence and trained jasmine to grow on it. But you have to pay attention because it will grow between the slats. Not to mention all over the ground.
Fences are the norm in Houston. Privacy fences in new neighborhoods will alternate sides which share a private property line. Being the norm, there isn’t much thought about them until they need replacement.
@Rocco
I remember seeing a news report a few years ago about a historic home in San Francisco that was covered by ivy that needed to be removed because it was destroying the house. And attracting bugs and various critters. Since it was in San Francisco there were people protesting this action, of course.
"According to Walter Isaacson’s biography, Steve Jobs, Paul advised his son: "You’ve got to make the back of the fence, that nobody will see, just as good looking as the front of the fence. Even though nobody will see it, you will know, and that will show that you’re dedicated to making something perfect."
When I bought my current South Florida house 28 years ago, the back yard was surrounded by a 4-ft chain link fence, old and broken in spots.
When I priced 6-foot fences (I ruled out wood as an option immediately - they rot quickly), it surprised me that a wall was only a little higher in price as a PVC fence. So I went with the wall. It is made of concrete form slats slid into form-fitting concrete posts, much more secure in hurricanes than any fence.
It's lasted over 20 years now and still looks good.
I know this is an article about fences, but this:
"a developer bought her modest, meticulously maintained house and reduced it to rubble"
Flying under the radar is the housing crisis. Developers are able to outbid the rest of the market, including people looking for a starter house.
They could attach the same sort of panels to their side of the fence and have two good sides or stop being so subjectively judgemental about what constitutes "good"
They could have worked in the prez and his pal if they really tried:
The old wall trumped the new one. And when the vines bloomed, they gave off a certain musk.
KLM is correct: "In many jurisdictions, the 'good' side of the fence must face the neighbor." If the property is located anywhere with building codes and a permit is pulled, this will be made clear; if the fence is built without pulling a permit, the owner can be forced to rebuild to code. HOA regulations also generally cover this event.
Leon is incorrect, to put it politely: "stop being so subjectively judgemental about what constitutes 'good.'" Ugly is ugly in the eye of the beholder, and no homeowner should force the ugly on his or her neighbor. But then Leon spells "judgmental" as a Brit, so maybe he is thinking of a lovely Cotswold dry laid stone fence that has no ugly side.
Embrace the Suck
testtest
that did it
Someone there is who doesn’t love a fence. It rankles her
Good think she doesn't live in the southwest, we've all got block walls around our backyards.
Also; Margaret Renkl needs to get over herself.
I read somewhere that homes in Southern California had really high backyard walls in the 60s and 70s because everybody was into nude sunbathing.
Ron Winkleheimer: "Southern California had really high backyard walls in the 60s and 70s because everybody was into nude sunbathing." Also true here in SW MO, as the person who built the 70s house we live in had high walls around the pool for nude sunbathing and swim parties. However, the neighbor across the street told me that if he stood on an chair in his attic window, he could see over the fence. Ain't no fence high enough . . . and now drones.
San Francisco Spite Fence...40 feet high
https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_2160,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape%2Fcover%2Fsport%2F94298-spitefence-eab8fc99078b33480804890117bf58e9.jpg
If you want some say in my fence design pay for half, and I will ask you for input regardless, but if you decline the offer then no complaining.
I was raised in a neighborhood where neighbors did not put up fences. Our backyard went on forever, uninterrupted by streets or other impediments. My wife grew up in a neighborhood of fences and extended the one on this house when we bought it.
Now I look out the window and see the glorious playground the children of our block could have had if not for the fences. My wife looks out the same window and sees the tiny little plots we each can do whatever we want with. All by ourselves.
Yes, I know, I'm bad to bring it up.
Indeed
But how can you talk about not bringing something up without bringing it up.
Why talk about it at all?
Sunflowers or muscadines or something else edible would attract all sorts of animals that would poop on their fence. Renkle seems as if she would enjoy that.
I'd hate to have a shared driveway. One of my neighbors has this problem and he bought a dozen bright yellow bollards from Amazon and installed them in the middle. The driveway looks ridiculous.
Migration is a forward-looking risk and invasion.
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