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Wednesday, June 26, 2013

mending fences... or not

Yesterday afternoon, I poked at the window blinds to take an assessment.

"Damn clear blue skies", I murmured.

What an ingrate, huh?  But what can I say, it was hot again without a friendly cloud in sight.  We really haven't had much appreciable rain since the mass car-washing ploy that helped put out the Black Forest fire.  While other blog friends are getting more rain and yuck weather than they seemingly deserve, I wish we could organize this weather better and share the "wealth"!

Terri recently shared some photos of her parents' downed tree from a recent storm.  She also noted the neighbor's deteriorating fence.  I'm not trying to pull any one-up-blogship, but I looked at the photos of the deteriorating fence and thought, "oh honey..."

Allow me to share just a couple of deteriorating fences in my neighborhood.  I snapped some pics during this morning's China walk, trying to be incognito.

Exhibit A

























Exhibit A is what is left of the poor fence at the house near my former office, the school crossing.   Looking further up the way, we see that there is a slight bend in the road.  An errant driver, however, decided not to follow it and instead, to drive into the now gone fence.

This is actually the second time in about five years that has happened.  Gee, I'm gonna miss that job but not really.

Exhibit B
























Exhibit B is my favorite, though.  This photo really doesn't do it justice (incognito, remember?).  If it did, the pile of tree branches placed in line with the gone fence line would be more prominent.  Several sections of fence are missing, and the pile of branches are saving seats?  There is also a utility box in shadow that is covered with graffiti to give it a certain urban feel.


Exhibit B.1
Exhibit B.2





One feature I get a kick out of is how that one section of fence remains standing.  It's like a lone tooth in an otherwise toothless mouth.

Now let me just clarify that I'm not neighbor bashing!  Most of the fences are in decent shape, but weather and traffic and teenagers with spray cans happen.  And some people have things going on in their lives that preempt fixing back fences. 

We live in an HOA-less neighborhood and we like it that way.  If something is a safety issue or such, then there's already a city code for it.  We don't need an HOA to tell us our house isn't beige enough.  

With that comes the potential for tree branch fences and graffiti-ized utility boxes.  Signs of freedom.

HOA's.  Do you have one?   Pro or con?
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5 comments:

terri said...

You win! :-) And yes, you're probably right. Maybe a fence in disrepair just means that the homeowner has bigger things to deal with right now.

I'm sorry to hear about your blue skies. (Feels strange to say that.) But if it helps, we are having a hot, blue sky day here, so maybe our recent rains are coming your way.

Incognito neighborhood pictures... hmmm... that could be a fun thing to do! Might have to try that sometime.

terri said...

Oh... almost forgot... HOA. We don't have one. I don't know enough about them to be pro or con. Around here, they seem to exist in neighborhoods with townhomes and they take care of lawn care and snow removal, so that seems like a good thing.

Anonymous said...

I don't know much about HOAs either. I'd be afraid to live in a neighborhood with one, since I've never liked HAVING to do something - like keep your lawn a certain way. But if it means paying someone else to do it - then I'm all for it!

Abby said...

HOA's seem pretty big around here, I've heard some horror stories. The townhome complex ones for maintenance make sense, but some of the neighborhoods can get a bit of a Nazi feel!

Abby said...

There are some housing developments where all of the homes look so much alike, I get lost! A pepto-bismol pink house? Now there's a useful landmark!