Good Neighbors Make Good Fences

[MineralMan]

Since my wife and I have adopted a couple of dogs, a beagle basset mix and a genuine beagle, we've been talking about fencing in our back yard so the dogs can run around freely back there in good weather. In my neighborhood in St. Paul, MN, a lot of backyards are unfenced, and neighbor kids and dogs move freely between homes. But, beagle dogs are hounds and don't seem to think much of staying where they are. The scent of a rabbit or squirrel sends them off wandering around, nose to the ground, in search of whatever it is they have smelled. When they look up, they're not where they were.

My neighbors on the eastern side have a couple of kids. He mentioned a fence a couple of years ago, and we talked a little about it at the time, but we didn't have the dogs yet and their kids were still in the toddler stage, so nothing came of it. We get along well with them, and I saw my neighbor in his back yard the other day, and walked over and started talking about the fence.

In about five minutes, we had agreed that it was a good idea and that we should build an economical chain link fence on the lot line, and then deal with the other side of the yards on our own. My neighbor isn't much of a handy guy, but I am, so I volunteered to plan it and we decided to work together to build all of the fences and to split the cost of the fence between our yards.

Yesterday, I staked and put string lines up for the fences, marked the pole locations and drew up a quick diagram. I created a materials list and priced everything from a couple of big box store web pages. I took copies of the plan and the materials list over to my neighbor's house and we went over them over coffee. We made a couple of minor changes of gate placements and agreed on the cost issues.

So next week, on my neighbor's day off, we'll go rent a two-man post hole auger and drill the post holes, then drop by Home Depot and order the materials for delivery. My neighbor doesn't have the cash right now, so I'll pay for the materials and he'll pay his share next month. We'll take our time and get the fence up on his days off over the next couple of weeks, and I'll probably hang the gates and stuff like that in my spare time. No big deal. I have the skills and he has youth on his side. So, he'll probably do more of the heavy lifting and I'll make sure everything goes as designed and handle the detail work that makes the fence work. I'm 68 and he's 35. We'll figure out a good balance as the project goes.

We get along. We've been neighbors for several years, and we get along just fine. We have helped each other with small things over those years. So, the fence will be a good project for us to do together, and we'll both benefit. It's good to know your neighbors and to build good relations with them. It makes life lots easier. That seems to work pretty well in all aspects of life. Know the people you deal with and establish good relations. Then, when you need to cooperate, the groundwork is all done. That seems to be the answer to a lot of situations. It's good to get along with your neighbors. That works in all sorts of ways.