Good fences make good neighbours

And by that I mean a good fence makes US good neighbours.

We've been in our new home about a year and a half.  This will be the second summer in this house.  Last year at this time we were just having our sod installed.  We were given very strict instructions to keep all foot traffic off the precious new blades of grass and keep it watered around the clock.   All of this during a very severe heat wave and then an early summer drought.   Our water bill for last June/July?  Let's just say it would make your head spin!  Our yard remained mostly useless to us last summer holiday.

This is the "during" shot.  Posts  had just been set.

    This spring we had a fence installed around our property.  Until now, the kids have thought of the space behind our house as one big "open" lot.  There are 6 family homes beside/behind us in total and well, the kids   thought of it all as their own.  Part of me was really fearful that once the fence went up, I would feel horribly claustrophobic in our new partitioned yard.  To my surprise, the fence has had the opposite effect.  I finally feel like we have MORE room.   Our yard, though small, can now become an extension of our house.  And when you have three children?    Extra space is a luxury like no other!!!

     As a mother of three, I can tell you that this new fence has already changed my life for the better.  Though our yard is quite bare (we have decided to fore go the requisite play-structure, trampoline and swimming pool that are so typical of backyards in this area) the kids use their wild imaginations and make their own fun.    Jack loves to "paint" the side of the house with water.  Ava loves to set up all of her animals and figures in complex configurations around the water table.  Sydney likes picnic lunches and reading a good book, all curled up in a lawn chair.   I love that I can run in and out of the house to get snacks, answer the phone, check my e-mail (!!!) and I can trust that my kids are not running out on to the road.  In short, I feel like I can finally relax and breath here!!  Just in time for 8 weeks of summer holiday.

    So we are going to take full advantage of our new enclosure here.  Jack has started potty training, and I believe it's probably for the better that the neighbours are not subjected to his bare-bottom antics and public urination.  Everyone around us can still hear us, but at least they can no longer see us!