FENCES

I was reading a blog last night about a fence, and the building of a fence and how important it was to this person to get this done, before they could go any father with their project . And for some reason, to save me I could not go to sleep all night , the word fences keep going around in my head like a roller coaster at a county fair.Before I continue my rant , I would like to give you a few quotes about fences from some notable people.

1.- "A good neighbor is a fellow who smiles at you from over the back fence and doesen't climb over."----Arthur Baer

2.-"Fear is the highest fence."------Duddly Nichols

3.- "Good fences make good neighbors.-"----Robert Frost

4.-"Don't fence me in. song: "Cole Porter

5.-" What have they done to the earth,what have they done to our sister?/Ravaged and plundered /and ripped her/and bit her/stuck her with knives/in the side of the dawn,and tied her with fences and dragged her down."---Jim Morrison of the Doors.

Now for some strange reason ,fences and me just don't get along , I know, they are there for different reasons , to keep things in , to keep things out , to protect and to make feel secure the fearful , to claim a boundry, and to say with a bold (most of the time . but not always) statement, and ugly FENCE that says" this is mine, stay out, unless I tell you otherwise, no tresspassing, violaters will be shoot.
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I guess this all stems from experiences from my childhood, and some in my adult live as well. In my child hood ,I had my favorite fishing and hunting places and secert places to just go and dream about what it was going to be like when I got big. Then one day I go out to hunt or fish or day dream,and there in front of me is a fence with a big sign that read NO TRESSPASSING , now I had been going there for a few years, and had never harmed anything or anyone , and could not understand what had changed, well to make a long story short , the land had sold and the new owners , even tho they never hunted , or fished , or even took a walk to my secret place , they did'nt want anyone else to either. It didn't matter to them ,that I was their neighbor and had lived and hunted and fished, there all my young life, sometimes with my friends, those days were over and done.,gone forever.

I remember when I was living in that great frontier state of Alaska , that a old homesteader told me , to see for myself, that if a Texan bought a piece of land ,large or small ,the first thing they will do, is to fence it in, and put up a NO TRESSPASSING sign, and you know he was right , I would have to drive miles , down the road just to get to my favorite fishing place because , they had put a FENCE across the path that I took thru the woods to get to the creek.

I guess all this has left a sour taste in my mouth when it comes to fences. And now that I am here in the LOS and Gentle People , what is their obsession with fences ???. When we bought our little piece of land and house, way out in a small village ,on a dead end road , at the foot of a mountain, on a private road too, that the first thing my sister -in -law ask me was when was I going to put up the fence , well , when I got thru telling her my point of view about fences , my Thai wife was in tears and my sister-in -law did'nt speak to me for six months .NO, I will not put a fence around my house , I don't want to have to raise my head to see down the road to my neighbors and when I look up to only be able to see the tops of the trees and half of the sky ,sunsets,and sunrises , and have to run outside and open the gate ,and do I have to decide whether I'm going to let them in or not,eveytime someone wants to visit , and I dont mind a little cow or dog poop in the yard sometimes , makes for good fertilizer, and a good sling shot to the back side will get them at bay. I love the wide open spaces and the clear view down the road, and the frendship and smiles of our neighbors as they walk by ," sawadee kop," and I respond "sabi de mai , kop". If you have a fence already well , ok , I understand , I really do , but if not ,don't sweat the small stuff, and I've been here in our village for 4/1/2 years and have yet to see the BAD PEOPLE , they say the FENCE is suppose to keep out .
Malcolm