I’ve heard the expression that “A good fence makes good neighbors” and I get it. 

But I have good neighbors here in Milton, DE and I don’t have a fence between my neighbor and I.  In fact, my neighbor just had a nice patio built with pavers and even put a few stones leading to our house and they called it ‘our’ walkway.  They also spend time at their house in PA, so can you imagine their reaction were they to come down one weekend and I’ve put up a fence between our yards?   

I think they’d be a bit bewildered about my intent. 

So now a fence that was supposed to make good neighbors might make mine a bit offended.  Sure, I might place a gate allowing free access between our yards, yet the barrier is still there. 

I don’t have a pet that would need to be outside and contained.  My kids are a bit grown and don’t need a fence for their protection and security when they are outside.

But that’s all a moot point.  I’ll not be putting up a fence.

I put out this kind of challenge on Facebook to give me a topic to write about.  Maybe not a topic, more of a word.

I took a writing class earlier this year and one of the exercises was, when given a key word, we had 5 to 10  minutes to write something on that word.  And I enjoyed it.  So I thought about it for a bit and wondered whether or not to put this out there.  I guess you could say I was on the fence about whether or not to put that out there. 

               *Side Note 1 – see what I did there?

And one of our Milton friends responded with ‘fence’.

I went to bed early-ish last night and when I got up this morning and saw it, I got my cup of coffee and hit the laptop to see what I could come up with.

But ‘fence’ has many different meanings.

I mean sure, there’s the obvious one, a fence that acts as a man-made barrier.  But there’s also the act of dealing in stolen goods.

How does one operate a successful ‘fence’ to deal in stolen goods?  I mean you can’t advertise.  I think in running a successful fence, you’d want to keep it on the lowdown.

               *Side Note 2 – But “Sumstine Fencing” does have a nice ring, doesn’t it?

So it would have to operate on word-of-mouth. 

But I’d be dealing in stolen goods, so I’d be dealing with the people that acquired these stolen goods.  So I’d be relying on criminals to help get the word out about my operation.

But I don’t actually know any criminals.

Or do I?

I guess I could just go up to people I know and say, “Look, if you ever steal a bunch of stuff and need to unload it, come to my fence.  I got you covered.”

               *Side Note 3 – How would you respond to that? 

But I’m enterprising.  I’d come up with a plan.  I’d certainly have droves of criminals looking to fence their ill-gotten gains.

But now I want to properly protect my criminal empire.  I guess I’d have to put a fence around my fence, because I would now have a lot of stolen items that I don’t want stolen from me.

               *Side Note 4 –  Because stealing is bad.

BUT WAIT – see, I’ve just solved the conundrum above on what to tell my neighbors.

I tell them, “Look, I like you guys.  But I’m running this fence see, and I needed this fence to protect my fence”.

YUP – that’s what I’d do.

So if you were to drive by my house and see a fence going up, just assume I’m getting a dog.

Okay?

• Ramblings