DO Fence Me In


 With apologies to Cole Porter, who wrote the song, "Don't Fence Me In" (a fact I didn't know until I started writing this, although it was based on a poem by Robert Fletcher which Cole Porter re-worked), I want to be fenced in.  Or perhaps I should make that partially fenced in.  It's not that I want to keep people out.  I don't.  I'm a welcoming person. (Or at least I think I am!)  What I want to keep out, at least out of my backyard, is the critters.

Now I KNOW no fence is going to keep creatures out.  If something (I'm particularly thinking of bear) want in, they are going to get in.  But a fence acts as a deterrent.  And I'd prefer of the deer stay in FRONT of the house.  After all we have an "island" of trees/bushes in front of our driveway which they are (for the most part) welcome to and right across the street is a huge swath of land with trees and places to rest and eat.  That's much better matched for wildlife than my backyard.

Our house is the Poconos is surrounded by trees (which I love) and our backyard is fenced in.  Or was.  The original owners had a split rail fence.  Over the years, wire had been added to the fence to discourage larger creatures (mostly deer) from coming in.  It seems to have been done piecemeal.  And it was starting to "fail".  The wire was coming down and we used zip ties to try and keep it up.


  (Not ideal, but...)  Then this spring/summer, a baby deer got in one day and a larger one the day after (https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2025/06/its-too-weird.html).  We knew we needed to get it replaced. Not what I wanted to do, but...

So I did the reasonable thing.  I started researching to find a "fence" company because it's a big yard and I didn't think a handy man would be able to tackle the whole thing.  I asked the local community on social media for suggestions.  I asked my real estate agent, who unfortunately didn't have a referral for us, but did caution us NOT to use one particular company that she had used with bad results.  I made some calls.  I had ONE company call me back and come out and check the property.  They provided me with several estimates based on what we might want to do.  It was expensive!  I wanted more than one quote.  I called another company who said they did do work in our area and that they were really busy but would get back to me.  They never did, despite multiple calls and promises.  I could bemoan the lack of customer service in the world, but...

My husband happened to mention this to the company that does our pond maintenance company and they said they could do the work.  I asked for and got a quote (although it took prodding to get it done and the quote was a little higher than the original price that was given to me in a text) and photos of some of the work they had done.  We trust this person, so we decided to go for it.

It was supposed to take 5 days...you know where this is going right?  Work was supposed to start on a Monday.  It sort of did.  They came by and took some measurements, but that seemed to be it.  They weren't on site for very long.  Tuesday (while I was working in NJ), the most of the old fence came down and posts were put in for the new fence.  On Wednesday (again while I was working in NJ), the split rails went in. 


On Thursday (I was back in PA) some of the wire (but not all) was attached. 

Friday, one of the three gates was put in and the last part of the old fence (on the east side of the house) was taken down and posts put in.  Five days, but the job wasn't done yet.

They were supposed to come back on Saturday and complete the work.  That would mean complete the wires on fence where it was needed (towards the top), putting in the split rails on the side of the house, and installing two more gates.  It didn't happen.  No one showed and I didn't get a text telling me that there was not enough staff that day to come by until nearly noon.  But they promised they would come by on Sunday.

And they did, but before they arrive, the several deer managed to squeeze in by the side of the house and have a fun in the yard.  (My husband did NOT have fun as he tried to get them out.  I was at church when I got this text: "Just spent 5 minutes or so chasing three or four deer out of the garden. They knocked down the makeshift fence on the east side.") A lot of work was done, but...


It's Monday (again) and I'm (trying to be) hopeful that the fence will finally be completed.  (I'm not holding my breath.)  Because I want to be fenced in...And I want the deer out!







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