What is it with so many American backyards not having fencing all the way round?

It's cheaper.

It is not common in Florida but it is kind other places.

We don't need fences - we have guns.

You need to have a good reason to have a fence between neighbors in the U.S.; otherwise, it could be considered an unfriendly spite fence.

What if you have a dog or several dogs? They just run all over? You can't just let them out, can you?

We don't have those tiny yards like most people do in England. It's expensive to fence in a yard

Many people who have dogs end up putting a fence up. There is also an "invisible" fence technology where you bury some fencing that will send an electric shock to your dog's collar if he crosses the line. Only the Deplorables install those, however. Some dogs won't run that far away. Mine will always come back if I call him, but I don't let him in the yard just in case he goes the other way and goes toward the street. I would only let him do that at the park, very far in, away from the street.

Developers rarely, if ever, put up fences in new subdivisions. It's extra money and it makes your yard look smaller than if it were connected to everyone else.

More commonly, bushes, trees, and other landscaping details mark the border between homes - but again, if the developer has decided to do it. We also don't have the long agricultural / land owning history like England. I was in the far North, where they took the stones from Hadrian's wall and used it to wall off their 6x6 gardens...from former 12 x 6 gardens, from former 18 x 6 gardens, reduced with each generation. All of that just never happened here.

It's also more common for an entire development / subdivision to be fenced off and have a gate at the front - but no fencing between the houses. This "gated community" thing is enough for most people.

Here in CA, we all have fences- big or small properties.

Good fences make good neighbors.

We have 10 foot wall fences in South Africa. Brick wall fences are a sign of wealth and privilege here

OP needs to get out more.

Even in New England it depends, OP. Where live, historically accurate, decorative fences are typical for in-town homes and immediately bordering residential neighborhoods, but fences out of town are the exception, not the rule. Country settings are far more apt to be separated by undergrowth s of natural shrubs and trees, or privacy plantings that mimic native vegetation. Required fences (enclosing pools, etc.) are generally obscured by plantings, and fences, other than open, split rail, that are visible from public roads are not approved without a detailed landscape plan clearly limiting visibility of fencing. Metal, chain-link style fencing is completely forbidden, the only exceptions being made for working farms.

I do not understand why you need a fence. Are your neighbors untrustworthy?

Otherwise, it seems like a very expensive (and ugly) thing to do.

I just googled and saw a quote of $13,000 for a half-acre in 2009. Not an expense most people would take on without a good reason.

R10 - in addition to tall fences, you have the Rottweilers, Dobermans and German Shepherds - trained to attack only dark-skinned people.

Before I built a wall I’d ask to know What I was walling in or walling out, And to whom I was like to give offense. Something there is that doesn’t love a wall

Here in Arizona almost all homes have fences. If you go to the retirement city, Sun City, I find a lot of homes don't have fences or they have a fences in the back of the property, but not between their neighbors on the side. I think homes with or without fences is regional.

Unfortunately, in much of the US, it's considered sort of antisocial to put up a fence unless you have a pool (have to keep other peoples' kids out) and to keep the doggies in. I've read that it has something to do with the Colonial practice of being able to graze one's livestock on 'The Commons', which was the commonly held greens surrounding peoples' homes. In much of the US, at one time, property borders were defined by barbed wire fences designed to keep your livestock on your property. Such concerns were not considered 'genteel' for suburban Americans. Although the oldest American suburbs date back to the Civil War era, the biggest real push for suburbs seems to have begin in the 1920s. For much of that time, dream suburbs were designed almost like Utopian communities with the individual houses designed with the Town Hall, Fire Station and Library in one fell swoop. I'd like to fence in my yard, but I have a long lot with several pretty steep changes in elevation: I just can't imagine how I could accomplish it.

Gardens in England are teensy tiny.

I have an acre. It would cost me a fortune to fence it.

One of my neighbors planted arborvitae all the way down the property, so I get the benefit of that (the husband works for a nursery). The father of the guy who lived behind me owned an old hotel that was being torn down and sold. Before the land was sold, my neighbor hired the nursery of the guy next door and removed all the trees, bushes and privets and planted them in his back yard. . So the bottom of my property has a privet hedge. I put in a smal privet on the other side of my house covering about 1/4 of the boundary. The builder planted trees in front of my house. I have privacy.

If fences are so anti-social, remove your doors and windows as well. What could possibly go wrong?

[quote] We have 10 foot wall fences in South Africa.

Yeah well, you know why that is. A relative of mine lived in ZA. Fences are required because of the crime problem there.

[quote]Gardens in England are teensy tiny. I have an acre. It would cost me a fortune to fence it.

Most houses in America don't have an acre.

I've lived in houses in England that have an acre and were fenced all the way round.

Lived in three different Southeastern states. Fences were rare. Very common in other parts of the U.S., though. California, for example.

Tiny English gardens (they call yards "gardens" in the UK, for those who don't know. )

I live in CA and put a fence around my back yard for privacy, the previous owners had a chain link fence which was horrible. A friend who lives in VA has no fences in her neighborhood, it's like everyone's backyard is one huge communal area.

I've got 8 acres, and all of it is fenced with a 6' fence. We have dogs, and it definitely keeps the dogs in and the deer out.

The cost was around $8K for the fence around the full property and was well worth it.

Here in SoCal, I think you'd be hard pressed to find a backyard without fencing all the way around the back yard.

[quote]keeps the dogs in and the deer out.

& the gators in Florida, no?

Often if you have an HOA fences are not allowed. I have an HOA that takes care of the lawncare and if each property was fenced it would cost a whole lot more to have the lawns mowed.

It's expensive and neighbors have boundary issues. You'd probably have to get your property surveyed to make sure you don't encroach on someone else's.

[quote]Often if you have an HOA fences

You Americans with your letters.

OMG!

More garden fences

SoCal housing developments have small yards. I was surprised at how small they were when I first started watching hgtv.

I remember two houses in my neighborhood that had fences right next to each other. Legally they were required to erect the fences about 2 or 3 feet from the boundry (so the fence could be maintained). They were next door to each other, so there was this weird little no-man's land alley like thing that was very attractive to the kids in the neighborhood. And because there were two fences next to each other there was no room for adults to fit in there.

My previous home I fenced myself with a privacy fence, and had several neighbors come over and complain about it while I was installing it. The most upset neighbor was the guy behind me who's yard had a privacy fence. Go figure.

R30 HOA is a Homeowners Association, the Association collects dues and has rules to prevent things like a person painting their house some weird color, or parking junk cars all over the property. Not for everyone but I like it.

R27 Ahhh....nope

I live in Texas and we live in an area with 6ft fences around the backs of the houses. Most of us have backyard pools so this provides necessary privacy.

That's bullshit. If I buy a house, property and paying taxes, I am putting up a fence around it!

[quote] You Americans with your letters.

[quote] OMG! [quote] —WTF?

You seem to be pretty good with your letters too

Boy, that man @ R35 seems pretty brave following the gator like that.

Fences can be necessary for keeping out livestock and wild animals, especially if you want to protect a garden.

I can't imagine NOT having a fence. I value my privacy. When I buy a house, one of the first things I am doing, if it doesn't have one already, is fencing in the entire perimeter.

A few years ago, I fenced in a little over an acre for $11K. 6 feet in the front, 4 feet in the back, with a wide double gate leading into the back yard and numerous gates , including one between the back and front yard. Black chain link with a reinforcement bar all the way around the bottom. It is my dream fence. Oddly enough, the yard looks bigger now that it's fenced in than it did before I fenced it. Sounds hideous, but the landscaping is mostly mature oaks and hydrangeas so it looks okay.

It's cheaper to leash children to trees than to fence them in.

I live in a resort area and everything costs 3x normal prices. It would cost me about $60k to fence my yard. Not happening. You can buy two foot tall trees for $15 apiece, plant them and wait a few years and voila, privacy and boundary.

Where I live you don't have to fence your whole property if you have a pool. I put a small deck with railings around my pool and it meets town code. Unfortunately, I had to put alarms on my deck gates and alarms on my doors that lead to the pool in order to get the C.O, but I removed them after the town inspector left.

Where I live, zoning regulations would require that, if I'd build a fence more than 6' tall, I'd need to file for a permit. I believe zoning requires my fence to be at least 16" from the property line. The most inexpensive privacy fence I can imagine is wood plank fencing. Where I live, the outside of the fence would be quickly colonized by Virginia Creeper, Trumpet Vine and Poison Ivy. I don't much mind Virginia Creeper and Trumpet Vine (except in my own yard) but Poison Ivy is a scourge. So I'd need to find a way to treat the outside of the plank fence, but I'd be forbidden to do that by walking on my neighbor's property. I'd end up buying a lot of trouble, to put it simply. I still intend to add some privacy screening, though, at some point.

Here, in Arizona, you can build on the property line, but most people split the line with their neighbor R45. You each end up owning the fence. My block fence is on the property line so my neighbors can't do anything to it without my permission.

The primary reasons for fences, R13, are for the provision of outdoor play space for wandering children and pets, enclosing gardens from deer, pool enclosures, and privacy, of course. Well planned communities have strict fencing regulations to maintain specific aesthetic standards (e.g. historic preservation), control taste-specific and/or visually intrusive designs and protect and/or enhance streetscapes.

[quote] You Americans with your letters. OMG! —WTF?

At least we don't have a bloody fucking council to worry about

I have chain link around 3 sides of my yard, which is fairly large. Neighbor kids use our our yard once in a while to play Ghost in the Graveyard for instance, on summer nights because they have access to it. Wouldn't want it any other way. We're on our second dog and obviously couldn't let them out in the yard on their own, so we just walk out dog, which gives an excuse for a little exercise. Plus, we've had coyotes literally in our backyard, I'd never be comfortable just to leave our dog out there even with chain link on 4 sides.

[quote]What is it with so many American backyards not having fencing all the way round?

Cheap and/or lazy property owners. I'm assuming that OP is referring to a typical suburban home with a new-fashioned tiny-ass lot.

on a*

I live in Northern CA and everyone has fences except for many country properties. My house came with 6 ft. fences but recently we built 8 ft fences, the top 12 inches are trellised. I love the privacy, also have tall hedges and trees. Maybe because we've just come out of a long drought, but a lot of people have ugly yards. I am very proud of my front yard with it's rock walls, flagstone patio, lawn, trees, shrubs and flowers. I'm like the garden police and when I walk (a couple of miles a day) I mentally criticize yards, think about how I'd improve them, and think thoughts like "an alcoholic must live there, look at that dump!"

We're much friendlier than the English are.

Californians are big into fences. They feed into their antisocial tendancys. I have lived all over the us. The one place were we knew the least amount of our neighbors was cali. I prefer open yards with natural borders or minimalistic fences (Split rail or simple picket <4ft tall

[quote]You Americans with your letters. OMG! —WTF?

Yes, that's absolutely not a situation you Brits have at all!

Who isn't, R53?

I'm with you, Englishperson. I'm American, but grew up all over (including some time in London), and I prefer fences or walls around the property. I like it to feel like my own outdoor room. I lived in California for a couple of years, and all the houses had tall privacy fences.

I don't understand why so many American neighborhoods lack them. Our HOA won't allow us to have front fences or walls, so we deal with dogs and children rampaging right under our windows. I gave up planting flowers.

Cali? No wonder you didn't know your neighbors. One less piece of trash here.

This is frequently a result of central planning restrictions which seek to prevent visual clutter, and the homeowner's associations (HOAs) which enforce them.

Weirdly, I have numerous restrictive covenants attached to my rural subdivision which would prevent fencing and a long list of things, but no HOA was ever formed...so the restrictions are moot.

California native and have never had a house without a fenced-in backyard.

One exception of note: My grandparents had a house in San Fran' right under Sutro tower-the backyard was basically just a patio, extending about twelve feet from the rumpus room sliding glass door, at which point it just dropped down the hillside. All you could see was eucalyptus trees..and the fog. (g) It was creepy to sleep down there, with no boundary on the property, but the road was several hundred feet down the hill and you'd have a hell of a climb up there between the slimy, eternally damp soil and the piles of eucalyptus leaves. Easy upkeep, though, just broom everything over the edge.

What's less common here is a fenced-in front yard.

In the United States, the average property size in small towns, suburbs, and rural areas is usually significantly larger than typical English gardens. So privacy isn't as much an issue. (Of course fences are much more common in urban areas where privacy and security are issues.)

Also, I think that fences are seen by many as ugly -- some neighborhoods ban or restrict them for purely aesthetic reasons. And I think there's a kernel of truth about American "friendliness" -- fences can sometimes be seen as an unfriendly gesture to one's neighbors.

[quote]Also, I think that fences are seen by many as ugly -- some neighborhoods ban or restrict them for purely aesthetic reasons.

What about the American cliché about white picket fences?

[quote]fences can sometimes be seen as an unfriendly gesture to one's neighbors.

Ridiculous! see R57 >>

[quote]Our HOA won't allow us to have front fences or walls, so we deal with dogs and children rampaging right under our windows

What a nightmare!

Fences are considered both ugly and unfriendly/unwelcoming in many parts of the US, OP. It's a fact.

Personally, I abhor them because to me they epitomize a small-minded "this is mine and not yours" mentality -- the opposite of civic-mindedness. So I'm with Robert Frost on that point.

From a purely practical and economic viewpoint, any fence that's capable of serving a practical purpose (e.g. keeping kids in or dogs out) is ugly and reduces the "curb appeal" of a house, as realtors will tell you. Split-rail fences or low walls may not look bad, but they have no practical function. For example, to keep deer out, a fence has to be at least eight feet high; more like a prison fence than a house gate. Never mind that you'd need a piss-ugly electrified 10-foot fence to keep out burglars, if that's your intention (and you'd likely be in violation of local statutes, not to mention that anyone whose kid got fried on that fence could successfully sue you out of house and home in a US court).

You don't even need an above-ground fence to keep dogs in any more, as pointed out above -- there are the electronic training things to keep the dog in your yard, so they're obsolete for that purpose.

[quote]Our HOA won't allow us to have front fences or walls

Are these 'HOA's' often figures of hate?

Are they often power bottom types?

Our yards are much, much larger than a back garden in England.

Tasteful sisters in LA put very tall cyprus trees around their properties to act as fences.

Yeah R66, until a few die and then you have gaps.

I'd love an enclosed, outdoor room. I like boundaries and privacy. In my world it does NOT "take a village".

Or even better, Switzerland, r68 -- they're quite standoffish.

On the other hand, they're also all about being in their neighbors' business, so ... never mind.

My sister lives in Oklahoma City, every backyard is fenced with wooden privacy fences. One day her hideous little dog bit me and I screeched "Oh Goddamn your fucking dog bit me". She said to shush because you never know when your neighbors are outside listening to every word you say. That and the fact that Okies will stone you for taking the Lord's name in vain.

Several homes in our small cul-de-sac have fences, and we didn't see a need until the asshole white supremacists next door rented to a white trash couple who look very literally like outcasts from a lost Cro-Magnon tribe. They're always in our back yard, they mowed it a few times to try to claim it as their own, and even set up camp in it one weekend. They run off when we try to confront them, and after a nasty letter we CCed to the owners, they've been mostly okay but still have a trailer parked a couple feet into our yard.

So now we have to pay to put up a fence. The neighbors on the other side of them had taken down their fence (because it was ugly, they said) but they quickly put it back up to keep these people reined in.

Sometimes you just need to set boundaries for fuckwits who can't control themselves.

Also true, R70. People native to the Midwest are just always in everyone else's shit. The week I moved into this house someone came by and told me to "be careful of the snowball plant" that the previous owners planted near the house. I asked why, and they said, "Well, it's just inches away from your neighbor's property. That's rude. You're rude."

Uhm, okay. What house do you live in? "Oh, I'm from several blocks over, I'm just taking a walk," and he wandered off.

Don't even get me started on the guys who used to stand in the middle of the street drinking beer like it was fucking King of the Hill, and hollering at people "fix that dent on your car" or "your mailbox needs paintin'." Just all the fucking time with these hicks.

[quote]Don't even get me started on the guys who used to stand in the middle of the street drinking beer like it was fucking King of the Hill, and hollering at people "fix that dent on your car" or "your mailbox needs paintin'." Just all the fucking time with these hicks.

That's hilarious!

Actually these stories are getting to be funny in general.

I don't have a fence because I don't like to feel closed in. I think my HOA approves only certain fencing and you have to notify them before you can install it.

Fences are built to either keep something in or keep something out. If some people don't live in a situation where they need to do either there's no need to go to the expense.

Colorado is a 'Fence Out' state meaning if somebody's livestock comes onto your property and does damage its your problem.

I had to obtain permission from the historic commission to fence in a portion of the yard. They questioned materials as well as style and height.

The queen of the story: my rescue airedale was a bigot who chased brown people and I secretlty wanted privacy for my japanese hot tub. White trash with Klass!

I like how they do it in India and even in parts of Mexico. The fence is about 10 feet high and solid metal, no one can see in or out. The front gate slides open, usually opened by the household servant. It seems very secure.

Well, if you want to live behind a solid 10-foot wall, r78, why not just move to Riker's Island?

But you're right, it's probably cheaper to live in India or Mexico (I wonder why?). No time like the present for moving, what with first-world real estate prices rising again.

R63 that's fine for keepIng your dog from leaving your property, but then causes the concern of predators (coyotes, aggressive dogs, etc) coming onto your property and harming your dog.

My back yard is fenced. Also half the sides of the front. I like it that way. I have good neighbors but dogs on two sides and the guy behind does not take care of his yard. Trees and shrubs add to the privacy and I would have it no other way unless I lived in the Midwest or somewhere neighbors are at a greater distance.

I am not a nosy neighbor and am surprised at how much some of my neighbors know about the details of each others' lives. Even with barriers they're watching. One commented to me the number of wine bottles seen in another's recycling bin. Please. Get a life.

I guess people with pets and small children would want to fence their property in areas with coyotes. I'm lucky that my area does not have coyotes (I live on an island). My cats are house cats, so I don't have to worry anyway, but lots of people let their cats out. If you have a 6-8 ft fence, I guess it will keep out the coyotes (or coywolves).

My town does not allow building on property less than 1/2 acre. It's to avoid overcrowding.

Where I live, pools have to be fenced, for safety reasons.

We have tall fences but raccoons still get in. They nose around in the mulch and mess it all up looking for grubs. Opossum's, too. A few years back there was an epic fight between a raccoon and opossum. The raccoon won. It was dreadful, the feral screams were so upsetting. A friend told me she picked up some mountain lion poo at a local wildlife rescue, put it around the perimeter of her yard and the raccoons stayed away. I was thinking about doing that but the raccoons are scare this spring. We had such a wild winter I think they moved on to other grubbing grounds.

[quote] The queen of the story: my rescue airedale was a bigot who chased brown people

My best friend in HS had a Dalmatian who hated black people. The family wasn't at all racist, but the dog was. They would take he dog in the car with them and it would go nuts baring its teeth and jumping at the window if a black person was walking down the street or in a parking lot. It was bizarre. And embarrassing.

Yeah pools need to be fenced, but not your entire yard.

Stay away from bamboo for shrubbery

Fencing is expensive and privacy fencing is quite ugly.

Oh yeah a couple of assholes in my neighborhood did the bamboo thing. They are "artistes" and didn't want to mow the lawn. Their house looks like shit because they never painted or stained it, so it's got rotting clapboard on it. They park their rainbow colored car in the front yard and have a big plastic rainbow colored tree, too. Did I mention they're not gay? They're not.

Anyway, I kind of wish they'd put bamboo in front of their house.

R30, I fucking hate acronyms, too. DLers seem to love them, the more obscure the better. Ugh.

Fences don't keep wildlife out. As I said above, ours is 6 ft high and we have wild bunnies nesting in some bushes and a lot of other animals burrow, jump or climb fences.

HOA is not an acronym, R90. It's just an abbreviation.

[quote]We have tall fences but raccoons still get in. They nose around in the mulch and mess it all up looking for grubs. Opossum's, too

I had to google the above wildlife.

Opossums look cute! Very brave in a public place with this dog.

Possums aren't as annoying as raccoons and they don't get rabies.

Raccoons are a plague on humanity.

I watched a documentary about raccoons, huge problem in Toronto.

Armadillos are extremely destructive little bastards.

My husband and I have 42 fenced acres with a gate on the driveway. Peace and privacy so that we can do as we please.

OP baby possums are adorable especially when riding on mamma's back.

Chipmunks are a pain in the ass, too. They are burrowers and they dig up my garden and plant birdseed, which then sprouts. I just had to replace two bricks in my walkway because of a chipmunk tunnel underneath them.

Once, my husband put a small table on our asphalt, forgot something, went back into the house. It was a very hot day. By the time he came back outside, a small hole had gone through the asphalt from a table leg. He called the paving company to come fix it, but hurricane sandy had hit and the paving company was making $$ removing trees and brush. By the time they got to the house 3 weeks later, the hole was huge because chipmunks got into it, dug the sand and fill underneath and expanded the hole by collapsing the asphalt. We'd a put wooden block on the hole, we'd put a brick on the hole -- too late. One of the little bastards had dug into the hole the very next day and started its collapse.

They are very cute, but almost supernaturally destructive.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

[quote]Chipmunks are a pain in the ass, too.

They just look like squirrels with stripes.

In my mind they looked like little monkeys.

This is turning into 'The Natural World of The DLer Special'.

Yes, chipmunks are cute but they used to eat the bulbs I planted when I live North. We don't have in Texas, where I'm at now.

[quote] They just look like squirrels with stripes.

They are squirrels with stripes.

Groundhogs also dig and burrow, as do foxes. There aren't as many as foxes around here as there used to be. Foxes aren't native to the area. They were brought here by pretentious assholes who wanted to ape the British aristocracy and have fox hunts.

[quote]They were brought here by pretentious assholes who wanted to ape the British aristocracy and have fox hunts.

Really? Is that so? Where is here?

Skunks!

Do you have moles in America?

& what about badgers?

[quote] Really? Is that so? Where is here?

The second home capital of the 1%. The original American 1% started building here in the 19thC and aping the British aristocracy was a must for them. Our golf courses are not beautiful with waterfalls, ponds and other middle class frou frou. They are patterned after St Andrews, all craggy and snaggy. There used to be a good number of working class people living alongside the 1%, but like other modern Americans, today's 1% has not the slightest idea of how to plan for the future. Small houses are now torn down and their entire property is covered with a giant house, a huge driveway and a pool. No grass. No trees. Maybe a hedge. As a result, maintenance of houses now falls upon a working class that lives hours away, so costs to maintain houses are now astronomical and traffic is a bitch during rush hour.

Americans are nothing if not shallow, stupid and greedy.

My new neighbors just erected a 6+ foot , random width board fence enclosing their entire 11/4 acre back yard. The purpose is to meet local pool enclosure regulations for the pool they are in process of installing. We were slightly concerned that a portion of the fence encroached onto our property. Rather than create a neighborhood brouhaha, we called them. They immediately had their surveyed check it out. As it turned out, the installers misunderstood the setback regulations. After a walk trough with the surveyor, we had our lawyer draw up an document clarifying the error, but permitting relief from zoning bylaws. All of this was complicated by this being their vacation home, and their not being in residence to speak with us face to face. As a "thank you" they asked if we would like them to modify the design, adding a gate giving us access to use the pool when they're not around. We haven't decided, but probably won't put them to the expense of a change order, in lieu being given a key to their side gate, which is fairly easily accessed from our property. The chances are slim that we'll ever use it anyway. It just seems silly to make a big deal out of something that is really not all that much of a problem. (By the way, they offered to pay our lawyer's bill, which we've declined.)

There are no badgers where I live, nor are there skunks.

There are lots of deer, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, opposites, rats, groundhogs, shrews, birds (including turkey and Guinea fowl), feral cats. There used to be a lot of pheasant, but the feral cats and unleashed dogs got them, along with the bobwhite and killdeer. We have fox, Hawks, osprey, cormorants, ducks, geese.

No hedgehogs. No moose, no coyotes, no wolves, no mountain lions, no Lynx. No lizards, no scorpions or tarantulas or giant horrible spiders. So far, no bats.

No opposites

Or opossums

Yes we have badgers (mean) and moles (destructive little shits).

HOA is not an abbreviation, it's an acronym. It's as commonly known in the U.S. as something like VAT in Europe.

And yes, the people who volunteer to be on the HOA board are often power-hungry, busybody control fiends with too much time on their hands. They need everyone to conform to their bland, rigid view of life. You need their permission to paint your front door, and they send letters threatening to fine you if you don't follow their color rules. God forbid you paint the door the wrong shade of white.

Twice a year they officially inspect the exterior, which leads to us receiving insane letters about how they spotted a hint of rust on the underside of our front stair railing that we must fix or ELSE. We had to search for five minutes to find this catastrophic spot of rust. Then there were the random years they found our front door to be "noncompliant." It was the same door that had always been on the house.

"HOA is not an abbreviation, it's an acronym. It's as commonly known in the U.S. as something like VAT in Europe."

No. I learned of it here for the first time. And I had previously known the terms Home Owners Associations and VAT.

Unless you live in a wealthy gated community you don't use the term often enough to develop an accronym or abbreviation or who cares.

Honey, we can't speak to your personal level of ignorance.

We have moles her in No Cal but they're rarely seen. I found a dead one once. Odd little face it had. I don't mind opossums, prefer them to raccoons. Not as many and not as destructive. Our neighbor built a birdhouse and nailed it to our shared fence. Bad place for a birdhouse, not high enough. Eventually it was covered with vines that cascaded over our side of the fence. I was trimming them back one day, getting close to the covered birdhouse and looked up and into the eyes of a snarling opossum. He was curled inside the birdhouse (falling apart by then) and I was only about 15 inches from his face. It shocked me so bad! I jumped back and stopped trimming, leaving the scared little guy to his cozy home. We have skunks in our area too but never in the yard. When I lived in SF a gigantic skunk visited our yard at night. We lived near Glen Park Canyon and lots of wildlife roamed the neighborhood streets at night. Cool little hilly neighborhood.

I love skunks. They look hilarious when they start stamping their feet, which is also a warning.

these days you see foxes in the middle of London in the middle of the day.

Fox in the London Underground (subway) station >>

Oh, I love foxes! I saw one near the edge of our neighborhood trotting off to the woods. He was big and so pretty! The only time I've ever seen a fox in the wild.

Fences are ugly and lower class.

[quote]He was big and so pretty! The only time I've ever seen a fox in the wild.

Thank you so much.

You were pretty too!

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.

Most urban wildlife makes good use of railway tracks.

If you come across crows rummaging through you garbage you can chase them away. Raccoons laugh in your face. And no one will even try to stop a skunk.

I grew up in L.A. (on a 3/4 acre lot). Fenced properties were the the norm, til I visited a suburb Columbus, Ohio. The LACK of fences seemed SO strange to me.

R102, yes to moles, R108, yes to badgers (not where I live, though), but they're quite different from European badgers. Wisconsin is known at 'The Badger State', and it has American badgers, but the nickname came about as the nickname for lead miners back in the 1830s.

In my yard, I've seen (of course) grey squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, opossums, deer mice, groundhogs and moles. In the nearby cemetery, deer, foxes, chipmunks and coyotes, as well as wild turkeys, Canada geese, herons and a wide variety of other types of waterfowl. My neighborhood dates back 1882, and my house was built in the 20s, and most of the homes in this neighborhood don't leave much distance between them, and any kind of fencing I might put up wouldn't stop any of the mammals I mentioned seeing in my yard from getting under or over the fence.

[quote] "HOA is not an abbreviation, it's an acronym. It's as commonly known in the U.S. as something like VAT in Europe."

HOA is not pronounced ho-ah. That would be an acronym. The letters are pronounced separately H-O-A. It's an abbreviation that is initialism or alphabetism.

An acronym is pronounced like a word. Laser, scuba, sonar are acronyms.

NATO is an acronym. The UN is not an acronym.

POTUS is an acronym. CIA and FBI are not acronyms.

Is POTUS really an acronym? I'll take your word for it r129, but I've never heard it spoken. I use it often but always think of each letter as I type. Not to say I never think of it as one.

My neighborhood has a large number of coyotes and bobcats due to a large rabbit population. Unfortunately, they also take household pets if they get loose or are left out at night. I live in a planned community with a lot of man made lakes with walking paths around them so we also have a ton of alligators moving in.

That's my nightmare--living in an ugly planned community with fake lakes full of alligators. My parents retired to one of these (without alligators but with snakes), and it's slowly driven them insane with boredom.

Watch out for peoples' former pet boa constrictors, too.

Not so bad R132. The one I live in has some fun people. We have lots of parties and some gear Irish and NEw Yorkers we are friends with.

Urgh "great Irish".

You also don't have to fear snakes or alligators.

[quote]That's my nightmare--living in an ugly planned community with fake lakes full of alligators.

LOL

Aren't both guys @R3 pensioners? They're both old.

When I lived in Hawaii, we had no fences around those houses. In California and Texas, everybody has fences around the backyard but only the barrio has fences around their front yards.

Fences are a European or British thing. Native Americans, from whom the land was taken, thought of fences as an odd, unfriendly and foreign concept.

In NYC, fences are common.

Interestingly, 30 million people voted (in part) due to an obsession with a monstrous and unnecessary wall between us and Mexico.

[quote] Is POTUS really an acronym? ....I've never heard it spoken

Here it is in American English

And American and British English

Meh, I prefer Orange Gropenfucker. I see no "POTUS"

fences reveal a lack of creativity in the owners

r54 is too dumb to make friends with Californians.

and bizarre parsimonious obsessions

R147 looks like it was influenced by The Shining.

I LOVE some overdone English gardens, and I don't care what shade you wanna throw on me.

More!

Thats looks like Holland Park, R149.

It's been in a ton of Doctor Who episodes. It's actually in Wales, near the BBC studios out there. I'm finding a lot of the gardens from TV shows I've seen are 1/2 CGIed or shot from very specific angles to make them look more "grand" - Doctor Who, Penny Dreadful, The Tudors, Merlin, Sherlock, and Downton Abbey have all had some good garden scenes in the shows, but google is giving me bad results. Some of the hedge mazes are real, though.

I prefer the more overgrown English look.

THIS is Holland Park

more Holland Park.

They have real live peacocks in Holland Park.

I always wonder how they survive the dogs.

I'd rather have a large garden with a smallish home, than some monstrosity with very little land.

Peacocks can be vicious. Don't let looks fools you.

they need to be more cautious of idiots like this >>

Is that Shaun of the Dead?

the state's longest serving senator, Quentin N. Burdick (can't make this shit up) was nicknamed "pork" for the amazing amount of sweet federal welfare he brought home to these rugged frontier individualists (i.e, anti-tax freeloaders)

sorry wrong post

Okay, I've posted upthread, but I've added a topographical drawing of my yard (the one highlighted in blue). About 37'; across, but many times that front to back. And at least a 40' change in elevation from front to back. Very little room between my house and my neigbhors. There's simply no practical way to fence that expanse in. I have trouble just making it up the hillside in my backyard to see what's going on up there.

I'm shocked that people find possums cute. In real life they're grotesque. A pain in the ass nuisance too. But not as nasty as armadillos.

They look cute.

Boy, they sure know how to breed.

Cool fence

Awesome wall. We should line the border with Mexico with thousands of these. Leave holes in the mouths so people can crawl through.

Ask all the lost dogs!! :(

Old thread, so this is a bump. I own a rental house, and the lady next door keeps huge German Shepherd rescues that she can't begin to control. They would jump on the wooden privacy fence between our two properties to bark at the least disturbance and finally knocked it to the ground. (Then she blamed an overnight wind storm). She said she had no money to refence. I said I'd be happy to refence, but only on my terms. I had my workman put a very strong chain link fence with concrete support posts on HER side of the fence, and a nice wooden picket privacy fence on MY side, with about a foot in between. Those dogs never get near my wooden fence. It's been in about 10 years now and looks like new. It was worth every penny, and I've never regretted it.