“Good fences make good neighbors,” wrote Robert Frost in his poem “Mending Wall.”

Back in January, there was a huge winter storm that blew through Santa Cruz. On our street, an old redwood tree more than 100ft tall came crashing down. I thought that our house had escaped damage until the next day when I discovered that the back gate has ripped off, the main gate had crack boards and the fence line with my neighbors to the right of the house had come down in three sections.

Now these neighbors along the right side are real nice, except that they are renters. I have no issue with renters but trying to get anything done usually requires us just doing it and eating the whole cost. When I inquired about the owner, all I could get was a property manager name that turned out was only “contracted” to manage the property for fourteen more days. The manager promised to pass along my inquiry about the fence repair but of course we never heard from anyone.

So we fixed the fence, realizing once again we were going to pay for it all.

The repaired of the fence cost $1.5K just for the right side. After the repairs were completed, I asked the renters again about who was the new property manager and if they knew anything about the owner. All they could give me was a PO Box that they mailed their rent to.

Then yesterday out of the blue, the owner showed up.

Turns out he lives in Indiana and was out visiting his properties in Santa Cruz for the first time in five years. He had “heard” about the fence damage (from whom I do not know) and he was greatly surprised to see that it had been repaired nicely. He was very complementary about the work and the overall appearance.

So we are getting a check from him. (Fingers crossed)

I guess it is true, good fences do make good neighbors.