Not so neighborly

Neighbors. Neighborly. Neighborliness.

I live on a corner. Nearly all my yard is fenced to keep out wandering neighbors and their dogs. I wish I was neighbors with the guys in Robert Frosts poem, "Mending Wall". But I'm not. In fact, it appears that my good fence has made one of my neighbors a particularly bad neighbor. And by "bad neighbor" I mean that she goes around to all the other folks in the near vicinity telling them how much she hates my fence.

Half way through building the fence she came by to tell me that my fence was in violation of the the CC&Rs (Contracts, Covenants and Restrictions) for my neighborhood. I gently informed her that my house is not in any neighborhood with CC&Rs. She begged to differ. We continued to build the fence. I checked the disclosures on my house sale. I emailed my real estate agent. My house does not have CC&Rs.

Next day she brings over CC&Rs for my neighborhood. I was neighborhoodwinked.

We finished the fence. It's been almost a year. She still hates it. She still tells me. Even though only a small part of my fence is actually in violation of the CC&Rs and it is not the part that even faces her yard. Whatever. The rules state the the fence has to be approved by the developer which has been defunct since 2006.

The worst part is that now that I know about the CC&Rs, I feel an obligation to honor that, even though I didn't know about them when I bought the house. I also feel a little bad for all my neighbors too because they have an expectation about their neighborhood, that I clearly have yet to meet.

Blech.