Round Robin Challenge: Fenced In, Fenced Out

Hi, everybody! This week's Round Robin Challenge: Fenced In was suggested by Linda of Mommy's Treasures. Thanks for the great topic, Linda!

Our yard and the alley beyond are full of fences, but they tend to be more about privacy than aesthetics. Many of them function primarily to keep their dogs just out of reach of our dogs. It's a very doggy neighborhood. Our own fence, which is missing most of its slats, does not hide the fact that our lawn mower is not working right now. John is trying to repair it.

Some fences are more permanent than others. A large section of the one across the alley from us fell down in a monsoon storm in June 2009. A few weeks before that, this fence up the alley from us burned in a natural gas fire.

Aside from the fences in the alley, I think of fences mostly as impediments to taking pictures of the things behind them. A major example is when I go out to take pictures of the Boneyard (Aerospace Maintenance And Regeneration Center). In this photo from March 2010, an aluminum slat fence gives the impression of enclosing a number of airplanes. It actually just encloses what appears to be a pipeline and fuel tank.

However, there are indeed fences around all the stored and derelict airplanes and helicopters. There's also a steep berm of dirt near most of the fences. This makes it impossible to get a really good view of this large and intriguing airplane, marked "Naval Research Laboratory." I wonder what research was done inside it, back in the day.

From Sunset on Sentinel Peak

Still, fences can provide a sense of security. No fence on the road up Sentinel Peak means a great view but scary driving, as you can probably tell from in this January 2010 photo.

On the other hand, this metal railing type fence along the Pantano River bed probably doesn't accomplish much. You'd have to jump a curb to get anywhere near it with a car, whereas pedestrians can crawl over, under or through it easily. And if there were a major flood, it would not hold back the water - or the people.

I could show you many more fence photos, both from today and from past attempts to photograph the things behind them. But you get the idea, so I'll stop here.

Now let's go see the other Robins' photogenic fences!

Linking List
as of 11:08 AM PDT/MST
Monday, September 11th

Linda - Posted!
Mommy's Treasures
http://mommystreasures.blogspot.com

Karen - Posted!
Outpost Mâvarin
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com

Freda - Posted!
Day One
http://fredamans.blogspot.com

Holly - Posted!
Easy Living The Hard Way
http://easylivingthehardway.blogspot.com

Sherrie
Food for Thought
http://100sweets.blogspot.com/

Sandy - Posted!
From the Heart of Texas
http://sandyfromtheheartoftexas.com

Carly - Posted!
Ellipsis
http://ellipsissuddenlycarly.blogspot.com

Rudo (E:thos) - Posted!
Passion in the Moments
http://ethos-photographic.blogspot.com

ellen b - Posted!
The Happy Wonderer
http://happywonderer.wordpress.com

Jama - Posted!
Sweet Memories
http://mummyjam.blogspot.com

mairie **Welcome, new participant!**
Word in the Hand
http://wordinthehand.blogspot.com/

Annette **Welcome, new participant!** - Posted! (Sep 13)
Getting Inside My Head
http://www.annetteholland.com

Manang Kim - Posted!
My Life's Journey in Focus
http://kissess4u.blogspot.com 

Gattina - Posted!
Keyhole Pictures
http://gattina-keyholepictures.blogspot.com
 
Nathalie **Welcome, new participant!** - Posted! (Sep 13th)

Memoirs
http://nathalie-memoirs.blogspot.com/2010/09/caged-or-free.html
As you may know, Carly is taking a much-deserved break from hosting or co-hosting this and other memes. I'm going to be holding down the fort on the Round Robin Photo Challenges and the Weekend Assignment, so please continue to stop by and participate. While the Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot is on hiatus, I'm hosting another little meme instead. I call it

The idea is to post exactly one photo on the assigned topic, and to give a one-sentence answer to a related question. The first topic is Bunnies. Please check it out!

Karen

EMPS #6: Good Fences Make Good Dogs

...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 offence.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down.' I could say 'Elves' to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me~
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, "Good fences make good neighbors."
--from Mending Wall by Robert Frost

Looking through our fence across the alleyway to neighbors' fences.

For Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot #6: Fences And What's Behind Them, Carly wants us to photograph, well, you know, fences, and what's behind them. Oh, that's easy! Let's start from my own back yard:

On the other side of this fence is a real barker.

Here is the fence between our yard and that of our neighbor to the north. Unlike our pool, the one you can almost see through the slats here sometimes has water in it, and occasionally laughing children. But at night, a dog lurks behind this fence. As a puppy it used to bark all night long - poor lonely thing, but very annoying for us! Now I think it mostly barks at cars and cats, and anything else it thinks it heard or saw or smelled. This usually sends Pepper roaring into the back yard and up to the fence seen at the top of this entry. There she peers out and sniffs and barks furiously. Across the alley, behind the wooden fence, another dog usually joins in.

Pepper usually stays there, on guard, until Cayenne and I go out to get her, whereupon she wants to be rewarded for her vigilance. This happens several times a night unless I close the door to the laundry room, thus blocking access to the doggie door. Still, at least the dogs aren't getting into fights, or roughing up the neighborhood's half-feral cats.

Two fences between us and our neighbor to the south.

On the south side of the house are two chain link fences, ours and our neighbor's. His fence is close to the side of his house, making kind of a dog run for Tootsie, a black lab (or possibly a lab cross). She is usually out there, but wasn't when I took this photo. Tootsie is friendly and lonely and a sweet dog, and getting old now. She doesn't bark nearly as much as she used to. But if the other dogs get much of a barkathon going, Tootsie joins in.

Miko's Corner Playground, as seen through the fence.

Now we're off to the dog park again, this time with an eye for what encloses it. Here's the view from the parking lot. On this side the fence consists of oblong metal bars painted reddish tan, with a decorative metal arch over each section and the occasional concrete pillar in between.

The inner gate of the north entrance (large dog section)

The double-gated entry is similar, but two-tiered.

A chain link fence makes good neighbors of large and small dogs.

On the north side of the main enclosure is a chain link fence. Beyond that is the small dog section. I've seen dogs almost as large as Pepper in there, and the occasional toy dog or puppy on our side. Generally, though, the other enclosure fills up with poodles and pugs and pekes and so on. Some of them like to race Cayenne and Pepper along the fence line, knowing they're completely safe from the larger dogs. Cayenne and Pepper love this.

Pepper is unconcerned about what lies beyond this fence.

On the west side is more chain link fence, providing a view of more grass and trees and some halfway decent sunsets. What you don't see so much is Country Club Road, which is perhaps forty feet from this fence. The fence is fairly high, and there is no gate on this side. I'm grateful that this off-leash facility has such good fences that I need never worry about Pepper running into the street. She might get away in the parking lot (she hasn't, but it's conceivably possible), but that's quite a bit less dangerous. The traffic is much slower there, the street is far away, and dog owners are constantly on the watch for each others' pets as they're coming and going.

Cayenne, Pepper and friend are safe inside these walls.

The south, east, and part of the north part of the oval-shaped park have the bars and arches I highlighted earlier, interspersed with concrete and stone pillars. The view is rather beautiful, with the possible exception of when a large party takes over a picnic area nearby. Even then, it's mostly the loud music that can get annoying. Fences like these don't block sound. But they can keep the dogs happily ensconced in a place filled with grass and trees, running water and interesting smells, and lots of dogs and people to be their friends.

Be sure to check out Carly's original entry if you're interested in joining in on this Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot. And don't forget to stop by her blog again on Monday for links to this week's participants as well as next week's topic.

Karen