Since Hurricane Ike traipsed through our little kingdom here on the gulf coast, the local fence builders have been crazy busy, along with roofers, tree removal companies, and other businesses which help clean up and fix up after a storm.
Our town is fairly new, having been established only in the 1940's when Dow Chemical decided to build one of their largest operations here on the gulf coast. So the town is laid out with many neighborhoods and very delineated business districts. In the neighborhoods, everyone's back yards are mostly isolated behind wooden fences.
But then the hurricane came plowing through and tore many fences down. The upside to that: we all got to know our neighbors better. We could stroll into each other's yards without going around through the front gates. We could help each other out with the massive cleanup from the storm. We could commiserate over the lack of electricity for weeks.
Sadly though, the fence builders have been busy and the wooden shields are slowly going back up in all the neighboorhoods. For awhile there we were a close-knit community.