We moved to Clatskanie in the summer of 2023 (more about this here), going from being life-long suburbanites to living on two narrow end-to-end acres in a wonderful neighborhood.
The house sits on the north acre surrounded by an expansive lawn. The south acre consists mostly of a very steep, heavily wooded ravine with a seasonal stream trickling at the bottom. There is a nice path at the top of the ravine, so it’s actually a lovely place for a walk.
Behind our land is a large lot, I think 120 acres, that starts flat but slopes up into hills to the east and northeast of our place. And separating our land from that land is a nicely built fence, stained to an almost orange color. And the way the house is situated, every window faces either west toward the road or east toward the fence.
Here’s the fence on the north side of the property:
And here’s the fence on the east side: a rather unpleasant backdrop for a photo of a deer:
I really hated that fence.
When I mentioned to a new neighbor that I thought the fence just blocks the view and I’d like to take it down, she suggested it might be there to keep the local elk herd from destroying the back yard. This slowed down my growing obsession to get rid of the fence, but didn’t completely shut it down. I mean, imagine how much nicer the above photo would have been if it included a view of the hill instead of the fence.
Early in our first autumn here, we hired help (thank you, Kaden!) to take many of the panels of the fence down:
We only removed the panels that were the most visible from our windows. We left much of the fence in place because we learned that the owner of that property intended to develop it someday. As much as I hate that fence, I’d rather see it than a bunch of houses.
Removing those fence panels revealed a short barbed wire fence, but it also enhanced our lovely view:
That barbed-wire fence is not on our property so it will stay, although I confess we’ve bent it down a bit here and there so the deer can more easily jump it.
We left the fence posts in place and kept the panels, thinking that we’d wait a year to see if there were any problems from having removed the fence, then we could either put the panels back up or take the fence posts down. But we didn’t quite make it to a full year before we took the posts down. We’re so delighted by the almost unobstructed view!
Posts or not, the only downside to this view is that the people who own the 120-acre property behind us have left some junk here and there. This photo shows the lovely morning mist on the hill, and also perfectly captures the view of the junk. Although I confess with the blackberry growth out there, it’s becoming less visible. The bits that are rusting antique farm equipment are interesting, but most of the rest of it is unsightly. Dave calls this “The Museum.”
I don’t love seeing the junk, but it far, far better than the damn orange fence!