I am a woodsman in that I am a man who lives in the woods.  I respect the right for private property ownership such that if we are all responsible stewards of the land we own, then our community benefits us, providing us good health, space for happiness and time to prosper.

I also believe that good fences, even virtual ones, make good neighbours — keep your eyes out of my business, including drones, network snooping/spying and next-door peeping Toms — in other words, I believe I can trust my neighbours to do the right thing, even when evidence points to the contrary, thus leaving room for education, instruction, advice and creative/constructive criticism to steer us toward being good neighbours, regardless of the past.

My next-door neighbours, Robert and Lauren Justice and their child, Olivia Grace Justice, like to keep their outdoor lights on at night — it adds an aesthetic value as well as provides a sense of security; however, when I sleep in the sunroom at night, their lights are disturbing, or, when I want to look at stars, planets and moons, their lights are a distraction.

Thus, I am led here, to this moment, where I begin documenting the privacy fence I’m constructing that simply blocks our back deck and sunroom from our neighbours, allowing both of us to use our private property as we please while leaving as much as the woods open between us.

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A few years ago, a subcontractor built a sunroom attached to our house.  During construction, I added a “French drain” under the sunroom to prevent water running off the hill behind our house from flooding our crawlspace.

After they finished the sunroom, I built a new wood deck.  At that time, the lot next to ours was undeveloped so our deck extended out into the woods.

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Eventually, the lot next door was developed, making us feel crowded in by suburbia:

Before our sunroom was built, I disassembled the old back deck where the sunroom would go, cutting down a tree to make room for the new back deck.  I piled the pieces of deck wood on the ground, eventually moving them to the side of the house, where they sat for almost ten years.

Now it’s time to design the new privacy fence.  First, I need some architectural inspiration:

Basically, I need a 12-foot tall fence.

So, the bottom six feet will be a louvered fence and the top six feet a type of trellis.

But I want a trellis design that reflects my background, but not overtly.  Some inspirations from Celtic crosses:

First “cut” of the design:

…followed by iterations…

I have at least one stained glass piece to add to the fence:

This is the final version I hope to achieve (taking into account the best-laid plans of mice and men, unlevel posts and all that, of course):

The whole fence will be backed by reed fencing from Lowe’s:

But first, time for a beer!  😉