The neighborhood I live in began as a family farm. When a developer purchased the property in the early 1920s, they built 204 homes on the land. Back then, there was a lovely variety of architecture, not like today's tract housing. The original "show-home" that was used to advertise all the features possible is across the street from me. That home had everything from a marble staircase to Roman showers (that is, a shower that sprays you from all sides). That show-home also featured, thirty years after its birth,  one of the few accidental deaths in the neighborhood when a boiler exploded as the home's owner tried to re-ignite it--the burn marks are still on the basement rafters today.

In the early days, fenced back yards were not the norm but if there was a fence it was waist high and would have had pickets or meshed wire. In the seventies, six foot privacy fences started appearing in the midwest. When the first few residents sought permission to install them, one man made a sizable fuss. 

The anti-fencer did not even own a home in the neighborhood—he lived with his daughter and her family. But when the privacy issue came about, he became the community's most audible detractor. No one could figure out how this otherwise mild-mannered gentleman could be so passionate about the height of fences. His daughter was confused and embarrassed by her father's aggressive behavior. Admittedly, many were not keen about the change, but none showed his conviction. 

It was a bit later that a neighbor across the alley pulled the daughter aside and said he thought he might know why her father was acting out. Relieved, she asked why. He said he suspected it was because her attractive, red-haired neighbor sun-bathed topless every afternoon and a six-foot fence would surely obstruct her father's view from his first floor bedroom that overlooked the neighbor's backyard.

Progress has ruffled many feathers for many reasons. I reckon topless red-heads have been behind more than a few dustups over the centuries. And it is worth noting, our home is one of the few, the very few, that still rocks waist-high fencing. Wouldn't want to deprive our neighbors of any future shows the great beauty that is my wife may have planned for her later years.