On the fence about safety

When I think about all the fights in my relationship with Pete, both past and present (and future!), I realize that I'm almost always surprised by the things he gets upset about. 

Take the "fence" in our backyard. Ours is a rental house, so of course we don't want to modify too much about the house using our own money. But there is this oddly configured, half-falling-down chicken wire fence on one side of our house that our dog Adora tends to escape from, and recently she tried to fake-attack a dog. That was the last straw for me, and it was time to put an end to her wandering ways. I've always worried she'll be hit by a car, run away (although she and our other dog Spanky always find families to hang out with), or scare/attack some other dog/person.

Anyhow, today my sister-in-law Jeanette suggested that she bring over some extra fencing to repair this makeshift fence, because Jeanette is also very worried about Adora's welfare. Well, you would have thought Jeanette and I were planning to build an addition onto our house from the way Pete reacted. Lots of drama ensued and the stomping of work boots was witnessed. Apparently repairing this fence for the safety of our beloved Adora was not a good enough reason for Pete to be "walked over" in such a manner. Our neighbor was totally fine with the fence idea (and I secretly think he was glad we were finally containing our dogs), so I couldn't figure out what the big deal was. 

After some more griping from Pete I quickly made my escape in a huff, angrily throwing down a fence spike on my way inside the house, and I left poor Jeanette to get bitched at some more. Only a short while later the fence was repaired, all was well, and Pete headed out to mow the lawn. Jeanette and I had a good laugh over the incident as we later drove to Home Depot ("Cart free and proud of it") where she purchased a lovely toilet. I, of course, bought an automatically self-closing pet gate at Target, which was truthfully advertised as both stylish and secure, and which wrapped up our evening quite nicely.

In the end, I'm still mystified as to why this was such an ordeal, and why it produced a very sour attitude from my future husband. I guess they say to always keep the mystery alive in your relationship, so it sure seems like we're headed down the right path. At least Adora won't be roaming the streets of Warrenville anymore....