How much is my sanity worth?

Let's talk about gates and fences.

Perhaps you remember the saga of the fence in my backyard: the house did not come with one, so you could basically see into my house from the road. The first thing I did (well, Allen did) was install a pre-fab fence, which worked as a stop-gap solution, but quickly warped, and then fell apart, prompting a warning from the City. When my parents visited, my dad basically spent an entire weekend fixing that fence, which also worked in a stop-gap way, but it wasn't long before it fell apart again. Toward the end of RM's stay, I had enough rental income to get a professionally installed fence (three months of roommate income, before taxes, to be exact, but much less than Home Depot would have charged). Except the gate kept sinking, and the dude who installed it fixed it a few times for free. Then it blew off in a windstorm, and dude who installed it went AWOL. My dad, again, spent the entire weekend dealing with it. Then, the handyman who installed my shed also fixed the gate. It's been behaving well ever since.

After that saga was resolved, I turned my attention to the front yard. You've heard me complain about the trash, and sometimes about the people, who feel free to come into the yard, because there is no barrier. I bought some pre-fab posts and panels for about $200, but they didn't work with my asymmetrical yard (the house is semi-detached), so I returned them and planted rose glow barberry shrubs instead. Which I love, and while they offer some sort of barrier in the summer, they're bare in the winter, and I just really need a fence.

Someone came by with an estimate this morning, for $1,600. Which is apparently *on sale,* because it's winter. You understand that I have all of *thirty feet* of yard perimeter? And that estimate is for aluminum, which is a third less than iron (and also doesn't rust). Does that strike anyone else as an insane amount of money for thirty feet of fence (and labor)?

So there's that: that is an insane amount of money. But here's the other thing, I've not only had it, but I've learned well the lessons of dragging something--especially a fence--out in avoidance of the pain of just paying for it.

I've submitted an inquiry to Lowe's as well, if only to convince myself that this company's estimate is not outlandish. If Lowe's' estimate comes in for less, all the better, but one way or another, I'll know.

What do you think?