This morning a twitter feed made me think of some of the good times and bad in our soon to be former home. So I felt the need to share.
Some of the stories friends have heard a billion times and I apologies….
Chris and I built this home. It was our first and by no means were we planning to be in it 16 years. We were very lucky that the "seller" liked us. She went on about the property that she had and how she thought the one next door didn't have a premium. Because of her, we saved $5000.
Our property is definitely worth a premium. It is butt up to a large common area that now holds the playground. It was perfect for sitting on the deck and watching our kids play. It was very close to the house so we could take the children there when they were very young. It has also has been frequented by an array of neighborhood teens late at night. My bedroom window opens to the playground.
I have spent time over the years catching neighborhood children practicing cheerleading, smoking pot, drinking and occasionally having sex at all hours of the night. I have witnessed a girl hike to the back of the gazebo to cop a squat. One neighbor, committed suicide in the woods behind us (thank GOD, I didn't see that). You name it….
The back of our house has a large wooded area. It is home to a lot of wildlife. Have you ever been woken up in the middle of the night to screaming fox? My dogs have been sprayed by toads, bitten by copper heads, tormented by deer. We listen to cicada, owls and a multitude of beautiful birds.
We did have an opossum that used to like to frequent our bird feeder that was placed on our back deck. Our deck is about 10 feet off the ground and the ugly thing would eat the seed and drool all over our railing. My husband finally in annoyance, asked a co-worker by the name of "Redneck" what to do. Redneck stated that if you were to hit it with a broom it would play dead. You could then pick it up by the tail and walk it back to the woods. It would play dead for about 30 minutes and then wander away and never come back.
So one morning my husband saw the nasty thing at the bird feeder and attempted to scare it away. He tried to spray it with water, yell at it and the thing just hissed. So Chris grabs the broom and with my children at the window, marches out to try and get rid of it.
Chris felt extremely guilty in regards to hitting it, so instead he whacked the handrail. The opossum sat straight up, went completely stiff and fell over…..14 feet off the rail to the yard below.
Chris and children were hysterically laughing by this time. They ran to the rail to see the ugly beast lumber away into the woods never to be seen again.
Our neighborhood backs up to a farm that has cows, goats and horses. Several occasions calves and cows have found themselves through the fence and wandering through the neighborhood. One morning we woke to a calf on my neighbors front porch.
One night about 2am I heard one of the cows just mooing in distress. As I dozed I noticed the mooing getting louder and louder and then quieter and quieter. I thought in my confusion of sleep "I bet if I sat up I could see a cow!" Well, I was on the mark because the next morning we woke up to cow patties on our neighbor's driveway!!
My last story….
I was coming home from work early one afternoon with both children. As they went to the front of the house a truck came full throttle down the road. It slammed on the breaks in front of the dead end near the farm. A man jumped out of the truck, grabbed a rifle, and hopped the fence. I yelled at my kids to get in the house, I grabbed my phone in preparation to call 911.
The man came back over the fence and asked if I had seen anybody go over the fence? As I looked down the road I noticed several boys hop the fence and sneak back around a house.
Turns out that the bull was rutting and was not very nice. The man basically told the boys "Now that bull would kill you and I would have to kill him. Now he is a very pricey bull and although I would shoot him, I wouldn't be happy about it." Ahhhh…country living!!!
Our home has been through ice storms, hurricanes, tornados and earthquakes. We have brought 2 babies home and raised them. We have had 4 dogs and a multitude of neighbors. Although I am ECSTATIC to be leaving….I'll still be sad just the same.
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