Yeah, in the photos above, that doesn't tell half the story. If a picture tells a thousand words, don't worry, I'm not going to write two thousand words just because I have two pictures above. Well, maybe close. Anyway, let's begin the story of "Living in the Country: Year 1"
Deer: Yeah, they are pretty. Bucks are amazing to see stand tall and look out for the herd. Does are elegant and graceful. Fawns are the cutest baby animal in the Midwest. Now...I want to frickin' blast them all out of Warren county! I'm sorry....I love animals, but if I could host a deer hunting tournament on and near our property for two days and only 100 deer were "removed", I would still have a problem. The picture of the un-harvested cornfield above shows only 15 visible deer. I don't have issue with that. What I have issue with is two startling FACTS (note, not exaggerations...and we have lots of witnesses and proof). One evening, 151 deer dined on corn in that field. It took awhile to count, but I got to 85 and I gave up. Typically, you double your count as there is a valley that hides some deer and other deer simply blend in. But if you want a hard count and actual number, we came home from church one Saturday night in the winter, to darkness setting in for the night. But since some light was still available, we counted the herd that was in our yard. 22 deer were in our driveway and front yard blocking entrance to our garage. We had TO WAIT FOR THEM TO MOVE just to get to our house. In our backyard were 31 more deer eating and bedding down for the night. When I went to bed that night, we still had over 30 deer sleeping in piles in our yard (full moon...easy to see and count). So, next time you tell me deer are our friends and so cool to watch, come on out (bring a gun...you will eventually even want to try shooting one) and watch them eat, sleep, play, swim, hike, shop for souvenirs in our yard. And every visitor gets deer jerky when they leave...our treat!
Water: Okay, deer are basically harmless if you count the fact that we can't plant vegetation on our land. But water is not. We have a long history with water. It is the main reason we left our last house. But we soon realized our house wasn't the problem....we are the problem. Within 1 month of moving in, our shower in our master bath began leaking into our theater room. Okay, water....you do NOT mess with my theater room. It is on like Donkey Kong at this point. Magically, our 1-year home warranty did not cover this problem (much like every problem listed below), so we gutted our whole shower since it was built wrong and re-built it. Five grand later and one month of us showering in the basement, we are done. Previous owners paid four grand as this problem showed up first on the day we closed, so they felt bad for us (we didn't get anything in writing...but props to them as they gave their word they would fix it if it leaked again and stuck to it). But water kept haunting us. A leaky pipe in our bar leaked slowly all winter and rotted out 2 of our cupboards. Our home insurance (not home warranty) covered this one, but we still owed $1000. Since we agreed to do the painting, tiling, and cleaning...we only owed $12. :) But at the same time that leak sprung, our kitchen ceiling decided it could no longer hold the June monsoon and leaked all over our wood floors. Monster dehumidifier and floor dryer later, insurance owed us $96 because again we agreed to do most of the work. All that is no fun, but hearing our former house had its basement flooded again, made us hate water and enjoy our dry house/basement all at the same time.
Doors: Ummm, just after our one-year anniversary of our house, our garage door basically broke in half. The garage guy took 13 seconds to investigate and then told us we need to pay him $1500 for a new door. Sure, dude, whatever. Take if from one of the kid's college fund...they can't all go to college can they? Then yesterday, at the zoo, our van door broke and wouldn't shut...at the zoo. I finally pushed it shut with brute force so no one could break in. I then preceded to leave my keys on the dash and the vehicle unlocked for the next 2 hours. I might as well left the door open!
So....home ownership is an interesting venture. I may have vented some about our money pit, but then I remember this money pit is located over a half mile from the nearest light, 2 miles from traffic of any kind, and I have yet to even come close to counting all the stars in the sky at night (partly b/c I am counting deer every night!). And as August approaches, I know I will have a great view of the 10-day Hot Air Balloon festival and of the August meteor showers. I don't know if there is a price for all of this nature and beauty, but I have a feeling it is worth way more than some natural springs in our house walls and ceilings and some silly doors that break in half. I think so anyway. Enjoy nature everyone...it truly is beautiful. And when it gets too beautiful...shoot it. :)
Love&Prayers,
Ben
3 Things to leave you with:
1. I think this rap video describes me as a Dad during the summer.... I think I am the one with the hat backwards...especially when the kid has to go potty!
2. Or maybe this one, another favorite one of mine. Reagan says I am the guy with the visor hat!
3. Finally, a little note that the "nation's 3rd best" Hot Air balloon festival is coming up on July 30th through Aug. 7th in Indianola Iowa. Tons of cool balloons this year and many visible from our house. Which is maybe why we are hosting our annual BBQ and Beer tasting. I think it is the "nation's 3rd best" beer tasting night, but that is just me. A future blog will let you know which beer won! Last year's winner was "Red Stripe".
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