The Joys of Owning a Home

Although we were offered the opportunity to live on post in military quarters, we declined. The quarters that we were eligible to receive are small and we certainly would have been cramped. The house we bought (the one I bought on-line) is much larger than quarters and if we ever decide to finish the basement, we'll almost double the square footage. We have a lovely yard of which a portioned in fenced. That's a good thing for the pups. Unfortunately, the gate doesn't securely latch and Jake is able to push it open. In order to prevent them from wandering (and they have on several occasions) I now have an old style wash tub set against the gate. If this were West Virginia, it would be perfectly acceptable as lawn decoration. Actually, in some parts of our town, it's acceptable lawn decoration, but my neighbors have all their teeth and very well manicured lawns. I'll be glad to have the fence guy come fix it. For now, the wash tub solves the problem. Aesthetics are a bit further down on the "to do" list.

The first few days after our arrival, the sun was shining. The grass was rapidly turning brown and dying. We borrowed our neighbor's hose (ours still hadn't arrived) to water our lawn. Then, there was a shift in the weather. It began to rain. And rain. And rain. It rained for a solid two days before the clouds broke.

One of the trees in our back yard fell over into the pie-wedge portion of our yard. It didn't hit anything, except for other trees. Not too big of a deal. Unfortunately, it's OUR tree. There is no provision for off-post residents to call in for a work-order and have the Housing Department workers come clean up the mess. Nope. It's our house, our yard, our tree and ultimately, OUR problem.

After speaking with my neighbors and obtaining recommendations for a good tree guy, and after several more days of rain and a few more fallen tree limbs (nothing as dramatic as the first tree), a tree guy came out and gave us an estimate of what it would cost to remove the fallen tree, trim back some space invading branches, some future problematic branches and many dead limbs. Simply because the one tree had fallen down, we were able to get the work done within three days. Had we not had the fallen tree, it would have been several more weeks before a crew would have been able to come. The bid for the cost of tree rendering: $775.

Another tree crew came out to give their estimate on the job. This guy had maybe three teeth in his head and I am fairly certain he checked out my old style wash tub. His bid was $975. Naturally, I went with the first crew. No only would I save $200, I wouldn't have to worry about my wash tub "disappearing".

Wouldn't you know, once the big limbs were trimmed and removed, more dead and/or dying limbs were visible. Good thing for us that we had already agreed on the original bid and since the one fellow was already up in the trees precariously hanging from a rope and dangling a chain saw, they agreed to cut away the additional branches for no extra charge. That was so nice of them. I'm sure the fact that I provided them with cool beverages throughout the day helped with their generosity.

They worked very hard and quickly. Luckily, the rain held off most of the day. It drizzled off and on throughout the day, but the down pour didn't hit until after they loaded up all their equipment and drove away.

And the rain continues. We've had around four inches of rain in the last two days. I'm hoping the sump pump maintains its performance level. I really don't need to deal with a flooded basement right now. That would be a nightmare. Can you imagine?