March Ides

Or, Beware The Ides Of March!

CAM & I signed the final paperwork to Chez StanMinn and received the keys 3-15-10, thereby making that date its anniversary.
We find that both auspicious and funny.
It's also easy to remember
Five years, now we've had this place.
FIVE!
I wanted to be gone by now.
Get in. Get out.
Fix it up fancy-like and flip it for big profits!
(That was never the plan, mind you, it just became mine shortly afterwards.)
Yeah, fat chance. That worked out real well. Not.
It's taken me longer to pick up the clue phone: we'll be here for awhile yet.
There's no big secret that moving out to The Sticks, and this place in particular, has never been an ideal decision for me.
Adjusting from a large, happening city to isolated, rural living was far more difficult that I ever anticipated.
We're not terrifically neighborly or social out here, either.
I suspect the reasons behind that began with getting robbed soon after moving in; not fully trusting that if someone in this small population wasn't directly involved, they knew who was.
That there's been no one brought to justice over that crime continues to bother and haunt me.
Interests, politics and personalities also differ vastly from those around us.
But mainly, no one really reached out to us and made an effort, so we took our cue off that and keep pretty much to ourselves.
Given the number of times the sheriff has made domestic disturbance calls, it's probably just as well.
However, I will say I've grown fond of our little spot of land and the quirky house.
Sensitive friends have confirmed there were some recalcitrant spirits and dark areas reluctant to loosen their grip and abandon the place.
But after working some very hard magick, I believe they've finally moved on- I'd like to think I was too formidable a persistent foe, plus, I've got the upper hand of existing in the here and now of this world.
It's pretty amazing in hindsight just how much we have improved upon our purchase, though it's primarily for our benefit and comfort rather than being driven by any lofty investment dreams.
A little bit of this on the inside, a little bit of that on the outside.
Always a work in progress, especially given our limited funds (and limited construction skills.)
As I've written earlier- we had a blank slate with this property since all  previous occupants just never bothered with personal additions.
There can be little doubt what we've done here only enhances its appeal.
(And hopefully resale value.)
Most of February was spent shaping up Bramble Island as the ground's still soft enough to liberate brier rhizomes while the temps were abnormally mild and dry (thanks, Global Warming.)
We finally made it to the property line almost five years to the day.
That we've reclaimed such a significant part of the yard is immensely satisfying.
It's also an interesting study of nature to watch how plants re-establish themselves after the threat of being choked out.
My delicious Lady Ferns have gone mad; not only are there many more to feast upon every spring, but through the summer and into the fall, they grow tall and full, almost prohibiting passage.
A low, dense carpet of what looks like yellow violets have begun to obscure the bareness now that spring has sprung.
Lots more tree shoots have appeared and the elderberries I freed from crippling, vining thorns are much healthier- those crazy ring-tailed pigeons will be delighted by all the berries awaiting them.
The bees should also be appreciative for lots more space to zoom in, out and around their hive; I'm tempted to put up a second. And third...
After our push of activity and focus to complete this yardwork before thwarted by inevitable rains returning, we hang back with arms folded and nod in accomplishment and admiration.
With every passing year, the more I like what we've got going on here
My only wish would be that we could pick it up and plop it down in a bigger city up the coast.

So how absolutely bizarre that while rooting through the attic in search of some electronics equipment he could cobble together for his new bigfoot youtube enterprise, CAM stumbled upon an old, broken camera with a memory stick still inside.
Less than 24 hrs. before celebrating this five year milestone: what a random discovery.
Crazy it contained photos of this place during our first showing.
Remember? We'd passed it several times before, during our house hunting and always mocked it mercilessly for a number of reasons, the most obvious being its proximity to the road and general appearance.
When we were getting hard-pressed to hurry up and buy in order to qualify for the government's first time home owners rebate, we reluctantly had a look here, since we were running out of stickbuilt options.
In retrospect, we must have possessed some remarkable future vision to see past the way it looked.
Or just have been outrageously desperate.
As you can see from the shots below, the previous occupants didn't seem to have much design sense or even a woman's touch.
The last picture in the series says it all for me-
"Yuck. I don't like it. I don't want to buy it. I'd rather live elsewhere."
I lost.
Or did I?

[Where I've been able, next to the originals are what that scene currently looks like. Will dd more as the opportunity presents.]