I was sitting on the front porch with my morning coffee thinking as I often do, how fortunate I am to live in this funny little house that I love, with a quiet woods surrounding me, views of the mountains through the trees, my dog and my cat for companionship, work that I love, wonderful neighbors…the list goes on as one thing led to another in my mind. And then I remembered, September 13 – 3 years ago on September 13 I closed the purchase of this house and moved on to the property.

I “camped” the first night as I had arranged for the movers to deliver my household goods on the 14th. Prior to buying this little place Karl, Bob and I had been living in Wild Thing for seven months as we travelled the U.S. Those travels are chronicled in a log and photos via the link on the right: RV Log Feb-Aug-06 – here.

The longer story of how I came to find this place has been told twice on this blog: here and here.

I remember that first night on the property. I have never felt that the confines of Wild Thing were too small. If there is anything I get tired of when travelling in her, it is the proximity of other people and the need to be vigilant about noise and light in the early hours when we are up and about and others are not. So, this first night – to leave all of the blinds open, windows open and not worry if Karl barked, to be able to step out in the morning and let both boys out without leashes, to hear nothing but the sound of the woods – it was wonderful.

It was, however, raining on moving day morning. But the movers were not deterred and by the time they arrived the rain was very light. They were happy to be able to back the truck nearly to the front porch with the ramp hitting the ground practically at the front door. No stairs, a one floor house, a person who travels VERY light – they were unloaded and on their way in less than 3 hours and Karl, Bob and I had our quiet back. Also a lot of boxes!

After living in a space of approximately 300 square feet for 7 months, even my little 1200 square foot house felt roomy. Opening boxes with things that I had not seen in 7 months – some even longer as my previous move into a small rental house I knew was temporary and I left as much packed as possible – it was a bit like Christmas. In fairly short order, all was unpacked and put away, pictures hung and chairs set out on the front porch!

It looked a bit different then: peeling paint on the porch boards, blue trim, falling apart porch rails, the 6 foot high fence WITH electric wire to keep the deer out of the yard and garden.

My neighbor, Nancy, stopped over last night bringing me tomatoes and green onions from her garden which is surrounded by this same fence minus the electric wire. In a wonderful trade almost 2 years ago, she and her husband Mike, removed the garden fence and graded the area in return for the fencing material for their garden. You can read about that here and here.

We were talking about my fresh paint, and their current project: expanding their dining room, and home improvement stuff in general…mainly about how much we would like to do and yet how much we’ve done and remembering to not forget the progress made. And remembering to enjoy what we have and how much nicer things are each time a project is completed. It was nice to talk and laugh and acknowledge with another how grateful we are for where we are.

The garden has moved and in its place is a grassy spot that is peaceful and easy. I enjoyed the front porch from that first day I moved in but I do have to admit that I am very happy with its current look.

From the front porch: 3 years.