Adventures at the Farm House

We have lived here now for two months and have experienced things that make living in the farm house...um, let's say interesting. First you should know how blessed and thankful we are to live here in the farm house and how generous First Prosper has been to let us live here after our house sold. At first it was a necessity because there was no way we could have 2 house payments but they are letting us live here rent free (only paying utilities) for 6 months. It's the only time in our marriage we have not had a rent or mortgage payment and it allows us to save, save, save for a new house and pay off some lingering debt. So, as I describe the interesting, things that have happened to us living here please know none of it is a complaint - it's just life that happens and it has happened to us here. So, now that my disclaimer is done, here's are a few stories about our adventures at the farm house....

• We have had our washer overflow (thank goodness it's all tile flooring) and once the plumber came on a Saturday we learned it was a major clog (septic tank - yuk) which called for the real deal kinda plumber, not the guy on the weekend that can do minor repairs. What made this difficult was that we were in between events in our household. We have just moved and Kelsie had returned from camp with several loads and we were scheduled to leave on Monday for a week in Austin and San Antonio. Several people offered to have us come over and do laundry but we had so many loads it would have taken all day so we went back to college! Yes, we visited the laundromat near UNT. Kelsie loved it and we got all the laundry done quickly - those machines are HUGE. So, while it was inconvenient it worked out that we all pitched in and did the laundry together and were entertained at the same time!
• We got struck by lightning. Seriously! There was a huge antennae on the front of the house the previous owners used I guess but we never thought anything of it until the morning we heard the huge boom sound. Wayne was getting dressed for work and I was still in bed (it was still summer and only 7:30 a.m.). Kelsie and Kinzy (her friend) were in the guest room sleeping. Of course it woke us all up and then Wayne smelled smoke and the smoke alarms went off. We got out immediately and called 911 so the fire department came. Thankfully it hit the antennae and fried all the phone line wires in the attic and blew out the phone box and phone jacks. Weird and yes, the antennae has been taken down.
• We have seen lots of wildlife and bugs. The bunnies under the deck, we see a lot of bunnies every night. We have seen a racoon, squirrel, armadillo, green snake, preying mantis, hawk (a separate story), possum, stray barn cats, mice in the field, many varieties of bees and wasps, cicada, very large spiders on ginormous spider webs and lots of different kinds of birds.
• We have two hawks that frequent the farm house property looking for food. It's actually really cool to watch them. They are very large and I will admit that it's a little unnerving to see one of them so close to the house looking for food and walking outside with prey on a leash (Raider - Needless to say, he is never off his leash outside because we have heard there are also bobcats out here but we haven't see one yet.) Anyway, we have watched it stalk bunnies and squirrel and swoop down to pick them up, it's amazing to watch the process. One morning we walked out to see it sitting on top of a victim having breakfast - Kelsie and Wayne got out the binoculars. Does this make us country-fied or what?

These are a few of the things we experience out here. It's fun and because we have a large deck we did a few nights of what we called "coffee on the porch" for people to come by and visit so we could get to know some families better. We had a great time getting to know everyone that came by. I hope your week was good, ours has flown by but we have had a great week. Kelsie got a little solo part in the musical the kids are doing in December. The cast list has been set and the kids are doing so well on the music and choreography. Tonight was the first night in a while that we were all home, no company and no plans so we spent the evening together just hanging out and it was fun! Tomorrow a football game and tailgate in Frisco which is always fun and then Wayne's mom and Aunt Joy are coming for a quick visit on Saturday and Sunday. Hope you have a good weekend and enjoy the BEAUTIFUL weather.