The Digs: outside and surrounding

Our humble abode. Pretty modest on the outside. It is difficult to tell from this view, but the property slopes down quite a bit, and it is very much a two story house. Finishing the basement nearly doubled the square footage of the place. When we moved in, it didn't have house numbers, a mail box, landscaping of any kind or the shudders.

From the other side, taken at sunset. We want to plant a big deciduous tree off the corner with the gas meter to add a little something to the emptyish wall with the toutes petites windows.
A better view of the back deck. Half of the deck is contained in a closed off screened area. Its nice in the winter for barbecuing and nice in the summer for bug protection. Originally, the open deck was completely boxed in. Cori wisely negotiated to have the stairs down to the yard put in as part of our escrow agreement.

Taken from the top of our driveway. Yep. That is the Church building. We feel so fortunate to live so close. There are members of our branch that have a long drive, more so on winter roads, to get to Church and other activities held here.

Our property is flanked to the South and West with acres of agriculture. This field got fertilized every time it snowed last winter. And while we labor to keep our new grass alive, the corn across the street is effortlessly growing as high as an elephant's eye.

Things I love about the location and lay of the house:

• Proximity to church
• All the farm fields. I am so much more conscious of when it rains or snows or shines. It is a miracle to witness Nature as she gracefully dresses and undresses with each change of the season.
• Being outside the city (lighter taxes) but close enough to really enjoy it. And I'm using the term 'city' pretty lightly here. Its darn rural. And I've enjoyed that part of living here too.
• Crickets at night. I don't know how I will sleep when it gets cold again and they bury down for the winter.
• Our huge yard. We both love all the grass and room to play.

Things I don't like about the location and lay of the house:

• Being on a corner. There isn't much traffic to speak of. But when the wind blows up the hill from Lake Michigan and across those flat fields, our house is it's first obstacle. There were a couple of storms last winter when Cori and I laid in bed, eyes wide open, wondering if our house was about to blow down. Happily, it did not. But we got incredibly high snow drifts that made getting up our driveway an interesting adventure. Speaking of which...
• The incline of our driveway. All the other houses in our subdivision were built up on a hill so that the driveways are level and the yards more sloped. Ours is exactly the opposite. It makes the house look smaller, and the driveway can be particularly precarious in the winter if we are not diligent about keeping it cleared.
• The distance to Cori's work. He has about a 20 minute drive (closer to 30 with snow). There are much longer commutes out there, we know. This is just the longest he has had since the summer we were married.

More to come...