A Rifle and a Chainsaw

Scott and I hope to be homeowners by the end of 2009. That being the case, we've begun looking at prices of homes in local areas, and even driven by a few different houses. We found some houses online in our price range with a decent amount of land as well, about 40 minutes away. So, on Saturday, we loaded up Micah, ourselves, and even Lisa to drive by some of these homes.

It soon became apparent that these homes with a good amount of land come with something else too - greater seclusion and um, unique neighbors. At one of the homes we went to, the driveway was a steep incline, and since it had not been snowplowed, Scotty and I left Micah and Lisa in the car while we jogged up to the house. As we came to the back of the house, the next door neighbors came outside and we saw each other. One of them hollered over, "I have to unload by gun, do you mind?" We said that would be fine, and then without skipping a beat, he picked up his shotgun and fired it straight into his backyard. I quickly ran down to the car to let Lisa know that we were okay. :-) Hmm, nice neighbors, but not sure how we feel about them shooting guns off in their backyard.

Another house we came to had a similar driveway problem, though this one was a dirt road and had deep slope, so we were afraid our 4-door sedan wouldn't be able to get back out of the neighborhood. Once again, Scott and I were going to investigate the house closer while Micah chilled out in the backseat with grandma. As Scotty opened his door, we all heard a chainsaw. I looked up and found a bearded man a little ways off, chainsaw in hand, looking at us, without a smile. Startled, I said, "Scotty, lets go, I think we're on his property!" Scotty paid no heed to my comment, and shouted over, "We're here to look at that house down there." "Okay," the man replied, and started sawing away at a fallen tree.

As we approached the chainsaw man's neighbor's house (the one for sale), we found it vacant and in disorder. The advertised "spa" had the lid half open and was filled with snow, there was a high chair strewn in the front yard, and there was a Kawasaki motorcycle on it's side in front of the garage. Clutter can be picked up, but that's not all we would have to change if we were to move here. We'd have to add on the expense of a truck or SUV which could handle hilly, dirt roads in the dead of winter.

It was a fun family "adventure," and we all had a good laugh on the way back to suburbia.