Our House! Part Five

In which the yard just keeps on going! Seriously, the first time I drove past it, I couldn't believe that this part went with the house, but couldn't see how it could belong to any other house, either. It has more fruit trees and the berries, and a woodshed that is full of wood. We didn't specify that the wood stays, but I hope it will because we do have a woodstove in the living room. There are the remnants of raised beds, but they'll take some rehab to be usable.

This picture was taken standing underneath the trellis looking straight ahead.

And this one from underneath looking to the left, toward a small, dead-end road that runs along the side of the property.

This is from close to the back property line (we'll find out how close when we have the house inspection). You can see most of the lower garden and the fence separating it from the middle garden (and beyond). There's a chance we'll have to trim back or possibly even cut a tree or two to make sure we have the necessary fire breaks around the house. We definitely hope to avoid that.

To take care of all this space, we asked that the fairly new riding mower parked in one of the lean-tos off the garage stay with the house. They've agreed. Michael's excited!

Our House! Part Four: The Middle Garden/Orchard

Next up: the "middle" garden. This is planted with (so we're told) apple, pear, peach, and plum trees. There are also blueberries and maybe raspberries, along with rhubarb. The middle garden is bordered by tall trees and more rhodies. The fence at the back of this picture is not the end of the property -- the lower garden is on the other side.

This rhodie is a little past peak, but it shows the rock walls around some of the plantings. Some very serious gardeners have been at work on this property over the years.

Looking back up to the house.

Fruit tree flowering!

Trellis entrance to the lower garden with established wisteria!

OUR HOUSE!! (Part Three)

So this part was delayed a little by a promised trip to Ocean World to (not) pet the sharks. Darcy loves her sea creatures, although we've been living back in Wright Brothers land for the past couple weeks. This round of photos is of the area around the house, which includes a "fairy ring" of redwoods. Michael's already planning a little tree house for Darcy in the middle of it.

Our ring of redwoods! The building behind them is our garage.

Here's a view up the side yard to the house-and-garden area.

The proper front door of the house faces this lawn and garden area, but it doesn't face the driveway, parking, or garage, so like Cima house, it's sort of backwards on the lot.

This is what ends up being the main entrance to the house. Again, like Cima house, it means that you enter through the laundry room. Unlike Cima house, this laundry room is huge and has a built-in desk area along with a ton of cabinets. The cabinets are sort of cream and lime green. Original, of course, but these I actually like.

OUR HOUSE! (Part Two: Front Garden)

The yard is so beautiful that it feels like you're walking through a park. The "front" garden is along the driveway and has frontage on the main road. The lawn is mostly moss because it's so shady. This picture is looking from the driveway.

A picture from the farthest corner looking back up to the house.

We have our own redwood stump! (Plus our own living redwoods elsewhere!)

There are several of these little garden "nooks" around the property. Darcy is going to have the best garden tea parties EVER.

OUR HOUSE! (Part One)

This is our new driveway! Because we bought a house today!! We practically own a park now -- the property is an absolutely gorgeous 1.29 acres of redwoods, fruit trees, moss lawns, and rhodedendrons. About two weeks ago, we decided that maybe we should try to find a house before the Federal tax credit runs away. We looked at our first houses last Saturday and had our offer accepted today!

The property is very beautiful and someday, the house could be, too. It's a 1977 manufactured home that's been so well-taken care of that it has the original carpet. Unfortunately, that means that it still has the original carpet and toilets and cooktop, but those will all be gone before we move in. It is outdated, but in very good shape inside and out, with lots of space. Start planning your visit! (And please keep your fingers crossed for a successful house inspection!)

The property is divided into sort of four spaces: front garden, house-and-garden area, middle garden, and lower garden. I'll post pictures of each in the next few posts. I couldn't go in the house today, so there are no interior shots, but those will come soon, too. We'll have a series of before and after pictures over the next many months.

In the meantime, here are the driveway and parking/garage areas.

From the other approach, you can see the house.

Looking back down toward the road.

Oh! The Light! The Light!

The light from the end of the "I only eat bagels" tunnel is so bright, I'm blinded!

We've been seeing signs of the bagel fetish starting to end, but the last two days have been incredible. Last night, she ate green beans with garlic and red pepper flakes, and mushroom ravioli. She even chose to dip some of her beans in the mushroom sauce that Michael and I ate with the ravs.

Tonight, Michael made falafel. And I made tahina sauce for it. Darcy tried both for the first time, with no fusses at all. She politely refused the tahina at first, but then took a giant serving spoon and dug right in. Smeared it in her pita by herself. Put a puddle on her plate. Licked the spoon.

After finishing an entire pita, she decided to drop her falafel into her milk. Then she added her cucumbers. And some tahina. She created cucufalafelmilkini. AND DRANK SOME OF IT.

Who knew the darkness could end so abruptly??

Darcy Does Good Works!

Yesterday was a good day for the Glore household. I was watching over the first of a series of gardening classes I helped arrange with the local community college. We had 41 people show up on a sunny Saturday morning! And the farmer who taught it went half an hour over the two hours allotted for the class -- and only three people left before he was done! It was pretty incredible. I'm probably going to teach the next one in May because having been turned down by said farmer to teach it, I don't really have enough time to find someone else by tomorrow's deadline for the course listing.

As some of you know, I was in LA last week for training. In the Volunteer Development class, our table group had to create a poster representing our collective volunteer experience, including how many generations of our family had done volunteer work of some kind, and at what age we first volunteered. If Darcy is ever in that same position, she'll have some good tales to tell. While I was at the college yesterday morning, Darcy and Michael helped restore the Mill Creek drainage by planting redwood seedlings. Darcy was very proud:

And very protective and happy:

She and Michael made a great team on those steep slopes:

Right now, thanks to her trip on the pirate ship (ok, just a wooden sailing vessel, really), she's in bed singing the "heave away, haul away" lines from Bound for South Australia. Pirates didn't grab her fancy in the same way as the Wright Brothers, who have been making a small comeback recently. It's sad, but one of the best entertainments we have is listening to the things that come out of her mouth as she's supposed to be falling asleep. Tonight, she's in rare form with the sea shanties.