Exterior Decorating

We live in the woods and although the neighborhood has become more populated over the years, there is no denying that we are still sometimes at the whim of mother nature.  This past February's unending snow is a good example. Four days without power a few years ago is another. We are just coming out of our Annual Winter "Why Do We Even Live Here?" Festival this month.

We live above a creek.  I know, you just did a wistful sigh of "Oh, that sounds so nice."  Mostly it is. We were excited about it when we bought the property with high hopes of spending time down there.  Then real life intervened and it's just a pretty background now.  We are high above it and we used to have a beautiful view of it but nature just insists on growing and changing.  Trees grow, weeds grow, high waters take out chunks of your property.

Wait, what.  Yes.  The creek has moved inward over the years and taken pretty good swaths of our property.  Some of it is from too much rain, some of it is nature reclaiming what used to be hers, some of it is from beavers, and some of it is just bad luck.  Yea Mother Nature!!

Normally, I wouldn't care.  We don't use that space, the kids are grown-ish and aren't interested in catching frogs or camping anymore.  Lucy likes it down there but she can go down there her ownself.  But, we do have a well down there and it is now threatening to wash it away.

Super. Because you know what we need? We need more drama up in here right now.

So, a series of phone calls and emails and meetings and hikes through the property has brought us to the next adventure in our lives: Exterior Decorating.

The Department of Fisheries and Wildlife is swooping in and taking care of that part of our property now. It's a salmon spawning creek so they are very interested in helping us AND it is at no cost to us.  Hooray!   They'll reinforce the bank, they'll plant trees and native plants and make happy spaces for the fish.  They'll take care of it forevermore.  The beaver gets to stay and probably the heron too, much to Lucy's dismay.  (it's Lucy's nemesis)

We are ceding 35 feet inward of property, for the entire length of the property, to the State.  This triggers a little bit of rebel in me but my love for running water supercedes any of that nonsense.

Funny part, because we live where we live, is the whole "Well, there are cougars around so keep an eye out."  It's a game of I Will See You One Destructive Beaver and Call You One Roaming Maneater.

Come live in rural Pacific Northwest folks, it's great!  It rains a lot, Winter is forever, and you might not die.