Different

It was exactly a year ago that we closed the real estate transaction that made us Nebraska residents. Last year we were shoveling the drive so we could get the motor home into the drive after several inches of snow had blown in. Our power was turned on, and I recall thinking "what have I gotten myself into?" as I backed the RV in front of the barn.

I look back on that day and try to compare the place to what we first set foot on as ours. A seemingly unlimited amount of firewood awaited the chainsaw and ax, acres of weeds had overgrown much of the place, and the barn looked like a lit match might be it's future as a training exercise for the local fire department.

Well the weeds are down for the most part, firewood is stacked in several locations and will provide years of winter heat, and the barn is repaired and painted. The RV is gone, replaced by a cool 0 turn mower that almost makes mowing the place fun. Two cats have adopted Margie, or perhaps I should say one she likes, the other she tolerates, that I hope help with the mouse population of the immediate area. Things are sure different around here from a year ago.

This place, area, and state are everything we hoped for and much more. We've met wonderful people, and we've already visited with our neighbors more than anyplace we've lived. We've enjoyed watching the corn and wheat growing outside our windows, and watching the cows make their rounds through the harvested corn fields and hearing the turkeys gobble nearby makes for a very peaceful life if you ask me.

Rural living isn't for everyone, but it sure is suiting us for the most part. I didn't expect the number of insects we had to deal with, and didn't fully appreciate the amount of work required to clean up the place. Every day we find something for the dumpster that has worked its way out of the ground, and I've accumulated a couple large piles of metal that I need to get hauled to the scrapper. The road can be dusty and muddy at the same time, and when the wind blows just right, the "smell of money" from a small feedlot catches your attention now and then. Just about everybody waves when they drive by, and going to town almost always finds us visiting with someone we know.

We have almost daily visits by deer and pheasants along the windbreak, and even though the wind blows maybe a bit more than we expected now and then, we feel like we're getting used to it. We're working on fixing up the inside of the house at a painfully slow pace thanks to me, with refinishing an old hardwood floor in our office, the addition of some shelving, and most recently adding a couple doors and painting the living room. My first plans for a work schedule went out the window a long time ago, but we think we've made a good start into making this the place we envisioned when we bought it a year ago.

Would we change anything? Other than fewer bugs... Nope!