The challenges of home ownership

B and I haven't followed the most traditional path to marriage. Back in the day, there was an engagement (usually preceded by a hope chest, according to my mother), a marriage, and then a house purchase. B and I got the house purchase out of the way long before the engagement, and thank goodness we did--although the wedding plans have not been overwhelming, I wouldn't want to be in the midst of wedding and honeymoon planning and have to skip out to open houses every weekend.

We've got the purchasing out of the way, but the maintenance lives on.

This weekend, I tried my hand at a little gardening light because having flowers seemed like a nice idea (and the neighbors have done such a lovely job with landscaping their little plot of mulch, whereas ours looks as if we've been living in drought for years). I think I had a romanticized idea of what "gardening" entails--I wasn't expecting to emerge with arms covered in dirt (hepful tip--dirt sticks to skin that has had sunscreen applied...) and a sore back, wondering if my lily bulbs will grow or if my usual plant track record will prevail. Only time will tell.

Another home ownership challenge--when nature comes too close to home. Like gardening, nature experiences also fall into the "This is not nearly as exciting as I hoped it would be" category. Our experience has been something like this:

Day 1: "Oh, isn't that a cute chipmunk in the back yard! B, look at the chipmunk!"
Day 2: "Aww, the chipmunk is back! I think he's eating the birdseed!"
Day 3: "Maybe we should give the chipmunk a name!"
Day 4: "This chipmunk seems to be around a lot, doesn't he..."
Day 5: "I wonder what's been eating the neighbor's plants..."
Day 6: "Is that a rodent hole leading under the porch?"
Day 7: "How bad would your afterlife punishment be if you were to (hypothetically, of course) kill a family of chipmunks?"
Day 8: "The chipmunk almost ran across my foot! Where is the rat poison?! Die, chipmunk, die!"

We've blocked the entrances to their "home" under our deck and tried to create a lovely basement swimming pool for them--let's hope they get the message before we have to resort to more drastic measures.