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Urban Mouse, Rural House

~ The joys and challenges of transitioning from city life to life with land.

Urban Mouse, Rural House

Tag Archives: rural

Picking Your Town

29 Monday Jun 2015

Posted by urbanmouse1 in Town

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

family, life, rural

In October, our little town held its annual Halloween festival. This is a week long ordeal, and the schools even close for two full days.

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The first weekend of December marked the start of the Christmas festivities–the annual Christmas parade. Downtown streets were closed for hours, and shop owners stepped outside to watch and socialize because no one will be in the shops.

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In April, volunteers spread thousands of eggs in the park for kids to find. They also did several fundraising events to support a renovation of the huge park and zoo in town.

In June, our town honored over 250 Vietnam Veterans with awards that they were never given and a ceremony that never happened when they all returned. Our good friend and neighbor was among the recipients, so of course we attended.

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There was a parade, an awards ceremony, and a huge flag.

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For reference, here is our full-sized Toyota Tundra under the flag (CAT had to work so he met us in town and I have lucky timing sometimes).

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Through all of these events the common thoughts between CAT and I were that “I love our town!” and “I’m so glad we picked THIS town!”

In 2013, when CAT received the official job offer we drove the 350 miles the next day to poke around the area, with the kids and the dogs (only 2 at the time) in tow. It was a whirlwind of an adventure over the next 3 weeks as we decided we were all-in and searched for a house.

In this area, the towns don’t run together like they do in DFW. You typically have 15 to 20 miles, or more, between each town. Purchasing a home at that point is not just about the home or the land, but it also means choosing the town with which you would like to identify.

We had to consider several things, including distance to CAT’s office and the school system. The schools are about the size of the kids’ previous school despite rural spread, because we opted for a town about the same size as we left–10,000 residents. CAT’s office is just 20 miles, which in the city would have taken him between 1.5 and 2 hours. Here, it takes him about 20 minutes. Unless there is a traffic jam, which is a tractor on the road moving between fields.

Mostly, it was about the feel of the town. Each town had it’s own appeal, but this one was charming and quaint. Our realtor was based in this town and she did a fine job with the grand tour. It has a drive-through zoo, a huge park, a water park, great schools, quaint little shops, and lots of rural, Mid-America charm. They hang banners above the streets for every occasion and put up lights at Christmas. They talk to you when you walk into one of the shops, and not just a hello; there’s a full conversation. They are welcoming.

Most of the residents are invested in their town, and the town is invested in its residents. It just felt right.

It has been two years since we chose this house, and it feels even more right. Especially after the goose-bump inducing honor of watching those 250 Kansas-resident Veterans, or family members, walk across the stage.

If you served, thank you for your service. If you are a Gold Star or Blue Star family, thank you for your sacrifices.

~Mouse

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Spring on the Ridge

10 Sunday May 2015

Posted by urbanmouse1 in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

daffodil, iris, mower, rural, Spring, tractor

Spring brings new life to the Ridge. It also brings some pretty dramatic weather. Today, we have had torrential downpours, sunshine, and now cloudy, grey skies. Grasshopper took this photo at bus pickup one day when the clouds were particularly dramatic. It looked as though someone had painted the sky.

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I’m sitting at the kitchen table today, catching up here and watching my boys work hard. Last year for Mother’s Day, I received a gift that will give for many years: an apple tree, a cherry tree, and a peach tree. This year, my CAT brought me a white peach, another cherry, and a pear tree to add to the orchard. Today, CAT and Grasshopper are digging holes for the new trees, hopefully before the next round of storms hits us.

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Meanwhile, the rest of our yard has finally sprung, much delayed by significant fluctuations in weather over the last few months. The first signs of Spring around here are the vibrant daffodils. I’m two for two on being out of town when it happens. Last year, we were in Texas and came home to discover them bloomed; this year I was traveling for work.

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We kick off the season with our annual birthday bash as the first shop party since CAT and I share April as a birth month. The party involves shrimp, Crawfish, Texas style BBQ, friends, and lots of laughs. Oh, and cake, of course. Here’s my masterpiece from this year.

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What most people don’t know is that our first spring was full of “surprise” flowers. We had no idea what to expect when we bought the house, other than the previous owner had sporadically planted rather than traditional planned out beds. Next come the irises. They are planted all over the front yard and we have a plethora of colors–yellow, multiple shades of purple, and purple and white (my favorites).

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We also have several peony plants that give us these beauties in multiple shades of pink. The start out very deep pink and slowly fade to a soft, almost white pink.

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Spring is also a time of heavy yard work. While most of the property is left to its own devices, we do keep a large area around the house mowed and some trails mowed down to the ponds for easier walking. During our first Spring here, we discovered many tree stumps and rocks in these areas. With the mower blades. On the riding mower and the tractor shredder. So they were in desperate need of attention. This means pulling the mower into the shop, climbing under, and removing the blades. I volunteered to take the second blade off my mower after watching CAT with the first one.

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The blades were in rough shape. Dull and lots of dings from hitting tree stumps and rocks. I’ve since marked the stumps so I can avoid them in the future.

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CAT went to work with the grinder to get them cleaned up and ready for some much needed mowing.

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While they will get us through this season, we’ll be buying new blades for my little mower next year.

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Then CAT went to work on the shredder. He uses this to maintain our field in the river bottom and to keep some nice walking paths for his lovely wife to use to go fishing at the ponds. This exercise involves using the tractor to lift up the shredder and bracing it on floor jacks to keep it from falling. Tank is helping.

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To be clear, Tank helping involves dropping a tennis ball at CAT’s feet and hoping it will get thrown.

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The shredder didn’t really need sharpening since the tool relies more on speed of the blades and less on sharp edges. CAT made sure the blade arms were loosened up, cleaned some of the grit and build-up out of there, and called it good.

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His and hers mowing equipment. No, we are not a normal couple–no monogrammed towels here.

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Happy Spring!

~Mouse

Making it ours (Part 1-Taming of the Purple)

20 Wednesday Aug 2014

Posted by urbanmouse1 in Home remodel

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

paint, remodel, rural

When you buy a house, you often purchase it for its functionality, mostly ignoring the decor. We, on the other hand, purchased our home for the 33-acre habitat, mostly ignoring the house other than checking off 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a basement. The outside is nice enough, though we’re not fond of the yellow.

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The interior is extremely, um, colorful. We have a sunflower yellow laundry area, a forest green kitchen and breakfast area, pink/off white/cream living room and family room depending on the light, a spring/lime green bedroom, and various wallpaper, all paired with almost Kelly green carpet.

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The room that really bugged me most was the purple master bathroom. Don’t get me wrong, I like purple. It’s my favorite color! The shade of purple used in the bathroom was actually one of my wedding colors. It had to go.

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Anyone that knows us, understands that we are more into neutral tones–browns, mild greens, barely blues, and the like. I picked a lovely shade of white-blue called Wispy Cloud from Glidden (No, they didn’t pay me to tell you that), and commenced operation repaint bathroom, starting with the wallpaper border around the top of the walls. That was pretty easy and only took about 1.5 hours to take down.

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Armed with rollers, brushes, and 5 gallons of Kilz2, I started painting on the first day of the kids’ Spring Break. Yes, I started this project in March. I put layer after layer, after layer of Kilz on the walls. I tried the brushes, hoping for a thick coating. I tried the roller. It was still purple. After 2.5 days of Kilz, I felt defeated and abandoned the project for a trip to Texas. The bathroom has been in this condition ever since; lights detached, half purple, and reminding me that the walls had won.

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So, we decided that since we had plans to paint the entire house, we should invest in a paint sprayer. We ended up with this Wagner sprayer for all paint and stain types–versatile and a good deal (nope, not paid for that one either). It’s handy and we like it.

I will be changing the trim color, because the off white does not go with the bright white-blue color. And because there is over spray/brush on the trim, caulk, tile, cabinet, tub, and everywhere else, so there is still evidence of purple that I will need to remove.

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We also purchased 5 gallons of original Kilz, mostly by accident, which actually offered much better coverage than Kilz2. The paint went on in a shade of white, but seems to have “blued” over the last week. So while not fully completed, we have tamed the purple and are loving the results.

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I even found a couple of flowers for the pitcher that belonged to my great-grandmother. It’s been waiting for this home.

 

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Lessons we learned along the way:

1. You can/should include the kids if you don’t mind fixing something that looks like this after they get bored (be sure to put down a LOT of plastic):

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2. Original Kilz offers much better coverage than Kilz2, but you better put in some serious air circulation and ventilation. That stuff is strong! But it took one good coat with the sprayer and we were done.

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3. When the paint sprayer instructions say cover the entire room, it means it! We will be scraping floors, the mirror, the shower…

4. Quality of product is far more important when using a paint sprayer. We ran out of one bucket of Kilz and attempted to use another partial bucket that had been stored in extreme weather conditions, both hot and cold. Bad idea! We now have texture where it wasn’t previously, but I don’t mind it so much in here.

5. When using a new tool like a sprayer, always start in a room that is not likely to be seen by company. We also picked a room that we know we want to remodel in 5 or 6 years.

I think CAT is also extremely happy to have that project under our belts and “done” with a few exceptions. It means we can move on to the kitchen and getting the green carpet removed. Or we can get back to playing on the tractors and fishing.

~Mouse

And so it begins

08 Friday Aug 2014

Posted by urbanmouse1 in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

family, hello, life, rural

I’m Mouse. Yes, I go by that name in real life, even though it isn’t the one my mom and dad gave me at birth. My husband came up with that pet name for me some time ago, and it has stuck. Especially since his nickname is CAT. We have a 13-year-old boy that goes by Grasshopper, and an 8-year-old girl that goes by Cricket. No, those aren’t their given names.

We are the proud but sometimes weary owners of 33 acres of diverse land in the heart of America. Our property includes ponds, trees of so many types, a ridge, a field, and a river. This is our dream and we are so fortunate to live it, even when it exhausts us. This is our backyard. How can anyone hate this view?

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Great, right? So now you’re asking why on earth I would make time to write about it and why would I share it with the whole world. Easy, I love to write. I even write for a living; it’s just less creative and more technical. I have family from coast to coast in the U.S., a brother in Australia, a sister in England, and another brother in Norway. Inevitably, someone would get forgotten in the email distribution.

More than that, I have a semi-unique outlook having jumped from city living all my life to living in rural America, surrounded by towns of fewer than 10,000 residents. Many city dwellers wistfully pin pictures and collect idealized images of life in the country as picturesque and simple. I thought, ‘sure it can be any more challenging than keeping house in the city and keeping our hunting lease.’ Reality check! It’s tough work! But we have fun toys.

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We love it, and we want to share our perspectives with people in the same boat as us, with people that are thinking about jumping into this life, and with people that want to live this life vicariously. Our posts will include everything from home renovation adventures, building things, life with kids, maintaining the property, livestock and other farm animals, and so much more. It’s meant to capture life as we know it. We hope that you will enjoy our adventures and share some of your own with us in the comments.

~Mouse

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