The Green House

As you might remember, we bought a house in Idaho last summer while we were on the road. The deal was too good to miss, the investment opportunity seemed perfect, and we really would need a place to stay during our six months of training, plus a few months of raising support. We’ve been spending some spare time fixing it from the inside over the winter. New bathrooms, redone kitchen, and lots of other little things have made it quite adorable. However, while we were gone for five weeks in WA, spring sprung…and it was not pretty.

This before was taken last summer shortly after we closed…it does not do anything justice, because the dandelion mess is not seen. But you get the idea.

We pulled into our driveway after our last Washington trip, put the vehicle in park, and gasped. The entire front lawn was dandelions. Not grass with dandelions in it, but just dandelions. Big ones. Lots of them. It was sad. It made our house look sad. It made us sad.

The rototiller is ready for action.

An hour later, my amazing husband had rented a rototiller and began putting those dandelions in their graves. We initially thought we would just weed-and-seed and be done, but then we started scheming.

The Treasure Valley is a desert and, while the irrigation system is excellent, our home’s had been destroyed by dogs and improperly installed in the first place. Watering a yard, especially with the rental future of our home, seemed like maybe not the best idea.

So, we began with yard fabric and rocks. Then plants in planters. And the backyard, which will be grass, was six inches higher than the yards around it. It needed leveling. We didn’t finished the whole yard yet, but got a lot done.  There is a neat variety of drought-resistant plants and even two pear trees (one has teeny tiny pears on it)!!

The goofy helpers

It has been two weeks of hard labor, but also a lot of fun. We discovered our house is quite popular in our little town. More than one group of friends that live in the area and drive by a lot (we live on a busy corner) have loved our house for a while and were excited to finally see inside of it when we invited them over.

When we mentioned painting it a different color, the shock and dislike of this idea was apparent. And voiced! So, we will be keeping it green whenever we save enough to get it painted. Don’t worry, friends, “the green house” will stay that way.

Meanwhile, while we were working these past two weeks, the number of people who drove by to let us know that the yard looks great, that they love our house, that they are happy someone bought it and is finally taking care of it, or to hire Matthew because he’s obviously a landscaper (he was one once for a few months, by the way), have impressed us greatly. It has literally been half a dozen people every day! The mailman, trash guy, and rock delivery guy have all made sure they voice their opinions. It has been a fun relationship-building activity. The thumbs up and honks are more than encouraging for what we’re doing to the sweet house. We are so excited!

The mostly-after…still need to make final touches, and finish behind the big tree, but it is much-improved.

…to be continued after we return to Idaho…