Hurray!

At last we have a contract on the house! I'm trying not to get too excited before close of escrow in 29 days, but at last we have a contract. I was about to start calling this the House of Seven Plagues but had decided not to for two reasons:

A) There were only four:

1. The ducks. We have lived here for three years and, in all that time, I have never seen a duck anywhere near our yard. Yet just one week after we listed the house, we were on vacation on the East Coast when we got an email from our agent asking if it was normal to have eight--yes, eight--ducks on the lawn. Did we forget to disclose that? Because, really, they're making a bit of a mess and some people will probably have a problem with that. Really?!
   
2. The ants. Again, three years, no ant problems. List the house and suddenly the little &*%$ers develop a taste for dog food. I went in to the garage one morning to feed Argus and there it was--a lovely, long, unbroken line of tiny little black ants, marching across the garage and up into the bag. I don't like to kill things (I pretend it's my Buddhist sensibilities, but really I just can't bear the crunching/squishing) so I tried everything I could find to drive them away instead. I've discovered that they allegedly don't care for talcum powder, mint, chili powder and a variety of other things I would never have thought of on my own (I love Google). The talcum powder in conjunction with the vacuum actually worked but it was impossible to get all of them or to keep them out, so I was forced to leave it to Thomas who isn't quite so squeamish.
   
3. The ants, part two. Thomas got rid of the ants and sprayed all around the outside of the garage. So they packed up, moved a little to the west and found a way in to the playroom instead. Fortunately, they don't seem to like the high-pitched shrieking that little girls are so good at and so they moved out again pretty quickly.
4. The dog--not ours. A couple who either recently moved into the neighborhood or just got a dog walks said dog by our house at least once every day. The husband always walks the dog on the other side of the street, the wife on our side. And every time she walks the dog, it pees on the "For Sale" sign in the front yard. I'm guessing it was a letter for Argus, but I was beginning to take it as another type of sign.
   

B) My second reason for not calling this the House of Plagues is just that I really love this house. I love the tree-lined street and the way the house seems to welcome you home. I love the quiet of the back yard at mid-day when all of the dogs are sleeping and the silence is broken only by the clicking of the humming birds, the drone of the bees and the occasional chattering of the squirrels. In the spring, there is the lush smell of wet jasmine and lemon blossoms. Summer brings warm tomatoes fresh from the vine and mountains of fresh basil . . .

I'm going to miss my house and (most of) the neighbors, but I hope that the next family will be as happy here as we have been. And I know that our next home will be even better because Thomas will only have a five minute commute. Hannah can't wait and neither can I. After all, now I can put him back on KP!