Joys of ownership??

It takes a lot of $$ and a lot of people to keep this house going. Not just the obvious day-to-day maintenance that we're all familiar with, but the additional annual, seasonal, and occasional necessities that are part and parcel of being a happy homeowner.

Said house sits on a slightly less than 1/4 acre corner lot, which also translates into grass... lots of grass. Now we all know that a home looks much better when it's surrounded by nice, green grass. In order to keep that nice grass green, one must feed it. In order to keep that nice grass grass, one must deweed it. And in order to keep that nice, green grass growing, one must water it... with lots of water.

I'm all too familiar with walking back and forth, back and forth, spreading nutrients and weed killer all over the place to keep the stuff healthy. It used to take an entire weekend to water the whole lawn. Umpteen hoses, sprinklers and weepers had to be moved and positioned every couple of hours around each section of the front and back yards to get it all done.

Now we enjoy the benefits of a lawn service that comes several times a year and takes care of the nurturing. Lew takes care of the mowing. Several years ago, we had an automated, underground sprinkler system installed. Oh joy, what a nice little luxury that is! Twice a year, the sprinkler man comes out to bleed the pipes, turn the system on or off, and provide whatever maintenance is needed. Except during drought conditions when we're under a water ban, of course - then the grass turns brown.

Our house is over 30 years old and things have settled over the years, including the drain system leading to the main county drain. There's a low spot at about the middle of the front yard that collects, uhmmm, refuse material, which can, and has, caused a back-up problem into the basement. I'm here to tell you, this is NOT a nice thing to deal with!

In order to more permanently eliminate the problem, we'd have to spend thousands of dollars to dig up the yard and re-do the drain system. Not being independently wealthy folks, we've opted for another solution. We have the Roto-Rooter guy come out every year to clean the drain and keep things flowing normally.

Like most homes, ours has a heating/air conditioning system. A system that requires seasonal maintenance to ensure continued uninterrupted service. You know, those cozy, warm winter and cool summer temperatures that we've come to love and enjoy? So, there's another serviceman who comes to visit twice a year and provides maintenance and upkeep.

We live in the country, with a dairy farm and fields adjoining our back yard, so we get more than our fair share of critters... field mice, crickets, spiders, ants, and other various and sundry creepy crawlies... that occasionally like to pay us a visit. We had some earwigs that would make an appearance every night just in time for the 11 o'clock news. We even had a furry little mole get lost once and make its way inside to keep us company.

Not being overly fond of uninvited critters in my home, we have an exterminator come every other month to keep the multi-legged population under control, and outdoors where they belong.

We have a wood-burning fireplace in our family room. Not only do we spend money to buy wood to burn every season (what kind of sense does that make!??) but yepper, we have a chimney sweep, stovepipe hat and all, come every year to do his thing to keep us operating safely.

We also have the occasional "when needed" services - the electrician, the plumber, the tree man to take care of the dangerous climbing/pruning, etc., the washer/dryer repairman, the Critter Control guy who gets squirrels out of the chimney, and yada, yada, yada.

We have so many people coming and going, I oughta start charging admission!