Duc in Altum

Much needed rain has fallen in my area since Friday. It is an answer to prayer, as it has been far too dry. We have received about fifty percent of the rain that normally would already have fallen in the year. Although it has not reached the crisis we had several years ago when we had a very serious drought, it is not a good trend as normally the month of April is quite wet. (April showers and all of that apply here quite well.)

It was almost strange for our nineteen-month-old daughter to be in a rain storm as we drove around doing errands yesterday. She really has not seen much rain since she has been old enough to understand what it is. And she definitely found, what we would consider a familiar situation, to be quite new and unfamiliar.

It was also of interest to us to see this rain because we are considering purchasing another home. We have done quite a bit of work to learn about this home, and one of the questions we had was how it would hold up under a rain storm. It is new construction, and although it is not in a flood plane, there is a small stream in the back and it is close enough to a major road that it will get significant runoff from the road. In addition, the back area of the house is not a backyard per se, but instead it is very soft ground with some trees and shrubs which cover a distance of just over a hundred feet to the stream which is the back border of the property. After yesterday's rain, there was some water in several areas of the property, but no in any place that I would not have expected it. I have been asking the county officials whether they have any concerns about erosion and water management, but I have not yet gotten any information to cause me concern.

The backyard is one area we are concerned about, and I think the next step is to have a landscaper look at it to determine what options we have. One of the limiting factors is that the county ordinance provides for a one hundred foot stream buffer which severely limits what can be done in the back because the back of the house is only about twenty to twenty-five feet outside the stream buffer. I need to read more about what, if anything, can be done in the stream buffer, but more importantly I would like a landscaper to give me an idea of what can be done to make the backyard more like a regular backyard.

Some people enjoy the house hunting and house buying experience. It seems to always be quite a chore for us. I think it is all of these small details that make it quite a tedious process. However, I must say, we are very grateful for our current home, even if it took an excruciating amount of time and effort to purchase it. It looks like the next one will be purchased in the same vein. However, God willing, it will be not so much the home we want, but the home we need.