April 6, 2008. Chevy Chase, Md. Farm

You have never heard such a ruckus. Ken and I were sitting on the back stoop of the hill house, enjoying the end of day sun, when from the pond came sounds such I have never heard. Shrieks, honks, hisses,quacks, all at high pitch and decible and all from the area of the pond. The noise lasted a few minutes, and soon two Canada Geese flew past us over the field, heading for greener pastures. We walked down to see our resident Canada Geese, and they were very calm, having told these visiting geese in no uncertain terms that this pond is only big enough for one pair. The conversation was short but unforgetable.. I have never heard such sounds from two placid well behaved geese.

When you own a house that you don't live in all the time, many things go wrong. Upon arrival, there is no telling what you are likely to find. I have friends who worry about their other homes every time they are away. In other words, they always worry because they own more than one home. Because they can not be in two or three places at once, they always worry about the other house. Not us. We do what we can to have other local folks check the house while we are away, and then we trust in God. Friday afternoon we walked into our house on the hill to discover that we out of oil. We did what we usually do. We went to speak to our friend Alan Jay. They were in the midst of butchering and wrapping six head of cattle so they were busy but said they would bring oil in the morning from the Road Kill Cafe. This has happened before. The last time was not our fault. The company had sold their business to another outfit, and sent us a letter that we did not get, or maybe we did not read. Anyway, the automatic check for the oil did not happen. Last time, they delivered oil to us on the following Wednrsday. But not this time. That same evening, at eight o'clock, that good man had filled both oil tanks. And the best part, he has promised to never let us run out of oil again!! Now, should we depend on him, or should we check every three months ourselves?

Not so many things have gone wrong actually. Once we walked into the laundry room at the ranch in Texas to find water on the floor that resulted in a new hot water tank. We were lucky to find the small drip early on the life of the drip. Another time we walked into the master bedroom in Nova Scotia to find the master bedroom unbearably hot. We called the heating man and he came and fixed the valve the next morning. I did wonder how our caretakers could have missed the heat in the room. By the cost of the oil bill, I believe the valve had been stuck a long time. But the worst thing that ever happened was at the lake house in Texas. This happened soon after we bought the place with David and Suzanne, and just before Christmas 1995. Ken and I arrived at the lake late at night, having arrived from Washington at six or so, had dinner with David and Suzanne and Sarah, and than headed to the lake. It was eleven p.m. when we arrived. I was first into the house, and called to Ken that there are dead animals in the house. He thought that probably diapers had been left in the house. I went looking and sure enough, dead squirells were found in several places in the house. What a mess. It took until four o'clock before the house was fit to stay in. But can you believe it? A company in town came to shampoo the carpets the next morning, which was Christmas Eve, and we found a handy man to cover the chimney with screen to keep out the critters. The carpet cleaning folks moved every piece of furniture except one. Can you believe that we found another dead squirrel under that one piece of furniture. For a while I thought it cute to call the house "The Squirrel House". Ken over ruled. Our home in Texas close to San Antonio is called "The Lake House".