Without a doubt, the biggest update I have for you is…we closed on our house! Now, if you’re confused I don’t blame you. Haven’t we uprooted from Brooklyn and left our apartment far behind? Haven’t we been living in this house for 3 months? Haven’t we painted, furnished, and claimed it? Yes, yes, and yes. This was all done with a degree of risk, as we hadn’t actually closed on the house. To tell you the truth, I hadn’t been able to completely relax with that looming reality hanging over our heads but now, THANK EVERYTHING IN THE UNIVERSE, we can truly call this place ours.

Let me rewind a bit to get you up to speed. Back in October we were given a closing date of December 4 or thereabouts. We set certain things in motion: getting out of our apartment lease early, hiring movers for December 28, forwarding our mail, and even matching up new tenants with our landlord to take our place once we vacated. A week before the proposed closing we were told that the seller had some scheduling conflicts and needed to push it back a week. Not a huge deal as we weren’t planning to relocate until the end of the month anyway and we were still over 3 weeks away from that. So I went back to the task of organizing and packing all of our worldly possessions in preparation for the move. We decided to downsize a little and I posted countless throw pillows, side tables, lamps, and dishes on Craigslist to clear the way for our new aesthetic up north. I have the tendency to go a little into the “eager beaver” zone of organization and preparedness, so the packing had a method and a tedium that made my husband shake his head and made me stay awake at night making mental lists. This was also in the weeks leading up to the Christmas holiday, a big time for my family, and we were discussing if/how we could celebrate in the time of Covid. Tensions were high for all and I wasn’t in the best place, emotionally. VERY excited about the move and all the surprises that would await us in our new life, but still processing some anxiety about Covid, leaving my friends and known lifestyle, and hurting my family’s feelings if we decided we couldn’t celebrate with them safely. And, of course, if all the packing would be done in time.

The next week came and we arranged to take time out of our schedule to travel up to the closing. Then, two days prior to the date, our lawyer sends us a horrifyingly vague email that says closing is “canceled” due to legal issues on the seller’s end. Cue my near-nervous breakdown. There was no going back and soon to be no place for us to live! There were certainly options: we could refuse to leave our apartment and force our friends into a similar predicament since they wouldn’t be able to move into our apartment as planned. We could put ALL of our things in storage (but which things? I hadn’t packed according to short term/long term needs!), and find “a place” to live (but where? Brooklyn or upstate?). We could sue the seller for breach of contract since her legal issues hadn’t been disclosed at the start of our agreement, but I didn’t want to spend the next few years and whatever money we’d saved up to enter what would definitely be a nasty battle. Now here’s where we were fortunate. (Yes, just bear with me.) We had a few friends who were lawyers that gave us some free legal advice. And trust me, we wanted as much info as we could get so we were protected and aware moving forward. So we asked numerous people countless questions and compared their answers. We spoke to our own lawyers (the ones we’d hired to broker the real estate deal and who had shockingly missed the issues until now), and our realtor (a real fighter, and someone we’ve begun a friendship with in the months since), and came up with a proposal. We would move into the house on the date originally planned under a “pre-occupancy agreement.” It’s basically a tenancy agreement pending closing, at which time the “tenants” take ownership. We were assured by both parties’ lawyers that these legal issues (various liens on the house which I won’t go into), would be resolved soon- hopefully in less than a month, maybe two. I won’t bore you with all the technicalities this agreement entailed, but both sides had to take certain steps to cover themselves legally and to avoid any liabilities down the road. So we did all we could. And then took a big leap of faith. And moved into the house.

All this time, we’ve weighed the risk of each investment before taking the plunge: the invisible fence for Sadie, the remodeling of the duck coop (yes, of course there’s more of that coming below. Be patient!), and the changing out of light fixtures that are custom made for this house’s dimensions. I haven’t tempted fate, though. I’ve refrained from painting our name on the mailbox, for example! And notice, we haven’t actually brought the ducks into our life yet. This was mainly to avoid the horrible possibility of losing the house and having to either re-home the ducks or be limited in our search of properties to ones that had space for them. Thankfully, we’ve made it through those dark days of uncertainty and can proceed with our paddling of ducks! (*Fun fact I learned this week: a group of ducks is only called a “flock” when they’re flying, a “brace” or “team” when they’re on the ground, and a “paddling” when in water. I’m merely a “klutz” in water so maybe I’ll learn a thing or two from them.) And to wrap up this nail-biter of a chapter in this great adventure, we received a call two weeks ago that the liens had been cleared, the closing date was set, and wasn’t changed again. And now we are the (giddily) proud owners of The Happy House. And I’m writing our name on the mailbox this week.

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Now for the fun part- the ducks and their yard! No, we haven’t brought them home yet. Much to my dismay, as I’ve already fallen in love with them and am not a patient person. But to keep my antsy eagerness at bay, we’ve continued throwing ourselves into making their future home as cozy and charming as possible. Luckily these past 2 weeks have given us the first nice weather of the year and we’ve been able to spend more time outside. (Joining Sadie who spends 90% of daylight hours out there, chasing chipmunks and sunbathing.) I hadn’t loved the situation of where the duck shed leads outside, since the clearance to their exit ramp was cut into by the roof of the neighboring coop. So we got some metal-cutting blades for the saw, took a deep breath, and sliced through 10 inches of solid wood and metal to cut away an opening big enough for them to easily exit their shed. And now I feel much better about the route they’ll take a few times a day (providing I can convince them to actually use the ramp, as some ducks don’t love to do). We also attached a small ramp on the front of the outdoor coop, which doubles as a drawbridge-like door, should we ever let them sleep out there overnight. Gotta say, the more hinges we do the better we get! And naturally, they all match each other in style which was not an accident 😉 It seems that as we tackle on issue, another pops up, though. For example, I’ve seen a few hawks circling the area, and in any other circumstance I might welcome the sight. But as a soon-to-be duck mama, this is a sign of danger and we may have to extend the height of the fence around the run so we can add some protective netting over the top.

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Then as we looked closer at the fence on the outdoor run itself, we saw for the first time how nasty and gnarled the weeds were that climbed it. After a little research I discovered these were the invasive Oriental Bittersweet vine which can not only cause incredible damage to any plants or trees on your property, but also to your foundation. They’re often used in home decor so I recognized them as “attractive” and not “invasive,” but add this to the list of things we’re learning. So we spent the better part of this weekend sawing, digging, tugging, and ridding half of the fence of these angry vines. And yes, I did say “half.” Some of the stumps we uncovered were as big around as my fist and many of the vines almost as thick. Our barn is currently stuffed with all we cleared away until we figure out how to dispose of them. Obviously we can’t put them in the compost pile. Side note, I did finally take the plunge and set up a compost pile with my limited knowledge. I recently heard about the phenomenon of “Analysis Paralysis,” where the gathering of information becomes so overwhelming that a person fails to ever act. So I put my perfectionism aside and attached some chicken wire to the outside of a simple wooden frame by our goat shed, and started my layers. If it doesn’t provide the best compost in the world, so be it. At least it will save our trash bags from much of our household waste. Back to the bittersweet; we have another weekend of work to go until the fence is totally vine-free. Then we get to move onto the herb garden, the arbor, and the front of the duck shed…and then maybe we’ll be done with bittersweet. At least for this year. But in all honesty, as aggravating and sometimes painful as the work was, there was also something really satisfying in it. Clearing away section after section of fence so that we could see inside the run and see our progress was really kind of cool. And I can’t help but think that now that we’re the really real owners of the place, we went at the work with more pep and perspiration. The whole time, Sadie was naturally right at our heels, “helping” out by dragging the vines from our pile back out across the yard, spreading seeds and making more work for us in the future. But who can say no to this face?!

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So what’s next? Well, since we can technically make structural changes to the house now, I want to replace the kitchen backsplash. No offense to any of you that have this in your home, but it just doesn’t work for our overall aesthetic here. So we’re now dipping our toes into the contractor world, of which I know next to nothing. We’re thinking of starting with ordering samples from a few different places and a range of prices, to see what our options are. I’m imagining a simple white subway tile look, which goes with just about anything. And I need to figure out how to replace the stained glass roses panels, which don’t quite work for me. I’m not sure who to ask about that (a glass professional, I expect), but it’ll all get sorted in time!

Okay friends, stay well and stay tuned for another update in 2 weeks. I hope Spring is showing its face wherever you are, as it finally is here. Since we didn’t plant any of the things that will grow here this year, it’ll be an adventure to see what pops up!