Our Summer Place

With the Summer Solstice upon us, this is a perfect time to profile the house we're renting during the remodel. Affectionately, we're coming to call it "Our Summer Place".

We were really fortunate in renting this place. Back in March, Laura started searching diligently. She scoured Craig's List for places that accepted dogs. We put the word out to our network that we were looking. And magically, this place turned up through both channels on the same day.

The house itself is small. At 1100 sq. ft., it's about half the size of the house we own. It's cozy. Laura & I can't hide from each other. But it's what's outside the house that makes the place wonderful.

The dogs are in heaven. (Remember, this remodel is for our dogs...) The lot at the rental is almost 1/3 acre and has a perimeter fence, so they get to run in a much bigger space. And since the front fence is metal bars, they get to watch (and bark at) nearly everything that passes the place. Every day, they go tearing about, chasing each other like kids at a park. Since there are no screens on the front and back doors, and it's been warm, they get to go tearing through the house as well. Laura thinks they're campaigning to just stay here when we move back after the remodel is done.

And there's a bunch of storage. So much that we didn't need to rent a storage locker or one of those on-site trailers. There are, oh my, 8 fruit trees (that are now in season). Plus the back yard has a brick patio that's got as much area as the house itself.

The best part is that there's a magnificent oak tree that keeps at least 1/3 of that patio in shade all day long! The small house with a big patio on a big lot changes the perspective of scale. It makes the place feel far more spacious than the house we own. At least once a week we pinch ourselves to confirm such good fortune is not merely a dream.