The Rental In Reno

  

The house that Jeff and Lydia found in Reno is in a beautiful spot. I envy them. Now the other side of the valley is lush and green. Ponderosa Pine and other plants like you see in the Tahoe area seems to be there.

My preference, however, is exactly where the kids found their new place. Cedar and sage dot the mountains in the background. Everything is so much the desert ranch, where I grew to adulthood.

The first night we saw the house, weeks before the kids moved into it, we stopped there in the evening. 

A cottontail rabbit stood frozen in the headlights in the middle of the culdesac. 

I knew immediately that it was the place for me. Signs posted warn of wild horses. Coyotes are there, although I have yet to hear them at night. And there are also bobcat and mountain lions. 

Every place has it's pitfalls. They have scorpions and rattlesnakes too.

It beats finding a gator under your car in the morning. 

Even an occasional rattlesnake beats finding water moccasins or copperheads in your backyard like in Florida.

As for Idaho, what I hate most has more to do with snow. I'll brave anything to find relief from  subzero temperatures in January or snow flurries in June and July.

There are a few other things too. That happens, when you live somewhere like that for over 20 years. First, you begin to hate the weather, and suddenly you begin to form a list of things you dislike. 

I guess it's always "greener" on the other side of the fence, or in the case of Reno, something "less green" and in shades of light purple. The lavender along the fence line outside Lydia's place is beautiful. 

A small bridge crosses a stream. It's something I would love to have had near my home, although it would be additional fun to see some trout swimming in it. That would be my perfect place. If I ever see something like that in a dream--a home with those surroundings and a stream with trout near the driveway--any given night, I would awaken with a start, fearing I had died and found paradise.

This is close to paradise.





I am excited for the kids. They deserve this, especially after the moves and the sacrifice and the hard study and work. Good things happen. Sometimes you just have to wait for it, but it eventually happens.

Cottontail Rabbits are one thing, but I did mention that there are wild horses that wander about the neighborhood. The area is truly spectacular.