Five On Friday: Five Bad Things About Living In The Country

We lived on ten acres of land for three years before the drive to work wore us down.  There were other things, more than five, but for Five on Friday this week, here are the five worst:

Wood Ticks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From April through the end of July (hello biting flies in July) the house and land were COVERED in wood ticks.  I'd start obsessing in December.

They hung thickly on the doorways and garage door and dropped down as you went in.  And crawled up to your neck wherever you sat in the house.  If it felt like there was something crawling on you, there sure was.  It was a relief most days going to work so far from the devils, but then you'd see one on the reference desk and you know who it rode in with.



Well 

Having a well sounds nice and all free wheeling but we were informed we'd need to dig a new one at some point for around 10k. Eeek.   Dont mention you had to wish for nice rains so you could shower.

Septic System

Big Bob The Septic Man is your friend in the country and a pretty frequent visitor.  Ick.   Remember that old high school insult "Your dad's a diver for Roto Rooter"?  Yup.

Satellite TV  sounds nice unless creatures eat through the cables and it takes you a bit to figure it out.  There really isn't a way to protect it, either.

Deer

So, you like gardens, do you?  Deer love them too and they have a voracious appetite.  They ate everything.   They walked up on the back deck and ate plants.  They easily jumped a six foot fence.

I planted a little apple tree one day, right up by the house. It was gone by morning, just a narrow bit of trunk left.  They're also loaded with ticks in case you lost a few.

Five On Friday is a feature of my unofficial NaBloPoMo run, and will appear the next two Fridays in November.