Living on the corner

Those of you who have read previous posts may remember how we had the cribs positioned in an "L" shape in the bedroom.

We had this shape at first because it was the only inside wall in that bedroom. The other two walls face the streets outside our house.

Old paint job... old fence... our house looks waaaaaay better now!

This was an issue because we were once hit by a drunk driver, who crashed into our backyard while we were eating dinner. And the prompted the fear that eventually someone will hit our house (and possibly our dear girls' bedroom!) next.

This spring one of our neighbors house was hit by two men arguing in their car. It was a hit and run. Luckily it was just a huge scrape on the side of their house and a huge nick in their lawn, rather than a direct hit inside their home. However, it brings up those concerns to us again and again.

Charles has started to attend meetings with other neighbors on our street and in our neighborhood about getting the city involved in traffic calming measures, slowing traffic speed, and decreasing cut through traffic on our street. The process is very slow, but we are hoping that something positive will come of it.

In the meantime, we added some additional safety measures to the outside perimeter of our house to protect it, just in case.

1) First, a few years ago, we installed a new 6 foot fence (previously it was just a white picket fence). This new fence posts were installed into 3 feet of concrete along the side of our house, making it a much stronger barrier than it would have been otherwise.

2) Second, on the outside of the fence, we installed some spreading bushes. These bushes were small at first, but they are starting to fill in, and will provide some additional privacy should the boards of the fence stretch open. In addition, they as they grow, they are getting stronger and deeper roots, which will help slow down anything coming our way.

3) We got the city to purchase new street trees for us (we planted them for them). I got to choose which trees we wanted from their approved list. Luckily, on the the side of our house, there are no power lines, so was not limited by trees that could grow tall. This side of the house is westward facing and gets a great deal of sun. We currently don't have any trees in our backyard at all, and are looking forward to the additional shade that these trees will eventually provide to our yard and our house. We got three red oaks planted, which have a fast growing habit; and although they are somewhat slender, they will eventually have strong trunks that can help provide an additional layer of protection from moving vehicles should they come towards us.

4) When we redesigned our front yard, we planted one large, non-fruiting pear, which has grown tremendously. Right behind that pear tree is a small decorative fence that Charles built and I painted. It is also in 3 feet of concrete.

5) Lastly, we decided to buy some large boulders. After much debate (Charles wanted to install concrete pylons and I wanted to buy some large boulders....ha! see who won?), we got the boulders. They look so much more natural than concrete pylons! Now, these are not rocks. They are boulders. The biggest one weighed like 2 tons. It took four men, with four crow bars, three hours to get these boulders placed properly while trying hard not to crack our new sidewalk or break any of their bones. We got four boulders, two in front of each of our bedrooms. They are beautiful specimens, with natural moss growing on them and everything. Right now, the boulders kind of stick out since they are laying in dirt, but eventually we hope to plant some native grasses and ground cover around them, and soon they will look like this land looked before we came and laid asphalt all over it.

So, now, Charles and I can sleep better at night, knowing we have done all we can to protect our biggest investment: our little girls.