When we put offers on nine different houses before having one accepted it kind of felt like we were settling. We were getting desperate to get out of our apartment. So desperate, that we were putting offers on homes only one of us had seen. With a market as hot as it is out here, houses sat on the market for a few days at most. If you weren’t fast, you didn’t even get a seat at the table. (Domingo’s first view of our property was during our home inspection after the offer was accepted!)

That’s not to say the house didn’t have it’s charm. One of the biggest draws was how much space we had separating us from the neighbors, a rarity in suburban silicon valley. The previous home owner told us about all of the wild life regularly saw from her back yard. (Truth be told, I thought she was just pushing the sale.)

Another Spring has come and we’re once again flush with deer families. I have so many photo opportunities with the deer that I occasional strike gold, like the above photograph. The shot was taken standing in my back yard, peering though the fence.

For a busy mom who loves her photographer and never has the chance to go anywhere, it’s been a dream come true. I used to think of this house as the house that was available, rather than the house we wanted. But really, none of the other houses we looked at would likely have had this level of wildlife. I doubt I would have taken any photos of baby deer at any of the other houses we put offers in. I would have never known what I was missing out on.

Other creatures we’ve seen include skunks, wild turkeys and possums. Even coyotes and foxes. We’ve had a gorgeous red fox that’s gotten trapped on our side of the fence a few times. One of these times I’ll have my camera at the ready, but for now I wait knowing he’ll be back again at some point.

If I must nitpick I could do without the spiders and allergies, but I guess no home is perfect. At least now that we have a pest control service the spider problem has been greatly mitigated.

Posted in Family Life