Confession: I’m a suburban girl, born and raised. Then I spent most of my adult life living in the suburbs. And now I live in the country. Sort of. It’s hard to describe because Delaware is a weird place. We don’t exactly have a big city (Wilmington is the closest we come and let’s face it, it’s really Philly lite) and anything “below the canal” as we call it is considered rural. True story. It’s how we were able to get a USDA backed mortgage, only available for rural areas. And I live across the street, literally, from a farm so even though my house is in a neighborhood that’s technically a golf course community (another very convoluted description), we’re in the country.
It’s not as ideal as it sounds.
I mean, it’s better than the suburbs. Clean air, less neighbors and congestion, and open spaces are a wonderful way of life. But let’s check out the rest by examining some actual thoughts I’ve had in the 2 years we’ve been here:
It’s so peaceful and quiet. Wait, was that a gunshot? What the fuck? Do we live that close to a deer blind? I feel they should have disclosed that before we bought the house. #gunfireisscarynomatterwhereyoulive
Also, when did I get to the point in my life that I purposefully live near a deer blind? Or even know what a deer blind is? #wedonthavethoseinsuburbia
Living across from a farm is great. OMG, what is that smell?? #burnsthenostrils
I need to let the dogs out to pee. But there’s a big, scary spider/bug hanging out on the screen door. What if it gets in the house? I can’t take that chance. #heldhostagebyinsects
No, I will not pull weeds in the front yard, husband. Why? #becausesnakesthatswhy
We need to go to town. We need things. #whatmaingallsusedtosay
My lawn looks like a horror movie. I wonder if this was the inspiration for Hitchcock’s “The Birds” #ihatebirds #whyaretheresodamnmany
If I wasn’t already indoorsy, the amount of bugs swarming around my backyard would make me that way. This amount of bugs bites is not normal. #imtiredofbeingitchy 
The library has file drawers where people can donate or pick up seed packets. Of course it does. #onlyaincountrylibrary
I’m going to have to go back to using a landline and answering machine circa 1992 because Verizon doesn’t have the capacity to handle us country dwellers. If they did, I’d actually receive calls. #thankfullyistillgettexts
This conversation:
Me: Did you see the dead rabbit on our sidewalk by the mailbox this morning?
Husband: No, I drove by it.
Me: How did you drive by it?
Husband: I wasn’t paying attention.
Me: That’s disturbing. Well, it’s been moved onto our lawn by someone not me and a…piece was left on the sidewalk. You’re going to have to get rid of both sections when you get home because I’m not touching it. Carcass removal is your job. #deadanimalsarenotafunwaytostartyourday #thisdidnthappenintheoldhouse
Where you do you live? What are some thought you have about it?
Linking up for #hashtaghumpday
Ugh- snakes! I have always lived about 10 minutes from where I grew up. I love the suburbs. Best of everything. Stores, turnpike, I95 are
all so close. My aunt and uncle built a home in North Wales years ago that was “like” the farm areas back then and they encountered snakes, etc. Enjoyable read!
Carpe Diem!
Love,SMD’s Momma
Yeah I get it. The hardest part was consolidating trips because I’m not going “back to town” more than once a day. Strangely enough, since the only store we had in Missouri was Walmart, it was more of a struggle. EVERYTHING is in town here. Wasilla, Alaska was a place where I could go multiple places, multiple times a day. I (shamefully) really miss it. Biggest town I ever lived in…
But I grew up in a Pennsylvania town like the one, I’d imagine, you live in. The struggle can be real. I get it.
Oh, we have a cell-phone-signal-repeater. It was like $400, but we had virtually no service before we put it in.
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I grew up in the country and have live near cows my entire life until joining the navy. Even when I was in Raleigh for college. Cows at the vet school down the road. I was sure it was a plight of my life.
I still make it a day of “going to town” even though we live 10 minutes from a Walmart and 5 to a grocery store. No, I refuse to go every day. Not happening.
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LOLOL @ the rabbit conversation and the Ma Ingalls hashtag.
Seed packets at the library! I love it. A true community center.
SMD @ Life According to Steph recently posted…Why We Travel
Oh man, if we had dead animal carcasses showing up that would most definitely be Adam’s job to take care of! UGH I hate mosquitoes! Living in FL it’s like our state bird or something.
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haha I am a full on city girl! I love country music so sometimes I feel like I want to live in one of the southern countrysides they talk about but no. I’m realistic. I’m a yankee city girl and always will be. No bugs, no humidity, no snakes, no birds. I’m pretty familiar with the gunshot sound though. #Chicago.
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Carcass removal is SO not OUR jobs. UCKY UCK UCK UCK
And how do men just DRIVE BY AND NOT NOTICE THOSE THINGS???
I get all the mosquito bites – they are attracted to my pastey white legs LOL
Kateri Von Steal recently posted…#Confessions – Funnies
HAHAHAHA this is great! I would have all of these same thoughts. I don’t live in the country at all, I live right in the heart of town, but about 2 blocks down from my house is a pasture with cows, horses and chickens in it. Oh and that is across from a trailer park. So if the manure smell doesn’t woft down to my house, at least I get to see pit bulls guarding their trailers to make me feel like I live in a super nice neighborhood.
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I can so SOOOO relate to not wanting to let the dogs out for fear of a spider that is by the door running inside. Just no. Also, I saw a big cat one day….of the mountain lion persuasion and I was all oh hell no! And going places is such a hassle when it takes 20 minutes to get to the nearest grocery store. If I forgot something….too bad!!! But the stars man. The stars are so pretty!!!
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I confess I totally want to live in the country but still close to a city. Like no more than 20-30 minutes away. I like not having neighbors and having a big yard. The bugs and snakes would freak me out. Oh and the gunshots! WTF!!
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Do you have to drive your tractor to the mailbox too ;). I live in “real” suburbs where Target, Walmart, and Wegmans are 5 min away. My thoughts are Why does the same tractor trailer fly down the highway at the same time every single day? Why are there snakes in suburbia? Aw bunny. I’m afraid of rabid squirrels. Turkey vultures picking through bags on trash day again. We have really smart raccoons. They are able to get into the trash can and then get out and replace the lid like nothing ever happened. We live so close to everyone yet know no one.
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I hear gunshots often. But it’s because I’m on a military base so the troops do firing every week.
I also hear ambulances off base a lot. I’m like, “Man, people are always getting hurt out there.”
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i have no idea what a deer blind is lol. i thought i wanted to live a bit further out in the ‘country’ but now i’m not so sure haha
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Love this! I’m allergic to certain mosquitoes so I’d be hiding in the house constantly. I’d just take a broom to the spider. But animal carrion is a no-go for me. And yeah, too many birds just seem ominous. I mean, murder of crows?! And no phone booth around to hide in!
Of course, I have chronic fatigue, so things being even more stretched out than here in Phoenix… That just sounds like my nightmare.
Abigail @ipickuppennies recently posted…Change of plans
Haha, I can totally relate to most of these. But I love the country- except for the snakes. There is no good spin on the snakes.
Brittany Pines recently posted…Hump Day Confessions: 5/13/2015
City girl all the way. But not living right in the CBD – outside of it in a more suburban neighbourhood.
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Something entertaining– I live in Indianapolis (actually IN the city) and our libraries have those “seed libraries” too! Who knew it was a thing?
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This is awesome and I totally relate! I technically live in the suburbs, but our big housing development is two miles from the highway in the middle of the woods. I was raised in neighborhoods where we could walk to school, parks, the ice cream shop, and grocery store. We have to drive everywhere now, even though it’s less than ten minutes away. I deal with a woodpecker pecking the roof above my bedroom every morning at 6:00, deer and bunnies in the front yard, snakes in the back, and mosquitoes like crazy all summer. We also live near ATV trails and a police gun range, so I get that noise too. And a small airport is about fifteen miles away so we see and hear lots of small planes throughout the day. I love going to bed to the sound of crickets and frogs though. And being able to see the stars!
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I’ve only lived in suburbs of big cities and the city itself, so I have no idea about country living except my college boyfriend lived on a farm and although it was fun to go over there, not sure it would be for me. I loved all the animals though. He even had an armadillo at one point. It ate raw rotting meat. yummy! I always think of the movie Funny Farm when I think of city dwellers thinking living in the country is super awesome. I’m sure it has many GREAT points, but there are also many quirks. “cue the deer.” My favorite line from a movie ever.
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Hahahah… the gunshots and the smells. YES! I used to live out in the sticks when I was growing up and remember those things vividly!
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