I vividly recall that day we first saw the Ugly House. Our daughter found the property in a database of properties for sale. The picture was accurate and very unflattering. We dubbed it the Ugly House.
When we arrived, my impression from the web page was confirmed. The paint was peeling off the window frames. The house was nearly hidden behind a wall of overgrown yew shrubs. We could see broken windows. Several black cables snaked across the roof. The yard was obviously neglected. The holly tree at the corner of the house was covered with poison ivy.
While we waited for the realtor, we walked behind the house. There at the edge of the woods, in a patch of spring sunshine, a stand of virginia bluebells took my breath away. And yes, as crazy as it sounds, I told Don I would take this house.
When we saw the inside of the house, it was in bad shape. The bathrooms had mold issues and tiles were falling off in the showers. Only two burners on the cook top worked. Neither of the two ovens worked. The vinyl floor in the kitchen was ripped and faded. Ghost frames showed on every wall where pictures had once hung. The hard wood floors were badly damaged. The ceilings were gray with smoke from the coal furnace in the basement.
But I looked past all this wreckage and out the large dining room windows at that woods. I could see the beauty hiding there. I heard the birds singing. A bunny dashed from the house to the woods. After an endless search, I finally felt like I was home.
We have invested a huge amount of sweat equity fixing the house inside and out. And when I could grab time, I went to battle removing acres of invasive burning bush and privet bushes that were taller than me. My labors were rewarded with the native spicebushes thriving. Wildflowers carpet the forest floor. We discovered the tiny fish, the crayfish and the migrating eels in the small creek that crosses the property.
The virginia bluebells are ringing out again this spring, a gorgeous patch of sky blue that sway with the lightest breeze. The many wildflowers I have planted over the years are peaking out of the rich, brown soil. There's bloodroot, May apple, wild phlox, monarda, trillium and more. The red bud trees are blooming, as are the dogwood trees and shadblow bushes.
All of this would be destroyed in the name of corporate greed and governmental shortsightedness. Pennsylvania is being called out for failing to do enough to stop runoff that is damaging the Chesapeake Bay. They are paying farmers to plant trees and bushes along the streams that cross their property. In fact, the farmer just up the road has done a great job of planting a riparian buffer in his field. But this lovely riparian buffer, this bit of eden, will be laid to waste, stripping all the bushes and trees. Crushing the wildflowers under steel treads of big construction machines. The builders would ruthlessly expose the creek and eliminate the water cleansing work of the trees and bushes.
Where will the Cooper's Hawk nest next year when the giant white pine are cut down? Where will the woodpeckers drum their tattoo with the snag trees cut away? Where will the spicebush swallowtail butterflies find larval food when these bushes are stripped away? A small herd of white tailed deer has sheltered each winter in our woods. Where will they go? And the birds, all the birds who call this home, what is to become of them?
Cindy O'Hora May 5, 2015 |
