Tuesday, February 5, 2013

A description of Home

"Home is the place where it feels right to walk around with out shoes." -
Unknown but maybe R. Frost
 
You never know what or where you are going to live when you move with the military. As you know, we moved this March of 2012. And, while we traveled to Beloved's new job, we lived in our camper.  Once we arrived in our new town, we parked the camper at a campground and began looking for a home that we either wanted to rent or buy. After looking for several months and not finding one that we really wanted to invest in, we decided to camp out in the camper until a home opened up on the military instillation. Finally, this past September, a house opened up for us.
 
We moved in!
 
Well, a friend reminded me that I haven't posted many pictures of our place not inside or out so I will try to capture more pictures of the home as we go about our daily activities.
  But, I will give a short description of the area quickly.
We live in a housing area that is known as "The Oaks." It is extremely large area and it is separate from the 3 different airfields and main post and base installations.  However, the housing area is hooked onto the back of a Special Forces training area.

 From a civilian point of view, the housing area is located off a highway so it looks like it is just a civilian housing area in which anyone can enter and live.  However, once you have entered you will come to a military gate check point. 
 
Once your vehicle is searched or you hand over your Id Card  you can enter the military village. (However, if you are very unlucky that day you will do both which always happens when the kiddos are asleep or their bladders are about to explode!) The inspection requires you to get everyone out of the car, open and close all the doors, hoods,etc. You provide them your car registration and car insurance too. They use mirrors and military dogs to check out your vehicle as well. The guards have different personalities and this can play into rather you will be in a good mood after this inspection also. (Our guards are very funny and have the most awesome greetings! They aren't like the sour pusses on the main installations.)  It can be intimidating if you aren't use to it. For me? It is just life!

 Here in the village is thousands of duplexes or quadplexes for military families to live in. The Duplex and Quadplexes are for anyone under the pay grade of Major and Warrant Officer 4.  In this village there are 2 DOD (department of defense) Elementary Schools, a DOD Jr High and a DOD High School, a Fire Department, several community weight rooms and pools, etc. 
 
In the very, very back of this Housing Village with street mazes of houses is a quiet little road tucked separately from the duplex, quadplexes, and the schools. If you enter this road, only one way in and one way out, you will come to a road that either goes left or right. On this road there are 40 small single homes about 2300 sq feet in size. (This is where the crusty old higher up Officers live.)  There are 20 homes on the right side of the road and 20 homes on the left side. At each end of the road is a cul-da-sac.  We live on one of the cul-da-sacs. 
 
Behind these quiet little homes is a Wood Pecker Preserve. (Look closely you can see the tree line. It is literally 15 feet from my home.)  These woods extend around into a Military Training that is somewhat gated from our community. There are trails all around and some extend into the gated training area. It is common during the day to see guys on their day off headed back on the trails. They are typically dressed in their running outfits, walking their dogs, and have a 70 pound ruck sac on their back.  And, although, I haven't seen any movement in the training area, I have been told that some times you will run into small groups of camouflage guys doing their war games. I haven't ran into anyone yet but that isn't surprising. From my experience as a kid, young adult and now as a mom, the troops probably wouldn't reveal themselves anyway. They would just practice their art of quiet toes and move out if they saw us coming their way. 
 
A friend asked if I am scared to take the kiddos back there. No.  I grew up on the military installations so I am well aware of the movements of troops, tunnels, gates, bunkers, etc. However, I am not to fond of snakes or poison ivy so I take precautions. But, everyone knows, if you come for a visit and you have home school kiddos, that is where we head out to explore to let the Kiddos run of energy.
 
During certain times of day, particularly on a clear sky with a full moon, you can hear heavy guns go off from several miles away that actually shakes the house. We also live under a flight pattern so you will see planes and helicopters flying over occasionally as well.  Oh, on the weekends, during the hunting season, it is the place where people go Bow Hunting too.  I have a nice big buck that comes through our yard every now and then. I haven't seen him during the hunting season so he must be wise to the time line! I am sure he will be around to taste my pot garden in the spring.
 
This is our home for now.
This time we have a small porch.
It is  all decorated for Valentine Day. One thing you will find in our Village is that almost every home is decorated for each Holiday. It helps lively up the cookie-cutter homes.  I suppose it is also done because in some places the housing areas have contest for monetary prizes.

We have only been in the house for 5 months. Yet still, we have been waiting to find out how long we will be living here. The rumor was only 2 years so we thought we would be moving in about a year around the Spring of 2014.  Recently, we were told this will be home at least until Spring of 2015.

7 comments:

  1. This was a very interesting entry Carmen as well as enjoyable! : ) It looks so nice there. I think it's great that you have some woods behind you there for the children to explore in. Have you read the book, 'Last Child in the Woods'? It is soooo good. I think you would enjoy it.

    I would love to see those guys taking a run through the woods. Neat.

    In one of our old subdivisions the group of young men training for the fire department would take runs and all jump down at one time and do sit ups. It was quite a sight! : )

    Love your home! It all sounds soooo nice. Looks nice too!

    I felt so sorry for your children if they have to go potty arriving at the gate... and they decide to do a security check... Oh no!!! : O

    I hope you are having a sweet day Carmen, your area and home is lovely.



    ReplyDelete
  2. What a lovely home! i bet you are happy to be able to settle in somewhere for awhile. Sounds like a lot of excitement in the area. The closest I've been to a military base is Dalgren in VA. King george area. We bought a home where a lot of military families rent across the road from the base. We only lived there for 8 months though.
    Have a wonderful week!

    Jill

    ReplyDelete
  3. Staying put for a couple years sounds 'relaxing' to me. Hope all goes well. I love the red siding.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you so much for sharing your home with us. I wanted you to know, we loved the roast. It definitely is a keeper. Enjoy your day and God bless.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh wow! This was so enlightening for me! What an amazing place to live in!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Carmen, I haven't been keeping up with blogging or reading blogs; but I'm back in the saddle, and it was so nice to catch up with your family. They are so sweet and growing up so quickly. Enjoy every moment!

    ReplyDelete

Your comments are a gift to me and they warm my heart. I read and treasure every one. If you leave a comment, I will visit you as well. ~ Carmen