A guest in my own home

I spent the past night in my house in Ellenton, and it was kind of a surreal feeling.

Home for me now is an apartment in Gainesville, but I had to go to the house to do some work on the yard. In the month since I moved the cats and furniture, the lawn had become a horror, with weeds growing and the grass either thriving or dying.

The backyard was a real disaster, with weeds mixed among the torn-up turf where the wild hogs had dug their way to food. I felt horrible that I had left the outside of the house in such a state, but had been so occupied with packing for the move that I hadn’t had time to do anything.

So on Wednesday morning, I got up early, packed the car for my one-night stay and left for Ellenton. I picked up the key from the property management firm and re-entered the house.

I can’t get over the fact that the house smells new. Once all the furniture was gone, it was odd.

I set to work on the outside, trimming as best I could the outside trees and bushes; in the afternoon the carpet cleaner arrived and removed four years of accumulated dirt and more from the carpet in a good cleaning job that prepared the place for the tenant who’s moving in on May 29.

In the meantime, I continued to clip bushes in the hot sun. I did go out for food after the carpet guy left, and even took a nap in the afternoon. I worked on the lawn until about 9 p.m., spreading fertilizer and bug killer in the dark of the backyard. Earlier, I had mowed the yard and mowed over the damaged areas, flattening the parts that had been lifted by the hogs. The back looks vastly better now, I’m happy to say. It’ll grow back; it did last time.

At 9:15 p.m., I headed out and stopped at Walgreens and McDonald’s for a salad that I took home. Finally, around 10:15 p.m., I took a walk around the neighborhood and then came in and went to sleep.

It may seem pitiful that I was sleeping on an air mattress on the kitchen floor, but it was OK. I have been getting a lot of use out of that air mattress of late. Still, on Thursday night it will be nice to sleep in my bed with the cats around me.

This may be the last time in some years that I occupy the house. That saddens me. I am thinking that I will keep it and perhaps retire to this place, if I don’t lose it to foreclosure in the future. I really, truly enjoy this house.

Granted, my new life in Gainesville is fun and fulfilling, and the new job is great. I enjoy the work and the challenge, as well as the pay and benefits. I guess making these sacrifices now will ensure a better future for me in the future. That makes it all worthwhile.

If not, well, then at least for a time I had the dream.

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