The View
When we purchased our farm 40 years ago we were amazed and thrilled that from one edge of the upper pasture one could see the ocean, a distant view through the Bodega Bay gap in the coastal ridge. Shortly thereafter the guy across the road put up not one but two wooden fences, situated such that the whole view was blocked.
One day I noticed that the county road crew was clearing out the ditches and hauling away the resultant dirt. I talked the crew chief into piling it all along my view ridge. They were great, even to smoothing it out with a road grader. Thus I could see over the stupid fences and my view was restored.
A new owner replaced the wooden fences with more normal horse fencing through which you can see, and all was good for many years. I would often sit there to watch the sunset and enjoy a beer.
The original owner had built two structures along his wooden fences, for feeding and sheltering horses. One of them, the one closer to my view chair, has been collapsing more and more through the years. I more or less accepted this.
One day I was sitting in my chair and I realized….that wreck of a shack covered more than ¼ of my view. Now the present neighbor is a nice guy. I don’t know him all that well. So I mused….what if I would make a modest suggestion to tear it down, and I would offer to pay for the tear-down. I ruminated how best to suggest this, and I decided it would be rude to call him up and suggest it. There would be a macho element on both sides of the conversation (guys just can’t help this) so I decided it would have to be done casually in a chance encounter.
On my birthday my wife and brother dragged me into going for a walk. As we passed my neighbor’s house he came out and beckoned to me. He just wanted to bring me up to date on some neighborhood changes (crazy folks across the street). Then I said “You know that shed? I wondered if…….” and he stopped me. “I plan to dismantle that this summer, as soon as it’s dry.”
One will never know when his plan coalesced; perhaps on the spot. I’d like to think my intense focus and concentration for months coalesced his intent over time. I’m still hippie enough to believe it.
Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share part of the evening around a virtual kitchen table with readers of Daily Kos who aren’t throwing pies at one another. Drop by and tell us about your weather, your garden, or what you cooked for supper. Newcomers may notice that many who post diaries and comments in this series already know one another to some degree, but we welcome guests at our kitchen table, and hope to make some new friends as well.