Relative Something

From the file marked, “You never know what’s around the next corner,” …I walked into my local auto repair shop to pick up my car that was in for service yesterday and began chatting with one of the friendly technicians. I had my mind on having just left work, getting to the shop before 6 p.m., paying for the car being serviced, and figuring out how to get the extra vehicle back to our driveway.

While the guy behind the counter tended to another customer, I greeted Tom, one of the more social techs, and asked how he was doing and if he was enjoying the weather of this time of year.

He revealed himself to be a big fan and began listing the things he likes about it, like the decline of the pesky mosquitoes. I tossed out another aspect that I liked, the end of mowing season, and he stopped me there. He still has mowing to do on his property. I questioned why he would prolong that chore. Wasn’t it dry enough lately to just let it go? As he began to describe his situation, my eyes opened wide. He has a hobby farm with multiple 1200 pound manure producers, he was telling me. I don’t know what that has to do with needing to mow, but that didn’t matter to me any more.

Manure producers? “Tennessee Walkers,” he explained. I was talking to a guy who works on my cars, and who lives on a horse hobby farm like the one Cyndie and I are dreaming about. I gleefully described our (now somewhat delayed) dream, and then his eyes lit up. He told me that there are three horse properties surrounding his that are for sale and have been on the market for a long time. “It is definitely a buyer’s market right now,” he said.

He seemed so excited for us and the possibilities, that he said, several times, that he was going to stop at a couple of the places on his way home and pick up the brochures for me. I found it interesting that the feature he felt most worth mentioning regarding one of the places, was its driveway that went on and on. It is one feature that particularly appeals to both Cyndie and me. For some reason, we both want to have a long driveway. It seemed valuable to him, but he didn’t know that it held special value to us.

Listening to him talk about the farms was both fascinating and intimidating. I quickly became aware of how little I know about this type of thing. It was also very inspiring, leaving me feeling like we may find it easy to make the move from our suburban home to a rural hobby farm. He said that in his community there are more horses than there are people.

I can’t tell whether this will make Cyndie’s time in Boston go by fast, or seem like it is taking forever. If we find a place that we want to buy before she ends her work out east, it will be a difficult situation. With the challenges we will face if we are to become farm owners, I have a feeling like it will seem like it is coming at me faster than I can prepare myself for, even with all the time we’ve spent lately conjuring up this dream.

To think, all I had on my mind when this started yesterday was picking up the car…

Tennessee Walkers, eh?