ECLECTIC VISIONS

MY HOME

Long ago - Memorial Day Weekend of 1989 - I moved to the neighborhood in South Kansas City where I presently live. It was a house that was built in the 1940s and the land was 13 acres, much of which was forest. The property was "L" shaped and the north and west sides were each about a quarter of a mile long. The southern part of the land was kept up, but the northern quarter of a mile was basically forest.

It was a perfect location for me because I had 10 dogs that needed a place to live where people did not bother them and that they did not bother humans. The fencing there was not sound enough for the dogs, but I learned how to build great fences and they soon were protected from the animals in the neighborhood and any neighbors that did not like dogs. It was perfect, also, because I like nature and wild animals.

To explain how this move enhanced the protection for my dogs, I want to point out that in 1983, my dog Duchess got out or her fence in an absolutely bizarre and unexpected way and was killed on 31st Street even though both I and my best friend, Danny, were looking for her from almost the minute she got out. Now, though many years have passed, the thought of her untimely death still pains me greatly.

If you like animals and are willing to help as many as possible, the city is not the place to do it, not only because of the constant proximity of automobiles, but because not everyone loves animals the way I think they should.

Therefore, when I was able to move to the country or semi-country, it was a great blessing to me and my animals. The place that I found was on a dead end street and had no neighbors on three sides for miles. It was a long way from any major street. It was a place where my dogs could be dogs without bothering anyone and where I could be fairly well assured that they would not be in danger even if they got out of their fence.

Of course, several decades have gone by and all the dogs I brought with me are now deceased and new ones, cats, chickens and bees have come along. The upper quarter mile of forest has been acquired by the State of Missouri which built 150 Highway in my back yard. To be fair, the highway is one hundred or so feet away from the part of my property that I maintain as my home, so I have left it in forest. I hate the highway, because it produces very loud noise, partricularly on the weekends, and I worry that road chemicals might eventually seep into the rock table above me and into my environment. Of course, the forest does dampen the noise somewhat and the highway does have some advantages in terms of efficient transportation.

Unfortunately, I did not take very good care of my original house; but, then, fortunately, I was able to acquire the house next door to it which, also, had a pole-barn. That is the house pictured at the top of this page. I intend to tear down all the structures on the original property and keep it for my bees, gardening/agricultural projects, recreation and nature preservation.