Late yesterday afternoon—or maybe early evening, depending on just where the day slides from one into the other—I delivered a small pickup load of high quality, fully composted horse manure to an appreciative homeowner in Wathena. As soon as I pulled into the driveway at the top of the hill and saw the view off to the east, I realized exactly where I was.

I’d looked at the place from two or three miles away dozens of times. And just about every time, I thought, “Man, I’d love to have a place like that!”

The place sits on top of the western bluffs of the Missouri River Valley a few miles from Saint Joseph. There’s a cut in the timber that sets the house and garage into plain view if you happen to scan along the ridge when you’re driving in that direction. But it’s the view from the place that makes it spectacular.

Thanks to the whims of water and eons of natural history, Kansas sticks its nose way over into Missouri right about here. That gives this particular spot a somewhat unusual panoramic view. Looking toward the east, you can survey miles of the flat plain of the river’s geological history and the human-altered parts as well: eastern Wathena, Rosecrans Airport, Elwood. Beyond the bight of the river, you can see Saint Joseph, pretty much all the way from the southern industrial section, right along the old architecture of mid-town, and on up north until the city disappears into the Loess Hills. And beyond. The sunrises must be spectacular!

I didn’t have to speculate about the sunsets. By the time I’d finished shoveling out the compost, the western sky was starting to fire preliminary colors through the clouds. I paused for a couple of moments, resting on the spade’s long handle, studying the light orange glow and the fiercely bright lining at the edges of the clouds.

I’m pretty sure the odds that Randa and I will ever live in a place like this are right near zero but at least when I drive my grandkids across US-36, I can point out the place and say, “You see that house way up there in the clearing at the top of the ridge? Well… I shoveled horse poop up there one time.”

Doesn’t sound all that impressive? Ehh… that’s okay.

One day, I’m gonna live in a place that would put that one to shame. Oh, it won’t be my own mansion and I’m not sure what all I’ll be doing there, and it’s a pretty crude way to say it, [you’ve been warned!] but I’d rather sleep in a closet and shovel horseshit in heaven than be the richest man in hell.