A Farmhouse on a Hill

I have friends from Seattle visiting this weekend. On Saturday we decided to do a little junking so we drove to Hutchinson to look at Antiques to Go and found that there was a flea market at the County Fair Grounds. We crawled around the stalls and found a couple of home baked breads and other edible treats. All I bought was a 1950's world globe.

We then toured the shop. There was a 9' x 12' piece of linoleum c. 1920s. It was mellow pinks, reds, blues and whites. The 2 foot squares were children's game boards, nursery tale figures, poems and songs. It was in good condition and so shabby that it almost screamed. Unfortunately it had already sold and was waiting for the customer to pick it up. I have never seen such a piece in my many years of antiquing.

We had lunch with the Colonel and then decided to take photographs of barns on our alternate route to my house. We were driving north on Highway 15 (a route that I regularly drive when I attend a weekly auction at Krone's in Hutchinson). I spotted a barn off to the right through the bare trees. I had never seen it before because it is usually screened by 1/4 mile of dense foliage. I turned off the highway and there it was. A huge red barn on a nice concrete block foundation sitting atop a 40 to 50 foot bluff overlooking a rapidly flowing creek and marsh. Next to the barn, built into the bluff edge is a 3 storey granary. The locations was fabulous, the panorama stunning. My friend suggested that this was "it". My comment was that it may be it, but the owner has to be interested in selling. I drove slowly up the hill and around the curve to the driveway and farm house. There is a rambling field stone wall separating the well kept, recently remodeled home from the curving gravel road. And at the base of the wall a plastic sign with a hand lettered telephone number, sort of sheepishly stating "For Sale by Owner".

We stopped, Larry took a picture of the sign and then wrote down the number. Leigh called the number from her cell phone. No answer, so we left a message. We then drove into the driveway between the granary and the house and heading right into the open end of the barn. The view was spectacular. The barn, the granary, the detached two car garage and the house. It was all we talked about for the rest of the trip home.

When I got home there was a message from the seller. In it he mentioned the house on Craigslist, assuming that we had seen the property on the net because there would be little likelihood of a random drive-by. I found the ad on the net. 5 acres, rambling stream and bird filled marshland, many mature trees, mostly solid buildings and a freshly remodeled house. The price seemed low and even owner financing might be available. We are going to meet the seller and tour the house at 3:00 today. This may be fun.

Mr. Flannery

Update -- The seller and I developed a scheduling conflict so we had to reschedule for sometime during the week. Oh well, that's OK. I get to work on shabotaging a table instead.