Progress?

Serene setting

Beginning of the demise.

Progress?

They say you can't stop progress. The downside of living in the country, close to a major city is that your peaceful way of living can be suddenly interrupted by what they call progress.

Looking out the picture window last evening, I saw the beginning of such progress. Our view, for many years, has been a very serene wildlife lake. On its eastern shore sits that barn, or at least it did sit until last evening. The neighbor has decided to build a high dollar development and the barn must go to be soon replaced with three McMansions, of sorts, likely to be built and occupied by those who desire to bring the suburbs with them into the country. What this means is that sounds and smells not associated with the suburbs may not be tolerated by these displaced suburbanites.

Sled dogs make noise. Not a lot of noise, mind you, just at feeding time, while loading the truck for training or when hooking the dogs up to the sled. This may be just enough noise to be quite out of the ordinary and unacceptable for someone not familiar with such a lifestyle.

What can be done? For starters, a county meeting is being held this evening and we will be in attendance. Having lived here for years, its important for the county officials to know that we are concerned about how our quality of life will be affected by this development. Our view will forever be changed. We can live with that. What will be more difficult to live with is the idea that uninformed buyers will purchase those high dollar homes and complain about the noise coming from the sled dog kennel across the lake that they had no idea existed. Disclosure will be the key and our hope is that the owner of the development will be required to legally disclose our existence.

We plan to also put up signs along the road indicating our presence. As the lots sell, you can bet we will be the first in line to welcome them to the neighborhood, with a sled dog or two by our side.