Buddy Bound

Last night we were invited over to some new friend’s house for a dinner party. These are newcomers to the neighborhood and they live about a mile away from us as the turkey vulture flies (they are aficionados of the turkey vulture for reasons I will explain), across a ravine to the North. We lacked the availability of any neighborhood kids to watch Buddy and we have gotten in the habit of not leaving him home alone (don’t ask why that came to pass, but it simply has), so we drove him South 5 miles to his doggy day care center, only to drive 10 miles back North to our host’s hilltop retreat. It was a Friday night and traffic on the Freeway is unpredictably difficult at such times and despite there being local road routes, we left extra early because we (read that to mean me) never want to be late arriving anywhere. We also didn’t know exactly how to get to their house and those roads up that hillside can be a bit confusing. As it was, we got lost once up in their hillside community, but still managed to arrive at their front gate about 25 minutes early. Kim texted them and said we were happy to wait at the gate until the allotted time, but shortly thereafter, Gordon, the man of the house, arrived at the gate on his UTV to open up for his rudely early dinner guests. We could only imagine the spousal banter about who the hell invited these uncouth guests.

We made our apologies and were ushered into the house after driving into a rather involved forecourt with several other outbuildings, various parking areas to the left and right, and uphill and downhill spaces that reached beyond the main house level. All of these areas of the property (13 acres) are perched on a rather precipitous hilltop, far more dramatic than ours and equally far more remote since one has to drive several miles just to get back to the enclave of Hidden Meadows that is uphill from us. This property is far more a compound or hilltop ranch than a home lot like we live on. This couple (Dr. Quynh and Gordon) are very “Live large” people. Each have their own UTV to get around the property. While Quynh seems to manage the garden plantings, Gordon tackles the big projects that require heavy equipment and logistical involvement. And there are plenty of both on this hilltop to keep them both busy for many years to come. I look at a property like theirs and get tired just thinking of all the things to be done. If you take my tendency for whimsy and put it on excessive steroids, you will have a sense for what Quynh and Gordon are doing with their property. They already have blinking lights wrapped tightly and running up forty feet of palm tree trunk on perhaps ten random palms spread across their hilltop. That’s a statement that can be seen for ten miles in each direction on Rt. 15, which their hilltop oversees. I generally am not a fan of too much exposure to the highway, but Quynh and Gordon’s hilltop embraces that overexposure to such an overpowering extent that the drama of the views are actually quite amazing and stunning.

All houses have their issues that need to be addressed and God knows, our house has had its fair share. I can recall employing Handy Brad on more or less a full-time basis for the first 15 months of our residency here. It was one project after another and the list always seemed to get longer rather than shorter. One of the things that our home has in common with the Quynh/Gordon property is the meaningful deck space that attaches to the Western side of the house and overhangs the downhill of the property. Where my deck overhangs a vertical drop of perhaps 100 feet, the Quynh/Gordon deck falls away by over 1,000 feet to the highway below. That’s dramatic with no exaggeration. Our vista is regularly cross-crossed by a random soaring hawk or turkey vulture, but Gordon pointed out how a flock of turkey vultures live in the tall and stately Eucalyptus trees on the uphill side of their property and soar around their house on the ridgeline thermals which constantly blow around their craggy precipice. In fact, while we walked around the deck, there were probably over a dozen of these massive winged beasts seemingly within touching distance of us in every direction. As you may recall, I had to spend four months with a crew of three, headed by Handy Brad to completely replace my deck. As we stood on Quynh and Gordon’s deck, bobbing and ducking to avoid the passing condors, it was clear that their deck needs similar surgery. I mentioned Handy Brad to them out of pity for the project overload they must be feeling and they were not just interested, but texted me this morning pleading for an introduction. I vetted their predicament with my rather selective handyman friend and he was quite interested in striking up a relationship given my explanation of just how much work there might be for him on that perch that literally overlooks his humble abode down in Champagne Village.

I should mention that Quynh and Gordon are avid hang-gliding aficionados. They recently toured Brazil on a hang-gliding expedition and did what sounded like 20 or more flights from various hilltops. They also just returned form a legends tour of the Laguna Seca motorcycle raceway. Get the picture? They are specialists in thermals and clearly bought this home to revel in its hang-gliding feel. Their love of the turkey vultures is not coincidental, but rather that of kindred spirits who want to soar across the landscape. There is clearly a theme in that household and both Quynh and Gordon have their eyes more on the heavens than on whatever mundane issues are underfoot. That may be where Handy Brad can be helpful to them since Handy Brad keeps his eyes fixed on his feet and the ground beneath them. I sense that Gordon thinks he can do most of his own projects and I’m betting that he could, but I’m also betting that the sort of property they have purchased will cut deeply into his hang gliding, wind surfing, motorcycling or whatever next adventure peaks his or her interest. Again, that is likely where Handy Brad will come in especially handy.

As the third hour of our visit rolled around, Kim suddenly remembered that we had to pick up Buddy from day care. There is a standing rule that our dog sitter does not like to disrupt the kennel after a certain hour once the pups have started to bed down. We do not like to be without Buddy overnight and therefore made our doggy day care excuses to our gracious hosts. It was while Gordon was walking us out that he mentioned that they too were thinking of getting a few dogs. On one level that didn’t surprise me, but on another level I recognized that Quynh and Gordon seem like their dance card may be too full to add pets to the equation. We love our adventures too, even though they pale by comparison to Quynh and Gordon’s, and there is a growing part of us that doesn’t mind leaving a party early to go fetch Buddy. I guess that makes us Buddy bound and loving that part of our lives as well.