The wind is blowing and I like it. I don't mind the gusts that rock the truck and try to grab the hat off my head. The churning of the atmosphere is fine with me today because I can tell the warm south air is a harbinger of spring. I know that warm is subjective; it is not warm like a biscuit or sitting in the sun; it is warm compared to cold.

The local real estate agent showed up this morning with a client from the eastern part of the United States. They were looking for a large portion of land, plenty of water with good working pens and a livable home. The client was not too stand-offish, neither was he too friendly.

Rusty, the agent, and I visited about the families and how long it had been since we had seen each other as the client looked around. I sure was wondering why he would want a place in our little corner of the world. You know we have a bid in for the most arid county in the state and the urban population is growing so fast that we may be moved to the way out back soon. The newly-settled folks have commented about how much a cow stinks and how it is unreasonable to separate mother cows from their babies.

I sure didn't know of any place that would suit the client around our rock pile. He was interested in our covered working area and we meandered over to look at it. He had on some pretty nice shoes, all black and shined to a gloss, and didn't seem to want to walk through the pens. Pretty soon he motioned to Rusty to come over and speak to him.

They huddled for a few minutes while I walked back to close a couple of gates. They looked like they were about to disagree on an issue when they walked toward me. I didn't know what they were talking about and figured it wasn't any of my business anyway. Rusty came on up to the fence I was leaning on and the client walked to the car and got in.

We shook hands and he thanked me for the visit and said the client was offering some for the place and he was obligated as an agent to tell me the offer. I could take it or refuse and he was ashamed to spell out the deal. I sorta laughed and told him I understood his situation but we had so many of us to take care of we couldn't afford to sell out!

I like to have company, makes the day a little more interesting and gives me some idea of how the rest of the world is functioning. I sure have thought a lot about the feller looking for a place around here since the visit this morning. Makes me wonder if he knew something I should be aware of, like a gold strike or maybe oil has been found by the orbiting satellites. Could it be that a big automobile manufacturing plant is about to move this way and we will have a cool million jobs open up? The CEO would want a fine place to live, be a gentleman farmer and raise some high dollar cattle. So all day my mind played out scenarios of why anyone would want to buy in locally near this rock pile.

It is my opinion, and everyone has one, the thought finally hit my brain that maybe it wasn't the financial pull that was so strong in the client's situation, maybe it was the exact things that most of us find so endearing about our area. It is the country, even dry, that we love to see every day. It is the friendly folks we meet on the street and at the counter when we buy groceries. The sun rises prettier here than almost anywhere else. And the days are filled with flies in the daytime and mosquitoes in the cool of the summer evenings, but we don't have traffic.

Yep, we have it plenty good here and I ain't selling out! Keep on whittling.

Bill is a pen name used by the Gravette author of this weekly column. Opinions expressed are those of the author.