Nature Abhors a Vacuum

My neighbor Jimmy Parker built boats with the Dennison boys for years and anyone who has built wooden boats on the coast of Maine with a man named Dennison has bathed in the font of wisdom. I have seen Jimmy Parker take a pile of oak planks and turn it into a --- I don’t know --- a 30 or 40 foot boat right in his front yard.

I stopped in to see Jimmy today because I’d just picked up an oak plank on the dump and I wanted him to have it. After giving it a professional once-over, he said, “It’s a good thing that the road to the dump goes two ways.”

While I had his attention I showed him the pine boards that I’d picked up at the same time by knocking apart a large shelf that had just come out of the general store and I told him I was going to use them to build shelves in the little shed where I store my gardening tools and cow fence posts.

But Jimmy said something that made me change my mind and now I don’t think I will build those shelves.

Right now that building is so full that you can’t get in the door. And Jimmy very astutely pointed out that if I built shelves and put everything away, it would create a very inviting huge empty space on the floor and unless I changed my way of thinking and doing things it wouldn’t be long before I’d cart home more junk to fill up that space and I’d need even more shelves.

You can see that I’d be in the same situation as a state that builds more prisons. Even before your friends in the construction business finish building you a new prison you discover that there is a waiting line to get in and you need yet another prison.

I’m humble@humblefarmer.com and if you can explain why nature abhors a clean, empty space, I’d like to hear from you.