CHANGE

     You know the only thing that stays the same is change.  A common saying but so true.  I don't like getting older and not being able to do the things I used to.  I hate to see good things come to an end.  But regardless how you feel things always change.
     I had the privelage to do a talk at the Hillsboro Kansas Senior Center last week.  I left so I could add a few extra miles of driving in the Flint Hills.  As I passed one of the most historic ranches in Kansas that has really been kept up I saw the auction sign.  OH NO!
     The historic Clover Cliff Ranch is selling all the personal property and furnishings.  The owners have been famous for their wonderful collection of antiques and used them to furnish all the houses and cabins as a wonderful Bed and Breakfast.  I so hope that that is not coming to an end.  I do not know the story other than she has passed on and he is getting older.
     Besides the wonderful setting and the way the whole place has been kept up as a show place, there is one historic fact.  The Clover Cliff was the first ranch in the state to plant alfalfa for hay.  This founded an industry and supported another.  Setting the example of supplementing livestocks diet in the winter time instead of getting by on grazing dormat grass.
     I would dearly love to attend this auction because I have fallen in love with several things just on the sale bill.  Plus the fact that I am an auctioneer and love attending quality auctions.  The Griffen agency has gotten a plum by being selected to auction all these items.
     I wanted to stop and just cry when I saw the sign.  But that never changes anything.  We have so many in our state that are letting the historic buildings fall down and go into disrepair because they don't fit the way agriculture is today.  Although many have converted and saved structures and make them have another life.
     It is no wonder that the Europeans consider us so wasteful.  Buildings over there are preserved and stay in use for hundreds of years.  It has also been proven that it is more 'Green' to refit a building than building something new.
     The modern outbuilding made of steel is no attractive alternative to the buildings of yesterday that made a statement of the design and the times.  Putting these boring buildings in historic settings is just a travesty.
     Lets hope what ever happens to the Clover Cliff, it will continue the legacy of caring for the legacy of those who created it.