For the past 17 years, I’ve driven by this farmhouse several times a week. I’ve stopped to look at it twice, a sort of embarrassingly low number.

The first time I stopped, there was a bird nest in the mailbox, a couple of barn owls, and a snake. And a bunch of junk piled up inside.

The second time, I didn’t see any wildlife but the bird nest was just as I remembered it. The junk was still there, only with more rodent/bird droppings and increased disintegration. But what I somehow don’t even remember from the first visit was this very-blue room. It must have felt so design-y and original when it was new, which makes it feel even sadder now.

Hockley County, Texas
photographed 5.31.2026