Someday I want to build a home out in the country. I have a vision of its design in that little twisted head of mine. It will be two story with Granbury stone on the outside. It will also include a full basement and a large front porch. The kitchen will be roomy with plenty of counter space to prepare meals for large groups. My thought is this: I need three guestrooms with their own baths. Each son can come home with his family and they can have their own territory. This should make points with the daughter-in-law’s that I hope exist someday. There is probably not much I will not do for those saintly members of the female gender. A large media room in the basement for grandchildren will make the design complete.

What about decorating? Here is where it gets interesting. I have definite opinions about such matters. I should have been an interior decorator. I prefer leather furniture and Western Art. I want an old fashioned antique four poster bed in the master bedroom. Furthermore I prefer tile over carpeting. I prefer epoxy floors over tile. Jan could potentially veto a couple of those things, but that is not a problem. She will figure that compromising is a virtue.

I am thinking I need a room in the basement that becomes an official doghouse by default. Every man needs a doghouse. A place he can call his own…. A place to go when compromising fails. My doghouse will even be a place to host friends who come to visit. I will of course make all doghouse decorating choices single handily. The veto power of my sweet bride stops at the door of the dog house.

There will be an epoxy floor for starters. Spill all you want and there will be minimal concern. There will be a need for a place to sit for guests, so I will have one of the booths from the Taco Villa in Lubbock installed in my doghouse. The booths at the 50th St. location in Lubbock are the same 1970’s gold ones that we sat in for lunch everyday in high school. My doghouse simply must have one of those booths. There will be times to host larger groups in this basement hideout, so I will need to travel to Racine, Wisconsin to secure a table and accompanying chairs at a restaurant called Kewpies. Now those tables only seat about six people, so surely I can find another set of table and chairs from the Pioneer Restaurant in Wichita Falls. That should do it…
My doghouse will have plenty of seating for guests.

The rest of the house will have tasteful Western art adorning the walls unless of course Mrs. Knox exercises her veto power. What shall I hang on the walls of the doghouse? I think pictures of people…. Yes…pictures of people from the different eras of my life. Pictures of people I ate lunch with at Taco Villa and Kewpies and The Pioneer…

I will cook burgers on a backyard grill and will sit around tables that hold significant memories. Thankfully those table cannot talk, because there would be tales to tell…. I am going to build that home in the country someday. If you are a casual acquaintance, we will visit in the living room with the leather couch and chairs. (Unless Mrs. Knox exercises her veto power, and in that case the furniture may not be leather.) Perhaps we can have a pleasant discussion about world leaders learning to compromise. If you are a friend, we will quickly make our way to the dog house. It is a place where old memories come alive and new ones are formed. It is a place where confidences can be shared, because remember…..the furniture does not talk.