In a dismal section of Atascadero, on my way to Home Depot for some parts I needed, something caught my eye. I hit the brakes and slowly backed up. It was a wooden barrier where one might expect concrete or cinder block, or maybe nothing at all. It’s purpose was to hold back debris or mud from the hillside to protect the fire department’s yellow water plug. I’ve taken pictures of water plugs before. Some of them stand quite proudly in their surroundings. But it wasn’t the plug that caught my eye this time, it was the barrier.

Everything about it was well thought out and completely natural in appearance. Four uprights — two of them one section taller than the others. Twelve wide and seven shorter planks. Thirty-eight bolts and thirty-eight predrilled holes. It may have come in a single strapped bundle, or a flatpack ready for assembly in place. All stained a natural brown.

Not to make too big a deal of this, but after the Army when I was back in school, I bought a package of Gillette GoodNews! disposable razors, at the grocery store. I had much the same reaction to the GoodNews! razor that I had when I drove past this fire plug barrier. It came in brown, something no one seems to remember. Now they are all in blue and called the Sensor2, the 2 referring to the number of blades. I was attracted to the color brown for reasons I don’t fully understand. But there was something else about it. It was light, made in a convoluted pattern of plastic that gave it strength and, as John McEnroe said in television ads, it was not just disposable, it cost only 25¢.

I remember taking one to school and being very disappointed by peoples’ response. Where I saw a piece of art and engineering, they saw a disposable razor, or possibly not even that. I think most of them thought I was trying to trick them somehow. They though I was being philosophical or ironic. Or perhaps they just thought I was stupid.

Anyway, few things in life hit the nail on the head quite like these two examples. Notice the extra short piece on the top of the barrier. I think that’s where the sign goes. I’ve been writing about flowers lately. Flowers are God made, or natural. Things we find and perhaps appreciate. These other things are human made, having their own sort of obvious or subtle perfection, but things found by almost no one.