I attended our home owners’ association annual meeting on Tuesday. Since we cut the number of board members back to seven, the positions have been filled, and life here goes on. The quarterly dues have been the same since we moved here in 1993.

There is a road repair project going on, although our main concern is repairs needed to bring the sewer plant into better operating condition. To do that, the sewer district will take out a loan which residents of the district will pay back at $120 per quarter for 17 years. I said, “I checked with Social Security and I won’t likely be alive in 17 years.” Neighbors seemed to appreciate my attempt at humor.

A person who volunteers at the local food pantry when it is open to clients was there. I asked how the kale I brought was going. People take it, she said, but some is leftover at the end of the shift to send to another pantry for distribution. As a result of our conversation, I plan to send less to the local pantry. If I have a bumper crop one week, the excess will go to another, larger food pantry across the lakes.

The meeting was well attended. By that I mean about 15 neighbors were there. About half of those present were either current or past board members. We live in the unincorporated part of the county, and manage our own affairs — water, sewer, roads, insurance, community property, mostly. With a few more than 80 homes, we are like a small city. Meetings like this represent self-governance, as good as it gets.