Okay so this idea hit me last Tuesday when I was driving through farm country out near my uncle’s place. Saw all these big storehouses scattered across the fields, some close, some way off in the distance. Got me wondering: How many of these things can you actually see from one spot? Figured it should be easy to count, right? Hah! My first try was a mess.
The Frustrating First Attempt
Just stood there in the middle of a field, squinting. Started trying to point at each building I thought was a storehouse. One, two, three… lost count instantly. It was hot, bugs buzzing, and honestly, half the stuff I thought were storehouses turned out to be barns or even just trees when I looked closer through my cheap plastic binoculars. Felt dumb. Zero chance I could trust that count. Needed a system.
Getting Smarter (and Using My Phone)
Went home, grabbed a cold drink, and actually sat down to think. Duh. Needed to break it down. Next morning, I drove back out super early. This time, I brought:
- A notepad and pen (so old school, but works).
- My phone (not as a camera first, you’ll see).
- A folding camp chair (comfort is key for staring at fields!).
Set the chair up near the road at a decent viewpoint. Started super simple. Held my arm out straight, thumb up like a cowboy in a movie. Seriously. Used my thumb to cover distant storehouses I wasn’t counting yet. Focused only on the ones right in front of my thumb.
The “Thumb Sweep” Technique
This became the game changer. Slowly swept my thumb from left to right across my view, like I was wiping a dirty windshield. Every time my thumb passed a building I was sure was a storehouse (checked quick with the binoculars!), I made a dash on the notepad. Left side first, methodical sweep. Then right side. Didn’t jump around. Kept the sweeps steady.
Surprise! My eyes weren’t tricking me as much. The thumb blocked out the distracting stuff way off in the haze, forcing me to focus. Felt like focusing a camera lens manually. Each dash meant one confirmed storehouse within my current sweep zone.
Double-Checking & The Big Total
Once I finished my left-right sweeps, I had maybe 15 dashes. But no way was I trusting that alone. Took a break, walked around for 5 minutes staring at the grass. Came back and scanned slowly, looking for any storehouse I might have skipped. Found one hiding behind a clump of trees I’d missed! Added another dash.
Final step? I actually whipped out my phone camera. Not to take a picture, no. I zoomed in digitally on the far-off specks. Helped me confirm which dark shapes were definitely storehouses and which were just big sheds or something else. Cleaned up my count – took away one dash that turned out to be a weirdly shaped roof on a house! Never trust a distant speck.
Counted the dashes on my crumpled notepad page. Solid 14 storehouses visible from that one little spot on the roadside. Felt way more confident than my first wild guess of “Uh, maybe 10 or 20?”. Simple trick, slow sweeps with my thumb, actually marking them down, double-checking with zoom. Made something that seemed chaotic feel totally doable. Next time you’re driving past farms, try the thumb sweep!