Barn Update and Cool Barn Artist

Here's the library. It's the last room to be worked on here at the farmhouse. There for it has become storage. Though you can't tell, a lot of what is being stored here are tools. The rest of what we have collected is down in the basement which floods every spring. It's not a good situation.

That's why I haven't protested too much when Tim told me he wants to build a shed this fall. I thought we had a kind of un-said agreement that the house would be finished before we started on the exterior structures. But I'm really looking forward to this shed. I can picture tools put nicely away in tool boxes and hanging on peg boards. Tim plans to insulate and run water to the shed so I also picture a nice faucet on the side that I can use to water the garden (this year I would make 5+ trips from the kitchen faucet to the garden). I can use it to clean my fancy paint brush!

He's still pricing and looking at options, he started off wanted to turn the barn into one. But after much angst we decided it wouldn't be the best option for the barn. Plus, for what that would cost we could build a standard tin shed and roof the barn too. So that is what we decided to do. The only problem is the guy we want to do the barn roof is busy until next spring so we'll have to cross our fingers and hold our breath that it survives another winter. He's also looked at options like changing the pitch of the shed's roof to give it a more old fashioned look, but people look at him funny and ask why you'd do something stupid like that (i.e. spend more money to not gain any room).

On to the barn artist. I think I have been a good girl this year. So Santa, if you read this, I would like to find one done for my barn in my stocking please.

Here's the article from Iowa Farmer Today.

Our Morning

7:35 AM- "Where is he!" asks Tim who is going in late to work this morning so he can meet a contractor for a quote on cement in the barn. "He said 7:30." "Oh," I reply, "Then he definitely won't be here any earlier than 8:00." There's a chance he won't show at all, but I just think that and don't tell Tim.

7:40 AM- "I'm just going to start the car so it will be warmed up once he leaves," he says. "Do you really want it to run that long?" I ask. "Well, if he's not here soon I'll just have to leave," he replies.

7:45 AM- "I know he'll show up if..." Tim heads into the bathroom.

7:55AM- "There's a truck coming! And it's white!" as he heads for the door happy again.

It seems it's been much to long since Tim has dealt with a contractor and has forgotten how they work.

Back In 1948

Tom found this old shingle label in the hay.

At the bottom in tiny letters it says copyright 1948.

Hot and Steamy Night

Last night I got home from work and the yard smelled like fermenting hay. So we decided at midnight it would be best to move the two giant piles of very hot and steamy hay away from the barn.

You know, just in case.

Tim was telling me about his day before leaving for work this morning.

Yesterday afternoon Tom, Tim's brother, came over to help shovel hay out of the barn. Tim was saying how suprised he was that they weren't finding any rats or mice living in the hay. I jokingly replied that they were afraid to go up there becasue they might fall though.

"Oh that reminds me." Tim said. "I had a little accident." He said at one point he started falling though the floor, "It all seemed to happen really slowly." So he figured he'd just fall forward to stop himself. So he threw his pitch fork and went to catch himself with his hands. Only problem is his hands went through the floor too. "At that point I thought, crap I'm dead." Lucky for him there was a post in between his legs and arms so the rest of his body was supported.

I guess shoveling work is now on hold too. The hay pile has reached the point where it covers the window they are pitching it out off. Unfortuantly we had a heavy rain last night so now we have to wait to burn the pile. That doesn't hurt my feelingins. I'd rather wait until the crop is out of the field and push it all out there and burn it away from the barn.

Another Barn Shot

So I'm thinking now I should have parked a car next to her so you get an idea of her size, like Gary's level. That's a lot of reason why it's been so hard to make the decision to fix it up, it's going to take a LOT of materials.

This photo was taken from the back bedroom on the second story of the house.

I guess if you have a big house you need a big barn to match. Does that mean I have to eat lotsa chocolate so I'm a big lady? Cause I would enjoy that :)
Under the tree is the old pump house. We're just choosing not to deal with that for right now. Between that and the barn is the outhouse (it's flipped on it's side). That was going to by my summer project. Guess I should get started on it huh...

Feeling Artistic 2

Meet Our Barn

"Scooped the hay out of the barn," is Tim's reply of the last few nights when asked what he did that evening. So I decided this morning to head out there for a look see.

The pile was pretty impressive.

As I walked into the lower level of the barn I remembered how much this looks like a salvage shop. I am instantly depressed by the amount of stuff there is to contend with.I know Tim will want to get rid of some of it. Nooooooooo....

A shot of one of the pegs that hold this barn together. "Look ma, no nails."

Heading up the ladder to the haymow I am shocked by how much the roof had deteriorated in the last two years.




There were small holes in it at the time of purchase, but now we have big open sections in places. It's a reality check.

When I reach the haymow I am greeted with what I am assuming is Tim's weapon of choice.

Off to my right I can make out the area that has been cleared.

Here's a shot of the floor in an area where he has cleared.

Note to self: Forbid him to work up here unless I am home to rush him to the hospital.

So I carefully make my way over to the window that holds one of my favorite views of the house.

Wow, that back door looks crappy. We really need to get that painted!

I take one final look...

and head back down the ladder.

Are There Barns In Heaven?

Greg's comment on yesterdays post on saving the barn made me remember what I thought heaven was as a little girl. I pictured everyone having a cloud, and you had on that cloud everything you loved. You were surrounded by the clouds of the people you loved and could look over and see what they were doing and talk to them across the little expanse of sky that separated each one. I think I would like a barn on my cloud.

One of my earliest memories is connected to the old barn at our house. My cousin Mike would stay with our family while going to college. I remember tagging along with him, holding a flashlight, while he checked the barn for pigeons (he liked to hunt).

When I was a little older, probably in the junior high, I imagined myself living in a barn when I moved out from mom and dad's. I would live in the big city in a barn that I converted into a house. I would have half the haymow taken down so my bedroom would be a kind of loft. And I could lay on my couch and look up at the huge beams on the ceiling above me. I had that floor plan all laid out.

It wasn't until I graduated from high school and had an internship in Washington DC that I realized that there are not barns everywhere. In fact, some of the people who interned with me had never even seen a barn in real life let alone been inside one. That just blew my mind.

Thanks Greg for sparking the memories!

Cool Barn Re-Use

So we still are questioning the barn.

I think we've both come to the conclusion that we are going to do what we can to save it. Tim made a good point in that what it would cost would be about the same as a new truck and we'd enjoy it a lot longer than we ever would a new truck (chances of the barn still standing when we are dead=good, chances of the truck still running=slim).

He's been the typical Tim and is now having visions of rodding the barn himself. It scares me, but then again he's never failed at any project he's taken on. His often one track mind has started to shift. The other night I came home to find that he hadn't worked on the woodwork for the mudroom, but instead spent the evening shoveling the pile of hay that is currently rotting the haymow out onto the cattle yard.

But if we're going to spend all this money and do all this work wouldn't it be nice to adapt it some how like the following story I found in the paper.

Barn Attracts Performers and Music Lovers

Time for a Tough Decision

Bonzer building repair called back about the barn.

Not good.

With a roof- $30,000 and with out a roof- $15,000. That's a lot of money to spend on something you'll never use. Especially when we would like a garage and a hanger, that we would use. And I know it's silly, but I feel like this would feel a lot less like an acreage with out that barn.

Things like tearing out the plaster in the house made me so miserable, but it was a compromise I could make because we could replace with something very similar. We could never build anything even close to this barn.

-sigh-