Thursday, April 23, 2015

Cove Barn

I always thought a big barn would be a great addition to a piece of property. I was living in a fantasy world. The home we bought was once a working farm that at one time had a huge barn. We have a picture of it standing. Luckily, when we bought, it was no long upright. You see, barns are big time in the upkeep department. And as they all do eventually, barns fall. I do have two adventures associated with barns that I recall. The Allen Avenue apartment house had a barn attached, and while searching the stalls out back one day, I came across a sweet potato. No, not the root vegetable but the musical instrument! An ocarina! I had no idea what it was, but Mom cleaned it up, showed me how to play it, and I had made a new 'friend'. It was faded aqua in color and fit right in my pocket. Tweet! Tweet!
On Washington Avenue, I was older and in summer almost daily ventured up the stairs in the old, musty smelling barn. Dad stored boxes and boxes of remnants of his WW2 experiences on the floor there. There were uniforms with medals, old newspapers highlighting the end of the war, stacks of old books, discarded furniture and one mighty 'find' for me. Two books of Bill Mauldin cartoons featuring the mud-covered Willie and Joe soldiers.
I thought they were so cool.
Now, if the black crows weren't forever coming through the broken windows, I'd probably still be sitting on the floor.
They scared the heck out of me, flappin' about.
Dive-bombing me.
Yikes!
Confounded crows!

12 comments:

  1. Happy barn memories Birdman.. well not the crows :) Aimee plays the ocarina !

    ReplyDelete
  2. Happy barn memories Birdman.. well not the crows :) Aimee plays the ocarina !

    ReplyDelete
  3. i grew up around barns, sheds - both working and not. i remember crying the day they knocked down and burned the old barn across the road from us.

    ReplyDelete
  4. My cousin has a barn on his farm. It might well have been put up by the family that was there before his parents bought the place, and that's been more than fifty years. It's still in good shape.

    ReplyDelete
  5. A sweet potato? Learn something new every day.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've loved old barns
    but in my youth
    when I was brave and carefree.
    Today I say stay away
    they're rather frightening
    just between you and me.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm one of those who has a barn that's about to fall. It's a metal barn similar to most of the others in Texas that primarily are used to store hay and have a roof to park the tractor under. In this part of the world it rarely gets cold enough that animals seek shelter. It hasn't lasted nearly as long as the car house that my grandfather built in 1926 for his first new automobile. It's still standing but I'm afraid the big bad wolf will come around some night huffing and puffing and it crumple.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Your old barn was a very interesting place...

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is a pretty handsome barn. I grew up on a property that had a barn. It was great fun playing in it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. This barn looks to be in pretty good shape. Nice shot!

    ReplyDelete