Barns

When you’re a farmer, if you are lucky, you have tons of barns. Mom and dad called the one closest to the house a garage although no car ever got parked in there. It was home to a bunch of tools and greasy junk. Dad had a table saw in there. I didn’t go near it cause it scared the heck out of me.

The wood barn was behind the garage. I was always glad when that was full up for the winter. Many weekends we spent chopping and stacking and hauling wood so we’d be warm. Dad always said, “A man who chops his wood is twice warmed.” Wasn’t til I was older that I saw that old saying all over the place.

The camel barn was fun to explore. We named it cause it had a reverse hump in it due to the drooping sag in the middle. It stored loads of parts he salvaged off all the busted down cars all over the property. Some he traded excavation work for, and some we inherited with the property.

You know those big beautiful barns you see on most farms? We had one of those too. It housed our milk cow, a couple of pigs, tons of hay, more tools and rusty junk, chickens and one stupid rooster. It was my job to collect eggs every day when I was five. I hated it. That darn rooster would jump up on my back when I bent over to get the eggs out of the nesting box. He’d start pecking on my back and I’d drop the egg basket. I’d pick up what was not broken, try to kick at the rooster, and run back to the house crying. Dad just laughed at me, “Andee, you’re 10 times bigger than that old rooster. Take a 2x4 in with you and teach him a lesson.” That didn’t work so well; I still dropped my eggs and missed the rooster. That barn burned down with that mean old rooster inside.

My favorite barn was the one dad converted into his shop. It smelled like gas and grease. I loved it. Mostly cause dad was in there all the time tinkering on the farm equipment, mending the hay bailer-again, or fixing up something to trade or sell. The front part still housed a pig pen, chicken coop, and the stall where we milked the cow twice a day. I liked to sit in the stanchion and think about things. Made a good hiding place and I could always hear dad whistling away.