Past weekend
We went to Decorah last weekend. No special reason other than to see people. It was the first time I'd seen the hole where the old yellow barn was. It made me kind of sad but I know that it was on its last legs and not very practical any more.
I remember there were hay bales left up there from the previous owners and a rope swing that we'd grab onto and swing about. We tore down the original wooden steps and built new ones. I'm not sure how much help Mark and I were but somehow Grandpa Watson and Dad got the job done. I had my first shingling experience there too. I helped out on the small roof on the South side. Again, I don't really know how much I helped but the shingles stayed on until the end. While I lived at the house we used to fill up the South bay to the brim with freshly chopped wood. Then as needed we'd load up the wooden trailer and pull it with the red tractor around the house and toss the lumber through an open window. For unknown reasons, this practice of hauling wood ended shortly after I graduated from high school. Another time, the parents bought a truck and it wouldn't fit in there so they had to build the front of it out a few feet to cram it in. Then it flooded and there was no drain so they had concrete built up around the front to divert water away. We knew when to stop pulling the truck in when we ran into a board with a scrap of carpet nailed to it. Then the overhead door would just barely close over it. The cats lived in the barn. We had lots of cats over the years. When we first moved in there, we'd burn through cats like they were given to us free. Someone seeMed tO constantly run over theM. Or the raccoons or other wandering cats would kill each other. We used to name them. After the first 5 or so I think they all became known permanently as, "The Cat." There was a sliding door, maybe 12 feet long, that used to have a notch in the top sliding rail that every time we tried to open it, it would stick and we'd have to lift up on that big yellow door and unstick it and keep shoving it. It wasn't light and didn't roll very well. There were lots of old time signs in there. They were painted on boards. I don't remember exactly what they said but it was like "Coke 5 cents" or "Restrooms this way." There was a chicken coop that our basset hound Sally lived in. She had a 40' fenced in run with a little gate. The doorway was about 2 1/2 feet off the ground so there was a plank there to walk up. Sally unfortunately couldn't get any grip which was kindof surprising with her massive feet. So she'd try to climb up and either slide down or fall off. So we nailed some shims crossway on the planks to give her some traction and then up she went.
It's late and I need to get some sleep.
I remember there were hay bales left up there from the previous owners and a rope swing that we'd grab onto and swing about. We tore down the original wooden steps and built new ones. I'm not sure how much help Mark and I were but somehow Grandpa Watson and Dad got the job done. I had my first shingling experience there too. I helped out on the small roof on the South side. Again, I don't really know how much I helped but the shingles stayed on until the end. While I lived at the house we used to fill up the South bay to the brim with freshly chopped wood. Then as needed we'd load up the wooden trailer and pull it with the red tractor around the house and toss the lumber through an open window. For unknown reasons, this practice of hauling wood ended shortly after I graduated from high school. Another time, the parents bought a truck and it wouldn't fit in there so they had to build the front of it out a few feet to cram it in. Then it flooded and there was no drain so they had concrete built up around the front to divert water away. We knew when to stop pulling the truck in when we ran into a board with a scrap of carpet nailed to it. Then the overhead door would just barely close over it. The cats lived in the barn. We had lots of cats over the years. When we first moved in there, we'd burn through cats like they were given to us free. Someone seeMed tO constantly run over theM. Or the raccoons or other wandering cats would kill each other. We used to name them. After the first 5 or so I think they all became known permanently as, "The Cat." There was a sliding door, maybe 12 feet long, that used to have a notch in the top sliding rail that every time we tried to open it, it would stick and we'd have to lift up on that big yellow door and unstick it and keep shoving it. It wasn't light and didn't roll very well. There were lots of old time signs in there. They were painted on boards. I don't remember exactly what they said but it was like "Coke 5 cents" or "Restrooms this way." There was a chicken coop that our basset hound Sally lived in. She had a 40' fenced in run with a little gate. The doorway was about 2 1/2 feet off the ground so there was a plank there to walk up. Sally unfortunately couldn't get any grip which was kindof surprising with her massive feet. So she'd try to climb up and either slide down or fall off. So we nailed some shims crossway on the planks to give her some traction and then up she went.
It's late and I need to get some sleep.
posted by Scott Watson at 11:04 PM
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