The Old Barn

The Old Barn

This Old Barn has had many jobs in the 42 years that we have lived here.  From the house it was the view that filled our windows.  

It has housed hogs from birth to market, the lean-to was an open shelter for the horses to come and go. After the hogs were gone the inside space became a blacksmith shop for my husband and many friends who would frequent it.  


The floor was broken cement, the walls were fragile cement block, and the tin roof rusted and leaking. After it became the Blacksmith shop the ceiling was lowered to keep it warmer and lights were hung, but it always felt like a dark cavernous hole to me.  

After adding on to our pole barn, my husband slowly but surly moved everything from the little white barn to the new space.  Horses now long gone, we no longer needed the lean-to.  Although it did become a place to store stuff, there is never a shortage of stuff around here!

One fine day a year it was time to take down the Old Barn.  In two days you couldn't tell it even existed in this space.  The cement block and floor became the broken foundation to the barnyard drive.  Once gravel was dumped and sifted down into the broken foundation, we had a big place for the activity of a new blacksmith shop and my studio traffic.

Once the barn was gone, we felt naked and exposed to the world, although we have no close neighbors.  Our view from the house then became a view of critters that moved around beyond that Old Barn.  The small field directly behind that Old Barn had become our wildlife area.  We began to see deer moving and even a coyote now and then.  Rabbits run, tunnel and have babies there.  We often hear pheasants calling from those tall grasses.  Milkweed blooms and even some thistles, both providing a place for Monarch butterflies and Goldfinches. 

Every morning this last week we have seen a Red-Tailed hawk perched on a tree branch, we have seen other hawks glide over this area in search for the next meal.  Ten deer passed through from the pasture, they held up there, becoming invisible in the brown grasses.  We never saw these things when the Old Barn was there. 

 I love the open view now, it's not that I'm exposed anymore, it is nature is exposed to me, from the window of our house. 

This Day and Age..........

My thoughts are not to win any points or debate, just my own Meandering Thoughts regarding the Day and Age in which we live.  I have tried to be quiet and respectful of the thoughts and ideas of my fellow friends.  I have managed to live through months of election forecasts and rants from the Democrat and Republican sides, from Media telling me what to believe and what is good for me.  Who can believe so much $^*t being posted, reported and deemed truth?  I thought when the election was over it would finally be peaceful and quiet, people would move on with their life in peace.

Well, was I ever wrong!  In this Day and Age it seems everyone has become a bully, everyone thinks they have all the answers, that they can speak for me and that what I think is not right and I'm not standing up to "injustice for all women".  Let me tell you, it was all I could do to stand up the the injustice that my own mother pushed on me.  Confrontation and protest are not ME.  Fighting, yelling and turmoil are not my game.  Don't ask me to conform to your ideas and your agenda.  Stop posting your "proof", because this article said so.  Do you honestly believe all the stuff you read?  Must you point out every single little thing that you disagree with?   You have become name caller and bully, which is what you seem to dislike most about our leaders.  What happen to the things you went to church every week to support, what happen to the healing sound of music you made?  Was that all a lie?  I know that standing up to things you don't believe is important, but the hate that is being shown along with your "standing up" is just not my cup of tea. 

You have all heard the story of the grandson, being told by his grandfather that you have a wolf on each shoulder, one is good one is bad and they are fighting each other.  The little boy asks his grandfather who wins the fight.  Grandfather answers, "The one you feed the most."

Which wolf are you feeding?  Where is the "Love" you profess to have?  I'm sorry that I now question everything you say.  I cannot pretend to ignore the hate you have helped spread into the universe.  Your words are like a stone dropped in water, the ripple from that stone continues to radiate out.  You cannot take words back, they have become your new mantra.  I'm sorry, I just can't understand, my trust and belief have been shaken to the core.  I find myself retreating to my own world, the simple truth found in nature, seasons and prayers.

I am trying to live in a state of Gratitude and I will work twice as hard to send my stones into the water with prayers of LOVE.  May you all be touched by those prayers and find a more peaceful state.