So, when we moved a few months ago, we knew just a little bit of what we were getting into. I emphasize 'little' here.
Starting from the ground up, [from scratch] and collecting, assembling, checking supplies AND THEN..finally building, takes alot of time, energy, and money! Well, those who know us -well- understand what our family has been through over the past 4 years or so. Alot of the people around our glorious country have endured the same thing or nearly the same thing, haven't they! (I say that with all due respect considering the national economic status.)
About a month ago, a friend asked us if we wanted an old barn that was going to be demolished.
Of course, our response was "YES!!"
"Well, if you come and tear it down, it's yours," He told us.
"Ok," We asked, "When can we come take it down?"
He said, "The sooner, the better, 'cause it needs to come down!"
Alright, here we go then. A free barn--well, at least we didn't pay for any of the wood, tin, gates or hinges! We began tearing things down, pulling gates off the walls and the wood off the beams. We stuck our head in and out of the windows, looking at all kinds of stuff in there. The barn had been there for years: probably more than 60 years. It really was a sturdy old building too. It was full of beams, trim, posts, huge poles and other goodies. This really amazed me. I mean it really did! Tons of stuff. I even felt a little sad about our family being the ones who were tearing it down, you know. It probably could have told so many stories about the days that it had seen. I guess that may sound strange, but I tend to think that way about things. It was a neat, 'ole barn.
Here's what we found after we had been working for about 2 1/2 hours! See this little guy-he was sleeping above the back window and was not about to move. He would just uncurl himself, stretch a bit, then wrap back up into a ball and doze off again.
"What are we gonna do?" One of the kids asked.
"Well, we'll just leave him alone while we work. Let's not bother him." I said.
And so we went on working and moving all kinds of stuff out, hammering and pounding on walls, poles and the trusses. All the while, he just slept away. Thankfully!
If you can imagine, this took us only two days to tear down completely. Yes, they were long 13/14 hour days, but it was down in 2 days. It had to be cleared and ready by a certain time. I'm just glad we were physically able to do it. The first day my husband, the children and just myself worked on it. We got several trailor loads brought to our new house. There was still alot more. The first day the kids and I worked on all the gates, hinges, plank wood and posts that we could get onto the trailors we had. We even pulled up lots of briars that had woven around some tomato frames. So we got to have those too. Hauling it over to our new house was hilarious! Yes!! Call me 'Sanford 'N Susie'!! I ain't prow-uld neether! Me 'N the kids driving down the road. I drove the farm truck with this mammoth load overflowing and pray'n I didn't get pulled over. In our little town, this is not unusual to see anyway. So I wasn't too worried.
This was the breeze way of the barn, along with the planks that we pulled off. They were more sturdy than you'd think. Old buildings were built with such care & quality, and this one was made when a 2X4 was actually a 2X4, not a 1 3/4 X 3 3/4. Needless to say, it was a doozy to take apart. Some of those 16 penny nails were 6 inches long!
These are two of the gates. They were actually in great condition. Solid!
We were told we could have any thing we wanted, that was left inside of the barn.
"WHAT!" We exclaimed. "ANYTHING?"
"Yes, anything you want to take, you can have it."
There was a pile of wood poles that would be perfect for something I had in mind.
The next day, just the men worked on the remaining frame and tin. That was probably much more work than they bargained for. It was a L-O-N-G day for them. The kids and I decided that we would pack a lunch and take it out to them. Maybe this would force the guys to take a short break. We were successful and they rested for a little bit. Oh, and on the 2nd day our little friend was gone from his spot, even though the walls hadn't been taken down yet. We think he went up the tree next to the barn(below)
Hauling tin to the trailors. We took 3 additional loads of it to the house.
The final stage took the longest. Mainly because energy was running low, and those beams were heavy. I'm sure if we wouldn't have had Brother Bob and Brother Clayton helping us that day, it would have taken much longer. Thanks you guys for all your hard labor!
So, wondering about what we are going to do with all those supplies? Well, we have already started a new project. I can't wait to show it. I'm going to go out right now and snap some pics to post later.
I want to add this thought: I publish this because I want to share our life with you, hoping that in some way, it will be a blessing to you and encourage you. We are just a family that works hard together, takes time to play together, trying to live a life that is pleasing to God. TOGETHER.
We are so far from perfect and realize that we all need each other to make it..everyday we need each other. Friends, family and we even need YOU. You who we don't even know yet, because what you have to share may help us.
I count it a blessing, to share our days and read of yours!
Have a great day! Blessings to you~Kimi
