Barns

I love barns. Especially old barns. In an odd sort of way, they remind me of people. Even when they are old and bent, they have character and grace, with wood that is gnarled by the weather, not unlike the skin of a person after a lifetime of being in the sun. It's a sort of beauty that I have always liked. Today I indulged myself by driving the local roads, just looking at barns. I've seen them all many, many times. We've lived here for over 20 years, and they were all here when we moved to this house. But today I decided that I just wanted to look, not needing to be anywhere by any particular time. It's what summer vacations are for, just doing things that we normally don't have time for.
Here's a sampling of what I saw today. Some are still in use, some aren't.



This barn, every time I drive by, looks like it has just been cleaned up. I've never known it to look anything but immaculate.

These next two barns are neighbors!



The barn below is used for persimmon packing. I remember taking the kids for walks in the wagon when they were real little, and walking by while they were in the middle of persimmon season. It was known as the, "Sanford and Son" barn, because someone had painted that on the side. The writing has since been covered up, but it is still called that.

This one is just down the road a ways, next to our mailbox. It was used to house a produce business before we moved here. I believe they moved their business less than a year before we moved down the road. It hasn't been in use since then.

I can see this one from our house. It's sort of a shop/barn, but I like it, so I have included it. Our neighbor built it about 30 years ago. It has lots of character now, and the birds love it. There was a fire on the left side about 15 years ago when a crow touched two power lines and fell to the ground. It started a fire, burning a portion of our pasture and a small building next to the barn, but the metal structure survived with limited damage to the inside (flammable) lining of the walls.