| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Oct 24 2005 : 09:45:02 AM
If you're like me, when I'm in the country and see one of these old barns I wonder to myself about the stories they could tell..
THE WEATHERED OLD BARN
~Author Unknown
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A stranger came by the other day with an offer that set me to thinking. He wanted to buy the old barn that sits out by the highway. I told him right off he was crazy. He was a city type, you could tell by his clothes, his car, his hands, and the way he talked. He said he was driving by and saw that beautiful barn sitting out in the tall grass and wanted to know if it was for sale. I told him he had a funny idea of beauty.
Sure, it was a handsome building in its day. But then, there's been a lot of winters pass with their snow and ice and howling wind. The summer sun's beat down on that old barn till all the paint's gone, and the wood has turned silver gray. Now the old building leans a good deal, looking kind of tired. Yet, that fellow called it beautiful.
That set me to thinking. I walked out to the field and just stood there, gazing at that old barn. The stranger said he planned to use the lumber to line the walls of his den in a new country home he's building down the road. He said you couldn't get paint that beautiful. Only years of standing in the weather, bearing the storms and scorching sun, only that can produce beautiful barn wood.
It came to me then. We're a lot like that, you and I. Only it's on the inside that the beauty grows with us. Sure we turn silver gray too... and lean a bit more than we did when we were young and full of sap. But the Good Lord knows what He's doing. And as the years pass He's busy using the hard wealth of our lives, the dry spells and the stormy seasons, to do a job of beautifying our souls that nothing else can produce. And to think how often folks holler because they want life easy!
They took the old barn down today and hauled it away to beautify a rich man's house. And I reckon someday you and I'll be hauled off to Heaven to take on whatever chores the Good Lord has for us on the Great Sky Ranch.
And I suspect we'll be more beautiful then for the seasons we've been through here... and just maybe even add a bit of beauty to Heaven. |
| 6 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| ByHzGrace |
Posted - Nov 10 2005 : 03:12:29 AM
Frannie, I'm like that there Aesop fly on the wheel of the chariot.
I'm Barn Again:This life and the life to come...it's all heaven.
Suppose I have a wounded bird in my hand, if I totally open them she tries flappin, can't fly, so falls and is hurt maybe dies, if they be totally closed she be crushed and hurt more maybe dies.The right place for my hurtin bird is to be lightly cupped for it is the place to be healed and to grow anew.
Barns too need to enough protection so that can be healed and restored. We restore older homes when we pick them up and move them miles to places they can live on fresh lots, when we tear em down and haul some away we lose our history, our begattings, why don't we do this with barns?
Mostly because barns aren't protected like our homes, very few states have laws giving breaks to farmers making it easier for them to repair and keep on using the barn that leans to the creek.
KarenHave you looked into leasing outbuildings for the cost of the repairs?Try churches who want gym? nearbyfarmers,boaters, or local artisands who needs the building for his arts studio/workshop/storage?
Look into the property tax breaks for the preservation of the barn, the $$ saved is put to repair costs.Call your county agents? Local county orgs?There is a law I can't remember the number seems like I remember expires I think 2007.
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| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Nov 05 2005 : 8:31:00 PM
I told him he had a funny idea of beauty.
ellen .. preservation surely has a very important place .. but from this little story .. and the line above .. i doubt that the owner would have ever 'saved' this olde beauty .. soo .. i guess the next best thing to letting it eventually disappear ... is to recycle it.
and readng the last line of the story .. i guess some may see us as 'recycled' and some may see us as 'preserved'. frannie
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| finngirl |
Posted - Nov 04 2005 : 02:43:00 AM
My grandparents have a wonderful old farm house next door complete with milkroom, workshop, carriage shedand large barn. We are dealing with the fact that the barn is " drifting towards the brook" as Papa said. It breaks my heart to see it have to be torn down but as Gram is now a widow she really can't afford to have it repaired. Are there any other options in saving this treasure? |
| ByHzGrace |
Posted - Oct 30 2005 : 06:42:08 AM
I reckon I've always been for recycling, but doesn't preservation need a spot too?
From "Old barn wood becomes chic new cash crop"
http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5684205.html
Harvesting Barns
http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5684209.html |
| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Oct 24 2005 : 1:20:36 PM
we have a 'newer' barn .. but it looks old .. it even made the 'cover' of Country Living Magazine. (that is how i found our cabins and moved to kentucky!) |
| lareyna |
Posted - Oct 24 2005 : 10:12:57 AM
What a beautiful story, I love old barns too, we have one that was built in the 1800's as the Livery for the town, it is huge (and full)I have always wanted to go under it and explore but the spiders keep me at bay.You can actually walk under most of it as it's built on a hill. I have found lots of good stuff inside though.
http://bumpercrop.blogspot.com/
I was Country before Country was COOL |
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