[AT] new duties

[Indiana Robinson]

I am desperately trying to save an about 38' x 60' timber frame barn down
the road that sits on ground we used to rent in the 1950's but own that
part of it now. I have been unable to do much with it until now mostly due
to health issues etc. I think I can have it in "safe and holding condition"
in a couple of weeks if it will stop the damn storming... Son Scott is
going to help on it.
Yesterday, July 11, 2017, we went to town (we sit just outside of the line
and it is getting closer) for lunch and the sky fell open and leaked a lot
of water, wind and uncontrollable electricity... When we got home the first
thing I wanted to check was if that barn was still intact and remarkably it
was.
We did lose another building (and a pair of tractor fenders ) though. We
had a huge old maple tree about 20' east of the house that blew down.
Luckily it blew to the south- east away from the house. It is going to make
a lot of firewood. It did however fall on a building that we had used as a
farm shop when we moved here in 1951. It was a fairly new chicken house
then about 18' x 18'. The tools were inside and the big bench but most work
was done outside and it only had a walk door. It was the only decent
building other then the 3 barns and they were in full use for livestock. It
was also the only building with a good concrete floor. My father had moved
a small chicken house building with us along with a 10' x 20' cottage from
a pay lake / private park at the old farm. That cottage became known as the
seed house. It has since been built onto on both sides and is now about 20'
x 34'. I do sometimes refer to it as "the little barn". My father never
really finished the little chicken house much so the chickens were mostly
"free range" but we didn't know they were back then, we thought that they
"just ran around loose"...  :-)  We didn't know what free  range was.
That old shop building is toast... We had taken over the timber frame
former dairy barn / 1,500 bu. corn crib / 300 bu. oats bin / 12' wide
driveway area as the farm shop many years ago. The old shop had become odd
stuff storage.
The tree also fell across the back of my little Ferguson TO-20 and mashed
both rear fenders down hard against the rear tires. I will have to remove
the fenders to move the tractor. So far I don't see any other damage to it.
The fenders will go to a loft to await later repair, maybe this winter. In
the meantime I have a pair of Ford 8N fenders I won't be needing before
maybe next spring and I will stick those on the Ferguson. I just hope it
doesn't give it a rash or something.
At the barn lot (has anyone ever used the term "shed lot"?) down the road
to the west I have an open faced 28' x 64' "tool shed" or "implement shed".
If I close it in with walls and doors can I call it a "barn".  :-)
If I call the tool shed and the seed house "barns" I can claim 5 barns
here. All 5 of them were built smaller but tall and they all have been
built onto to make them bigger. The open faced tool shed had an 18' x 18'
"shop room" added to the back. The "at risk" barn down there was maybe
originally (1800's) 30' x 30' but added to at least 3 times. The one that
is now shop was added to at least twice and the east barn where our 6
horses live was added to at least once. It is really interesting to me to
study them all closely and try to figure out the stories they contain if
you just look for them.



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Francis Robinson
aka "farmer"
Central Indiana USA
robinson46176 at gmail.com
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