We just returned from a week in Southeast Alaska where we connected with friends and visited old haunts.
We came home with moist skin (because it rained an inch or two each day), one hundred pounds of salmon and halibut, and a strong desire to see what has happened with the barn restoration since we left.
The builders’ say they’ve encountered a lot of rot. The barn needed to be stabilized by lifting, straightening, and bracing. Then the rotted wood was removed. The stabilization needed to be done quickly, so the barn wouldn’t collapse in one of the strong summer winds The Dalles is known for. Each morning the workers hoped to find the barn standing.
Now the foundation and cement floors are completed and the rotted wood from the roof has been removed. Soon the roof will be covered with tin. Do you think we will be ready for an October 2nd barn warming party?
Mule Springs 
Amazing, Sher! It looks like a lot of progress has been made already. Will this be the new home for your mules? Have you taken the mules home yet after their training? Send more photos when you can. So, you will be celebrating National Mule Day a little early this year! 🙂
I love the idea of National Mule Day. I have a wonderful photo show and posting on the mules, which will be coming up soon. So stay tuned for the mule report. Actually the barn won’t be used for the mules, because. . . but I don’t want to give the punch line away just yet …:)
Will wonders never cease!!!
🙂 maybe not Peri…
Thank goodness for the green machine!
I’m consumed with envy to hear about all the salmon you brought back from Alaska: its an expensive item in this part of the world, and I love it.
Alison-Salmon is expensive here too if you buy it in the store. While we still have the opportunity to visit Alaska and fish, we will bring back enough to fill our freezer each year. We sold our boat, so most of the fish we got this year came from local fishermen and also as a gift for a big favor Bruce did for a fishing charter company. Bruce got out and fished one day in a friend’s boat, but the weather was ROUGH, and he only caught two silver salmon.
Oh My Word. This looks like a hugely daunting job – and quite dangerous too to be climbing all over a rickety roof!
One can tell, though, that the end result is going to be simply glorious. 🙂
Thanks Reggie- we are really excited about it. The house project is SO far off it is really nice to be able to have something that we will see completed in the next few months.
crazy with a capital C ! i love that you’re doing this!
it fits your love of the historical romance, wherever you plant your roots.
here’s a poem i found that seems so apprapo 🙂
Conceived in need, and built with pride,
by careful loving hands.
Mystique, with styles of purpose blend,
from your ancestral lands.
Your mow and stall made food for all,
with plenty left to sell.
You’ve sheltered countless herds and flocks,
and served your masters well.
Technology, or laziness,
It’s hard to trace the blame.
For our neglect of your distress,
we all share common shame.
As future craftsmen reconstruct
your every joint and truss,
may history be as kind to you
as you have been to us.
A death no reason justifies,
a tragic way to end.
So as we say our last goodbyes,
we must add, “Thank You, Friend”.
Very nice poem; it makes me also think of the old farmhouse, in a way…because we will be dismantling it on Sunday. It has to come down anyway, and we will use its wood for the old barn, but it is sad to see it go– all the same.
Wow — Barn Boss Bruce (BBB) is the picture of retro psychedelia with that tie-dye shirt and aura of red-orange. Very trippy!
I know that shirt is terrific. Really makes him a barn boss. 🙂 My goodness it is HOT here today — 102 degrees!
I can see him in a Superman leotard and cape.
Hi Valerie
🙂
and thanks for the apple links..
I would love to drive down for your barn warming- whenever it ends up happening! Will you keep me posted? I’ll bring chocolate. 🙂
I will Valerie- though it won’t be Oct 2nd as we just lost a week… I will let you know.
Better yet! October 1st brings the Marcus Cider Festival, which I missed last year while somewhat lost in the Pasayten wilderness. It features the world famous cider-clops. I’ve got plenty of room to house visitors! It’s a beautiful drive.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/traveloutdoors/2002550556_webroadblog02a.html
(Like fall apples, here’s a stolen photo of them in the cider-clops.)