The Barn Collective

I've driven past the house countless times, but never stopped. Once it was for sale and I toyed with going to an open house or calling the realtor as a perspective buyer, but I didn't. I never stopped until today. I only wanted a few pictures of the old chicken coop. (It counts as a barn, right?)

A little red outbuilding nestled in the trees. I'm sure it stood straighter 70 or 80 years ago, but the wonderful thing is, it's still standing, even if it does looked just slightly "tired." It's not a chicken coop today, though I'm sure it'd make a grand one. Today it is a wood shed, and that's okay because it's still being productive.

My great grandfather built this "barn" many years ago. While my dad's parents worked during the week, my dad and his brother "lived" with their grandparents on the old farm on Creek Street in Penfield, NY. (It was his other grandparents who lived in Angelica.) Grandma cooked eggs for breakfast (no wonder!) and Grandpa was my dad's fishing buddy when he was a little guy.

Once, when Grandma and Grandpa were out Dad and his brother wanted to see if chickens could fly. They each too a bird up into the barn and put it out the window onto the barn roof where the chickens flapped and squawked down the slope and over the edge to the ground below. The boys thoguht it was great fun until their grandfather pulled into the driveway. I guess they could tell they'd made a grave mistake by the look on Grandpa's face, and likely the lickin" they got to remind them never to try it again. The chickens were fine, of course, just a bit "shaken up." Grandma probably got a few less eggs the following day. Ha ha!

So, this afternoon, on my way home from church, I got brave. I stopped and knocked on the door of my great grandparents' old house and asked if I could take a few photos of the old chicken coop. I couldn't help but think of Dad saying how the kids used to steal moldy, old Pfeffernüsse cookies off the floor of chicken coop where the bakery delivery truck dumped the old stock for the hens to eat. Scoldings came if they were caught at it, but they tried it anyway. Such naughty boys!

Come on over to Tom's. It's beautiful day to lounge about in the shade.