And the wind helped us for once
Posted by Rich on 09 Nov 2008 at 07:13 pm | Tagged as: Construction, General
It might have been 40 degrees today, but I went to the farm for a little bit. Actually, I loaded up my truck with leaves and took them to the drop-off site and it was closed! I took them to our compost pile on the farm instead. While I was there, I made use of my time by cleaning up the shed. I found some tarp and shade cloth that might help be a wind break so we can work on the interior wall of the greenhouse. The outside wall is still comprised of slats and will be replaced by twin wall polycarbonate sometime. I also brought home the little propane heater to make sure it was still working.
The wind is usually nasty, and it really must have been nasty during the last week. Remember the portion of the barn that was collapsed? The remains were resting on a little interior room. I noticed today that one of the walls had violently snapped in half, and several of the boards on the back wall were now crushed. I think it fell about a foot. I few of the 1x6s (the thin way) are still holding the end, and I can still see a 2×4 holding up the middle of the floor underneath. I was able to pull apart the framing that was the front wall. I can shake all the remains by hand, so it’s quite dangerous at this point. Maybe another storm or two will do it. I found a crowbar buried in the front of the barn, no rust. I had been looking for that one. Also, I noticed that the field behind the barn was plowed over recently. I found several pieces of boards pulled up out of the dirt. Did I mention that we found the front hay loft door WAY out in the cornfield? It must have flown!
It’s odd. With the corn gone, you can see the barn remains now. Instead of seeing the giant roof from the corner of O and 320th, now you round the bend and see the only standing wall. From a distance, it looks like a construction site trailer.
The final fate of the barn? I don’t know. There is some good wood and beams there, and there is one section standing. I’d love to get all the fallen down and junk wood removed. Then I can trim the back 1/3 from the standing barn, and cleanup over what was the main walkway. If the rest seems OK, we could stick a little roof on it, and get a shed/chicken coop/something. We have been trying to save all the good curved rafters. Most of them were shattered. We have enough for a small coop, or a good doghouse. I still think I can dig out the pen area of the barn to use the footings as the sides of a small pool or pond. 
