The Pole Barn Gets A Make Over

View from the window from inside the barn

Maholn was unhitching his horse from the wagon as I went out to the barn to feed the animals this morning.  He tied his horse to the fencepost beyond the apple tree before stopping to talk.

“I fixed the roof on the birdhouse,” he said.

I looked over to the bluebird house on top of the fence post in the front yard, that our friend Jack made for us when we first moved in.  A simple wooden box with a slanted slate for the roof.

I saw that the slate had come off the house and joked to Jon about asking Jamie, who was at the time repairing our slate roof, to fix it.  I meant to come back with a caulk gun and do the work myself but forgot all about it.

“I tied my horse to that fence post  the last time I was here,” Mahlon told me, “and my horse knocked the roof off.”

I watched a sparrow fly into the house with a long piece of dried grass hanging from its beak.

“Thank you Mahlon,” I said, “that was very kind of you.”  Then I brought him the window I  glazed and painted last week and he got to work framing it into the side of the barn.

Ears straight up, Mahlon’s shiny black horse whinnied loudly from the fence post as I brought hay to the sheep and donkeys.  Lulu looked up startled then pranced in the opposite direction.  She came back settling into the hay when the horse whinnied again.   This time all the animals ran down the hill.

By the time I had mucked out the barn the animals had settled down.  The sheep and donkey munching on hay and Mahlon’s horse nibbling the green grass at his feet.

Just as we finished breakfast, I saw Mahlon, out the window, hitching up his horse.  I went out to see the work he had done and was delighted.  “It looks so sweet,” I told him, “Makes me want to hang a curtain in the window.”

I’m not sure what he made of that.  The thought of hanging a curtain in a barn window, or any window,  is not something he’s probably ever considered.

As we drove up Route 22 this morning on the way back from town, I could almost feel Jon’s appreciation as we looked at the barn.  “I’ve been wanting to do this since we first put that piece of plastic on the barn,” he said.

And I had that sense that something that was out of wack clicked into place.

The plastic on the barn wasn’t a structural problem.  What Jon was feeling about wasn’t the kind of relief we felt when we got the roof fixed and knew it wouldn’t leak anymore.

It was an aesthetic problem.  And although we’re not fussy about the house and farm, there are some things that can grate on a person.

I can’t help but feel that this is somehow connected to Jon’s surgery and his healing.  Although I’m not sure exactly how yet.   Something about fixing a wrong and starting again.

It’s better for picture taking too.

The side of the barn with the window in it. Now we just have to paint it barn red.

6 thoughts on “The Pole Barn Gets A Make Over

  1. Mehlon did a beautiful job! The window looks great you did a wonderful job and I could picture some red gingham curtains on it. But it probably isn’t all that practical to hang curtains in the barn. Congratulations your barn looks great!

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