The barn

In which I chat about the space least explored.....the barn 

The barn.  We had a friend stop by the other day who said "You're going to tear this down, right?" Wrong.  The barn has stood for about 110 years right where it is.  We call that history.  I learned in graduate school that there are some additions to historic properties or objects, that, if they have been there almost as long as the main object or property, they become part of that object or property's history and deserve to remain a part of that object or property.   Unless we find that the building is unsalvageable, then it stays and gets renovated.  I think it is a fantastic space with soaring beams (that need to be assessed and probably replaced), huge rafters (two of which have been cut and need attention soon!) windows and doors (that need to be unboarded and replaced) plumbing! (that needs to be replumb-ed and updated) and its original roof (that will be replaced!) 

The 28' boat in the barn gets moved today...have I ever mentioned the boat?  It belongs to the owner of the neighboring restaurant.  According to well placed sources, the boat was rolled into the barn three years ago to be fixed.  Three years later, there it sits, unfixed.  The boat, named "The Monday," takes up about half the barn space and has been the stumbling block for emptying the barn out of its myriad collections since it butts right up against the big metal truck doors and pretty much blocks all entrants from easy access to the rest of the barn.  Other things in the barn include, but are not limited to: a broken bulldozer, at least a dozen tires of various sizes, somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 milk crates full of machine parts, a bunch of old barrels, twenty or so small engines or parts of engines, at least 10 bags of old insulation, some other motorized things with wheels that are so buried as to be rendered unidentifiable,  and who knows what else. 

Here is an updated photo of the barn with the boat gone! 

 Since there are hardly any lights in the place, I haven't even seen what is up on the second floor of the barn, a space I am dying to get to, because it holds a lot of promise and I have never laid eyes on it much past the first few feet.  The second floor has shelves lined to the ceiling with old light fixtures, metal rods, old wood, boxes of parts, parts of parts, decomposing bodies of small critters, etc.  As you may remember, the second floor of the barn has three southerly facing windows that have been boarded up for 20-30 years.   I can't wait to "unboard" the windows and let the light shine in!

So, back to the boat.  When the boat goes, the plan, so I have been told, is the back the remaining tractor trailer up to the barn doors and start loading in.  With the thought of 12-18" of snow coming tomorrow, I hope they act with all expediency and do that today.  It would be nice to think of the barn all cleaned out and ready for exploration by the end of the week.

We thought originally that the barn would make two nice retail spaces for downtown.  But, that was before.  We had forgotten that there is a perfectly wonderful second floor space above for rental space and with a new stair core, bathrooms, and a furnace room having to fit in the barn, it might make more sense to make it into one large retail space, restaurant space, performance space, or my dream of a lesbian bar called "Muffy's"  There, I said it and I am leaving it in.

We will see what today holds...for now, at 5:47am, I am going back to working on my taxes.