The Farm

The kids and I spent the week at the farm with my parents. We had a relaxing time. We went swimming at my sister's on Wednesday, and can I just say, I HATE spray-on sunscreen! We spent the rest of the week recovering from burns... some of us worse than others. Josh's shoulders blistered almost immediately, and he is still very red. Kyle looked like a lobster on Wed. night, but a gingerbread boy by Thursday morning. My shoulders and back got a bit pink and tender, but at least I didn't blister.

I took the opportunity while we were there to get out with my camera, and I thought that I would post some pictures of the farm. I have to say right off the bat that my dad is somewhat of a pack-rat (he can't stand to throw anything away that might possibly have a use "someday"), so there is a lot of junk scattered around in some of the pictures. Mom and Dad bought the 92-acre farm in 1989 at an auction. The farm had been in the same family for 200+ years, and without any children to pass in down to, the owners decided to sell. They later told my Dad that they wished they had never sold.

My parents' house was built in the '30's, and the owners built it themselves. Dad remodeled it a few years ago, and it was pretty amazing to see the walls beneath the layers of wallpaper. Instead of finding sheetrock, there were vertical slats of 1" boards, covered by think felt, and layers upon layers of wallpaper... each layer uglier than the last. The floors were the same... pine flooring coverd up by layers and layers of ugly linolum. Unfortunatley they were not able to save the pine floors, and they had to be covered. The roof had to also be replaced a few years ago after a tornado took part of it off (thankfully it was during the remodel, so nobody was living in the house at the time). They have a great tin roof, and I love to hear the rain come down on it. Here is a picture of the house:


There are several barns and sheds on the property. I love these old buildings. Dad holds some of his cows in the big barn, and milks there as well. I think all that the other buildings are used for is to store more junk... I mean stuff that will be used someday!


Dad has told us that each of us that if we would like to build a house on the farm, we are welcome to. We are not ready to move out to the farm yet, but I have already picked out my spot. There are actually a couple of spots that are my favorite, and I would love to build on, but they are not really suitable to build the house of my dreams. The spot that I have picked the kids lovingly call "one tree hill" because, there is one tree on the hill... duh! The first couple of pics are the places I would love to build... lot of trees and shade, and the other pic is one tree hill.


(The trees in the background of this picture are actually on the other side of the driveway.)

One of my favorite buildings on the property is the old smokehouse. I love the old hardward on the door and the vines growing up the side of the building.


Here are a few more miscellaneous pics:

This is looking out from the barnyard


The front porch swing... this is a favorite place to come sit at night, watching the lightening bugs and listening to the crickets and frogs.


Butterfly on the smokehouse door