My obsessions with barns.....

I'm not quite sure when it began, but I would say that my new camera added to the fascination. Old barns, barbed-wire fences, bales of hay, split rail fences, ponds, flowers, and trees--not to mention sunsets.

Coming to Springdale today I saw quite a few barns, but not all of them were the picturesque barns one visualizes when the word barn is said. Modern barns may be more functional, (though I don't understand how) and most likely more cheaply constructed, but they are not nearly so pleasing to the eye, in my humble opinion. 

When I was growing up, my Granny Treat had a barn which I loved to explore. I can still smell the hay and feel the straw tangled in my hair. A special fondness for the loft gripped me. Climbing up that narrow severely straight up ladder was no easy task. But once that top rung was reached and the vast view of the hay-strewn  floor was visible, something within me stirred.

Sometimes there were chickens that had flown up to roost which were startled by my presence. When they squawked and wildly flapped their near flightless wings it seemed as if they would surely attack the invader.

The most special times in the loft were spent there during rainstorms. There wasn't another place I would rather be. I'd lie down in the hay or prop up on bales of hay only to peer out the "windows" at the rest of the quiet, still farm.

Where there were once farm animals roaming about now were wide open spaces void of any signs of life save the cattle huddled together standing motionless in the pouring rain. The chickens and ducks had found their ways to some shelter if even a lean to for a short respite.

Granny's house seemed to be miles from the barn and appeared to be much smaller than it actually was. From time to time I would see her push open the screen door and add some table scraps to the cat bowls on the porch. I'd watch as she shooed the scavenger dogs away from the bowls allowing the kittens to have first choice.

Knowing I wasn't far away, I'd hear her call, "Treasie?" " (She called me that more than she ever called me Teresa.) "I'm here, Granny!" I'd holler.  "OK," she'd say satisfied. "You'd better be careful out there. There may be snakes!"

I never did see a snake in the barn or in the loft, but I was constantly aware of the possibility. The fear of that possibility didn't keep me away. On the contrary, it may have even added to the mystique and lure of the fantastic structures..........

A Little Off.........