Home is where you hang your hat....
Well, as you know, we're now living with my parents. It's a very nice arrangement and, so far, things are going great. I'm completely at home here anyway - this is where I grew up. I love this old house. It feels like any old farmhouse should - historical, grand, quirky, comfortable. It has beautiful, original creaky wood floors that mean nobody can sneak up on you. It's a rock solid house that was built in the 30's and bought by my parents in the early 80's - they've been working on it ever since. I love everything about this house, including the dear people who've lived here for 29 years :-)
The other day I took a little walk and snapped a few shots that I knew I'd want to have to look at down the road - you know, when I'm in some hot, muggy tropical place trying to remember a magical place called Colorado.
It was a lovely day, with enough of a hint of spring in the air to get a girl like me downright giddy. (Of course, that was two days ago, it was snowing again today.)
Mom and Dad added that enclosed porch just a few years ago. It's the best place in the world to sit and read a book during the summertime - or in the winter with the heater on!
Why don't they make barns like this any more? I cannot tell you the fun I had in that barn growing up. In the hay loft, Dad installed a basketball hoop - I used it some growing up, but I preferred climbing on the rafters (sorry Dad, you probably didn't know about that) or finding kittens in hidden corners and peering out of the back window onto the backs of the horses in the corral below. I wrote lots of stories in my mind up there, sitting in a patch of sunlight dangling my legs over the edge with a kitty in my lap. I also may have thrown a cat or two out the window to test the whole "cats always land on their feet thing." They do. The best was when they also happened to land on a horse's back - oh the rodeo that would ensue when those kitty claws dug into horseflesh! (Sorry 'bout that too, Dad.) In my defense, I never threw a good cat out the window, only the ones I wasn't particularly fond of.
I'm not sure that was much of a defense.
Anyway.
Downstairs in the barn was just as exciting with more hidden away places to find kittens and the occasional forgotten candy bar in a saddle bag (again, Dad, sorry). Now, the chickens (including ours until their coop can be moved to my sister and brother-in-law's house) live in what used to be the garage. All 19 of them are doing great...we're getting between 11 and 14 eggs every day. Brooklyn and Madison help Grandpa clean the eggs every night when he brings them in. They think it's the neatest thing.
After I moved out, Mom and Dad did all sorts of things, like build a big shop. Good thing they did that. All our earthly goods are sitting in storage in my dad's shop right now. I dread the day we have to go through this stuff...
After reminiscing for a while - and whimpering some too when I saw all the work ahead of me - I did actually leave the property and go for a walk. This is the kind of blue sky we're known for around here! See the homestead in the cluster of trees? That's my folks' house - otherwise lovingly referred to as the Red Roof Inn :-) The black dots in the field are Sandhill Cranes - they migrate through here every spring and fall on their way...somewhere else. Ask Sean if you want the full scientific lesson, chances are, he knows it. Every year there's a big festival in the cranes' honor - well basically people drive around and look at them, that's the extent of the big festival. Sandhill Cranes have the neatest sound when they are all...honking, I guess is the word. That field was full of them yesterday and it was breathtaking to see and hear them all out there.
Walking back down the road toward our current "home." Not a bad "in-between" place is it? Now, if we could just skip the windy season and ease right into a perfect Colorado summer....
The other day I took a little walk and snapped a few shots that I knew I'd want to have to look at down the road - you know, when I'm in some hot, muggy tropical place trying to remember a magical place called Colorado.It was a lovely day, with enough of a hint of spring in the air to get a girl like me downright giddy. (Of course, that was two days ago, it was snowing again today.)
Mom and Dad added that enclosed porch just a few years ago. It's the best place in the world to sit and read a book during the summertime - or in the winter with the heater on!
Why don't they make barns like this any more? I cannot tell you the fun I had in that barn growing up. In the hay loft, Dad installed a basketball hoop - I used it some growing up, but I preferred climbing on the rafters (sorry Dad, you probably didn't know about that) or finding kittens in hidden corners and peering out of the back window onto the backs of the horses in the corral below. I wrote lots of stories in my mind up there, sitting in a patch of sunlight dangling my legs over the edge with a kitty in my lap. I also may have thrown a cat or two out the window to test the whole "cats always land on their feet thing." They do. The best was when they also happened to land on a horse's back - oh the rodeo that would ensue when those kitty claws dug into horseflesh! (Sorry 'bout that too, Dad.) In my defense, I never threw a good cat out the window, only the ones I wasn't particularly fond of. I'm not sure that was much of a defense.
Anyway.
Downstairs in the barn was just as exciting with more hidden away places to find kittens and the occasional forgotten candy bar in a saddle bag (again, Dad, sorry). Now, the chickens (including ours until their coop can be moved to my sister and brother-in-law's house) live in what used to be the garage. All 19 of them are doing great...we're getting between 11 and 14 eggs every day. Brooklyn and Madison help Grandpa clean the eggs every night when he brings them in. They think it's the neatest thing.
After I moved out, Mom and Dad did all sorts of things, like build a big shop. Good thing they did that. All our earthly goods are sitting in storage in my dad's shop right now. I dread the day we have to go through this stuff...
After reminiscing for a while - and whimpering some too when I saw all the work ahead of me - I did actually leave the property and go for a walk. This is the kind of blue sky we're known for around here! See the homestead in the cluster of trees? That's my folks' house - otherwise lovingly referred to as the Red Roof Inn :-) The black dots in the field are Sandhill Cranes - they migrate through here every spring and fall on their way...somewhere else. Ask Sean if you want the full scientific lesson, chances are, he knows it. Every year there's a big festival in the cranes' honor - well basically people drive around and look at them, that's the extent of the big festival. Sandhill Cranes have the neatest sound when they are all...honking, I guess is the word. That field was full of them yesterday and it was breathtaking to see and hear them all out there.
Walking back down the road toward our current "home." Not a bad "in-between" place is it? Now, if we could just skip the windy season and ease right into a perfect Colorado summer....
It's so great that you "get" to stay with your parents. That's either going to make it harder to leave....or easier! :)
ReplyDeleteLove you!! Oh, and I think Lupe loves you too!! Just spent some time in her kitchen waiting on some empanadas! Sweet piece of heaven!...not the kitchen...the empanadas! Now, we are going to get new censos! YEAH! Don't you have some serious envy?!