The Old Red Barn

When I was a child, my mother and I would see these old, dilapidated barns in the middle of nowhere and dream about fixing them up. We would laugh and say it had good bones when that was all that was left. We would talk about how everything would look, from the log cabin exterior to the flat stone flooring and plush rugs. A huge kitchen with double ovens and spacious bathrooms with huge sunk-in claw foot tubs. Today I bought one! I went out and paid in full, for the 30 acres of land and the dilapidated old red barn with a white house with grey shutters. The house is a move-in ready 1 story, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, with an attic. It has my kitchen with the double ovens and the master bedroom has my sunk-in claw foot tub! There are 27 acres of wheat farm run by those before me. I kept them on as part of the deal to purchase the house. My goal obviously is to repair the barn & get a few cows. The first step, buy lumber and tools. You can’t repair a building without tools after all.

Fortunately, it is only a 30-minute drive to the local hardware store. In the store, I am greeted pleasantly by the very attractive gentleman behind the counter. Perhaps I might forget to pick something up, as to return sooner. Though with the hour trip both ways, perhaps not. He politely asks me if he can be of assistance, and I take advantage of his expertise. Let him know that I am repairing the old red barn on my newly purchased property and that I know I will need lumber, wood nails & screws, and all the tools one could dream of... Now don’t get me wrong, this barns only purpose will not be just to house cows. It will be my workshop. I build things for a living; I make art out of wood and metal. I build couches and tables from fallen down trees. Creativity and love are how I managed to purchase this property in full. Perhaps this move is a bigger restart than I originally thought. Moving away was a great relief. Quitting my bank teller job even more so, as now I get to follow my dreams of building things. Working both was wearing me out, but I built a good clientele and now word of mouth has taken hold. I will never be without funds again. I will never live in the rat race again. This move represents freedom, and now... perhaps, romance.

Now to make my Old Red Barn complete and whole again so that I can continue making orders for clients. Of course, as a single new to the town female, I do flirt with the Hardware store guy... after all, he is 6-foot tall, athletic build, fresh-cut sable hair, and the most crystal-clear blue eyes you would ever see, framed in thick and full lashes. He is truly stunning and seemed to be very polite and gentle, and his name tag said, Jake. So naturally, I had to flirt a little. He seemed to be pleased with my appearance as well, as he flirted back. And as a 5’9” woman, men can be intimidated by me. He seemed to not even notice... bless tall men for that. I have long brown hair braided to my waist and am plumper than what could be called an athletic build but have defined muscles as well. I have a slim waist and plump rump and ample breasts, I do get quite a bit of attention from the opposite sex. However, I do prefer men to be kind and I am excessively picky. No point in settling for anything less. Obviously, I purchased quite a lot, so he offered to deliver everything. I decided to take him up on that offer as I needed to hit up the lumber yard next anyway. Next stop... The Lumber Yard.

Pulling up to the lumber yard I was greeted by an elderly woman, not exactly what you imagine when you think lumber yards. She couldn’t have been more than 5’3” tall, she was slender for someone her age, I suspect around 80 years old, and she had that pure white hair, she kept it short but didn’t poof it out. She just wore it natural and kept herself very clean for someone working in a lumber yard, also she was kind and knew what she was talking about. We discussed the best type of wood to rebuild the Old Red Barn and got to talking about how I build furniture from naturally fallen trees. To where I should go to get the trees or if I could just purchase them here. I was quite relieved that she knew so much, and I could definitely see a wonderful friendship blossoming. Again, I ordered a lot and she offered to have it delivered. She set me up with the equipment to rent for the larger pieces of wood, so I wouldn’t have to hunt down an equipment rental store. Tomorrow, I start the re-build, excitement has never been more pronounced.