Day 2: Tools of the Trade

A mobile phone is an indispensable tool for today's workers. I walked out to photograph the guys at work (I'm still learning names) and a discussion ensued about using dowels to pin the upright cribbing to the existing crossbeams. The phone range.

"It's the boss," was the word.

Notice the power cord to run a circular saw, ladders, water bottles, kneeling pads. Putting a barn back together means using tools very similar to the tools used back when barns were built. We'll talk more about the dowels, and wood and tools in later posts.

Here's another view of the haymow. Notice the worksite radio on top of the lumber pile, just beyond the ramp made of 4x4s. The flooring is in good enough shape that the crew can work from the middle of the floor. When I left, shortly before noon, two men were using pitchforks to pull the straw and hay away from the west side of the barn walls, in preparation for placing ladders to crib the west wall.

 

I spent the afternoon in Bay City and drove home late in the day. The sun set at 7:10 pm at 264 degrees west, almost due west. A low mass of clouds hung in the sky, like a giant quilt batt, and the sky erupted with soft chunks of pink and purple.

Here's a view of Graywood Farm, taken from the parking lot at Pigeon River Mennonite Church, just east of the farm. Quite a sight. I'm hoping that all of us who call this "the home place" will be pleased to see the barn renewed and used in years to come.