With a squirrel and cat for the last two pictures, I might as well have a critter week and so instead of another cat picture, it is time for some puppies. These puppies are hard at work or at least having fun playing tug-of-war with the stuffed toy pheasant. Although it was better the pheasant received the tugging since it was not so easy taking pictures when they found my camera strap!
Tug-of-War
In the warm sun filled window, this cat has found the perfect place to observe winter and to watch the squirrels playing in the yard.
Welcome Cat
The sun is out today and supposedly it will get to the freezing mark today so I wonder if the red squirrel will crawl out of his tree hole and play in the snow. I have been seeing the grey and black squirrels all winter but not the little red squirrel. I guess he is not a fan of winter.
Peeking Out
To end the ‘red barn’ week which should have ended yesterday with the seventh red barn so this is a bonus barn for the red barn week, but then this barn at first glance doesn’t seem like it would qualify as a red barn. Weather and time has removed most of the red paint and former crispness that this old barn once would have showcased. It is very rustic, just not very red anymore.
Faded Red
Another old red barn with a pretty stone silo but I wonder with the one corner of the roof so low to the ground, how many kids climbed up on the roof and maybe used it as a tobogganing hill.
Low Red
The ‘red barn’ week had winter and summer scenes so today picture will be a red barn in the autumn.
Hundreds of years ago, many farmers would seal their barns with linseed oil, which is an orange-colored oil derived from the seeds of the flax plant. To this oil, they would add a variety of things, most often milk and lime, but also ferrous oxide, or rust. Rust was plentiful on farms and because it killed fungi and mosses that might grow on barns, was very effective as a sealant. It turned the mixture red in color.
As European settlers crossed over to America, they brought with them the tradition of red barns. In the mid to late 1800s, as paints began to be produced with chemical pigments, red paint was the most inexpensive to buy. Red was the color of favor until whitewash became cheaper, at which point white barns began to spring up.
Autumn Red
Today’s red barn is a special red barn to me since it is my grandfather’s barn. It has definitely seen many years of use and I have heard many interesting tales from the aunts and uncles about what they did in the barn. A cowboy singing group, the Ringling 5, has a wonderful song called “Grandpa’s Barn” and you can listen to it with the link below the picture.
Grandpa’s Barn
The sun is shining today and the bright, white snow sure makes the red barns stand out more. I had shingled the roof of milkhouse which is on the other side of the big barn twenty five years ago (when I was much younger!) but at least it wasn’t the big barn roof as that has a farther drop to the ground.
Red, White and Blue
As I continue the ‘red barn’ week, today picture is a lot of red barns and while not a rustic as an old red barn would be, it is a fitting picture for today as these red barns are on my parents farm and today is my dad’s birthday. When they purchased the farm (before I was born), all the barns and buildings were white but after a couple of tornadoes removed a couple of the barns, they were replaced with red ones. When it was only one red and the old white barn, it was easier to know where to go but now it is the middle barn or the back barn which works fine until my brother decides he needs another barn for his machinery. So would the middle barn become the ‘old’ middle barn and would the new one become the ‘way back’ barn? Maybe they should have different names but my brother is not quick in naming things and that is why one of his bulls were named Gertrude since my sister named it since my brother didn’t hurry up fast enough!
Lots of Red
Another barn for the ‘red barn’ week and it appears there are couple of rocks in the field that haven’t been picked yet but they are a little small so easy to be overlooked!
Red and Rocks
