The Renovation of The Old Goat Barn

I call it a renovation or a remodel, but it was really a demolition and replacement and upgrade of the old structure while using the same old heavy gauge tin.  My Dad and I and a fellow named Red built the goat barn 20 years ago.  The kids were young and in 4-H, and we wanted to get them involved showing livestock - Boer Goats, to be specific, in order to teach them responsibility.  I also wanted them to be involved in something I had taken part in as a young boy and thoroughly enjoyed.  This was before we got our milk cows and even the chickens.  

Twenty-something years ago we put up the goat barn using landscape timbers as the corner posts and some home cut lumber made from a large pine tree from my parent's home that we had cut into lumber.  The barn served its purpose well and, to be honest, it was a sentimental thing tearing it down.  It may sound funny to be nostalgic over an old structure, but I have may good memories with the kids that surround this barn as well as with my Dad and Red in building it.

I began the demolition project mainly with a hammer and crowbar, but it took a grinder to remove some of the screws that held the tin to the old 2x4 lumber that was rotten in most places.  The old lumber was filled with cobwebs, roaches and a big rat!  The cobwebs reminded me of a time when we de-horned a heifer.  

She was in the goat barn and we checked on her and she was bleeding and bleeding from the horns.  We called an old veterinarian in the middle of the night worried.  He asked us if we had any cobwebs.  Of course we do!  He told us to get a bunch of the cobwebs and poke them in the holes where the bleeding was coming from.  The cobwebs worked to completely stop the bleeding.  How you may ask?:  Well, Google tells us: "the cobwebs provide a dense network for rapid blood clotting (coagulation), act as an antiseptic to prevent infection, and contain vitamin K, which enhances the clotting process. Their large surface area and fibrous structure mimic fibrin, allowing them to act as a natural bandage."  How about that!

The rafters supporting the roof had completely broken due to rot.  It still served as some sort of protection from the elements in heavy rains.  Heck, even the cows would crowd in the goat barn for some reason in thunderstorms even though they had the main barn overhangs to keep them dry.

You can see the old feed trough for the goats on the wall.  I know what you may be thinking:  How would a goat reach the trough?  Well, there was a ramp that they would climb up to the trough while eating.  The purpose of that was to build muscle, which is important for a meat goat.  For humans, it would be akin to having to do push ups or sit ups in order to eat!  This photo also shows the sad state of affairs for the condition of the roof.

My plan was to come off of the existing barn roof overhang.  I put in treated 4x4's for the corner posts and cemented them in and then affixed the treated 2x4s to the existing roof.  Things started coming together nicely.  It was a beautiful day.  A fat hen was supervising the process.

Soon I had framed up the walls and hung the sides and ran 1x4's along the roof to support the roof tin.

One key part was the American Flag.  I wanted to save Old Glory that I had painted so many years ago.  The side of the goat barn does need to be washed to restore the Stars & Stripes that are tattered somewhat.  Fortunately, we were successful in saving the flag.

I got the roof on and even hung the horseshoe over the door that was on the old goat barn!

Here's the view from west to east.  I'll need to bring some fill dirt in to raise the floor level up a bit so the animals aren't standing in water when it rains heavily.  That'll come a little later.

And here's a look from north looking south.  I added a little window so when we're in the barn, we can look toward the house to see if we have company.  

We got the new, refurbished goat barn completed in two days.  It's a good thing it's done.  Callie, one of our Nubian goats, is big and pregnant.  This barn may be her labor and delivery room along with the nursery once she kids.  It'll be a good place to put her in a solitary environment with her baby or babies when they come.  The cows get real curious when new animals are welcomed to the barnyard.  We always get a little nervous with a 1,000 pound cow or three being nosy around a tiny goat.

Hopefully, the new goat barn will stand for twenty something years like the old one did!

A Bridge Too Far

I'm going to start off with great news (to me at least).  The time change we experienced on Sunday has made the days longer.  When I get home now the sun is still shining and it gives me an opportunity to get outside and get a few things done.  The weather is starting to get nice and it just feels good.

Here's the bad news and I don't mean to complain.  The commute is somewhere on the continuum between intolerable and mind-numbing.  Road construction on the I-210 bridge has pushed almost everyone to travel on I-10.  I've discovered some back roads that take me on a long and meandering circuitous route through the country to get home.  It is almost twice the miles, but less time than stuck in traffic.  A 40 mile commute that, prior to construction, took me 42 minutes, now routinely takes 1 hour and 45 minutes to two hours.  Enough of the belly-aching...

Every once in a blue moon, I'll take I-10 just to see if things have gotten better... and quickly find - it has not.  One big, fat parking lot heading eastbound until you get to the top of the bridge.  Here is a big positive, though.  I've gotten to look at the details on the bridge up close and personal.

The Lake Charles I-10 Bridge spans the Calcasieu River as it flows into Lake Charles.  It has a really interesting feature.  Its railings are accented by 5,286 pairs of dueling pistols like buccaneers carried.  Now 50-60 pair are lost or missing due to accidents, but they still look nice and give the bridge some charm.  I read that originally the railings bordered what was a pedestrian path, but the bridge was closed to pedestrian traffic when the bridge became part of the I-10 system.

Image Credit

The bridge was opened in 1952 and the dueling pistols pay homage to the area's pirate history and legends of Jean Lafitte.  It is said that the infamous pirate has chests of doubloons buried among local bayous.  I spend my lunch breaks scouring the banks of Contraband Bayou searching for retirement income.  No success in locating treasure yet, but I'll keep you posted.  Of course I jest.

While the bridge is rich in history, lore, and charm, it is poor in other areas.  According to THIS LINK

The state of Louisiana has rated this bridge at 2.4 on the National Bridge
Inventory Rating Scale of 0 to 9 with 0 being "Failed Condition". Therating of 2.4 on the Calcasieu River Bridge classes this bridge at or near"Critical Condition".

Yikes!

Perhaps I should stick to my long, meandering "country" route home!  I mean looking at dueling pistols adorning the railing is nice, but plummeting to my death on my commute home isn't on my bucket list.

Whistling Past the Graveyard

Gathering Materials for the Barn Expansion

We're building an expansion to our barn, adding two "lean-to's" on either side.  Last week we showed how we put the four 4x4's on either side of the barn that will serve as the supports to hold up the roof extension.  Saturday was the day that we circled on the calendar to get things started.  I woke up at first light and drove to the farm in Oberlin to gather the building materials that Dad had offered to me for the project.

I like things with sentimental value and/or things with a story.  Here is a story (or two) about the raw materials we're using for the barn:  The wood we'll be using for framing up the roof is from a very tall and straight pine tree that was struck by lightning many years ago at Mom & Dad's house where I grew up.  The 5 acre property had numerous pine trees.  My brother and I had a Honda Z50 mini bike that we would ride.  We had a game where we'd throw pine cones at each other and try to knock each other off the mini bike.  Crazy, I know.  These weren't the pine cones that are open, but the ones that are tight and hard.  One time I knocked Kristian off the mini bike with a pine cone and he picked up a pine knot and knocked me over the head with it and knocked me out.  Who knows?  This pine lumber could very well be from the same tree!  Now when people ask me what's wrong with me, I can say I've been hit in the head...  At least I have an excuse!

Back to the story: Dad called a gentleman who was our crop duster pilot.  He also had a portable sawmill and cut up logs on the side.  He came and cut the tree into 2x4s and we stacked and dried it.  The lumber sat for years in the shop.  We're now going to use 58 of the 2x4s to construct the barn lean-to.

Now we'll also use corrugated tin for the barn lean-to roof.  At the farm we had an old pole barn that we called the "Combine Shed."  We stored the combines under the shed to keep them out of the weather.  As hot as it ever got during the summer months, for some reason, it always was cool and shady under that barn.  Over the years, hurricanes and thunderstorms ravaged the old shed.  It has fallen and its remaining structure is hidden behind the tall grass below.

Many sheets of tin from that barn, however, were stacked up.  I'll be using that tin for the roof.  The tin has many holes where it was nailed up to the rafters of the combine shed, but I'll patch them with caulk and it'll work just fine.  I worked as fast as I could Saturday morning and loaded the old cattle trailer with lumber and tin and made my way back home to begin the work.  A carpenter was meeting me to begin construction.

We had perfect weather to begin this construction project and I'll tell you about it tomorrow.