When We Built Things Better

My daily drives take me through small towns, villages, and cities.  I see a lot of sights and listen to a lot of podcasts and listen to a lot of audiobooks.  I like observing things - scenic landscape that you'll miss if you are distracted.  I'm not much of a builder.  In fact, when I build things, the corners aren't square and it's not pretty.  I mostly build stuff for our little homestead farm and I've discovered that the animals aren't concerned with fine craftsmanship.

But that doesn't mean I don't appreciate it when I see it.  I know one type of architecture I don't like, though.  Brutalist architecture.  Brutalist architecture is defined as "minimalist constructions that showcase the bare building materials and structural elements over decorative design."  Google an example.  It's just not pretty.  I mean, if you're going to build something, build something pretty.  

Today, many buildings are thrown together quickly and cheaply.  Even McDonald's used to have character.  Now, they are just modular, box-like construction.  Most small towns you drive through have a Dollar General and a closed down Family Dollar.  The town now boasts a cavernous, metallic building that is empty with weeds growing up in the parking lot.

There was a time when we built things better.  Less than 10 miles north of my home right off of LA Hwy 26 sits this beautiful old building.  I've long admired it.

I've searched for information about what it is, but cannot find anything on the internet.  I stopped my vehicle and walked around it the other day.

I looked inside of it for clues of what it might have been used for, but found nothing.

I want you to look at the detail on this building.  I think it says, "L. I. & M.C - L. P. Elberson"  Again, I couldn't find anything about this on the internet.  See, in the old days, things were built to last.  You signed your name to what you built, proud of the endeavor.  You put the year it was built on the building, because you built it with quality materials, expert skilled labor, and you knew it was going to last.  Perhaps someone almost a century later would stop their car and walk around it, admiring what you built. 

I'm not sure of what this building was, but I'm going to guess based on some clues I saw.  I think this building housed an engine and a pump.  Jefferson Davis Parish is rice farming country.  Rice requires water.  Lots of water.  People either drill deep water wells or use surface water pumped down canals from the nearby Bayou Nezpique or relifted out of numerous gullies.  The backside of this building seems to sit against the remnants of a canal.

Canals have long since been bulldozed and underground pipelines run to make water delivery more efficient and quicker than canals where evaporation, seepage, and leaks rob you of water needed in the rice field.  I'm guessing this building housed a pump or relift station that delivered water.

In 1936, they were still technically in the Great Depression, and yet, they expended the cost and effort to build a beautiful building that is still standing and still looks regal and appealing.  I tip my hat to you, Mr. L.P. Elberson.  Job Well Done.

As I walked back to my car admiring the building, I almost stepped on this poor fellow.  He was probably admiring the building, too, and didn't see the on-coming traffic.  A similar fate awaited me if I didn't get back to my car.

If anyone can clue me in on what this building really was, I'd be interested to know.  

Like A Cow Lookin' At a New Gate

When a new gate is installed, cows will stare at it in puzzled fashion.  The old saying, "You're lookin' at me like a cow lookin' at a new gate" means simply that - you're puzzled or confused.  I've heard this saying often in country churches when a preacher says something and doesn't get an "Amen" from the congregation.

That saying pertains somewhat literally to our rumination today.  Our back yard butts up against the pasture where the cows, goats and chickens roam.  We have a large gate that you can drive through on the eastern side and a small gate that you can walk through a little west of that one on the east side of the garden.  If you want to get to the western side of the pasture, you must climb over the fence by way of a pool ladder that is placed precariously over the hog wire fence with a tight barbed wire strand running on top.  The pool ladder is rickety and I have nightmares of it falling and causing one of us to be impaled on the metal T-post!

Time to do something about it.  I purchased two treated 4x4's, an 80 pound bag of concrete and a four foot gate.  I dug two holes with my post hole digger, set the 4x4's in the hole using a level to make them true, and mixed up concrete.  I let that cure for 24 hours and then cut the existing fence, and hung the gate, using zip ties to fasten the hog wire I cut from the fence to the gate.  That keeps the chickens from getting out into the yard.  Here is the finished product:

The live oak tree has a big limb that arches over it, making a nice shady place to enter or exit the pasture.  This entry point makes it convenient to let the cows into the backyard to "mow" the grass.  I've only mowed the yard (with an actual lawn mower) two times this year!  You can see the reel for the electric fence in the photo below.

Once installed, the cows indeed looked at the new gate.  All was good.  Or was it?  After the cows looked at it closely, I did, too - with scrutiny.  Do you notice something about that gate?

This American built gate disappoints me.  It must have been quickly welded together either on a Friday, when the workers were eager to knock off or on a Monday after a hard weekend.  The three top horizontal pipes that make up the gate are not level!  Now that I've seen it, I'll never un-see it.  It still functions as a gate, just aesthetically, it leaves a lot to be desired.  I should have scrutinized it more closely upon purchasing.  It is a good reminder to inspect before buying.  It's also a good reminder to always take pride in your work, whatever it is that you're doing.  I'm not gonna sweat it, though, it works and the cows no longer look at it.  I've been running them through it daily to eat the grass in the yard.