7=3=16 ~ The Barn Collective in Green and Yellow

It is Sunday and time for Tom's Barn Collective.

This is a beautiful home and barn complex not too far from home. The yellow and green with the while windows and fencing make for such a lovely rural landscape.

6-26-16 ~ Steven's Barn and Our Old Land Rover

Once again it is time for Tom the Backroads Traveller's Barn Collective. Please some and join.

This is the old Steven's barn just down the road from us where STILL sits our old and beloved blue and white Land Rover.  It's has been resting there for way over 25 years. Gene is still wanting me to buy it back from his son even tho it probably does not run. Remember...it was my eldest son who after a driving lesson in the front field turned it over into the creek crossing our Bridge to Somewhere. I see it every time I go in or out of town and wish we still had it...all 6 miles to the gallon.

I just had to add this watercolor I finished yesterday. My precious Eloise has now finished elementary school and is off to middle school in September....oh, dear...now the fun really starts. I posted it on my Buttons for Baga art blog, but wanted to share it here, too. The little girls are all her pals. Some went to her school and some to other schools. The ones with the National Elementary Junior Honor Society scarves around their necks were at her school. Add one more thumbs up from me for my granddaughter's job well done!

February 8, 2016 ~ Maryland Barn #2

"I was so naive as a kid I used to sneak behind the barn and do nothing."
- Johnny Carson

There seem to be lots of white barns on the roads around Chesterton Maryland.

This post is linked with Tom’s Barn Collective.

#23 ~ Our Barn and Homeplace in the Snow of January 2016

Yep...This is our old barn.

The front of it.

I have told Tom many times how much I like the editing he does with his barn pictures. well, today we emailed me with 2 edits he had done for me. I asked if it would be OK with him if I posted him, and he said it was fine, I think they turned out so pretty. The other one is further down the page with the picture of our house.

The back of it.

The Chicken House Door

We are getting ready to put up a new fence and get us some chickens.

We have missed our fresh eggs so much over the years. They have a happy nice sized home inside the barn and are not cramped at all.

These are “horse” stalls, but our pony, Pretzil lived out in one of our fenced in cow fields. Somehow he got the gate open or something because our baby decided after a bad ice and snow storm to wander into the creek we guess to get a drink of water. This happened around 35 years ago, so I do not remember all the details. Well, that was the end of our pet. When we got up the next morning Pretzel was upside down stiff as a board, and we had to call a farmer neighbor a with one of those pusher thingies - I think it is called a back hoe - to pick it up and take it to the happy hunting ground for ponies. It was so sad we have never gotten another one.The children were devastated.


This was the goat house for Rosebud and Sagebrush. They were very naught goats and would devour our garden. We finally gave them away to some neighbors. This is now used for extra building materials left over from the two bathrooms.

 This is the garage for the old Model A or T or whatever car that came after the horse and buggy we have pictures of out in front of the house.
It is my favorite thing on the property.

This side view of the barn had a tree growing out of this window.

We did cut it down years ago :-)

Our one outbuilding....our only storage. No usable attic and no basement...and one closet.We have got to do some work on that roof over the shed part. It does not look this bad when it is not covered in heavy snow, but it is need of some serious work.

Bud and Jack shoveling the Bridge to Somewhere.

A Snow covered Bridge to Somewhere
Yes, we lost a tree. 

Our neighbor from across the road plowing us out. 

He does this every time we get a bad storm and refuses to take a dime. 

We have begged him to take something, but he always says “NO! 

He is also the mailman and a very good neighbor and friend.

Our creek as pretty as it gets.


The Homeplace
It does look pretty in the snow.
The addition there on the left is a handicapped bathroom just in case I need it.
My son, Gene...Eloise’s daddy...designed it for us.

Here is the other picture that Tom edited for me. It looks SO good.

Icicles on the bay window in our living room.

This post is liked with Tom’s Barn Collective. 
Please consider participating in this meme. 
It is full of wonderful new barns each Sunday.

#17~ Sensabaugh Egg House and Other Buildings

“A true friend is someone who thinks you are a good egg

even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.”

~Bernard Seltzer

Last week I shared with you the old white barn at Mr. Sensabaugh’s Egg Farm. This week I am sharing a picture of his old chicken house that dates back many, many years. It is amazing that it has not fallen into total disrepair. An artist friend of mine, Elizabeth Sauder, left a comment last week telling me that her mom, a now retired history teacher I have know since I moved here, told her that the law dictated that Mr. Sensabaugh  “candle” all of the eggs before he could sell them. He did this even though he could not see the results, and the eggs passed inspection. If any of you are curious to know what “ candling" is, under my pictures is an informative article from The University of Illinois. I had no clue what it was. It is amazing that Mr. Sensabaugh was able to do this. Possibly his wife helped him complete the process.

Be sure to check Tom, Backroads Traveler, and his Barn Collective to see lots of barns.

Chicken House

Small Barn

Shed

Eggs are candled to determine the condition of the air cell, yolk, and white. Candlingdetects bloody whites, blood spots, or meat spots, and enables observation of germ development. Candling is done in a darkened room with the egg held before a light. The light penetrates the egg and makes it possible to observe the inside of the egg. 

The candler should be set on a box or table at a convenient height (about 38 to 44 inches from the floor), so the light will not shine directly into the eyes of the operator. In candling, the egg is held in a slanting position with the large end against the hole in the candler. The egg is grasped by the small end and, while held between the thumb and tips of the first two fingers, is turned quickly to the right or left. This moves the contents of the egg and throws the yolk nearer the shell. Because of the color of their shells, brown eggs are more difficult to candle than white eggs. 

To do a reasonable job, an extensive knowledge of candling is not necessary, particularly if the eggs are all relatively fresh. One should be able to distinguish a fresh egg from a stale egg and detect such abnormalities as bloody whites, blood spots, meat spots, and cracked shells. In a fresh egg, the air space is plainly visible and moves freely. The white is thin and clear. In a stale egg, the air space is plainly visible and moves freely. The white is thin. 

Most newly laid eggs are good quality. Eggs not over two or three days old, if held under good conditions, will meet the specifications for Grade A. The only eggs to be removed by candling are those with bloody whites, blood or meat spots, and cracked shells.

#9 ~ The Old Sensabaugh Egg Farm

"Farming is a profession of hope."

~Brian Brett

These buildings are all part of the old Sensabaugh Egg Farm. There is a very interesting story here. Mr. Sensabaugh was blind, but that did not stop him from doing all the needed chores around the farm. He could drive the tractor, plant, raise his chickens and collect the eggs plus plant and harvest potatoes. The most amazing thing is he could use electric machinery like table saws much to his wife’s chagrin. He fixed everything that broke and usually by himself. We bought eggs there for years and then potatoes. Now grasses are grown in the field for feed.  You can click on the picture and then do “control +” to enlarge it.

Picture taken January 4, 2016, with Bud’s hiking waterproof & shockproof Canon PowerShot D20.
(It’s waterproof to 33 ft and shockproof to 5 ft...a bit heavy, but it does the job. He now uses his iPhone 6 all the time, and this have been handed down to me.)

Go to Tom’s backroadstraveler’s Barn Cooperative to see lots more old barns.

Camp Maxwelton's Green Barn

Go to Maxwelton~Learn about Life

“Making memories with FRIENDS is not a waste

of time. It’s a lifetime moment that we’ll surely

TREASURE when an old age comes.”

~Author Unknown

The Barn at Camp Maxwelton, Rockbridge Baths,VA

This picture is from my archives dating back to 2011. All three of my Maryland grandsons attended as campers and then as counselors. All of the counselors for both the boys' and girls’ camps are former campers. A fellow teacher of mine (high school biology, Lee McLaughlin, and his wife and sons continue to run the camp his daddy started years ago ~ 1951 we think. Here boys learn about love for one another, gentlemanly behaviors, sportsmanship, honor, compassion, and reverance as well as rafting, hiking, cooking a pig all night long for the 4th of July, mountain biking, horseback riding, wall climbing, archery and shooting...and the list goes on and on. Families send their sons generation after generation and many return there for their weddings. Camp Maxwelton is loved by all who have ever been there ~ camper or visitor ~ and especially Buddy and me. Even though our grandsons are now in and out of college, we are still welcomed there with open arms and enjoy our visits. The barn continues to look exactly like this today. It is a beautiful, well kept structure that stands out like a diamond in the rough. Now, they have a fourth generation coming along to carry on this wonderful camp.

This second little quote makes me giggle. It is definitely my grandsons and me. Buddy is a way different story :-)

“I hate camping, but I love summer camp.”

~Zooey Deschanel

This post is linked with:

Tom’s Barn Collective
NF DAM ~ Digital Art Meme
Good Fences
ScenicWeekends