Before this weekend’s activities…
I was going to share barn pictures.
Let’s get to it!
This barn used to belong to D. and M. when I came here almost 30 years ago.
I helped brand their calves…
I ate in their yard…
They were not a story to me…
They were real.
D.’s father had homesteaded here.
There are still descendants of D. and M. around…
but they lost this original ranch.
Like many families…
their legacy lives in these old buildings…
and stories told
of people long gone…
Of winters buried in snow with no way to get to town…
Of children lost to accident or disease…
Of animals lost to predators, blizzards, freezing rain, and disease…
Of creating most of your belongings with your own hands…
Of carving out your tiny home in the expansive scenery…
Of ingenuity that eased your life…
So many whispers linger in these old boards…
infuse the soil…
float on the breeze…
sift through the snow…
You can’t help but feel them…
and sigh with them…
and laugh with the joy that this place gave to its owners.
For it was a place of joy…
once.
Find me here!
