BARN CHARM TUESDAY

I took this last fall in northern Michigan near Grand Rapids.  I just loved the whole scene. 
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BARN CHARM TUESDAY

This barn roof was eye catching and very creative but what I saw later was several buildings. One was a winery tasting room and the other a gift shop.

From the road this place was huge. Even better when we visited it.
Here is more info on the place,quite a family business.

They used the barn and turned it into a cider mill. Very huge with a complete ramp for handicap access.

More Barn Charm found here.

BARN CHARM TUESDAY

Could not believe there was a chimney on top of that barn, made me wonder if someone was living in it. 

Looks like a Tin roof on that old barn but I love the vine growing on the silo too.

                                                                                

This one is kinda blurred, taken while driving by, two toned and odd shaped. Was not sure just what kind of barn it was.
All the barns were located in northern Michigan.

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STILL AROUND....

I am still around..what's left of me.. I have lasted so far with the grace of using the public wifi at the library about 2 days a week.I still feel so out of touch with so many. It sure helps but does not in any way feel normal. I do hope that the situation will be better soon. I cannot believe August is here already. We have had such wonderful weather here in Michigan. A great break from the summer heat. 

I have been taking lots of photos lately..things this summer have been slow to bloom in some places. 

Love the look of this tree/bush..flowers, they do make my allergies go crazy though.

GREAT NEWS from our BETH MARIE about her cancer. I am overjoyed with the news and know that our prayers for her are answered.  

DAY SEVENTEEN!!!

I can't believe it's been seventeen days already.. time is passing. Some days slowly and some days I feel very stressed out.. guess you could call it "withdrawal" pains. Keeping in touch with what's "going on" in the blogging world or the Facebook family is very much missed. 

Making it day by day with the lack of connections and the overwhelming heat that is hitting us all this summer. I retreated the library as fast as they opened as did many other people. The heat index today well into 100+ so anyplace that is cool is a good place to be. This past weekend I ventured up north  to attend a birthday party for my niece's 2 year old. Nice to drive up and see the sights again. You never know how large those wind turbines are until you are almost beside them. ONE word..HUGE!
They rise at least 330 feet in the air and the blades are over 200 feet long. There was a huge "farm" of them all over the country-side. 

A boy and his wagon, taking his tractor for a ride. I do remember the days when I got my first wagon. It wasn't as fancy as a Radio Flyer but we did have it most of our entire childhood. A metal Radio Flyer wagon, we found out, is harder to find these days and soon may come obsolete to the more plastic ones. In buying certain models you have to order them, no matter what store you are in. They are only available on line orders. There was a time when a simple wagon like that could be found in any store. Sad sign of the times I guess. Well  until next time I sure hope you all can

LOST WITHOUT ANY CONNECTION!!

If ANYONE ever asks me again.. "Are you addicted to the Internet?" I will gladly tell them YES I AM!! The past 8 days seem like 8 weeks. I have gotten through every day and found myself so bored it isn't funny. I find I read more news on line than I thought I did. I look up more information and challenge myself more than I thought I would. NOT getting to do these things really makes an impact on your whole lifestyle. 
                                         

Lilies finally bloomed late this year..we had so many
but they were much smaller than usual. Talk about
fragrant!

Well I  even though I do get to update my computer maybe once a week..it is not nearly enough. The first day was the hardest. Get into a routine and like breaking any habit it is tricky. I must have picked up my laptop at least 5 times before really realizing, nope you can't use this. Convince yourself that the Internet does NOT exist.. well this worked for several days so far. Counting the days down.. things will get better.. I can only hope.. anyone with any suggestions.. I will take all the help I can get. It really is hard losing touch with those out there in the "internet world". 

LOST MY CONNECTION

Posting here in case I am gone for quite awhile. I have had wonderful free wifi connections for over a year now and am very grateful for them. This connection is temporarily out for the month of July ,so just thought I would let blog readers know. I am without transportation and only occasionally get to a free wifi spot here in town.


HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY 4TH HOLIDAY!!

THAT OLD HOUSE...

Oh how I hate to go by our old home place. It is painful. I know I shouldn't do it but something just tugs at me to go there.
                                                   

Mom always said "you will miss this old place someday" I told her maybe not. Now I do. Not having much of a place of my own these days I surely do miss the order and the freedom to do things like have a garden or the space we had there. It
was painful to know that the BANK which took over the house did NOT clean it out well for the new occupants.The new owner had to get the dumpster and clean it out himself. If we had only known we could have done a better job of ridding the place of stuff we could not take with us. Anyway.. here is how it looked last year....when the new owner started. He removed all the bushes in front, this was before he put on a new roof. It needed one badly. He chose brown.
                               

                               
Now he scraped it this year and took off the railings and placed rocks in front where the bushes are. We get a report every so often as he changes things there. We had a whole lot of calls when the new color was started. When you have a home in a neighborhood that is the same color for 60 years it was kind of a shock to them. I just say they are making it their own place. I think the surprise was the color they chose and how they go together. It is 40 ft to the top of that roof so you start where you can paint standing on the ground etc. I tell people maybe they are just trying colors out to see if they like them. There are at least 4 layers of oil based, lead paint on that house.. YES LEAD based paint. You can see the dark spots bleed through our old white paint. In order to stop that you have to remove the old paint. Well.... that is very hard and expensive to do. I sure could tell the owner some things but I won't. The neighbors won't either. They will just wait and see. Most people know it is very hard to paint with a latex paint over the top of oil base though.. it tends to peel off really fast. 
The latest news from the neighborhood is that the owner's wife is now pregnant and would like to move to a city where her relatives live and that has a HOSPITAL..we don't anymore. The saga continues... I sure hope they don't leave the house partially painted before the move on if they do.  Neighbors laugh and say they would have a paint party and put it back white all over. That really is just a dream though, it's really difficult and expensive to do. Well that is the latest update on THAT OLD HOUSE...will keep you up to date as things develop.  

HELL HOUSE UPDATED..

Soo the other day we got  news on the old HELL HOUSE that stands next to the house we used to live in.  For those who don't know that house had a real crazy history. It housed drug dealers and felons and just about everyone in between. Skunks, opossums, deer, including black mold. This house is three blocks from our downtown, not out in the sticks. The local police only had to hear the name of the street and they KNEW which house they needed to go to.  So despite how bad the house was when it was left for over a year to sit and rot, someone jumped on the price the bank posted and moved in. They got the whole building for $300. down and $300 a month.. I kid you not.  A very large two story house with THREE apts in it. Okay there were tons of problems with it and they fixed them slowly and stayed in the house.  WE were okay with someone DECENT living there. Someone who would keep the house up. HAPPY.. Us.. the police, neighborhood etc were thrilled. 

SO recently we heard that the house was in ruins, inside and out. The family that got the house got mad because they had to move out. You get behind on payments you have to move... that is life. You sure don't wreck the house and leave it in ruins. THAT is just what they did though. I got a call from a former neighbor who told me people were going through the house ransacking it looking to see what they left inside the house when they left. Doors open, windows open, junk everywhere. I guess they tried to leave it the way they got it in the first place. It was a wreck inside. The BANK will not be happy to see what they did. I still say they should have just took the house and tore it down. Who knows, they may just do that in the future. I would guess there are thousands of dollars of damage inside. Amazing enough, the outside really doesn't show it so bad since it had been covered in newer siding. It sure will be interesting to see how long it sits empty this time. The longer it sits the worse it gets..the critters find ways inside and they sure do love it there.  Glad I don't live next door anymore. It just seems to never end there. 

(Reprinted from another post.)

BARN CHARM TUESDAY

This barn was so nice having it's own little house behind it. Loved the metal roof, they certainly wanted it to last a long time. Given the winters we have here in Michigan that's a really good idea. 

This barn looked like it had been just painted..so bright red and the roof so neat and new looking. I loved the windmill next to it.  It was taken in northern Michigan last fall.

SEE more Barn Charm Tuesday HERE

P. S. if anyone experiences any problems with this blog please leave me a comment if you can and let me know. I have tried really hard to get rid of any lingering issues. 
THANKS!!!!

DISGUSTED!!!

I am so disgusted with the ad that has attached itself to my blog, I have contacted BLOGGER but  they have not contacted me on  HOW to fix this problem. I have had this blog for YEARS and never had a problem before. I just really am at a loss right now. I have went through my settings and changed a lot of things and nothing has helped so far. I do hope that no one else has been affected by this blog with any lingering viruses or etc.  I will keep trying to fix the problem..thanks for bearing with me. 

I OPENED ANOTHER BLOG PAGE HERE...

http://andsoitgoesontwo.blogspot.com/

CAT TV

She barely fits on the stool but she sits there anyway.  This indoor only kitty loves to watch "Cat TV" with all the squirrels and birds chirping around. It is spring and the screen enables her to smell and hear the critters. Don't ask what happened when she saw momma groundhog and her three babies in the yard. Oh boy!! 

It was carnival time! The weather cleared up and the kids came running. It's a big deal in a small town. Fairs don't start around here until July. Hard not to notice as you could hear the screaming inside the local store. 

I have had some troubles with this blog page. I am still trying to figure them out and get rid of what ever  was attached here.

HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!

BARN CHARM TUESDAY

Corner of barn. This barn is over 70 years old. Has had two roof repairs
but never anything on the siding. 

This was a chicken coop I think..not much left to it.

FRONT side of  same barn two months later, looks much better than the back. 

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I am aware there are some problems getting to this page, I am looking into solving whatever is attached here. Thanks for visiting.