framed photographs of my Grandpa's barn (and plow)

Manikin's post of her 'old family farm' photo this morning prompted me to show this. [THANKS, Mani! :-) ] Perhaps some of y'all that follow my posts will recall that several months ago I put up a whole buncha odd stuff I "acquired" when my folks sold their farm (to a cousin of mine, so it still remains 'in the family'!!) and moved into town. That farm has in fact been 'in my family' for 125+ yrs -- though I myself never lived there, Mom grew up right there on that very plot of land -- and her Dad was the one that built this barn, likely slightly before she herself came along. I have many childhood memories of playing in it (during holiday visits, etc...none of which involved 'pain' or 'bleeding' miraculously?!) and in fact now own numerous assorted 'artifacts' ultimately rescued from it since.

These are three actual 4" x 6" color photographic prints framed together behind glass, thus a few weird little glimmers also show from lighting reflections in my snapshots here, though I worked hard to minimize that while taking/choosing them. The photographs depict the barn (and the old iron plow which sat behind it forever, since Grandpa himself likely left it there?) as it existed in the summer of 2000 and were actually taken by one of my uncles then, Mom had them framed and gave them to me for x-mas shortly after...they've been on the wall in my own house somewhere ever since. :-)

As of summer 2017, the basic structure of it still remains intact, though the "lean-to" portion (its lower-left side when viewed from the front, which Grandpa likely added to it a few decades later?) has now completely collapsed. Though it continues to slowly deteriorate, the fact that *any* of it still exists is testament to the skills of those who first built it...thinking of the no doubt now countless 'weather events' (snow, ice, wind/tornado,etc.etc) that it has endured since it first got stuck to the ground there, it is kinda amazing that any of it is still there at all. I do not know of my cousin's intentions for it into the future (as its new official owner) though I sorta hope he continues to just leave it sitting there (without ever parking anything remotely valuable close to it much less *in* it, unless said thing is *very* well insured...?) until it might or might not finally tip itself over...maybe tomorrow, or maybe *another* hundred years from now...? ;-) :-)

OH, and to that plow, ifn's anybody is curious. It's not there anymore, having been sold at the auction (for ~$500?!) to someone who wanted it to add to a 2nd apparently similar old implement, to decorate the other side of the entrance road to his own farm somewhere else. Several of my other uncles eventually determined that it was likely an Allis-Chalmers machine, maybe from the 1920's-30's. (earlier?)

[and I'm sorry, but felt like I should probably (learn to <sigh>) deface my own snapshots here with the 'disclaimer' text box thing, since I am in fact not the original photographer and I'd really hate it to find out (sometime in the future) that some random dirtbag swiped my pics of his work from this post to use them for something else on the internets without permission... :-( ]