More Looking back from yesterday...

If you read yesterday's post, remember that I had already 

begun a stroll down memory lane.

Did you see the 'Sanka' choice on the board?

Dad says it was the decaf choice.

It made me laugh...

What about the picture of the coffee cups?

I had to think today,

can you imagine the men & women perched on the stools...

drinking their coffee and talking about the latest news, gossip,

weather or crop reports?  If those coffee cups could talk...

After we left the museum,

we headed out to 'The Farm'.

It is where Randy's grandparents raised their family.

We lived there for 17 years.

It's the longest that I've ever lived anywhere!

Our kids spent most of their childhood there.

We planted and harvested many bushels of wheat.

The kids rode in the tractors, combine, wheat truck and had more 

'little lunches' than a body can count.

*Little Lunch is what Grandma Bertha called her field meals...

and let's just say they could rival most 6 course meals!

So, let's begin the memories from yester-years...

(is that a word??)

We never stored anything in this silo,

but it holds many memories.

For many years Randy would crawl up to the top and mount a 

6'+ star, that he made, every Christmas season.

We had owls roost up there often...

I loved hearing their 'hoots' echo in the silo.

One year we had 4 Turkey Vultures up there...kind of creepy!

There were countless times that we would launch water balloons at it...

trying to see if we could get one inside.

Youth groups, family reunions or just the 4 of us for fun.

I kind of miss the space to be able to do that....so much fun!

And when we used hedge apples when they hit the 'cattle shed' to the left...quite the noise!

Speaking of noise...One New Year's Eve,

we had friends over.

The men boys went outside and a short time later we heard a rather Loud...

KA-BOOM!!

They had set off an aceytlene bomb!

I can't believe that it didn't crumble the silo

or wake up Aunt Ruth!!

We have been storing some things in the back half of the shed since we've moved from there.

It's time that we go through and either bring things home, sell or throw away some things.

If you haven't used it for 7 years...you don't really need it do you?

A lot of the things are really kept for sentimental value...

if we are going to be honest!

Randy, Preston & I headed to the farm on Friday afternoon.

(We had to utilize that manual labor while he was home for spring break!!)

And it was the first day that it wasn't raining!!

This shed has seen a lot in its many years!
It's had bins thrown into it's side thanks to a Kansas tornado.
It has been used for several church functions.
We had many pig roasts, picnics & bon fires here
and the shed protected us when the weather didn't always cooperate with us.

These are a few of the items that are needing to find a home.

This used to hold horse feed in the barn.

Pre-our family...we never had horses.

I've always wanted to find a way to use it.

I don't know why, but it has a certain charm about it for me.

Randy has an idea...more on that if we get to it. :)

I'm not sure if we ever had all 4 chairs.

I think I may bring these home and paint them some fun colors.

Maybe make a cushion for them.

Hi Honey!  Sorry, I hadn't filled you in on that thought sooner.

Surprise! :)

One of these chairs got tossed I think...

because it used to be in the breeze-way...

and so was our dog.

A yellow lab that we rescued and was under two years old.

She used it as her chew toy!

(Along with any shoes in the vicinity and the siding on the house!!)

I LOVE this old Round Oak Stove!!

We always hoped to build a house and put it in a basement.

Realistically...that probably isn't going to happen.

How about using it as a chiminea on our patio!

It would be sooooo cute!!

This IS coming to our house!

Randy wants to have it sandblasted and painted.

It had a special spot in the yard for many years!

I remember the sound that it used to make as it spun in the wind.

We always wanted to incorporate it in some kind of water feature by the 

water hydrant in the backyard at the farm.

Maybe we can do that here?

Hmmm...what do you think about that idea Hubba?

Not sure what to do with this old grain wagon.

I haven't found any ideas on Pinterest for old grain wagons... 

Here is another item that we always wanted to incorporate into a basement.

One with air hockey, big tv, bar, fridge & pop machine...

Not gonna happen.

It used to be at the Central Kansas Hatchery.

Randy's parents owned it for awhile and I worked for them.

Dan Ferguson...guess we'll see if you read my blog posts...

'cause we talked about you taking it back to Cali with you sometime!

And to think...I'm a Coke person!!

We had finished going through the bins and shed.

While Randy finished 'tying' up the loose ends,

I went to the other end of the shed to explore a few items from the past.

Randy made this basketball goal for the kids.

We have played many hours of basketball in this shed!

I would love to have it here at our house.

It is adjustable...all the way from 3' or less to...

10+ feet!  We had markings to set the height.

This is where I began to lose it.
The tears welled up as I remembered the fun times spent in here.

Our names were still on the door!

The magnets were still there!
It was so much fun slamming the magnets against the door
as we moved them to the next letter for our opponents!!

We would challenge each other in H-O-R-S-E or sometimes W-I-L-L-I-E.

Remember we are huge KSU Wildcat fans!

I used to kid Randy about practicing out here when he said he was working.

He would make the most AwEsOmE 3 point shots from the corner of the tractor!!

I think I always followed him...and was usually the first one out! 

I miss it!!!

Who knows what is on this panel??
My guess...June, Edie, Dorothy & Nelson do!

This was Grandpa Dale's 'record book' so to speak...

for the tractors & combine.

He wrote down the machine, date & number of hours it had on it

when he changed the oil.

He kept track of the rain totals on a pad in the chicken house.

That is long gone...we tore it down when we lived there.

My hubba continued in his grandfather's footsteps.

Not much has changed.

Except it's not as clean as when Randy had the shed.

And these aren't Grandpa's tools...

But this door...

I remember hollering out the kitchen window

to tell Randy dinner was ready or the phone was for him...

and seeing him pop his head out.

I wonder how many hours Randy spent in this shed?

Working alongside his grandpa, dad & brothers.

Passing along what he knew to his son...

I think that it's one of the things he misses most.

He has a shed now where he can go and 'tinker'.

But, it's not the same as 'the shed'.

He would go outside after supper every night.

The kids and I would join him outside often and we'd play some kind of game in the big yard.

I love this old cupboard.

It used to be in the basement of the farm house.

It stored Grandma's home canned goods.

Things that she had grown in her garden...

miss that.

Now, this is a sight that I don't see in my yard anymore!!

Not sure what kind of animal this belonged to...

I love the chipped paint look of the doors.

I took some of Preston's favorite senior pictures against these doors.

I can still hear how it echoed as the doors 'squeaked' open or close.

We used to have a diesel and a gas barrel for the farm vehicles.

Many tractors have been fueled here...

This is just north of the gas barrel.

It leads to one of the fields that we farmed north of the house/shed.

Our dogs are buried to the right of your screen in the row of trees .

I usually go back and see the spots and remember how much we loved them both.

It was muddy, so I didn't head back this time.

This is the nouth 'chicken house'.

I can't believe it's still standing!!

Every time we go to the farm it's leaning more!

This little building used to be by the farrowing house for the pig feed.

We moved it close to the shed when the kids were little & cleaned it out.

It stored their outside toys and was like a playhouse for them.

The bins...used to be filled with wheat.

We have been using a few of them to store some of our things.

I remember Grandpa, Nelson or Randy filling them with wheat using the auger.

Used to scare me to death.

It really scared me the time Grandpa got stuck in the wheat!

Farming is dangerous!!!

The kids spent many hours playing in the sand pile.

I could see it from the kitchen window.

Both of the dogs we had would always stay near the kids when they were playing outside.

If I had to be in the house, I could always look out and see where they were.

I just had to look for the dog!!

Hard to believe how many memories this building holds for our family...

This is the tree house that my husband made with our son when he was little.

It's made out of barn boards that used to line the wall of the basement in Randy's childhood home.

The boards came from the barn that used to sit on this property.

So, in a way, those boards came full circle.

The poor tree house is falling apart.

It hurt me to look at it.

This HUGE oak tree was planted as a seedling by Randy's Grandma Bertha.

It's an amazing tree!  So beautiful when it's fully leafed out!

I've always loved this building.

We had our kids' senior pics taken by this building.

It looks like a big bird house to me.

I love the aged wood...

and rusted hinges, etc.

Do you see what I mean about this building?

Looks like all we need is the Big Grey Wolf to Bbbllooowww this house in!

Another little building that I love..but we never used.

I'd love to have the wood from any of these 3 buildings!

I could find a lot of projects to use them on from Pinterest!!!

So many trees on this ground!

I remember hearing the wind whistle through their branches!

Lots of exploring done in these 'woods'!

One of the many mulberry trees.

This one housed some turkeys that we snuck up on once!

Randy called out to them...

they answered back and flew out of the tree!

I remember hearing loud bursts of thunder during many a thunderstorms...

and the next day finding bark blown off one of the trees!

Don't know how many times one of our dogs went swimming in the lagoon!

So disgusting!  I do remember when Ron's dogs came to visit...

and they took a dip in the lagoon.  City slickers...

I was glad that I took a stroll around the farm.

It may be one of the last times that I get to take a detailed walk around the place.

It was nice to walk in the nooks and crannies that I haven't seen in years!

This is our old 'burn' barrel!

I don't miss having to burn our trash.

FYI...diapers don't burn well!

This was a great alley way when we played hide-n-seek!!

It's REALLY dark at night!

You'd better know your way around the place if you are playing in the dark!

So many memories have been created on these 12 acres of land...

I'm glad that they are not locked away.

It only takes walking around or looking at a picture or two to bring them all flooding back!

And flood they did!!  I think I cried almost the whole way to dump our load.

Unfortunately, we can't go back...
but it sure is good to remember!