Barn by Almost Uncle Tom

Until a person has their very own barn, there's no way to really know for sure how much stuff you really don't need. Once you've filled your barn up with stuff you can spend your time rearranging, cleaning, de-cluttering, fumigating, and de-mousing. It's called "Barn Life" and it's a lot of fun if you run out of other stuff to do.

This particular barn is owned and operated by my "Almost" Uncle Tom. I believe that's Aunt Dee Dee under the awning holding up something Tom dug up while she wonders, "What in the snot is this darn thing and what's Tom ever gonna do with it?" That's just one example of how it works.

Now, on a more serious note, a barn is an essential addition to any earnest outdoorsman's repertoire of guy-things necessary in the fulfillment of his duties as an outdoorsman. Forget that Paul Bunyon only needed an ax and a ox to clear the north woods and that Danial Boone settled the frontier with a muzzle loader and a hatchet. All Tom Bowie needed in order to do all the stuff he did was a knife, although he apparently also have a gun during the Battle of The Alamo.

But most modern day outdoor guys of the County Cole variety, in reality, can't get all that much work done with the implements used by our fore-fathers and fore-mothers. It's difficult to brush hog with a Bowie knife and takes nearly forever to clearcut a barn building-site with a dull hatchet. That's where the barn comes in.  If you build it big enough it will hold all the stuff you'll one day pass on to someone who will probably say, "What in the snot was Tom thinking when he bought this darn thing?"

If I come across any new family barn-information during the family reunion to be held this weekend just outside Califronia, Mo, I'll let you know. On other assorted and random non-critical information....I'll keep you posted.