christmas eve at the farm would not be complete without a good dose of either construction or destruction. this year i chose the latter. yesterday was spent ripping off all of the siding boards, a task that i had begun about a year ago. the barn (once a machine shed and stud horse barn) has been a long-term project, starting with collecting anything resembling a useful tool or antique. since this shed was the only one without tin, the contents have slowly been soaked with rain and the daylight filtering through the hole-filled cedar shakes has been inadequate to dry the moisture, creating a rather moldly, soggy environment. implements were shuffled to more sound structures, scrap iron and tin was transported to the local scrap yard (mullins salvage).
a year ago i offloaded a hefty pile of saturated wood which was amply covered in raccoon droppings. i also found an eight-foot long black snake which seemed to be hunting mice. this freed the half-loft from a great burden and led to a rambunctious removal of the siding on the north side. the barn was left in this state until most recently.
fast-forward to xmas eve day where the barn is a mere skeleton, standing on its main posts both solid and rotted. the roof is mostly intact, or at least as intact as has been traditionally normal. the posts all had a decent 15degree lean to the east and was begging to be shoved in that direction. i spent a while gathering what lengths of chain were around and fired up the john deere 3010. the five pieces of chain i found varied in individual length, but gave me enough distance to hook to one of the four center posts and keep the tractor safely away from the drop zone.
a few final checks, a brief consultation with el don, who had coughed and sputtered his rusty ford ranger nearby for the event, and i mounted the tractor to see what would happen. the first tightening of the chain looked good and started the structure rocking in my direction. i rolled back forward (loosening the chain as i was backing up for best view and stability), then gave another tug which snapped a weak link on one of the 5 chains. after a few minutes i was rehooked and went for the next tug. i throttled up the engine, let out the clutch and pulled the barn my way. it fell neatly and easily with one corner hooking on a tree, which rotated and snapped the brittle roof and laid the near side flatly on the frozen grass with the far side falling within the footings of the old barn.
the cleanup was the time-consuming part, as i intended to save the largest and most sound beams and boards. much of it is oak and the 100yr drying period has locked many of the nails tight, and the rusty fasteners often snap or shear off and fly past like a bullet. tonight i will sleep sound as about half of the reclaiming and half of the repiling of the rotten wood is already finished.