If you read An old-fashioned barn-falling back in December, you probably wonder what’s been happening at Mark White’s place. Well, so far so good. The whole story appears in this week’s Elk Rapids News. My copy hasn’t been delivered yet so I don’t know which pictures Tom Vranich used, but here are my favorite updates:
Two weeks after the roof fell, bright yellow scaffolding rose in the interior of the barn. The structure was squared up, and metal strapping reinforced the old beams. “It’s stronger than ever,” said Mark. “It should last for another 90 years.”
By January 3 the new trusses were going up.
January 6 was a beautiful day. Mike Derks and his crew had finished installing the trusses and were busy nailing down the new roof boards on the west side, hoping to finish that before the next blizzard blew off the Bay. I wish I could take photos that would show you just how far up they were, but trust me, from the ground it seemed as if they were on top of the world. I can only imagine what it looked like from their perch.
It has been an enormous amount of work. Every time it snowed-and it has snowed a whole lot in Antrim County this winter-Mark has had to shovel out his barn before the repairs could continue. When it’s all finished, he thinks he’ll have some kind of celebration. In the spring the barn will get a new coat of whitewash.
We had some more “lake effect” last night. Five or six inches of it at the Writing Studio and Bait Shop, nice and fluffy this time. I’ll have to take Miss Sadie and the Cowboy for a ride to see whether Mike Derks and crew had the roof boards on ahead of the snow, or whether Mark White is shoveling out his barn again . . . I’ll let you know.
giiid
February 5, 2010
Very interesting story, and photos. I once saw something about how Americans – in the good old days -, were helping each other to make a barn or a house. It looked so very cosy. It seems that Americans still have this tradition, when it comes to serious matter.