Today, I took Evan to my mom's and we spent some time out on the farm. I'm thankful that we are able to visit the land where 5 generations have lived (6 if you count the occasional visits from the previous generation). Such family historical spots are increasingly rare with today's mobile families.
Evan played in the barn built by his great great grandfather, Charlie Ramsey, who owned this land from about 1930 until he passed it on to his daughter, Betty Madden. I remember Granddaddy Charlie building the barn soon after the house was built in the late 1960's. My brother Randy Madden and later my son Joey have maintained it over the years. It is amazing how entering the barn takes me back to childhood and the times we played there and the animals that we had through the years - the pony Taffy, the pigs, goats, assorted birds including turkeys, guinea fowl, ducks, geese, peacocks, quail, easter egg chickens, Bantam (aggressive banty rooster), domineckers, and assorted others. A favorite game was to try to lock one another in the barn/stalls and then try to escape. I learned that i could crawl through the little adjoining doors (tiny doors for baby animals), then climb up the hay drop (what's the word for that area), then go through the loft and to the opposite row of stalls where I could work the lock loose. What adventures we had!
The old feed room is still in good shape, as is the tack room and the stairway. It is a touching experience to spend time there, knowing that Charlie built it, his daughter Betty and husband Ed worked in it, his grandchildren Randy, Mike, and I kept animals there and played in it. His great grandchildren Joey, Elizabeth, Randall, Jessica, Tyler, Zac and Eric played there and Joey has kept goats there for several years. Now the great great grandchildren have the chance to visit and play.
