Today's progress;

1. Floor closed up in the drive through
2. Animal door trim complete
3. All hinges installed (7) on the South Side drive through doors - Doors Operational
4. Tools no longer being used are being moved to the Dutch Barn

Doesn't seem like much does it.....These little things that finish up the barn give it that finished look.  As planned Thanksgiving will be held in the barn.....The tables are there.

Here are a couple of pictures from today.

Left to Right - Tim places the last pintel on the South door, The last hinge is bolted into place, Dad, Tim and Kirk stand in front og the now swinging split door.
  

HAPPY THANKSGIVING and Thanks to all who gave to make this possible.....

Ken

  Today in the mix of rain and dampness we got doors trimmed and doors hung and swinging.  Yesterday Tim and Dad mounted very old door latches into the animal and people doors on the barn.  What a great sound these latches make when they open and close.  We are just about ready for Thanksgiving in the barn.....

The South door hung and swinging.....I will be posting a video on You Tube when I get the time.  Trust me they swing and they swing fine.  Just to confirm the hinges in these photographs were taken from the original barn built on this location in 1799.  They were hand-made from wrought-iron by a local blacksmith and installed.  They have been reborn to work again.  Thanks Dad for taking the time as a 10 year old boy to save these for today. - Ken

We Did it - Thanks to All!

At approximately 5PM on 23-November-2008 the last of the 9 doors was placed into position.  The barn is now full closed in.  Quite honestly I am not sure what to say at this point.  I do know we've got some where around 2000 person-hours of time into this project that has received contributions of time from so many people across so many different tasks.  I wish to extend the following thanks before I write the balance of this blog.

• I wish to extend a sincere and honest thanks to all who inhabited Pleasant View Farm since 1799, for without them we'd not have had a barn to rebuild.  They had the vision to look at our farm and took it upon themselves to create the destiny we are all now enjoying.
• I knew my Grandmother some but she passed away when I was 5.  I know she struggled to ensure to keep the farm going.
• After Grandma, it was Mom and Dad (Peg and Ev) who toiled under the pressures of raising a family, working full-time and keeping the farm solvent.  We don't need to get into details, suffice it to say the farm did not survive the depression and difficult financial times without the extraordinary effort of Mom and Dad.  Without this effort there would have been no land on which to rebuild this barn. 
• Then there was a time when the farm was kept a farm by my brother Ernie.  He preserved through his love of the land the farming tradition that is new being reborn by another generation.  Mixed in there are my siblings Mary Jane and Jim who each in there own way contributed to what we all cherish today.  My siblings Jim, Ernie and Mary Jane helped build this barn each in their own way.   To them I extend my thanks.
• As we move closer to present time and this project.  My wife Pat of 31 years gave us a son Timothy who through nothing less than an act of divine intervention shares the love and reverence for this farm.  I see in Timothy the creativity and dedication that our ancestors must have possessed when they fist embarked on the creation of the original barn in 1799. 
• In this project, my wife Pat has prepared meals, delivered drinks and even climbed a ladder taller than ever before to finish nail a wall stud in last November.  That feat pales in comparison to the support she has provided in the countless hour of home management she's done while I travel all week long and work on he barn all weekend.  Thanks Babe for loving me and supporting this project in so many ways which cannot be measured in board feet of lumber.
• To my son Timothy, I owe a measure of thanks that if measured in dollars it would not be possible to repay.  The interactions between my son and father over the last 15 months has been that I cannot describe.  Call it a blessing indeed.  Thanks Tim.
• Along about 14 months ago Kirk Greenfield showed up at PVF and quite honestly has never left.  Unequivocally, I can say the barn would not be where it is today if Kirk had not spent countless days working with Tim and Dad.  Kirk, I've thanked you before but I need to again.  I know out family and farm is better for having met the Kirk Greenfield and his family.
• I must mention the two regulars who gave many of their weekend hours to help this project.  Ray Smith and John Hughes came by and helped so much.  Their help in this project has been measured in muscle power, trips up and down ladders and countless hours of personal time sacrifice.

Many, many people helped get this project to the milestone event and I hope you all understand the level of gratitude that Pleasant View Farm extends to all of you.  Below I highlight some of the moments that meant a lot to me.

• Last September Trish and Girard Marciano took the time to hitch their team of draft horses and dove them up the hill to pull the first timbers into place as would have been done in 1799.  Then one hot day this fall, you showed up again and moved dozens of 2 inch planks into the barn so we could focus on flooring the barn.
• In preparation for raising day people jut started showing up, most of whom I have had not ever met before.  You know who you are and I thank you.
• On raising day you returned and brought friends......The barn went vertical......Thanks again.
• I close by thanking God for all the gifts this experience has brought to our farm.  Generations to come will view this project in awe of what the human mind conceived and achieved through the gifts provided in the past and present my God himself.  I'd like to thank him personally for the gift of great weather that was provided on so many critical days.

Thanks to ALL OF YOU.......

Below are some pictures and captions from this "Close-Up Weekend".

A Dream and Barn are Born - Dad works on the model that became our barn.

Dad holds the model in place on 21-February-2007 - The Barn on 22-Nov-2008 and 23-Nov-2008

Then and Now

Dad and Tim at ground breaking on 8-31-2008 -- Dad and Tim congratulate each other in front of the South Doors 23-Nov-2008

There are lots more photos in the album of this weekend.  Including photos of Tim making the last mortise and tenon and the group present when the barn was closed in with the last door. 

Last but by no means least I extend my deepest and meaningful thanks to Brandt Bolding for the countless journeys he's made from the southern tier of NYS to professionally document this entire project as a personal favor to my father.  Thanks Brandt......

Best regards to all and Happy Thanksgiving for which this family has so much to be thankful for.

Ken

As you an see below and in the album for today - we got the South Side Animal Door made and hung today.  We also cut to length and created the grooves in all of the boards to create the large doors.  A year ago we were almost done for the year....It was 11-25-07 that that winter closed the door on the barn building.   As winter closed in we picked up the rafters, the slabs for the loft floor and Pat drove the last nail of the season in one of the West wall studs.  See below for a few photos from the close of the building season in 2007.

Now for some photos from today 11-16-08. Captions run left to right. All the photos for today are in an album on this site.

The barn as it now looks from the road, Tim and Dad show the finished door before hanging, Tm mounts the upper hinge for the animal door.

Tim and Dad show off the new door (1 and 2), All the lumber for the large doors - ready for assembly.
   

Next weekend we assemble and hang the large doors.  There are two full size doors to make and hang and two half doors, which wll be made as one, cut and hung separately.  If you recall the photos of the hay loft door which was about 42"x48" weigh about 60 pounds imagine what a 5.5' wide by ~11.5 feet tall.  So if you were ever anxious to experience what it was like to hang these doors over 200 years ago, you could come witness it first hand.  This is also the last major piece of construction on this epic journey.  Nope we are not done, but it is the last piece of construction of an idea conceived in February 2007.....Ken 

Then and Now

Photos from 11-17-2007
- Left to Right

Rafters at the lumber yard (1 and 2), Rafters at Pleasant View Farm.

Photos from 11-15-2008 - Left to Right
Dad pairs up the resurrected hinges, Tim lays out the West Door, West door nearly complete.

A test fitting, Dad and Tim mount the hinges, A working people door on the West Side
  
Ray and Tim pose after the first hinge is installed, Tim mounts the bottom pintel, Dad and Tim enjoy the door.
 
East Side Finished, Dad, Tim and Ray pause to view their work, Tim swings open the loft door.....

Well it was quite a Saturday - The last major production is underway.  The doors are being made and mounted.  The barn is getting darker and darker inside.  We actually had to work with lights in there for the first time today.  Today as you've seen above in the photos we got the East Loft door on and the West People Door.  We've pretty much got the assembly process down....The resurrected hinges are being mounted in their original locations after nearly 80 years.  Imaging if you were a hinge how'd you'd feel to get a chance to work again after so long.

We are getting there.....Not long now.....Ken    

Then and Now.

This is the way our barn looked in early November 2007

Here we are Early November 2008

This weekend we finished the siding on the barn with the exception of 4 pieces of trim on the East Gable end.  We made great progress during the week which allowed us to run right up the East side of the barn with good speed.  We do have to award a prize to the people who traveled the farthest to work on the barn.  Sean and Cindy Irving came from South Africa to help close up the East side.  It was good to see my friend from my days with SI Group and to actually see him work :-).

The usual workers were there, Dad, Kirk, Ray, John which made the work move right along.  Shown down below Tim, Dad, Kirk and Ken look up to the newly finished East wall.

Now we move onto the doors ----- Almost done for this year.  Thanks again to all.  Ken

On a cold fall day, Kirk, Ray, Ken and Dad finished the west side of the new barn.  There is an album that shows all the photos from Saturday's work in this web site below.  Please be sure to red the blog that starts as "78 Years".  Here are a few photos of this weekends progress.  Note: I was one year ago today that News 9 covered the raising of the largest girt in the barn that is now 75% sided.  "A Million Dollars in my pocket couldn't make me happier".

Next weekend weather permitting and help available we'll get the barn closed in sans doors. 

Check out the album for all the pix.

Once upon a time a youth named Everett W. Rau watched as a memory of his childhood feel into disrepair to the point his brother and father decided to raze the barn/structure that helped to shape Everett's memory.   In my imagination  I can see a young child's sorrow as a barn he played in was razed.into a pile of broken timbers and shattered memories.  I can almost hear the sound of the timbers creaking and cracking as the once proud building that housed food and God's creature's for over 100 years came to the ground.  It is my belief that that young man (may father) possessed a vision and dream that one day the barn would rise again.  Who could tell how long it would take? He could not imagine that with the future being uncertain "Anything is Possible".

Who can really say what emotional or idealistic reasons caused a boy of 11 years old to take the effort to preserve the wrought iron hinges from a youthful play area.  Was it a vision, a dream of future resurrection or just a last chance to preserve some small piece of sentimental childhood memories?  Whatever the reason on 11/1/2008 I returned to the basement of the farmhouse with Dad to view for the first time in my life the hinges that came from the first barn on our farm erected over 200 years ago.  Below is a series of photos that shows Dad pointing to the location, followed by the first photos of the hinges in the location they've held for almost 80 years.  At this point I'm an indeed nearly beyond words.  Before I share the photos I'll leave you with the thought - It sure seems to me we all have an impact on future generations with what can seem to be insignificant acts in the present.  Please enjoy the photos.  Imagine if you were a hinge in a dyeing barn - wouldn't you want to be rescued by a young man who could then share the joy  your rebirth with his grandson 78 years later?

Below - Left to Right

Dad points to the location he placed the hinges in ~1930, the first hinge feels the rebirth, Dad displays the collection - all are accounted for.

Below - Left  to Right

Dad and Grandson Tim display a hinge, Dad shows the hinge on the reborn barn, in my out of focus photo you can see the hinge worn from over 100 years of swinging.  Imagine, it will be more than 100 years more before the hinges need repair.