I have wanted a barn for a very long time. As a child I grew up playing in the barn where my family still lives. I remember fondly the hot summer days making forts out of the hay that had been stacked for feeding the farm animals. And how I loved taking the baby kittens and dressing them in doll clothes! The kittens would clearly let me know when they'd had enough of being "my babies" by meowing loudly and scratching the heck out of me!
Like I said, I have wanted to own a barn since I was a child! My nephew Mike was well aware of this fact and thanks to him I now own a barn (it still needs to be resurrected, but that's all that stands between me and my day dreaming of very soon sitting in my loft)!
Well... this is how I came by my barn....I got a call from my nephew Mike, he said that there was an advertisement for a barn in the Sunday paper. I was immediately intrigued. He gave me the number from the advertisement and I placed my call. I got voicemail. I was so disappointed. My husband (also Mike) could see how disappointed I was, so he also tried calling. He also had to leave a message. We continued on with our day.....
I was busy in the house when Mike came in and said that he had gotten a call from the guy saying that the barn was already taken. Oh bummer. Well, life goes on.
About a week later I got a voicemail on my phone (it was June 6th) (I remember the date because I just transferred to a new department at work). It was from Mike L (owner of the barn). He left me a message asking if I was still interested in the barn - now why he called me instead of Mike I'll never know- but it was great! I called him back on my lunch break and got the details. Apparently there were two barns on the property and after talking to him we determined that the smaller barn may be of interest to me. I found out where the barn was located and said that we would meet him there that night to take a look. I was beside myself when I got off the call with him and called my Mike to let him know what had transpired! We were both excited about the fact that that we may be buying a barn, but we had yet to see it. Needless to say it was very hard to concentrate at work the rest of the day!
As soon as I got off work we drove up to Manchester to take a look at the barn. We had no idea what it would look like or how much damage it might have endured over the years. We found the place by directions not an address. Mike L. had also told me we'd be at the right place if we found a pair of geese. As we pulled into the place we were pretty sure it was the right place, but knew for sure when the geese came out of no where to try and scare us away! I was immediately devoted to getting the barn! In many ways it reminded me of the barn I had played in as a child but in other ways it had its' own unique qualities that I just loved!
We had plenty of time to scout around the place while we waited for the owner to show up. We soon got used to the two geese who we found out were only trying to protect their eggs. In turn they began to ignore our presence once they found out that we weren't going to hurt them.
As previously stated I had learned from talking to the owner earlier in the day that he had another barn that was for sale on the same property. We explored this barn too. It is about 50' x 90' and is also in excellent condition. It had been used as a milk barn. I really enjoyed walking around in the barn and checking out the way it was put together. They don't make them like they used to!
Eventually the owner showed up and we started negotiating the price of my barn. We found out that Mike L had purchased the property and was planning on raising cattle at this location and wanted both barns taken down. He had negotiated a deal with some local Amish who were given the barns to do as they wished as long as they tore down and moved two pole barns to different locations on the property. The price they wanted for my barn was $5000.00 and that was torn down, pieces numbered, and delivered. We didn't spend too much time saying yes to the deal!
Mike L called Orva on his cell phone so that we could work out the details. It didn't take too long to work out the details with Orva (the Amish gentleman that we were going to be buying the barn from). Mike L wanted me to put things in writing, however, I soon realized that I was dealing with a bred of people who still hold old world values- their word means just as much as a signed piece of paper. I did hand write a "contract" and gave a check to the Mike L for half of the price of the barn as a down payment. Orva and I agreed we would work out the details of delivery when they got closer to tearing the barn down.
The month of June was pretty busy with planting my garden, etc. But I was getting a little anxious so I called Orva and he said that they would be starting to tear down the barn that week. With that said we needed to begin preparations for the reconstruction of my barn on our property! So hubby Mike and nephew Mike got a back hoe to dig the trench.
Well, with the trench dug we we needed to get the cement ordered. But then the rains started, and we had to delay the delivery of the barn until July 6th.
July 6th arrived and I got a call from Orva that they were on their way with the barn. It took them two trips to deliver the entire barn. The barn had finally arrived! Now the hard work begins. There were chances of rain the remainder of the week so Mike and I went into Cedar Rapids to get tarps to cover my barn.
We are hoping that the rain holds off so that we can get the cement delivered this Saturday- July 11 so that we can get the footings poured....
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