Old Barn

A friend was coming over to visit once and when I asked her where she was she said "I'm so close I can smell the barn." I howled because I thought that was hilarious. I use that phase often when someone asks me about the completion date of a project - "I'm so close I can smell the barn."
As I sit here trying to think of something clever about which to write the words rolled across my mind once again.
Some folks might consider the smell of a barn disagreeable but that's not a work I would use. To me an old barn smells like Mother Earth. I often go down and sit in my old barn to think. It's quite there and if you close your eyes you can pick out the various smells. Of course if it's a working barn you'll get a whiff of manure. We had a cow that we kept in there many years ago. You will also smell a hint of hay and a you can detect a trace of motor oil from the old Ford Tractor that has been parked in there for almost thirty years. With my eyes closed I can recall the ticking sound of a cooling manifold after the old iron horse put in a hard day plowing the field.
The old barn has served me well and even though it's hot in the summer and the winter wind blows through it like a sieve, I still love it like an old friend.