Unlikely Improvements

There's an ancient oak down by the barn. Lightning lite it up about five years ago but it took a while for it to give up the ghost.

I realized back last summer that it needed to come down, but standing precariously close, I wasn't sure if I could take it down without putting it through the roof of the barn. So I put the task on my todo list of stuff that I really need to do.

A few years ago when I remodeled the barn, I focused on the parts that were damaged most. The front and side facing the north and east were the worst.  In places, the only thing holding the roof up was wood so bad that hungry termites wouldn't eat it.

The back of the barn was unsightly, but it was solid enough, so I decided to do that at a later time.

Fast forward to Thursday evening when a cold front pushed a squall line screaming before it. My front yard was covered with limbs and debris from someone else's yard.

This evening when Jilda and I walked between rain showers, we strolled to the barn. When we rounded the corner of the creative space, I realized the wind had taken the old dead oak down.

Fortunately, the ancient roof escaped major damage when only a small limb landed on it. But the back of the structure took the brunt when a section of trunk as big around as my waist, raked down the side of the barn.

Oh No! Was a thought that crossed my mind first. But when I got a closer look, I saw that none of the supporting studs or rafters were damaged.

As it turns out, the falling deadwood ripped the old siding off which will actually make repairing the barn easier.

So I guess you could say the storm did $300 worth of improvements.