August 17

Our Old Country Barn

We could not save the barn of our childhood.  It was built about 1963 using railroad cross ties and tin.  My Father had a way with putting things together, using the old and creating a new look.  The old barn held up until about 2001 when it began to show serious disrepair.  At that time, my Father, in his 90’s,  was not going out to the barn area much and no attention was being paid to the lagging sides and caving-in roof.  

Family Barn- Nan-Kathy 2020

In 2021, we finally came to the realization that it could not be pulled, pushed or braced enough to save it so, we took it down with an excavator, burned the wood, and removed the brick flooring. We are now in the process of repurposing the camper barn instead.

Many memories are attached to that old barn even though it is gone and almost no evidence of it once being on the 10 acre property.  We spent many days playing on the 75 bales of hay that would be delivered for our horse and cows.  While we only had one horse, Smokey, and 2 cows, Betsy and Lambert. It was still a farm; a small one, but a farm.   We milked Betsy, rode Smokey and Lambert was a prize cow so that was our animal fix.

Over the years, we had chickens, geese and of course, dogs and cats.  We once had a weasel and certainly saw snakes a-plenty.

Those were the days. 8-16-22

See you tomorrow, 

August 6

Swimming Pool- Part 2

As kids, we had an olympic sized swimming pool.  We dug it ourselves and in time ended up with a 20 x 40 area with cinder block sides, brick inlaid top and a liner for keeping the water contained. It was genius!  My parents had no real money so to do the best that they could and still get what the rich folk got, they figured out ways to make it happened.  There we were with a swimming pool where we had huge parties and events and had as much fun as could be expected.

Over 55 years have come and gone and the old’ pool is dilapidated and in disrepair.  Our family has done what it can to save different and various structures on the homestead, but some things cannot be saved.  The pool, unfortunately is one of them so…

Today, we will take time pulling down the past with heartfelt effort.  Stay tuned… There is more…

See you tomorrow,

8-6-22

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August 5

The Swimming Pool

Somewhere about the age of 7 we moved into our Crystal Springs home.  Our parents were the kind that would do what they could do themselves to save money.  They were not people of means so saving money was important.  They both wanted more not less in life so they both equally worked hard to do themselves what many would have the money to do using contractors and the like.

Alec and Geneva Vaughan bought the property on Crystal Springs road in the 1960’s. It was a 10 acre undeveloped plot on the Westside of the city. My father worked as a Civil Service worker so he didn’t make more than government wages.  Mama was a stay-at-home Mom; totally her focus.

She was known to shop at the thrift stores and could be found on the bent aisle area trying to save a buck.  The thing was, that both of my parents had visions of grandeur.  They both wanted certain things in life and besides a Christian home, which was number one, it was to live life to the fullest.

Sometime after purchasing the land, building a home(Jim Walter) and starting a tiny( 2 cows, 1 horse, 5 chickens) farm, they decided to build their own pool and all this while Daddy worked full time with the Navy.  With shovel in hand for every member of the family, we dug our own pool. We did.  Over time, we carved out of the soil of Duval County property, a 20 x 40 sized Olympic pool with filter and all.  It was rectangle, built directly behind our home and had a depth from 3-6 1/2 feet.  

Many parties and events were held with that swimming pool. Stay tuned because there is more.

See you tomorrow,

8-5-22

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