Did you ever wonder

[Stan H]

just what stories some of the old buildings around the west could tell if only they could speak?

 

Like this spread;

 

 

Nice house;

 

 

I think the barn could use a new roof;

 

 

 

Or, how about this place, just down and across the road about a half mile?

 

[Dave McGowan]

This country that I'm in doesn't have a recorded "farmer" or "rancher" until the 1910s. (The Pioneers before then were gold or coal miners or trappers.) Therefore we have a great number of abandoned homesteads from the 20s and 30s that, though abandoned, are still standing or almost standing. Every time I drive by one I wonder what the stories are that go with it, just as I wonder who lived, loved, laughed and left the buildings in these photos. There are thousands of hours of life in these pictures.

And think of all the neighbour buildings, a mile or a 100 miles away that have left absolutley no trace!

[Sue Cauhape]

That roof could also use a new barn.

Actually it reminds me of a ranch north of Truckee on Hwy 89. The family stills summers there and runs cattle in the Sierra Nevada. But the barn remains, tipping a little further each year. They even braced it on one side. My question is Why? It doesn't look like it functions for any reason other than to tantilize passers-by who bet on when it will finally collapse.

[Dave McGowan]

If one has been doing something that one's partner takes exception too (that is, something she EXPRESSLY FORBID you to do ever again; you're are just so INCONSIDERATE...) then it is nice to have a dog house to which one may retire which is not actually a dog house.

[Sue Cauhape]

That's an awfully nice dog house (second picture that is). Looks snug and cozy in this winter scene. By the way, Dave, where is this little Shangri La located?

[Stan H]

Sue

 

I ain't Dave, but I took these pictures in the Black Hills, on Highway 14 about 25 miles south of Deadwood.

 

 

[Jim Holden]

Those are the places that when I drive by, I think I would love to live there! Very nice!