Barn Finds, Mind Finds

Classic car collectors are always hoping to discover a treasure parked in a barn (or pole building) decades ago.  YouTube is full of videos.  Some of them are interesting, some contrived.  Once in a while I have a recurring dream about of our first 'up north' cabin which is actually comprised of a simple 20 x 30 cabin, a simple 8 x 10 shed and a simple 4 x 4 outhouse.

The cabin proper was built by Glenn and Helen Miller around 1960.  We purchased it in 1983.  There are a lot of stories.  It was built on a single layer of blocks with not really a crawl space unless you are a raccoon or coyote, both of which have inhabited the 12" crawl space.  Around 1990 the floor rotted and began to collapse.  Not often do you get to use a chainsaw inside your house.  Removing the floor and replacing it with treated joists and flooring in  ridiculously cold Minnesota winter was made interesting by the fact that the interior walls hung from the ceiling with the floor removed and the occurrence of the only break in.

Twice I've re-roofed the shed (the cabin once) which has a pitched roof and is built entirely of lumber milled from trees on the property.

I built the outhouse at our home (not 'up north') in the driveway.  Neighbors could not understand the purpose of a hole in the floor of a garden shed.  Built to be moved and re-assembled it's served it's purpose for 24 years.  Glenn and Helen's outhouse lasted 30.

In the dream I'm wandering about looking in several other buildings on the property, finding a few treasures but no cars.

The YouTube videos always show someone with a bolt cutter taking off a lock and there there's the car or truck under decades of dust, mouse droppings surrounded by parts; someone long ago just walked away from making this car special, making it run just one more time.

Recently I've been thinking about people I know and people I've worked with.  Certainly some of them have intellect, creativity, passion and enthusiasm; they show it and use it every day making their lives (their's and their friends and family) rich.  What I'm concerned about are the circumstances that cause the doors to be closed and locked or simply left a bit ajar, too small to enter or leave.