GRANDPA'S BARN

GRANDPA'S BARN
Originally uploaded by Louise001

GRANDPA'S BARN....from Memory...not to scale...:)

My grandpa was a carpenter, and fruit and nut rancher. He built 2 homes on his ranch and a barn, a shop and fig packing shed and an almond huller(with the help of his son). He raised 4 children on his beautiful ranch in Oakdale, California...a couple of hours due east of San Francisco.
He was a wonderful grandfather and loved to laugh and have fun with us, playing games, teasing, joking and always smiling.
He was a big man with a booming bass voice that you could hear outside the church when he sang in the choir. He was a fantastic singer! He could immediately sing the bass part in any song with any group.
He started his ranch from nothing...on a hill...and ended up with large almond and fig orchards...spreading over sloping acreage...looking very Mediterranean. As a child I probably loved to go to ''The Ranch'' more than anyplace...I always had fun. I lived on a ranch too...but we had a lot of animals to care for and there was always a lot of work. At Grandpas, I could play.
This picture came about because of a comment from Milagrosuegp about my ''Austrian'' Copper rose. She reminded me of the old ''Belle of Portugal" rose that climbed up the side of grandpa's barn...when in full bloom the whole side of the barn was PINK!...and the fragrance was heavenly.
I will never forget the fragrances of the roses mingled with the hay and straw stored in the barn...I went there a lot to look for kittens from the barn cats.....I was the ''official'' kitten finder and tamer...:) If you have never had the experience of the sweet smell of kittens nested in straw, you have really missed something very special.
This is a quick sketch to ''capture'' Grandpa's Barn....It is not to scale and my perspective is off...since the barn was a very large one...not illustrated by my sketch. Grandpa always kept his barn neat and painted white. One one side he kept his John Deere tractor, and other farming machinery. The other side was for milking a few cows he kept for milk for the family. Grandma also made butter and cheese from the milk.
The fig orchards started near the left side of the barn and the almonds were on the right. There were 3 almond orchards...this is just one. The tall trees behind the barn were a Eucalyptus grove, that he grew for wood for the fireplace. To the right of the almonds was a huge garden..not shown here. Many other fruit and nut trees were there including apple, pear, plums, apricot, peaches, grapes, quinces, pomegranites, persimmons, loquats, and walnuts.
He built his own packing boxes and the women in the family packed figs for shipping in his shop and packing shed. He picked the figs and knocked the almonds with help from his kids, until the orchards got too big to do it all themselves, and then they hired a few helpers. They hulled their own almonds(usually done by the women in the family...I did it too) in the Huller he and my uncle built...and all in all his family was almost completely provided for from his ranch...:)

He was one of the greatest, gentleist, kindest and happiest men I have ever known.
What a privilege it was to have him for my grandfather!
He was one of the most loving human beings to ever Grace my life.

Uploaded by Louise001 on 21 Jul 09,