The old hen house

Well, what can I say? I hope you like these photos because I hurt myself taking them. Or to be more precise, I hurt myself as I got the idea to go back and fetch my camera so I could take a few pics. On my way back to the hen house, I slipped on a patch of ice and sleet in the grass. I ended up wet and with a small bruise o the hip that I landed on. The camera landed in the snow, which isn't a good thing, but it also cushioned the blow so the camera's fine. It could've been this all over again, but it wasn't. And no real damage on me either, just a little soreness here and there, mainly in the left arm.

The big irony is that when going down to the hen house the first time -- before getting the idea of opening the door -- I told Uggi to go slow as I had to be careful, what with having the wrong shoes on (the ones that are useless on ice as they just slip) and it still being icy and very wet on the north side where the barn keeps the ground from heating up. Guess I should be listening more to my own advice...

Every now and then I've shown pics of the old hen house -- from one angle or another -- but this is the first time the door's opened. Don't think anyone's been in there for ages, but Uggi was curious so I opened for him. As the name implies, it used to be a roost, but after giving up farming, the hens moved from here to the by then empty barn. So as long as I can remember this has just been an old building (or two, as you can see, half the house is a latter attachment with more modern steel roofing) used for storage.

And this is what it looks like inside:

Anyone want to clean those windows? That's decades of grime and spiderwebs.

 This is not the only broken old spade in there.

 If you wonder why there's a window inside the house, it's because we're in the extension: this used to be the outer wall. I didn't go into the older part of the building as there's not much light and it's mostly full of barbed wire. This part of the hen house is spacious in comparison.

 I think I can get some nice texture images from that wall.

 Doodles? Zentangles? No, an old mattress. As you can see below.

I also found the old sewing machine. The one you power with a foot pedal. There's a table for it too, but it's stored in the hayloft. I think I'll show some close-ups of the embellishments in another post.

Uhm, no, I have no idea why we have a plastic sign that says Malmö...

And that's it, the secret of the hen house. I left out the worst mess as I don't think anyone needs to see more clutter than they can find in their own cellars and attics. The thing with a farm that isn't used for farming is that you have a lot more places to stuff all your old, broken, unused and found things into. Fascinating places for kids, but of cause not always places we were allowed. Not that we always listened. Nowadays, though, I'm a grown up and can go where ever I want. And sometimes I do, even though it's not as exciting as it was in a child's eyes. It's more a hunt for useful things and good photo opportunities, not a treasure hunt, an adventure into the unknown, as it used to be. But it can still be fun.

And who knows -- one day one will find something that one need in there -- and feel good about saving it. Why throw away something -- on day it could come in handy!