Building a Pole Barn

I could no longer sleep and even though I did not wish to leave my warm bed with my beautifully sleeping wife in it, I needed to use the facilities anyway and just couldn't stay in bed any longer. I sighed and quietly snuck out of bed, kissed my wife on her forehead, causing her smile in her sleep. I smiled knowing even in sleep she loved my kisses. I went to the washroom and then headed to the kitchen to make coffee and put the breakfast bake my wife prepped for us last night from the fridge into the oven.

I decided to pull up the bank information on projection while I waited. I looked at the projection from my Tesla powered, holograph projection watch. I start looking over the numbers in our family accounts. I smile with satisfaction because we are ahead of schedule financially and I couldn't be more proud of myself and my wife. When we first bought our house we knew we were going to make some changes including adding a pole barn. We have five acers of land with an over three thousand square foot usable living space, tri-level home with an attached two and a half garage and above garage master suite, just shy of the halfway point. This makes for a large front yard and a huge backyard. I let the projection shut down while I moved robotically lost in thought.

We have taken trees down that were dying and did other things that needed fixed or replaced or down right installed while still putting money away for our future pole barn. We even planted a nice sized garden and a fruit orchard, always leaving room for that pole barn. We have even changed the design a few times but ultimately we decided on a vehicle repair pit in the front and some woodworking benches and tools up there as well. A music studio in the rear with enough room for both of us to have our own spaces, projects and storage.

"Hello my love good morning" I said when my wife walked into the room from our bedroom, bringing me out of my thoughts. I smiled and kissed my sleepy looking wife, handing her the cup of coffee I had just poured.

"Good morning to you too handsome! Thank you my love, this is what I've been smelling in my sleep." She said smiling, as she took the cup of coffee and went to her morning chair to wait for me. I poured myself a cup of coffee and joined her at our little coffee nook. Sometimes I still wonder how this beautiful creature has chosen to be with me for so long.

"So talk to me, what have you been up thinking about?" She asked once we were settled.

"I didn't want to wake you but I couldn't sleep so I decided to get the morning started. I was just looking at our savings and I realized that, not including the pay we know is coming still, we have enough to pay for the pole barn construction."

"Already, for real?!" Came her very excited reply.

"Yes. There is a snag though."

"Seriously? What now?" She said seeming defeated.

"Don't be so down my love, it's our vacation coming up. I am not suggesting we cancel because we cannot cancel. I am saying we would either have to split the build up and pause it for our vacation or we have to put it off a few more months and do it after the vacation." I said as I grabbed her hand in mine and rubbed the back of it gently with my thumb.

"Oh. I see." She paused for a moment and took a sip of her still steaming cup of coffee. "Well what happens if we start later then?" She asked still trying to wake up.

"Well honestly one of two things I suppose. No big deal, we have waited this long and survived without it so far, so what's another couple of months right? However I am worried we could overspend while on our vacation, if we don't start now, and then we will have to wait a little bit longer." Came my concerned reply.

"I see. Okay, so what if we start now and put a pause on it then finish later?" She asked still not quite awake to surmise the answer herself.

"Well we run into the problem of our contractor not wanting to do that or not being able to do that, we have to call him and see if this is even an option. However it would guarantee we didn't spend the money and we no longer have to wait on our pole barn." I responded between sips of coffee.

We sit in silence for a few minuets while she contemplated this and we drank our coffee. Eventually she comes back with "Well what's a few more months right? Don't get me wrong, I am all for splitting the build up but I feel like the contractor will be our deciding factor in all of this, and for some reason it seems like that would be something they would not want to do."

My wife made all the calls and got everything set up so she would be home at all times that there was someone here working in the back. We made plans to be sure the workers were all well fed and always had plenty to drink. We made sure to have portable toilets for them to use and a huge dumpster on site as well. Everything was moving on schedule and things were going smoothly, so they ended two days before we were to leave for vacation at the predetermined step in the build. The two longest outside walls were mostly together and the wooden portion of the roof was in place. The back wall was barely started and the front was wide open. All of the supplies were placed inside and in areas that would be best protected. The most sensitive to weather items were either placed in the garage or under a nailed down tarp.

We went on our vacation and had a blast we knew trusted people were coming and going a set times that seemed random, to feed animals and let them out and check on things, basically make sure nothing was out of place. We even had a good friend agree to sleep there for us. Turns out everything ran smoothly, no house or pet issues, nothing missing from our build.

As we pull back into town headed home from our lovely vacation we talked a bit but mostly just took in the look of town after having been away a while.

"Oh look they fixed the, 'Sara's Hardware Store' sign babe." My wife said. I am glad because the storm we had some months back was gruesome. I am glad to see my friend finally able to get it fixed after fighting with the insurance and everything else she had to go through. Thankfully she was the worst of the damage. I don't know that we would have noticed otherwise, because even being that it was getting to be later in the evening, it was still rather light out. However it hadn't been alight in quite some time, they must have been just finishing the install and making sure all the connections worked because it was nice and brand new bright, and there were still ladders standing nearby.

"I don't know if I like the new sign, though I liked the old one so much it was truly unique and very much Sara." I told my wife.

"Even though I agree, at least it's fixed. She must have cried when she had to agree to that. It is nice and it still looks like 'Sara' just not quite as much as it did before."

"I know, I guess I'm just a sucker for the way things were."

"What about our new pole barn? Will you be nostalgic about not having it?" She starting teasing me. Neither of us could keep a straight face and both busted out in a cry laughing fit. Her face is so beautiful and most especially when she smiles. Her eyes light up the world around her. The most beautiful shade of light blue with this thick, deep, dark blue ring around the edge. The thick ring in the dim lighting makes them look like they are glowing it's the most amazing thing to experience.

"No never, not a chance in hell," came my reply once we had both mostly stopped laughing. Sending us both chuckling a bit more.

We pull into our driveway and into the garage. We start getting unloaded and hulled into the house, so we can get it set aside until we are ready to unpack. I make a pot for tea and we get settled. My wife has already started looking at the information for our pole barn build. I smiled at her watching the majestic creature I married, she somehow manages to finds ways to continue to amaze me.

"Are we still on track or did something happen love?" I asked as she started to vanish into thought.

"I was just thinking." She smiled at me and came back to the world as fast as she had started to leave. "Lets go take a look around. I know it's all fine. I just....." She started standing so I set down my tea and wrapped her up in my arms.

"I know, peace of mind." I hugged her tight and kissed her forehead.

We walked out of the house, hand in hand, as we approached we noticed a couple things that just seemed different but couldn't quite place yet. When we walked in there was a rustling sound that startled us a bit. We both looked at each other in a "O.K. you heard it too" kind of look.

As we get further in, we start to relax looking around. The pit turned out nice, lots of room to be down there, plenty of storage for tools and supplies. I hope my wife will be happy with it. She seems pleased, what with that smile on her beautiful face.

"I noticed some animal droppings, we'll have to clean a bit before the contractors return but we have a few days before they will be here." My wife brought me back from my thoughts of future her in here working on her cars. I love that she enjoys that. My hands are not designed to be inside small confined spaces like vehicles.

"Yeah we will have to, but I have noticed other things too, I want to look for the source of that sound when we first walked in." I told her.

"I thought I head a sound but I cannot be for sure just yet." We headed back in to call it a night. I set the coffee pot on a program so it would wake us up with a beautiful aroma.

The smell of coffee... and something else, what is that... meat... meat, but what kind.... Bacon and coffee, is that cinnamon?

I wake up quickly realizing I wasn't just dreaming about breakfast. My wife had woken up and made breakfast. French toast, bacon, fresh fruit, the coffee I had prepped the night before, and orange juice as well. "I was expecting the smell of coffee to wake me up and you make the most amazing surprise breakfast I could imagine! How did I get so lucky as finding you!?" I kissed her and took our plates to the breakfast table, grabbed my coffee as she sat down to eat.

When we were done I told her to go relax while I did the dishes. We had decided once that was done we would go investigate more. If it was anything nocturnal it should have returned by then, IF it had taken up residence.

"All done love are you ready?" I said when I finished our few morning dishes and was myself ready to go check the pole barn.

As we get out there we notice seemingly the same couple things we couldn't place that we had noticed the night before. This time we found the source of the noise nearly immediately. The decision to wait a little longer to be sure IF it was nocturnal it would have returned, turns out to be the right decision. It appears we have a couple of barn owls roosting on the beams. We both looked at each other in disbelief, we quickly went back into the house the look on my wife's face said keep quiet. Apparently the one corner that was mostly put together in combination with the temporary tarp roof made for a safe place to lay eggs, I count at least 5 nests, with what looks like at least 6 owls sleeping up there. We will have to investigate more while they are out hunting tonight. We agreed we must have startled the on duty sentry last night.

"O.K. so now what do we do?" I asked my wife because anything animal related is her place. She has a soft spot for all animals and I know she's going to want to do what's best for them but also keeps us happy.

"I mean we have to make them homes, I am going to do some searching and call the contractor and see what he suggests, maybe they have some ideas. Do we still have the building wood for projects? I want to start designing some large bird houses to move some of them to. Man they moved in fast." She started laughing at her own thoughts. I noticed she's had her sketch pad next to her while we've been talking and she has it open to the page for the attic and roof design.

"So are you thinking about changing the attic design or something?" I asked trying to follow her unspoken thoughts so we could still be on the same page.

"I have to call the contractor and see if it can even be done, but he's not in for another 25 minuets." Came her immediate and clearly calculated response. I nodded in agreement and understanding.

"I understand love. So how would we change it? Could it be sound proofed from their noise? How would we keep it cleaned up there? What about repair potential later on? Will it make matters worse to allow them to live there? As in more wear and tare and needing repairs faster. Don't look at me like that, O.K. fine I suppose these are probably the same questions swimming through your head too." Some of the looks she started giving me made me laugh a little. I suppose after so many happy years together she's rubbed off on me a bit and now I think of the things she does too.

"I've been thinking and honestly barn owls will help keep mice and other small rodents away so I'm glad you just let me be me and keep them around. I love cats but if I had to choose, owls are lower maintenance than cats."

"My darling love I know you love animals and I understand where you're coming from. I love that part of you. I love that we can do things like this and they make you happy." I held her a moment kissed her before letting her go again. "We have had cats and I like them too but I see what you mean and I like where this is going. How more can I help love?" She smiled and we made plans together, including if we couldn't incorporate the design changes, we found some wild bird rescue and rehoming specialists as back up if we needed to call them.

As soon as she felt it was a comfortable amount of time she called our contractor and worked out all of the details. He agreed to come assess the situation and discuss changes for the owls as well as help us with the larger bird houses as much as he could. We even decided on a few bat homes as an added safety measure.

As we watch it all come together over a couple of months time we are excited to move forward into the future with our new owl friends. I love seeing our orchard used as an owl sanctuary and we wound up making such good owl homes outside that they all rehomed out there. Even though we still set it up so it wouldn't be distracting and could be easily cleaned we haven't seen anymore owls or other animals up there. I am positive we have the same 6 owls and new ones all the time now too.