Twist and shout in the pasture?

So, a funny thing happened on the way to getting the barn built in the pasture at Idyllwild Woods.

The barn is 30’ x 40’ and 10’ tall. You can picture that, right? 

We want to eventually add 10’ wide lean-to shed-like spaces on both of the long sides. That takes the dimensions to 50’ x 40’.

It sounds simple, but it’s proven to be oddly confusing.

What feels like forever-ago, I met with the excavator on the property to show him what we needed. 

He built us a fantastic gravel road, leading up to the barn pad (basically super-compressed, flat, and level dirt). The pad, now, spanning 50’ x 40’. Because of the flood zone lower in the pasture, the pad ends with a steep 6’-7’ drop off into the pasture.

At that point, he asked us to come up and put some stakes in the ground to mark the corners of the building. Since we’re four hours away, we asked my very kind and patient father-in-law if he could help us out.

“Hey, I think the barn pad is rotated 90 degrees,” he reported back. But he put the stakes where we’d asked him to.

“Hey, I think the stakes are rotated 90 degrees,” the excavator guy said the next day. So, he put them back where they made sense to him.

OK, we figured. It’ll be fine. It’s confusing - and one of these guys is just not taking the two extra 10’ areas into consideration.

It’s probably fine. 

I messaged the barn builder folks a reminder that the roll-up garage door needs to go on the side of the barn facing the gravel road… like, you drive straight into the barn. Not into the hillside. Not over the drop off into the pasture.

Sounds clear(ish), right?

Lol

Last Saturday, the barn builder crew made the icy trek over the mountains from NC to TN to build the barn. Woot!!!

They finally got there (it’s about 4 hours each way). Father-in-law went out to meet them and confirm they were building in the right spot, God bless him (it’s been cold!!!).

That’s when everyone realized… yes, the barn is definitely rotated 90 degrees.

They made it at the factory to have the roll-up door on the short side.

The crew headed back to the factory to sort this out - either they’d need a different bunch of metal to make the roll-up work on the long side (so, you can drive into it) or… well, I don’t know what the “or” is!

Yesterday, there were phone calls and texts. Lots of them.

In the end, we decided to TWIST, but not shout. 

The simplest, least expensive fix… build the barn as they’ve planned. Put the door on the short side of the barn, facing the pasture, aimed at the steep drop-off. 

It’ll be fine. 

Possibly, we’ll still be able to navigate that turn and get the farm truck into the barn. There’s not really much room to turn around (so of course, I’ll need to turn the radio off so I can think better!). But it might work.

And if it doesn’t? That’s okay, too. 

We’d already planned to do some dirt-moving of our own to make more space for parking and a turnaround area. 

Our neighbors probably think we’re idiots. Who builds a barn with the door facing a veritable cliff? Us, that’s who. And this probably won’t be the last time we raise an eyebrow ;)

Disastrous? No way. Mildly irritating? Eh, maybe.

I’ve learned to always look for the gift, the lesson, in everything. And this pickle gave us a few…

1. Extremely grateful for Spook’s dad, Paul. He’s gone above and beyond to help us.

2. Probably don’t try to run a construction project long-distance. 

3. Cold showers work.

#3 sounds weird. Let me explain.

My coach Greg Johnson suggested that our group of entrepreneurs give ourselves a 'daily win' first thing in the day by voluntarily doing something hard. For me, that means I end my hot, steamy, LOVELY shower by turning the water to cold and standing under it for a slow count of 20. 

It’s not pleasant. I dread it. But I do it. And then I feel better prepared to tackle and enjoy the day. I already did one thing that was hard. I like to think these frigid wins are making me a little tougher. Even more resilient. Less of a wuss. Kind of needed that shoring up after 2023, which I now call our “Recent Troubles.”

Long and short (haha), theoretically, the barn goes up today. It’s twisted. We’re not shouting. It’s going to be just fine.

Thanks for being along for this ride! One small step closer to some great campfire time together.

xoxo,

Sue