It started as an effort to remove the heavy cardboard boards from the barn ceiling; we can’t figure out why they were there in first place. Maria got up on a later and out came nests, old straw, and old hay. The cardboard came down, and he strips came down along with a stream of old hay and straw mixed with bird droppings and dried-out eggs.

All of it went into an impromptu fire we started in the pasture.

I loved to sit out in the pasture and watch a fire; it was warm and beautiful.

In addition to the cardboard, which might have been used to insulate the workshop, we finally removed some old chairs that were coming apart.

It was a dirty, smelly, and nasty job, but Maria cleaned the whole barn, including some ancient rotted chairs hanging on the walls. I tended the fire. she cleaned the place out. Birds had been using the space to test for years and years.

We have nothing against pigeons but we can’t have them nesting over the hay or chasing all the other birds out of the barn. They do pose well.