another barn tastes the flames

My commute will never be the same.

After thirty years of driving by the barn at the old Ronningen-Restad Farm on 108 East, the current owner, a truck driver, apparently decided he needed more room for his eighteen wheelers.

Those were the days when one could drive by early on a winter morning, see light in these windows, the farmer's AM radio tuned to KFGO, the cows content, the farmer making a living.

Tonight there will be no barn dance in the neighborhood. No barn raising party between neighbors. The cows will not come in from the cold.

History and someone's dreams for the future come down to earth with a blazing smoking thud. There is awe, but no celebration of anything. The freezing drizzle will cool the ashes of a much different past. Tomorrow the view will be different