FEATURES, BUGS,
HAZARDS, PECULIARITIES, and
OTHER CHARACTERISTICS OF NOTE
at

I guess this is the page for anything that didn't fit neatly into some other category.

FEATURES
The huge hearth, which adjoined both the kitchen and the dining area, was one of the most prominent features of the Barn. It's over ten feet wide, made of brick and stone, and has a huge old beam across its top. On the left side is a fireplace, and on the right is a smaller opening, presumably some kind of oven or storage area.

PECULIARITIES
The Doorway to Infinity was certainly a peculiarity. Also, it was a hazard to anyone who walked through doors without paying attention to what was on the other side. This sliding door on the second floor of the Barn opens, quite literally, out into thin air. There's no deck, no stairs, nothing to step on of any kind. Unless of course you consider that 15-foot drop to be just one really big step.

The place that is used to cook food at barbecues is a hexagonally shaped, cement-floored, cinder-block-walled pit with no readily apparent function. It sits just outside The Tower, and can be partially seen in one of the images below. Rumor has it that it's the foundation for an aquarium that never was completed.

Another cement curiosity, not so different from the barbecue pit, is closer to the main entrance of the Barn. It's rectangular in shape and goes about three feet below ground level. It's flush with the house at one end, and extends out about fifteen feet into the lawn. because the lawn slopes downward from the house, the far end has no wall and opens right onto the grass. It's about wide enough for a car to fit into, but its placement precludes it's use for parking. Fred ran ropes across it and hung clothes to dry in there once, but it's otherwise been pretty useless, and somewhat of an annoyance. Mark jumps across it; BJ tried once and has a scar to show for it.

HAZARDS
Fixing the roof was definitely a hazardous affair--Jamie, BJ and Mark all ventured up there with cans of tar at one point or another to make repairs. The landlords never made good on their promises to take care of it, so we decided to do it ourselves.

The wood room floor could certainly be considered a hazard. It began to collapse during the winter of '99. I guess the landlords didn't think it was really necessary to fix that either.

Dropping temperatures at night, while probably not quite a hazard, were definitely an annoyance. Many a morning there were little contests to see who held bragging rights for having had the coldest room the previous night. Temperatures in the 40s were common, and even in the 30s were not unheard of.

The massive hearth, with
bottle collection and all.
(After demonic ugly face
collection was relocated.)
A look at the face in the fireplace
before it was removed.
The Doorway to Infinity, from the inside ...
... and from the outside.
A close look at the barbecue pit.
(The actual coals are next to the pit
under those grates, not in it.)
That other cement curiosity.
Jamie ascends to the roof of The Tower.
Looking straight down from atop The Tower.
That's part of the barbecue pit
in the lower left-hand corner.
BJ trying to patch some leaks.
You can see the spaces between the
panels in the collapsing wood room floor.