The barn that floated out of the ground

One time Bud Frank (dad to Joy who is #6 of the Grainola Grubbers 5 and sometimes 6) asked my dad to help build a pole barn where he could store the hay used during the winter to feed the cattle.  I guess Bud was going to save some money by putting in the poles without Dad's help.  Dad told him how to put in the poles else the barn would float out of the ground.  Bud did not believe that was possible and did not take my Dad's advice.  You see Dad and I built about 20 of these pole barns for folks all over Grainola and Shidler and Foraker.  By the way, did I mention that I now have the Foraker school bell at my house and getting ready to install it in my garden?  OK, back to the barn.  Well, Bud went ahead with the project and Dad helped put the rafters and the roof on top of all those poles.  What you may not know is that water can lift a lot of weight.  Think about it, a battle ship made of heavy steel floats on water.  So if you put a pole barn in a low spot where the water table can get fairly shallow you will get a floating barn.  Sure enough, when the next rain came along Bud's barn floated up about 1 to 2 feet.  Luckily the poles were in the ground about 4 feet but it made for what dad called a cockeyed barn because the barn did not float out entirely level.

Bud was shocked to say the least and dad just chuckled, like always.  And after he chuckled he probably smoked a cigarette, like always.  Now thinking about that let me ask you, "why does the government give soldiers cigarettes and beer then turn around and file a lawsuit against the cigarette companies?"  Shouldn't the government take some of the responsibility for giving soldiers cigarettes?  and beer?  Now that I think about it, should parents who allow their children to smoke cigarettes and drink beer when under age be held liable?  Should parents who tell children not to smoke or drink but do the same in front of their children be held responsible for what happens to them?  Just an interesting question not that I have all the answers.  Now I am not trying to start a fight and I am for sure not perfect but I do like to ask aggravating questions.  Back to the barn.

Now, how do you fix the problem of a floating barn?  I don't know.  I think it is too late.  

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• sometimes you just can't fix things
• advice is not always perfect but we probably should take it into consideration 
• advice should be considered and when experience is involved it should not be ignored
• If you can float a battleship made of steel it is easy to float a barn out of a hole

Thanks for listening,

gary

golson21@hotmail.com