One of the neatest features of a barn is they have a loft or hay mow. They have hay bales which make great forts and things to jump off. But the best thing is hay mows have cupolas or openings to let in pigeons. Grandpa was always willing to let us take the .22 and shoot pigeons in the barn.
I can still smell the combination or musty hay, pigeon poop, and gunpowder. I don’t actually remember hitting or killing a pigeon but I do remember shooting A LOT of .22 shells at them.
When you drive around in the country you see many old barns are kneeling or buckling over. I used to think it was from aging boards. What I now realize is that it’s really from all the .22 shells shot through the roof and timbers that have made the aging barns collapse.
One thought on “Hay Mow”
I have my own memories of a hay mow. My brother and I used to play basketball in the open space below the hay and one day I sat on a bale that was covering a hole in the floor and fell through and landed on the back of a cow on the floor below. But we always had so much fun in the hay mow…but there was work up there too, stacking bales and throwing down feed. Usually there was a batch of kittens hidden somewhere up there as well. Good memories…thanks for sharing yours.