74

On Friday I installed the 74th and final window in the barn, each one individually made there.  This particular window went into a space where I originally thought I would install a shower, but the hydro-logistics were not conducive.  So, for the past few years there has been just a piece of plywood over a hole in the barn siding.

Flash back several years to a memorable day that began in western Pennsylvania visiting our daughters at college.  I had located a large inventory of salvaged thermal window panels in Ohio, which as you might know is the state right next door to western Pennsylvania.  The plan was to have breakfast with the girls, drive to Ohio to get the glass (part of a window factory liquidation) then go to The Barn and drop them off.

It is only when you drive across the United States that you learn how really, really big it is (Note: this trip preceded my travels of the past 18 months, and two trips driving to Texas and back drove home that lesson!).

Well, Toledo, Ohio is essentially in eastern Illinois.  And, my night vision isn’t the best so the final few hours of that trip involved my wife driving a van full of glass, in the dark (she is an early morning person and starts winding down immediately after supper, so she was not thrilled at the evening chore until midnight), in the rain, on unfamiliar winding mountain roads as we were coming from an unfamiliar direction.  I am not the brightest bulb in the pack, but believe me when I say I will not replicate that adventure of driving 700 miles, the final 500 miles with a half ton of glass in the back of the van.

Over the next two years my friend CraigC and I fabricated and installed dozens of fixed windows, in addition to the dozen huge window plates I had previously installed by myself.

Other than some storm damage requiring some window panels to be replaced, I am now pretty much done with windows in The Barn.  The end result is not displeasing.

I have a few panels left, so I can replace a few over the coming years.  After they are consumed, I will have to begin the hunt again.