The Washington Woodsmen

Northern Missouri is known for having good hunting ground. Every year people from all over the country come to deer hunt. I guess we have the biggest and the best deer around. They come halling 5th wheels and trailers, four wheelers and gators, and all the equipment needed to gut and hang their trophies. My husband and his gang of Washington Woodsmen come just the same. Six of them in all shooting a slue of deer every fall. They have become known by the local farmers as the Woodsmen who save the crops. They are so popular with the farmers you would think their parade of trailers and trucks are actually a staged celebration of their return. Our cow lot looks like a KOA trailer park with no management or parking assignments for two weeks. And the back of the barn becomes the latrine. Not a good thing when the Washington Woodsman forgets to dig a hole and then cover it up. Know what I mean? My father just about stepped in the wrong place, hence the idea came to build a hunting cabin with toilets. 

My Dad and husband considered several options. All costing more than anyone wanted to spend, so with much money mising the idea became a lifelong fullfilled dream. It was decided to use the Nickellton School as a hunting lodge, after all my parents were paying taxes on a building they were not using.  I think the idea truly became a task when three of the Washington Woodsmen, plus my dad, gutted the entire building. All the plaster lath, trim, mice nests, birds nests, raccoon nests, seed and feed sacks, trash, you get the idea, were removed in a matter of one day. We did save the trim and the waynescotting and plan to put both back in the schoolhouse.  One window was cut out and reopened and one door open. For the entire day it looked as if smoke and dust billowed out of the two openings as if on fire. By the end of the day the demolition team was covered head to toe in black dust.  The team wore 3m dual cartridge respirator masks to prevent inhaling the dust.  It was a diry job, perfect for the Washington Woodsman and not me.

In 1998 a tornado ravaged the area taking the roof off our barn and pulling up some of the shingles on the schoolhouse. When the barn was repaired dad also had a metal roof placed on the schoolhouse. He used the tin from the barn to cover the entire structure of the schoolhouse. This process covered all 8 windows and no longer did the schoolhouse even resemble the schoolhouse in my post from yesterday. It simply looked like a tin box with a triagle lid. The one good thing was it preserved the structure making it possible to do the renovation.  I am still  not sure why the Nickellton Schoolhouse has been saved, but in the  many intances where the schoolhouse could have been torn down, something was done to preserve it instead.

I am new to the blogging scene, never even read a blog and I have a phobia about My Space and Facebook. This is my second post and I am having fun. Join us on our renovation quest and help us have some fun. Share your thoughts or stories of yester year.