Lars Rolfson Dalseg Barn

 The original land grant of 80 acres was to Andrew Williams in 1876. William Kayton purchased the property for $205 in 1877. Lars Rolfson Dalseg purchased 10 acres of the property from its 5th owner. Dalseg – newly emigrated from Norway with his pregnant wife Margarete – built the barn from lumber that was cleared from the farm. Lars tragically contracted Tuberculosis and died in 1922. Margarete and their six children carried on with farming until 1941 when their oldest son, Ralph, purchased the farm. Ralph and his family of 5 children continued to farm the land – raising hay for their cattle. There is an old milkstand that stands in the front yard to this day. It was used to set out the full milk cans so the milkman could pick up and transport them to the Darigold plant in Mount Vernon. Ralph’s daughter - Lars’ granddaughter - owns the property. In 2011 a new metal roof was put on and the barn was painted red with white trim. The barn is used for storage, covered parking for a tractor, a woodshop and to display antique farm equipment.
notes from Historic Barns of Skagit County

 This barn is down the road from us in Conway.  In fact it is behind the barn I posted about  at last weeks Barn Collective.

Linking to Tom's Barn Collective~~~~HERE

Critters

You've heard of Turkey in the Straw well here's Chicken in the Hay.

 And right down the road on Starbird rd is this excellent Eagle nest with 2 count 'em 2 Bald Eagles.  Love it

 Birdies at the suet feeders

 I really like the Chestnut backed Chic a dees--Love to watch their antics

 And sharing with the Downy Woodpecker

 There were a big flurry of chic a dees but when I grabbed my camera they just sat in the tree and came to the feeder one by one.  Stinkers

Linking to Eileen's Saturday's Critters~~~HERE

SKY

We have had about 5 straight days of rain and gray gray skies.  Started out raining today but finally eased off and by afternoon the clouds rolled away and we had patches of blue and even saw a peek of the sun.  Nice sunset too

This was the sky around 3ish with the blue showing as the clouds rolled away

 I tried to do a panorama shot with my phone---not so bad

 Didn't actually see the sun go down but the after effects were----wait for it---GOLDEN

 Sunset was at 5:21

 The clouds were very strange and pretty

Linking to Sky Watch~~~~~HERE

Spirit of the West

One year we went to the 'Spirit of the West Cowboy Gathering' in Ellensburg,Wa.  The headliner was Michael Martin Murphy who's music I really like. There is lots to do at the gathering.  Food and booths and lots of music.

Sign and Microphone on stage

 Michael Martin Murphy

 It was a toe tapping, boot stomping kind of evening

Linking to signs2~~~~~HERE

Honkey the Laughing Donkey

With great sadness I have to tell all that Honks has left us for the great green pastures in the sky where he can run and play some more.

Kylee got Honks as a friend for her horse Macaronie.  Mac didn't like traveling alone so Honks was there to calm him down.   With all this talk about service animals Honks really was one.  A character with all the other horses too.

Here he is laughing at us all.  And with Kylee too

 Here he is doing his many amazing tricks and taking the cat for a ride and keeping Mac company

 And holding up the barn

Bye Bye Honks---you are indeed a TREASURE.

Linking to Tom's Tuesday's Treasures~~~~~~~HERE

Sunday Barn

I took this picture in the Spring and I have taken many pictures of this nice barn and farm----of course since I lost a bunch of pics I cannot find any others.

 Locken Farm was homesteaded in the late 1800’s by John and Guro Locken, who immigrated to the Skagit Valley from Norway. The barn was originally built as a dairy barn. The original farm house was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1908. The milk house, which is still intact and used, is located on the east end of the barn. In the 1930’s the dairy portion of the farm was phased out and the focus turned to crop farming. The largest crop was beans. In the 1940’s Locken Lime Company was founded. Large limestones were trucked to the farm where they were crushed and bagged for sale. The lime company operated continuously into the 1960’s. Today it is still common to find lime pockets while working up the soil in the fields. The 5th generation of the Locken family live on the farm today. They are working on restoring the farmhouse and barn. They have recently repainted the barn red with white trim, re-sided the East end and replaced all board & batten with new fir boards. 
(Skagit county historic barns)
The barn was built in 1900 and the style is gable
This beautiful place is a couple of miles from our house in Conway

Linking to Tom's Barns~~~~~HERE

Sky Watch

Sometimes hard to think of a beautiful sky image when all we have is gray gray sky and lots of rain so I look into my archives.  I love sunsets or sunrises and am always chasing sunsets.  I had a beauty picked out but then kept looking and found some older pics of when Bob and I hiked on Mt. Baker.
Well Baker elevation is 10,781 ft (3286m) and Bob and I hiked the up trails to 5460ft.  just a few yrs ago.  So here we are
This was back in September before the big snows start
BLUE SKY!!!


Here is Bob about half way up

 Here is me

Linking to Sky Watch~~~~~HERE