Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Camping in the Barn

In one of our school reading books there was a story about several children who slept in a barn on fresh hay during the summer. It was something that I found very intriguing and wished that I could sleep in our barn too.

We talked about it to Mom and Daddy. They seemed a little amused that we would rather sleep in the barn than in our nice comfortable beds, but they agreed that we could on Saturday night before our in-between Sunday. That way we could sleep as long as we wanted to.

For the rest of the week we looked forward to Saturday night and once it finally arrived we headed to the barn before our usual bedtime. Daddy went with us and spread out several buggy blankets on the hay. Mom brought out a few old quilts and pillows and after they said goodnight we settled down in our little nests. We talked for a little while and then lay there listening to the sleepy goodnight clucks from the hens, the goats were laying in there pen and were chewing their cud, their sharp little teeth sounded quite noisy as darkness started to envelope us and we could see stars through the cracks in the barn wall.

Our cats couldn't understand why we didn't want to play with them and they continually walked over our blankets and rubbed against our faces, they finally gave up and went to do what ever farm cats do during the night. As we nestled under our blankets we soon fell asleep only to be awakened a little later to a loud thump and a high pitched terrified scream. We all sat up, John had a flashlight and we all looked trying to see where the noise had come from. The light fell on one of our cats, and we watched horrified as it played and teased a terrified little mouse that kept screaming.  I couldn't stand watching it and lay down and pulled the covers up over my head to try and block out the noise. A little later it was quiet and then the sounds of a cat eating the mouse started which wasn't much better.

We finally drifted off to sleep again but awoke later in the night. The barn that had soaked up the warmth from a pleasant summer day had changed as the cold mountain night air seeped in through the cracks. We got up and added all our blankets to one nest and all lay shivering in it until the first streaks of a sunrise stole across the sky.

We hurried back to the house, but didn't really know what to do with ourselves since Mom and Daddy were still sleeping. Once they got up they asked how our night was and we told them about everything. I helped Mom fix breakfast while John, David, and Mahlon went to the barn with Daddy to do the chores and bring all our blankets in.  At breakfast Daddy asked if we want to sleep in the barn again in two weeks, but we all assured him that our beds really were the best place to sleep.

20 comments:

  1. I just love reading your stories. My third daughter's middle name is Malon.

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  2. When the cat caught the mouse would have been when I headed to the house.

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  3. How fun. We played in our barn when I was young, but never slept out there. Have a lot of good memories of a fun childhood, and so do you. Thanks for sharing them with us.

    until next time... nel

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  4. I'm picturing how excited you all were looking forward to that! We just built forts in the living room with blankets and that was our "camping". That is such a fun memory ~ I love it!! Sleeping outdoors isn't my thing because I'm afraid of things crawling on me but I wish so much I was an "outdoor person" that enjoyed it because I love the IDEA of sleeping outside. ☺

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  5. How cool, we slept in our barn as kids too... We usually made a fort out of the bales of hay, then slept in the hay fort.

    Thanks for bringing back some fond memories.

    Mel

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  6. Great story. I can just see you all huddled through the night, waiting for the next scream. Most kids would have run for the house.

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  7. Oh how I laughed at your story! It must have been horrible when the mouse was screaming but when you heard the cat eating it, my goodness!!! I think I would have left the barn. I never slept in a barn but I remember trying to sleep outside a few times. The night noises always scared me back into my bed.
    Thank you again for another wonderful story.

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  8. What awesomeness!! Sounds soo fun.
    Thank you for your sweet comment on my blog!
    Blessings in Him,
    Charity

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  9. Thank you for your blog. I am enjoying reading your stories so much.

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  10. What a memory!!! Thanks for sharing your stories! I enjoy them!

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  11. I remember sleeping in a tent outside our barn waiting on our mare to give birth once... in the morning cold dew had covered the tent and I didn't want to go outside. I can only imagine how chilly it must have been!

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  12. I love this blog! You are an awesome writer.

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  13. I remember doing things like that as a child. The screech owls sounded so eerie outside, much louder than when we were in our own beds. Our dog, who was usually inside at night, chased raccoons and possums all night and kept us awake. Good times.
    Marnie

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  14. When I was in high school about thirteen of us had a slumber party in a barn. Probably the only slumber party the parents every got any sleep at. Heeehehe. I love your story of the night in the barn.

    God bless and enjoy this marvelous day!!!

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  15. Definitely would have been in the house after the cat/mouse incident and the cold came in. :D

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  16. OH my what a terrifying night. The cat and the mouse would have been it for me - lol!!!
    Great story!

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  17. I just love reading your stories and this one was by far very good read indeed thanks so much

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  18. Hi, I'm Donna from Comin' Home and you visited my blog and commented on one of my songs. I'm not sure when but I wanted to thank you for dropping by. I had to laugh at your story. Just yesterday I posted a set of pictures about life in the country where we live and one shows the kids sleeping up in our loft....it was there favorite place to camp..but you are right..there were uninvited guest. Come again soon!

    Donna at Comin' Home
    www.thehomemakingarts.blogspot.com

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  19. We tried to sleep in the barn once--a snake ruined that plan.....

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment. I love hearing your thoughts.