In 1981, Herman Ostry and his wife, Donna, bought a farm a half mile outside of Bruno, Nebraska, a small community sixty miles west of Omaha. The property had a creek and came with a barn built in the 1920′s. The barn floor was always wet and muddy. When the creek flooded in 1988, the barn ended up with 29 inches of water covering the floor. That was the last straw. Ostry needed to move it to higher ground.
He contacted a building moving company and was discouraged by the bid. One night around the table, Ostry commented that if they had enough people they could pick the barn up and move it to higher ground. Everyone laughed.
A few days latter, Ostry’s son Mike showed his father some calculations. He had counted the individual boards and timbers in the barn and estimated that the barn weighed approximately 16,640 pounds. He also estimated that a steel grid needed to move the barn would add another 3,150 pounds, bringing the total weight to just under 10 tons. He figured it would take around 350 people with each person lifting 56 lbs. to move the barn.
The town of Bruno, Nebraska was planning its centennial celebration in late July of 1988. Herman and Mike presented their barn moving idea to the committee. The committee decided to make it part of their celebration.
So, on July 30, 1988, shortly before 11 a.m., a quick test lift was successfully made. Then, as local television cameras and 4,000 people from eleven states watched, 350 people moved the barn 115 feet south and 6 feet higher up a gentle slope and set it on its new foundation.
The reason most people think that something cannot be done is because they know that they can’t do it by themselves. But impossible things can be done if we join together in the task. Working together, we can not only move barns, but change the world.
Tag: People
Sean Edward Whelan’s Architectural People
Figural forms built out of architectural elements, these illustrations by Sean Edward Whelan look like sculptural cityscapes from a science fiction movie. Full of finely illustrated detail, you will continue to see more and more of what makes up each figure as you look over them.
It’s easy to get lost in the clutter of objects, so try to keep your eyes firmly planted in your skull.
You can see much more of his work here and here.
Southern FOLKS
Southern FOLKS know their summer weather report:
Humidity
Humidity
Humidity
Southern FOLKS know their vacation spots:
The beach
The rivuh
The creek
Southern WOMEN know everybody’s first name:
Honey
Darlin’
Shugah
Southern WOMEN know the movies that speak to their hearts:
Fried Green Tomatoes
Driving Miss Daisy
Steel Magnolias
Gone With The Wind
Southern FOLKS know their religions:
Baptist
Methodist
Football
Southern FOLKS know their cities dripping with Southern charm:
Chawl’stn
S’vanah
Foat Wuth
N’awlins
Addlanna
Southern WOMEN know their elegant gentlemen:
Men in uniform
Men in tuxedos
Rhett Butler
Southern girls know their prime real estate:
The Mall
The Country Club
The Beauty Salon
Southern girls know the 3 deadly sins:
Having bad hair and nails
Having bad manners
Cooking bad food
Only a Southerner knows the difference between a hissie fit and a conniption fit, and that you don’t “HAVE” them, you “PITCH” them.
Only a Southerner knows how many fish, collard greens, turnip greens, peas, beans, etc., make up”a mess.”
Only a Southerner can show or point out to you the general direction of”yonder.”
Only a Southerner knows exactly how long”directly” is, as in:
“Going to town, be back directly.”
(“Dreckly” in my family)
Even Southern babies know that “Gimme some sugar”is not a request for the white, granular, sweet substance that sits in a pretty little bowl in the middle of the table.
All Southerners know exactly when “by and by” is. They might not use the term, but they know the concept well.
Only a Southerner knows instinctively that the best gesture of solace for a neighbor who’s got trouble is a plate of hot fried chicken and a big bowl of cold potato salad. If the neighbor’s trouble is a real crisis, they also know to add a large banana puddin’!
Only Southerners grow up knowing the difference between”right near”and “a right fer piece.” They also know that “just down the road” can be 1 mile or 20.
Only a Southerner both knows and understands the difference between a redneck, a good ol’ boy, and po’ white trash.
No true Southerner would ever assume that the car with the flashing turn signal is actually going to make a turn.
A Southerner knows that”fixin” can be used as a noun, a verb, or an adverb.
Only Southerners make friends while standing in lines, …. and when we’re “in line”, we talk to everybody!
Put 100 Southerners in a room and half of them will discover they’re related, even if only by marriage.
In the South,y’all is singular, all y’all is plural.
Southerners know grits come from corn and how to eat them.
Every Southerner knows tomatoes with eggs, bacon, grits, biscuits, and coffee are perfectly wonderful; that red eye gravy is also a breakfast food; and that fried green tomatoes are not a breakfast food.
When you hear someone say, “Well, I caught myself lookin’,” you know you are in the presence of a genuine Southerner!
Only true Southerners say “sweet tea” and”sweet milk.” Sweet tea indicates the need for sugar and lots of it — we do not like our tea unsweetened. “Sweet milk” means you don’t want buttermilk.
And a true Southerner knows you don’t scream obscenities at little old ladies who drive 30 MPH on the freeway. You just say,”Bless her heart”… and go your own way.
To those of you who are still a little embarrassed by your Southerness: Take two tent revivals and a dose of sausage gravy and call me in the morning, bless your heart!
And to those of you who are still having a hard time understanding all this Southern stuff…..bless your hearts, I hear they’re fixin’ to have classes on Southernness as a second language!
Southern girls know men may come and go, but friends are fahevah !
Now Shugah, send this to someone who was raised in the South or wish they had been!
If you’re a Northern transplant, bless your little heart, fake it. We know you got here as fast as you could.
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