Old Prairie homestead

So many of the old wooden barns and homesteads that scatter the prairies are in such a bad state, unfortunately. This one was photographed SE of Calgary, on 14 April 2014, when I went driving the backroads for the day with my youngest daughter. Some of the roads were familiar to me, but others were new territory, which gave us a chance to discover some different abandoned barns. We knew where our destination was going to be (Mossleigh), more or less, though it was disappointing that the heat distortion was just too great to get distant, zoomed photos. Unfortunately, it was quite a hazy day, which really didn't help.

This homestead is in better shape than many you see. I added a filter to this image in post-processing, which gives it a little more detail. Seems such a pity that some work on the outside of this rather attractive structure can't be done, before it falls into a heap of old planks. Who knows why old barns and homesteads are left to crumble? Farmers are very busy people and probably not too concerned about an old, rotting building on their land. Most are no doubt living on a tight budget, too. I'm just happy that I have an occasional chance to photograph a few of these wonderful old barns and homesteads - I can think of at least three that have disappeared since I photographed them, which is always a sad feeling, I find.

Also, you see so many photos taken inside such buildings (I never go inside any of them, as they are always on private land and I won't trespass). The wonderful old treasures that are covered in dirt and strewn all over the place are breathtaking. Seems so sad that so many things aren't saved and cared for. What an interesting task that would be!

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I've only been on Flickr the last half hour, but I see that they have still not fixed the "views" problem that has been going on for many hours now. The Stats for Your Account (only available to the old Pro account members) seems to be working OK, but the number of views under each individual image is either stuck at 0 or counts just a very few of the actual number. Apparently, Staff do know about this issue.

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Looks like we had maybe 2-3" of snow yesterday and overnight. As I type, there is just very fine snow falling, barely noticeable. I think it may be very slippery out there, so it will probably be another day at home. It's 1°C right now, supposedly climbing to 3°C this afternoon. I was hoping that the snow on my car would all melt, but it doesn't look like that will happen.