![[1906 - The Coppock Barn, Monroe Township, Miami County, Ohio]](images/index/CoppockBarnMasthead2.jpg)
For the most part, the entries presented here are verbatim as originally recorded. However, most misspellings or word omissions have been corrected, while grammar and punctuation have not been. In a few cases, the language has been softened. The author sometimes became very frustrated with events, and that frustration was sometimes strongly reflected in an entry. On some occasions, entries stray a bit from the barn work at hand, but they none-the-less reflect what was on the author's mind at the time, and as such have been included here.
A number of identical footnotes appear throughout the log from month-to-month, so that each month's entries can be better understood on their own. For example, when a person is named in multiple month's log entries, that person is introduced by footnote at their first invocation in each month's log.
It should be noted that the author's primary concern was preserving the Pennsylvania Barn built by the Coppocks in 1857. As such, a great majority of the log entries concern work done there, as opposed to portions of the barn complex built many decades later, such as the milking parlor or grain storage bins.
When photographs were taken on the same day that a log entry was made, those photos can be viewed via the links in the calendar. In many cases, links to the photos can also be found within the log entry for that day.
Admittedly, reading this entire log would be a tedious task for almost all. It is, however, the only contemporaneous record of what occurred at the barn (along with photographs) during the period from its sale out of the Coppock family until it was demolished, and thus is rightly included on this website.
Days Logged in February: 10
Hours/Minutes Worked in February: Ken 8/30; Jim 6/10; Other(s) 00/00
Amount Expended in February: $320.78
| February 2004 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| 29 | ||||||
Called Jim 1 to talk about plans for tomorrow - possibly going up to Lowes. 2 We've talked other times too, like 30 January 04. The weather has been cold and inhospitable; Jim has some other projects, so we've been letting the barn work slide. I think it's good to let Jim get away on occasion, so he doesn't become burnt on the barn.
Wednesday, the 4th
Off work to take Mother 3 to the airport. Jim and I went to Lowes, got some cedar for barn siding. Also bought a Porter Cable Circular Saw. Went to Tractor Supply 4 and looked at a catalog with mowers that could be attached to Jim's tractor. We also looked at push mowers at Lowes, and a grass collector. We were gone two hours, which is what I paid Jim for.
Thursday, the 12th
Jim and I talked about when we could work next - maybe this weekend (14th and 15th). Jim is busy doing some carpentry work for Gale/John 5 - doesn't know when he'll be finished, but hoped he would be by the weekend.
Saturday, the 14th
Jim called about working tomorrow at the barn. We agreed I'd call him tomorrow morning.
Sunday, the 15th
Jim called me in the morning and said he felt it was too cold, given we were going to work siding and that would take a lot of finger type work, without gloves. Told him I would go out tomorrow morning for a while, and he could come out to do some more inspection he mentioned today.
Monday, the 16th
Called Jim and told him I was under the weather, and didn't want to go out today. Told Jim I'd call him later in the week.
Thursday, the 19th
Talked to Jim tonight and told him not to worry about working anytime soon, as I didn't want to burn him out on the project. He's a little frustrated with his other work though, and sounds like he's anxious to get back to it some. We agreed he'd call me tomorrow or the next day to plan on more work stuff. Also told him I would pick him up on the way to the Barn Conference 6 in Xenia in early April - he thought he would want to go.
Monday, the 23rd
Went out with plans to work a couple hours on clearing stuff. Cut myself on the shin with a thorn from stuff I was clearing, and bled like a stuck pig. I was thinking maybe stitches; came home, elevated my leg and it stopped. Time to wear boots or something so this BS doesn't keep happening. Called Jim and told him, and told him he could go out but I wasn't going back, as I wanted to make sure the bleeding was stopped for good. He had planned to go out with me today, but was running late. The amount of water in the southern most stall on the floor is amazing, as well as the water pooled in the new south addition along the hallway facing east. I wonder where it's all coming from? Worked about 45 minutes. Talked to Jim later and we talked about working this weekend, as the weather is supposed to be real good.
Saturday, the 28th
Was a beautiful warm day for a February. I took stuff up in the morning, including a bunch of PVC we hadn't used, and a new red trash can I got at ACE Hardware 7. Bought about 10 gallons of gas for the tractor too. Jim came out in the afternoon. We worked for a hour and a half. Paid Jim for 2 hours, since he had stopped out and did a half hour of work early in the week. John came up to start the SB 8, and we walked around the barn and talked and joked for more than an hour. John climbed to the top of the newer silo. I was working about 45 minutes before Jim got there. We put the east facing door up on the new south section and I just picked up garbage.
Sunday, the 29th
I spent 3.5 hours out today; Jim was there for 2 2/3 hours. I did a lot of clean up, and Jim and I cut a piece of tarp down that was just hanging. We also yanked BS's 9 truck back, so we could close the north door on the south addition. Also cleaned along the east wall, and it looks better.
1. James C. Gumbert, a close friend of mine since we met in elementary school around 1965. Jim did much of the most dangerous and physically demanding work on the barn. This entire barn preservation project would not have been possible without him. He also took hundreds of photographs initially to help us document the barn as we first found it. Return to February 3rd entry
2.This is the Lowes Home Improvement Warehouse located on the west side of Troy, Ohio on State Route 41. On very rare occasions Jim and I would visit the Lowes in Huber Heights, Ohio. Return to February 3rd entry
3. My mother, Martha Coppock Noffsinger Roberts (December 1, 1920 - January 12, 2017). Mother was born in the farmhouse about 200 feet from the barn. She died at Randall Residence of Tipp City, mere feet from where the Coppock barn once stood. Return to February 4th entry
4. Tractor Supply Company on Stanfield Road in Troy, Ohio. Return to February 4th entry
5. Gael Ann Gumbert Allcorn and John Gumbert, siblings of Jim Gumbert. Return to February 12th entry
6. A meeting of persons with an interest in preserving Ohio's historic barns. Return to February 19th entry
7. Ace Hardware on West Main in Tipp City, Ohio. Return to February 28th entry
8. "SB" refers to my 1970 Plymouth Superbird race car, that was campaigned in ARCA, NASCAR and USAC sanctioned stock car races from 1970 to 1972. The car left my garage only very infrequently for car shows, and therefore I started it on occasion just to keep the motor and drive train in good repair. It was easier to exercise the car with two people doing it. Return to February 28th entry
9. "BS" here refers to the "Barn Seller", the person who sold me the Coppock barn. Return to February 29th entry