THE OLD FLEXIBLE FLYER

Fount hanging in an abandoned barn

This is such a great find and image it's hard to believe you didn't bribe some farmer to hang the sled up for you. Wonderful! Regards, Joe

Thanks a lot. I didn't have to bribe him, but I sure had to talk to him for awhile to get him to let me roam. This is the barn that was in the previous house and barn pic, and the doors (green trim) were from that house. I remember having a Flexible Flyer sled when I was a kid. Don't know if this is one, but it looks very similar.

I had one of those and almost killed myself in a sled/tree incident at the tender age of 10. That brings back painful memories. Funny one's too. The kid that jumped on top of me bailed out to late and I went down with the ship. I remember my friends running to my house telling my parents I was dead. Boy did that stir up some excitement. I guess that's not really funny. Well, now it is. Ah, the good old days before they started making kids wear helmets for everything and airbags in cars. Thanks,MP.

My pleasure and thanks for looking. Fortunately most of my remembrances of sledding are fond and cherished. Did you guys ever do trains where you grabbed the feet of the guy in front of you and so on? Trouble with being in front was that when you fell off (inevitably) there were all these guys coming behind you and you had to dodge them. Fortunately with all those warm clothes we had pretty good protection.

Yup. We tried all sorts of silliness that usually involved some kind of injury or another. Used to wax up the rails with old candles for some extra horsepower. Unfortunately, I haven't seen a Winter worth it's salt in these parts (PGH, PA) since I was kid. It's almost December and I haven't seen snowflake one yet. Tragic, I tell ya. Kid's these days - got no idea what they're missing. Of course, even if we did have a decent winter, I suspect they'd all be inside on the computer anyway. Now look at me prattling on so. I'm too young to be bitter. See you round the campfire. MP.

what would the wood think if it would know that you would take a picture of the old wood? I like the colour of the wood in the middle, but the sides have a weirdish tint. Cheers, Micheal

 

I know what you are saying, and maybe it could be corrected. After a lot of thought, I decided to leave it as is. The wood on the left is exposed to direct sunlight at times of the day, where most of the interior wood is not. Hence the washed out look and more weathered appearance. The further in wood is protected by what is left of the roof.

 

Thanks for your observations.

You must have a silver tongue if you can charm an old Missouri farmer. I'm not a farmer, but I am from Missouri.

 

When I saw your image in thumbnail my first thought was, "Rosebud".

Well, I have to tell you it took a while to get him a bit off his guard, but once he realized I was harmless, he was quite the talker. I learned a lot about him and I have a lot of empathy for the guy. Now, what the hell is "rosebud?"

Go to Google and type in 'rosebud' or 'citizen kane', or both and you will get your answer.