This is a farm near The Wife’s hometown of Waterloo. Most barns and other farm buildings are painted with conservative colors, traditionally red. Red paint was used back in the day because red dye was the least expensive kind of paint available. These days, though, there is no reason why a farmer cannot paint his buildings any way he likes, and this guy clearly has a sense of humor:
These are a series of pictures of the old headquarters of McKay’s Nursery in Waterloo, which has been converted into an antique store. Another good example of Wisconsin architecture.
Fortunately for me, The Wife came from the right side of the tracks:
The “right side of the tracks” turns out to be the side of the town that is graced by Fireman’s Park, a rather large public park for a town of this size. There’s a large banquet hall where most of the proms and lots of weddings are held; a landmark carousel, baseball diamonds and other recreational facilities, and a touching monument to the town’s war dead (particularly touching were the plaques for two brothers killed within days of one another in World War II, one in the Pacific and the other in Europe).
Also, we took a wonderful picture of the trees starting to turn color, the first blush of autumn creeping into the southern Wisconsin countryside in this rural town.