In the country, hallways and alleyways are often crammed with tools, coats, hats, hay and feed, not to even mention dogs and cats. The hallway and alleyway to home, barn and stable give additional shelter and protection during a rain or busy day. Mudrooms are quite common on farms and ranches as well as wide porches, some extending all around the house. Porches may be a place to relax, but the porch chairs and swing share space with barrels, boxes and rope. It’s not all neat and tidy on the ranch.
Ranch House Hallway (Photo by J. Matthews, 2010)
Here is the hallway in our home that extends out onto a small, front porch that has a couple of rope-crossed chairs and flower pots. The barn cats often come up to the front porch to lounge because it faces north and has ample shade. The front porch is merely an entryway for the house, but the back porch extends the length of the house.
The hallway has a hat and coat rack on the right side of the photograph. I have counted as many as ten hats and caps on the rack, and during the winter, coats and rain gear hang appropriately for convenient use.
Hallway by Flash (Photo by J. Matthews, 2010)
The second photograph of the hallway, illuminated by the modern invention of flash, illustrates the glass hutch with books, photographs, Native American pottery, prehistoric-lithic tools, horse bits and spurs. Hallway as museum.
In the old days before air conditioning, porches would be screened-in and iron bedsteads would be moved out onto the porch so that you could sleep in the mild night air. I was not interested in sleeping on a bed on a porch, but preferred to sleep under a sheet within the house, tolerating the heat until morning. I might move a pallet into the hallway beside the screen door. Hallway as bedroom.
The barn alleyway this morning shows hay bales from Arizona. These bales weigh 100 lbs. and are three-stringed — barely manageable. The first set of bales on the wooden plat is alfalfa; the second set is coastal bermuda. These bales provide about a week-and-a-half of hay to four horses. I have been cleaning out the barn and opted to put the hay in the alleyway for a time to allow the barn to dry out and give me some room to move tools and implements around.
Barn Alleyway with Hay (Photo by J. Matthews, 2010)
Hallway and barn alleyway — country-style — have multiple uses and are always comfortable spaces for storage and resting. Let the cool, fresh air flow down the barn alleyway and things are good whether you are from the city or country.
Sage to Meadow ~ Jack Matthews 
Dignity in functional! You show how spaces reflect our doings. Documenting these passageways is interesting!
Also, how some folks can stand the heat and others can’t for sleeping is an interesting topic.
Cirrelda: I thought you might take an artist appreciation of this. We’re still getting a little rain, not much, but some. Showers for the next few days. Passageways — a good word to use in this context.
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Fun to see your spaces and your description of their uses. I am partial to the barn alleyway. Looks like it has a really good feeling to it.
All very functional and tidy in its own way. Life on a working farm/ranch is purposeful in ways outsiders don’t always recognize. I sometimes think one has to be born into that night heat to sleep soundly. I personally think that heat cleans the pores and regulates the body, sorta like a free spa.
Now that’s a take on the heat I’ve never heard. Sleeping soundly in the heat escapes me. I agree that it cleans the pores and regulates the body.
It’s not easy on a working farm and ranch. There are down times, however, and you can pace yourself, but work has to be done or livestock or crops usually suffer. Even in our low-impact ranching, there are tough, physical chores that have to be accomplished. I placed the hay bales in the alley way to also put the bales closer to the hay bins.