Treehouse Part VI and Other Things

Am enjoying some time at the lake, but I brought some of the treehouse materials with me so that I could build the Dutch doors for the wee house that I've been building for Clara and Henry. These door parts will be ready to install when I get back to that project. The plan for this treehouse was developed by someone in Canada, and it has lots of fun, kid-friendly features. One is this owl cutout in the top door. There is some screen to keep bugs out, but behind that is another pair of tiny doors with the owl's eyes cut out so that kids can peek out from the house to see who is knocking, or the little doors can be opened for more visibility.

Kathie and her mother and I have been enjoying the emerging spring season here at the lake. There are already some fishermen out catching crappie and other panfish, but the full season doesn't open for another week. We are getting the boat ready to go out soon. The dock is already back in the water. In addition, we have done some miscellaneous repair work, cleaned the gutters, and readied the hot tub, which we have enjoyed several times already. More and more birds are arriving, and trees and plants are opening up. That silly robin still doesn't like using the nice nesting platform I made for her a year ago. (In case you don't recall that story, click here to see how she responded to the platform last year—same thing this year!) The lake is nice and full of water, which is good to see, since the winter here was too mild and dry. We are looking forward to many nice days again this summer.

Treehouse Part V

Pete didn't have to work today, because it is Shure's 87th anniversary. What a nice company to give its employees a day off on the anniversary of the company's founding! He and I were quite a team while we worked on the treehouse, and what a beautiful day we had to work. First steps involved completing the framing for the peaks and then siding them.

Then we moved on to applying the roof boards.

Our ladder situation left something to be desired—we were unable to reach the highest portion of the roof. I decided that straddling the roof was not an unreasonable way to finish fastening down the final few boards—not the most comfortable approach, but it worked, and I guess I can now confirm that the wee house is pretty sturdy.

Here is the status of things when we wrapped up today. I'll be leaving for a few weeks but will return to finish up the project in middle May. Tune in later for the continuing saga.

Treehouse Part IV

Today was house siding day. Pete cut the pieces of tongue and groove siding, while I nailed them up.

We had to notch the top siding piece to accommodate the rafters.

At the close of the day, we put the rafters and ridge beam into place.

Had hoped to get more done today, but all-in-all, pretty decent progress. Tomorrow, we'll either put the roof on and shingle it or build the railing. After that, I'm off to the lake for awhile. This project will have to be on hold for a few weeks.

Treehouse Part III

Yesterday was a cold, windy, sometimes drizzly, nasty day. However, we did make a fair amount of progress. First, the posts were all cut to the proper height and were then notched to accept the header joists and the first two deck joists.

Several posts were added for the railing at this point, and then we began to put down the deck boards.

Of course, it was inevitable that Henry and Clara would want to climb up at this point.

Henry helped by bringing over the prefabbed house sides that he and I made together two days ago.

After some measuring and adjusting, all four walls of the house were in place. I then took what I consider to be the first official pictures of the treehouse owners in their new digs.

Peter and I finished out the day making the ladder. After this, Betsy and I went to get the last of the materials, including the siding and roofing boards, which are on tomorrow's project agenda.

Treehouse Part II

Betsy has also posted a story about this treehouse exercise, so you may want to navigate over there to read what she has to say. Her writing is more clever than mine.

Yesterday, after Pete and I finished the concrete around the last two posts, I spent a good bit of the morning at Home Depot procuring more materials. Henry only had half a day of school, so he helped me in the afternoon. It was too wet to work on the deck structure, so we decided to prefabricate some of the framing for the house that will sit atop the deck—we did two sides and the back. Henry was really into the job and was very helpful with measuring and assembly. We had one board with a little twist in it, so we used one of my straps to persuade it to get lined up properly.

Putting on some dance moves always helps to move things along.

I guess Grandpa makes funny faces when he is observing the work being done. (That face reminds me of my dad and uncle, both of whom used to do the same thing!)

Today, we should get the deck finished, as long as this morning rain goes away as promised.

Treehouse Part I

As one of my offspring is averse to reading my longer posts, I'm breaking this treehouse story into multiple parts. Of course, that works well, as this is a multi-day exercise. With help from various good folks, I'm building a treehouse (actually a house on posts, as there is no tree available for the purpose) for Henry and Clara and another child to be named later. Below are pictures of the work done on Wednesday and early Thursday morning. Rain may slow us down today.

We managed to get the postholes dug early using a power auger. The machine really speeded things up, but it gave Pete and me a real strength test. The ground was pretty wet, and at one point it threatened to screw itself into the ground, which would have made pulling it back out pretty difficult. Fortunately, we outwrestled it. No pictures of that exercise, unfortunately, but you can see that we did the final digging the old fashioned way.

Some gravel went into the bottom of each hole.

Then the 6x6 posts were dropped in.

Forms for the concrete were added.

Bracing was added to square up each post and to insure that each one was vertically true as well as properly distanced one from another.

Finally, we mixed bags of concrete with water and filled each posthole. Our backs asked for a break after two holes, so we finished up the last two just this morning. As soon as the concrete sets up, we'll get started on the actual construction of the deck and the little house that will sit atop it.

Amana Lunch and Other Stuff

Last Saturday, we met Rob and his family at the Ronnenburg for lunch. Penny and Eleanor were all smiles. Eleanor had visited a local shop before lunch to find a new addition for her Calico Critters.

Later in the day, I finished up a project that I actually made for myself. This is a cabinet, based on a tool chest design, that I created for storing and organizing some of my electric train pieces and parts. I was able to use up a number of scraps of wood that have been accumulating in my shop, so that made me feel good about not wasting.

Also, I created inserts for safe storage of the individual train cars and engines. Now, if I can just find some time to play with my trains.

Nashville Visit

We were in Nashville last weekend to visit Jessica, Mike and Maia. Maia was a little unsure of us when we arrived and stayed pretty close to her mom and dad, but that changed over the course of our visit.

You may have seen The Colbert Report recently when Ann Patchett was his guest. In addition to doing a good job of keeping Colbert in line, Ms. Patchett talked about the book store she recently opened in Nashville. Since Kathie and I are fans of her writing, we decided to visit the shop. Steven was impressed that Kathie had taken the time to stop by. We didn't buy any books, but we loved the way the store was organized and the fact that there were lots of display tags near the books that provided synopses and recommendations by store staff, many by Ms. Patchett herself. Alas, she was not there that particular day.

A new barbecue restaurant opened very near Jess and Mike recently, so we enjoyed a lunch there. Because that pretty much did in our allowed calorie counts for the day, we decided that supper would consist only of a trip to the also nearby ice cream shop. Maia was all over that idea.

The 50s and 60s music they played got Maia into a dancing mood too.

She must have her picture taken a lot, because she knew where to look when a camera showed up.

On Sunday, Mike and Jess suggested a picnic at one of Tennessee's state parks—Rock Island State Park, which is about an hour and a half east and a bit south of Nashville. The Caney Fork River runs through the park, which is dominated by some spectacular limestone cliffs. There are many rapids and falls, and the state has introduced sandy play areas and many picnic spots.

Swimming, playing in the rapids and jumping into deep pools is a favorite thing to do there, as long as you don't disturb the many fishermen who were there looking for panfish and bass.

A group of guys were busy trying to push a large tree trunk into the water. It took them awhile, and we were concerned that one or more of them was going to go into the water with it and get hurt. However, they eventually succeeded and then got into the water and rode the trunk as the current moved it along.

There was an interesting old cotton mill nearby, although it went out of operation in the early 1900s.

Across the road was this old tower that had at one time been part of a system to collect spring water for use by a nearby community.

We hiked down from the mill area to the river below.

Maia didn't have to hike.

She did get to go swimming with her dad for a little while.

Kathie thought someone should document the fact that I was there too.

Mike couldn't resist jumping into one of the pools. I guess the water was pretty icy, although the temperatures were in the mid-80s the entire time we were in Tennessee.

Our last evening there, we visited a cafe that we have enjoyed several times before. The food was outstanding. Maia flirted extensively with the wait staff. We definitely topped our allowed calorie counts that day! Next visit, I need to get Maia's mom in more of the pictures.