|
Wednesday, August 16, 2000
Indeed! The sky is the limit.
The treehouse is next to another cluster of maples and I can't help it; I find my eye fixed on higher branches of those trees, wondering if, just maybe...couldn't an expansion bridge be built into that tree, and, perhaps, a small platform added there.
Today, driving back and forth to Hibbing for a noon conference I had plenty of time to daydream about new additions, and thought perhaps a small second story, set on a different plane, but parallel to the ground
of course, with a floor just large enough for a sleeping area or a small study, which could be enclosed, and inhabitable more or less year 'round, with proper modifications--would have to be long enough to lie down, s o at least six feet for me...seven feet for Jerry, perhaps the size of a pup tent, but taller. Lots of windows all
around.
But, for now, the immediate problem is the railing and the stairs. I ordered stringers, which are probably ready, and these will be finished with decking for the stairs. We have
adequate cedar available from our property--trees which have already died--I don't much have the heart to cut any more of our trees down; several acres of aspen were cut when the house
was built, and it seems torture to wait for the forest to grow back. They're four years old now and just starting to look more like trees than bushes.
I'm hoping to build the posts for the railing and stairs with the cedar logs.
Saturday, August 19, 2000
The most beautiful day yet this year--cool, sunny, nice breeze, and the insects have mostly retired for the year, with an exception of a lone mosquito who soon joined his bretheren.
We got smart, and took a trailer load full of 2 x 6's and decking to my Dad's work shop, where we pleasantly spent the afternoon sawing them into boards for the stairs and stair platform. With 15 stairs, we needed
thirty pre-cut 3 foot long boards, and for the platform, 2 x 6's cut to size for a 4 by 5 foot platform, with decking 5 feet long. 
Once home, we began, like ants, to carry enormous loads to the tree house site. Jerry and I loaded two of the stringers onto a two-wheeled
kayak carrier, and Jerry pulled the stringers as far as the beaver dam, then carried them across one by one. I backpacked decking boards for the stairs five at a time.
Just before sunset, Dad & Dolly stopped by to check the progress. The trip down the trail in the dark, especially the 45 degree descent down a
drop of about 15 feet, and the climb over the beaver dam and up the other side were an adventure in themselves. Dolly bravely followed me up the ladder onto the platform, where we enjoyed a lovely view of
the river at sunset. We had the benefit of a couple of folding plastic chairs I'd picked up on sale last week. Dad, who will turn 80 next week, preferred to keep his feet on the ground, but was finally persuaded to climb
high enough to peek across the top of the platform, and see the view.
Sunday, August 20, 2000
Today most of our time was spent in hauling the lumber and supplies to the tree house. This is more difficult
than it might sound as everything has to be hauled in down a narrow trail along the river, down a steep hill, then over the beaver dam and back up the other side.
In addition to the boards, we had the stair stringers, of which there were six,
and they are very heavy, and cedar logs to support the platform and four 50 lb concrete pads which the cedar poles will rest on. Jerry strapped the concrete
pads (one at a time) onto his backpack frame, using a heavy rubber mat for a cushion to protect the pack, and tied it on using nylon webbing, and then portaged them in to the treehouse.
Once all the materials and tools were brought to the site, we quickly assembled the platform.
This gave me a false sense of progress and I thought the whole stairs and platform would be up in no time. Next, however, we had to cut 4 X 4 square pegs on the bottoms of the four ce dar poles. We did this tediously, cutting and measuring with a hammer and chisel, several times
with each one before we got it right.
Then came the big logistical question of how you build stairs. We decided to start from the top of the platform, and fashioned a temporary support
using two upright poles with a board nailed between them, at three feet lower than the platform. I held the lower end of the first stringer, supporting
it on the board, while Jerry nailed the top of the stringer to a deck joist. This seemed to work fine, and he moved on to attach the next one, when boom!
the corner of the stringer broke where it was nailed, and fell to the ground.
By this time we were too exhausted and it was too late to proceed. We have a different plan next time for
attachment--hopefully Monday night.
Monday, August 21, 2000
Some parts of building a tree house are slower than others--we seem to be beset by setbacks and  time-consuming problems at this stage. Carrying all of the pre-cut lumber, the
stringers and the deck pads and posts to the site was no picnic, and by the time we had done that, yesterday, we were pretty well exhausted. Determined to see
progress, we pressed on and cut the posts square at the base to fit the deck pads.
I had it in mind that the stairs would magically go up in a flash, oh optimist that I
am. Next, we fashioned a temporary brace to support the stringers while we attached them to the platform. The top set of three stringers will support five
steps from the tree house to a four by five foot platform, and another set of ten steps will lead from there to the ground.
This was working just fine, although physically taxing, then while Jerry was
fastening the second stringer, the first stringer broke off--the wood just split--and
crashed to the ground, fortunately missing us and the four or five dogs who were enjoying our adventure. I think Dolphy was busy digging up one of my gloves (again) that she had stolen earlier, and a couple
were checking the bushes for doggy historical markers and one or two had gone for a dip in the river. Today we found that another of the stringers is falling
apart--the wood just seems to have split in half, so that the peaks of the cut out stairs are all falling off.
We have decided on a different way to attach the stringers, once we've replaced
the defective ones! Today, Jerry nailed 2 x 6 boards perpendicular to the joists, and the stringers will butt against those boards, and attach beneath the tree house deck.
So...not much appeared to happen today, but we do have a plan!
|