Treehouse Update

Not every treehouse has a window like this one - but ours does! Thanks David!!! It even opens and closes.

Yesterday was something of a milestone. We've been building upwards. Yesterday we topped it off, placed the flag, and now we're moving back down and inside.

We're checking the other windows for placement and, though all are not refinished yet (4 of 6 are) we should have most of those in tomorrow.

It's looking almost finished. We did spend another $135 to upgrade the door to something more like a treehouse door.

My Genealogy File is Online Now

I've been having some problems with my computer and got to thinking about my genealogy file and it's sole place of residence on my hard drive. It's got over 2000 individuals in the file now so I decided that I'd best published my genealogy file to Ancestry.com. Here's the link:

http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/person.aspx?tid=10942125&pid=-553889523

In publishing the file I kept the information to living individuals private so, for example, I'm listed as "Living Willis" and everyone living can be found in the file but only as their relationship to others. The link above will take you to dad's record.

Treehouse Naming Contest Announcement!!!

It's been decided that the treehouse needs a name! So - we're gonna have a contest to see who can come up with the best name. Now, the treehouse is morphing into a family & friends project with ideas and stuff coming in from everywhere. For example, a friend brought over a really nice small stained glass window the other day. Now - naming the treehouse will be a really easy way for you to make your contribution so comment here or send me an email! For the record "The Treehouse at Wildernest" (like "The Ballpark at Arlington") has already been suggested and decided against so you'll need to be more creative! We're not yet sure who the judges will be or what the prize will be but those things aren't really important.

Treehouse Update

The walls of the treehouse itself are going up now. There are three completed (almost) and the fourth will go up tomorrow. Alex can be seen in this picture but let it be known that Daniel is also there framing in the far wall! Because we've used cedar posts it looks like the house is just sorta hanging in space here.

This is the northeast corner and the two windows come together to give the impression of one big window.

The steps have their cedar handrails

Alex is escorting a visitor here (they keep coming). We've added two more big cedar posts under the treehouse for support and that makes a total of nine.

Soft Light of a Rainy Day

The rain's been coming down slow and steady all morning long and we're enjoying the day in our upstairs rooms. I just looked out the window at the pond garden and I think it's finally beginning to come together. Sometimes plant combinations work and sometimes they don't. The "Springy Chair Garden" came together a couple years ago and I've been tweaking it since. The little bed at the base of the outside light is looking good this year and finally, the pond garden is getting there too. Just behind the fairy we added a container plant this year and two Autumn Ferns on either side. Just to the right of those are two Oakleaf Hydrangas. We've had Canas before but they were too big for where they were. Now I've moved those back out of the area so they work more as a foil for the other plants. They are behind the plants I've mentioned but they're not really big enough to be playing a role yet. Give them a month or so. The Louisiana Iris is blooming now as well as the lily's in the pond and the purple Ajugas in front of the fairy. I also moved a Japanese Maple to the right of the pond in this picture and it's beginning to add a touch of red. The last thing added this year were three Denisforum (sp?) Yews. They are in the mix in the right foreground. There's also a big Elephant Ear bulb in the ground but it hasn't appeared yet and it may have been a victim of the drain line we ran through the area. (It's a perforated line that adds some additional water to the area and I need to add some mulch to cover it again.)

Getting Close to Having the Stairs & Platform Finished!

We've cut down four more cedar trees to add four additional upright posts to the stairs as well as a few trees for cedar handrails. Now we'll cut down a couple more bigger trees to add two more main support posts on the platform, then some sway braces, and finally cedar handrails on the platform.

Springfest at Wildernest

It was a fun day! We enjoyed the great weather, did some trail walking, ate burgers & dogs, sang "Happy Birthday" to Greg and Claire, and spent a lot of time at the treehouse project. (For the record: Justin will put the roof on the treehouse and Jimmy accepted the 'find a pole' task.) Then Justin got the idea to try out the zip line. We found out some things we shouldn't do, some things we need to do, and some things that could be corrected then. Justin, Daniel, Greg, Karla, Ren, Caroline, and Mullien all rode the zip line! (What will it be like at Thanksgiving?) I think we made some memories and that's what it's all about! The highlight of the day was the unexpected arrival of Deanna & Cody from way up north! (Here are the other pictures)

Today's Treehouse Work

Click here for the SnapFish file.

The Beaver Dam

This is pretty interesting! I took the first picture here a couple months ago. I'd decided that it would be a relatively easy thing to do to build a small dam where the big root crosses the creek (at the bottom of the picture). It looked like two feet high would be about right to get the water level to the right height relative to the pier - that you can see in the upper part of the picture.




In the picture below, you can see the dam exactly where I planned to build it. A couple differences. (1) I didn't build it. The beaver did. (2) It's not two feet high. It's about three feet high. Notice that you can't see the pier. It's underwater again and will stay that way for a awhile. (The reason the water is at the same height on both sides of the dam is that he built another one a bit downstream at the same height. There's a big difference in the water level there.)

Thanks Mr. Beaver! (I think.)

THere Are Three Tired Bodies This Evening

We've only got a couple half days to work on the treehouse this week. Today was the first one and we can now begin to get a good feel for how the treehouse will fit in it's surroundings! Although there are just a couple boards meeting out in space in the picture above, someday, you will stand right there.

We started about noon and this picture was taken about half way through the day. There's scaffolding (delivered via zip line), nail gun, air compressor, generator, chain saw, ladders, and all sorts of stuff. The deck will be about 16 ft square and about 13 ft off of the ground! We're cutting down 18 ft tall cedar trees for the support posts - but the structure is also on three sides of the tree and visitors to it will be intimate with the tree. As you can see, it's progressing pretty well and we hope to have the decking boards on there tomorrow but we'll have to wait and see what the day brings.

You've Heard About Working Smart?

Those of us in the know have all been bemoaning the upcoming task of getting the wood for the treehouse from the closest spot you can drive a trailer to the building site. There is a lot of wood and it's pressure treated wood - that means it's heavy!! Going by way of the trail, it's 200-300 yards. You can cut that in half by going in a straight line - but that's through the underbrush, across the creek, and up the hill. I was on my way there this morning to begin working on it. I heard noises as I approached and it was Daniel, hacking a path - but not for carrying the wood. He was working on clearing a path for a zip line.

Leaving out quite a bit of detail, within an hour or so we had a zip line ready to carry the wood. We still had to load it, push it through the woods, and unload it. Daniel only did about 95% of the work but I was there to encourage him. At the end of the day all of the wood, except one piece, was at the treehouse site. (We left the last piece of wood for Alex cause he's really gonna enjoy zipping that through the woods, across the creek, and up the hill and he'll be even more appreciative of Daniel's execution of a really good idea that saved us all a lot of work!!) In the picture Daniel has two 16ft long deck boards ready to go!

Jacob Hayes Scholarship Crawfish Boil

Lots'a crawfish, lots'a folks, good music, good time!

This is a Three Post Morning

The first one's about mom. I've been reading some of her diaries from the 1970's and have discovered a couple definitions. (1) Any breakfast served at home and involving other adults is a "leisurely breakfast" to the diary world. (2) Also, any meal eaten away from home but not in a restaurant is a "picnic". She had a lot of both! (Sorry mom.)

There's a New Dot on the Hummingbird Migration Map

I reported it this morning. Our first hummingbird of the year stopped by for food this morning. (The photo's from last year.)

Birds and their dwellings

I built three of these very nice birdhouses. This kind is dimensioned specifically for bluebirds (I'm not sure how the other birds are suppose to know that) but my three nice birdhouses are vacent.

This nice little birdhouse by the pond is primarily there for decoration but a chickodee was very intersted in it a few weeks ago and went in and out of it a number of times but it too is vacent.

However, in the eve of the carport we have a happy home of some unknown bird and her several eggs.

And, in the tractor shed, we've got a condo building with three new, little nests all in a row!