There goes the neighborhood

We went on a bike ride yesterday afternoon and ended up at our old house. Brian (the new owner) showed us the garden; he is doing a great job. But, he also showed us the maple tree with the tree house in it. We've had some severe storms lately with high winds. Last weekend, the wind caused the maple tree to start splitting. One of the trunks with the tree house is separating from the tree at the base! It pulled the lag bolts right out and bent the 2x4 that holds the rope ladder. There is probably about a foot between the tree house and the trunk. I wish we had a camera with us; it is really strange looking. He is going to cut the branches off just above there, so that the tree house will continue to be usable, but is does look scary right now; I don't think I would want to climb the rope ladder—that extra weight might be just enough to cause it to fully separate.

I offered to help him cut it off. If he takes me up on it, I'll try to get a picture. It really looks bizarre...I guess we sold it just in time :)

The tree house, again

Renee posted a nice picture tour of the tree house here. I didn't take many shots of the inside, but she does a good job. If you want to see all the pictures, you will have to go to my Facebook page

Officially done

OK. I'm declaring the tree house officially done. Joshua (our visiting 5 year-old grandson) spent a good part of yesterday scrambling up and down the ladder, in and out of the tree house, using the rope and bucket to raise and lower stuff, so it is officially endorsed by the person we built it for. We even had lunch together in the tower!

Here are some pictures after I added the trim:

A nice view of the tree, slide, swing, and tree house; you can see the yellow rope for the bucket in the background, too:









Not sure if you can see it, but there is a cat sleeping on the floor of the tower. We call him "Baby;" he's a stray that we took in, but he is just a big baby.

All that's left is putting up the trim

I finished painting the tree house last night. The white trim took longer to paint than I thought it would—it always does. What do you think? Tonight I'll put trim around the doors to make them stand out and I'll stain the floors. You should be able to see that on Monday, if I remember...

Musings

Debbie left on Sunday to take Madelynn back; the house seems empty without them. I talked to her last night after she got to Ryan's (our son) in Minneapolis. Today she leaves for Grand Marais and delivers Madelynn to her parents, who are pining away, missing her :)

But, I have plenty to do. I need to get the tree house painted before Debbie brings Joshua back. I finished the body of it last night. I still have to paint the trim and railings; they will be a gloss white. What do you think of it so far?



In other news, I canned 8.5 quarts of bread and butter pickles and 2 quarts of beet pickles over the weekend. The green beans are about done with their first crop, except for the pole beans that are about to get started. So, I froze what we had picked.

The Japanese beetles have been a problem this year. The trap isn't drawing them as well as it did last year. I even put an extra pheromone patch on it. I don't know if you can see it in this picture, but they have made lace work of my rhubarb.


I mentioned a while ago that my brick cheese didn't seem to have turned out. I made two pounds and ate one two weeks later. The other one has been aging until yesterday. I opened it up and took a taste. It no longer looks or tastes like Brie! In fact, it tastes (and smells) like a mild Limburger. Good thing Debbie's gone :) Brick cheese is just a non-aged Limburger, so no surprise. I had some on a baked potato; it was good—I do like Limburger, by the way. But, don't go sending me any for Christmas; I don't like it that well!

I still have a 1/2 pound of cheddar that is aging. I made it on March 10, so it is now over 4 months old. I think I will open it up this week. I'll let you know how it tastes—unless it kills me! :)

More tree house pictures

Here's a few more pictures of the building process.

The side walls go up:


The side balcony (we call it the princess porch):


The lookout tower, with an oversized resident :)


A side view with the railings attached:


An inside view of the platform for the lookout tower:


Sorry, Renee, I took pictures of Madelynn last night and then forgot to bring the camera! You'll have to settle for a tree house instead.

Last week

OK, I've been wanting to post this since last week and can't wait any longer, even though it isn't painted yet...

As usual, I jump in medias res...Last week Joel, Renee, and their kids came to see us. Part of the visit was having Joel and I build a new tree house. Truth be told, Joel did most all of it, I just tagged along and was the gopher. Anyway, I was supposed to wait until it was painted to post the pictures, but I couldn't wait. I managed to get the shingles on last night, does that count?

Before we started, the old tree house:


The materials:



The new framework:


The satisfied customers:




I'll post more of the pictures on my Facebook profile, and don't be surprised to see a few of them show up here over the next few days, as well. Joel did a great job and we're thankful to him. Makes me wish I were a kid again :)