Tree Fort! Wack Attack!! Stowaway Hens!!!

Things have been too busy lately for blogging. Too busy for pictures. Too busy for putting a garden in before June. Too busy for cleaning up the work site / front yard / driveway; but not today. Today, we're catching up, and there's a lot of it to do.

Let's get crackin' (in chronological order).

This coop turned out really well. I used a mixture of white oak, cherry and walnut. My only regret is that I didn't take more pictures. I put some awesome, buggy boards on the side and back.

This the "Luray Coop", because Heidi from Luray (that's Loo-ray, not Luh-ray) drove down with her hubs to pick it up. They had their own trailer and everything. Very nice.

I whipped up this little window here. I was going to fill it with cage wire, but then I thought, "Hey, how about wattling some strips of split white oak?". So, I wattled some strips of split white oak. Old School.

One of our hens took a liking to this coop. After the door went in, she kept scooting under (the coop was resting on supports) to hop up in the nesting box. She laid this egg the day before pick up. When they came to get the coop, she was already hanging out inside, trying to hitch a free ride to Luray. Thankfully, they were nice enough to pay full price for a used coop.

I need to explain the following set of pictures, if I can. Several people came out to our place on Memorial Day to help build a wacky playhouse for some kids that could really use a fun distraction right about now. That's all I really need to say about it, but I'll add this, there are some really good people in this world. From the small army of helping hands who answered their phones at 9:00pm, agreeing to wait in an empty parking lot after dark before following a wacky playhouse through the streets of Buena Vista for a secret delivery, to the people who took time out of their holiday to do something nice for a humble, hard-working, deserving family. One of the best days I've had in a really long time. To everyone that helped, thank you. Operation Wack Attack: Success.

This was a 1 day, start to finish project. Coulter came out on practically no notice and spent the entire day without batting an eye.

The window trim goes on a solid panel, then the opening is cut out and trimmed up with a router, using the trim as a guide. The trim actually holds the cut boards in place. I call it, "building backwards".

This kid Jordy came out to help, but he could only put in a few hours because he had to get to band practice. That's right, he's got his own rock n roll band.

Coulter's wife Paige came out after work to help paint. Except for a little trim, all the paint was left over from other jobs.

She's not a shy of a little sawdust either. Luckily, I wield a reciprocal saw like a surgeon's knife.

No job too small.

I don't squint like this because I'm angry, it's just a little technique I call, "good as glasses" to help keep flying debris out of my eyes.

We thought about putting something else on the roof, but honestly, it's gotta be the shakes.

It was well after dark when we finished, but we did get it done and delivered in a single day. Last to go up were the corner trim pieces and the door, which brought the whole thing together. We made a little funky mailbox with its own stand to go with the house, but no one took pictures.

On to the tree fort. I've been working on this one for a few days. The original idea was to get something started that the kids could finish on their own; which is a good idea, but my imagination got the best of me. Long story short, this is one rad little pad.

Brinn came down to take pictures at the end of day 3. We're putting in another set of seriously beefy posts (10" wide tree trunks) towards the end of the deck, with an added support beam running across. It's pretty stout as is, but we're looking for bombproof.

The tree limbs come up through the floor, the playhouse, the guardrail, everything. Talk about a custom fit.

This is the ramp. I think it's something straight out of a story book.

About those handrails (he's jumping, not falling)...

We split this white oak log in two for the initial supports.

I think the funky fence is just the right touch.

Sailor, the dog. Apparently, he's already checked it out a few times.

"Customizing" the playhouse to fit around one of the tree limbs.

The ramp has been the sight of many a traffic jam. It might be the funnest part of the whole thing.

This dude is one of the best worker's I've seen. He and his younger bro have been my go to guys. He's working on a post hole for the support beams. They also hand split a 1,000 lb log I hauled down there (and accidentally rolled half way down the hill).

There you go, a week in my life. Tree forts, wack attacks and stowaway hens. I'll take it.

-F.W.