Tree House Blog

Wednesday, 18 July 2012 ~ 5:19PM:

Hello World!

Wednesday, 18 July 2012 ~ 5:43PM:

Two months ago, in a hospital room in Concord, New Hampshire, I sat at my wife Louisa’s bedside watching television with her as she awaited hip replacement surgery, scheduled the next morning.

Today — two thousand miles away, having just checked into a motel in a small town in far northeastern Colorado — I sit a widower.

I have come to this place with the intention of possibly completing a project that was begun fifty years ago, in 1962: The building of a treehouse — which will be the subject of this blog.

It’s been a long day of driving, and I am hungry, and I am tired.

Wednesday, 18 July 2012 ~ 9:03PM:

Found a humble cafe down the road and had a very fine steak dinner.

The morning of Louisa’s surgery I was unexpectedly met at the hospital’s main entry by her doctor and by my niece, Kate, a medical records clerk. Something had gone wrong, terribly wrong, as Louisa was being prepared for surgery. My dear wife, and partner in all things, was dead from a heart attack.

When those whom had gathered had all finally left — leaving me alone — I began to flounder.

Last Friday — after having watched a news story the previous evening about an upcoming Ernest Hemingway lookalike contest in Key West, Florida — I was in my Honda Civic, heading south.

Two days later — on a Virginia back road — I noticed an old treehouse up in a large oak and stopped to have a closer look.

For some time I wandered around it, studying the construction of the weathered structure, sitting sturdily upon two large limbs. It had obviously been built by kids, but it was, all the same, a marvel of ingenuity.

An hour later I was back on the road — but instead of traveling south, I was headed west.

Thursday, 19 July 2012 ~ 6:17AM:

When I was seven years old, in 1955, my father, having made a tidy sum from the publication of a mechanical engineering textbook, moved our family from New Hampshire to the high plains of Colorado — where he had purchased, outright and sight unseen, a small 160-acre cattle ranch on Pawnee Creek.

Eight years later, in 1962, when I was fourteen, my father, having accepted a teaching position with a small college back in New Hampshire, moved our family home.

Only, for me, it was different. I was leaving home. The ranch had been the place, after all, where I had spent my ‘wonder years,’ as I think they are called.

Until now, I have not been back.

Thursday, 19 July 2012 ~ 11:49AM:

I have just returned from Pawnee Creek, ten-miles distant from the motel. There, I was able to confirm that ‘my’ tree, a magnificent Northern Red Oak — in whose environs had I spent countless hours as a youth — was still alive and kicking, just as Google Earth had indicated.

How I wish that I could have shown my old creek-side environ to Louisa.

I was also able to confirm that our old house, which had stood a half mile from the creek, was indeed now gone. There were traces of char on its foundation blocks so I am thinking it must have burned to the ground many years back.

This afternoon I’m off to the county seat to do some research at the Land Office. It’s fifty miles each way. The west is an altogether different place.

Thursday, 19 July 2012 ~ 7:14PM:

Records show the old ranch property to be now owned by an old schoolmate of mine, Gretchen Howard (née Milner) — one of the ten kids from the German Catholic family that were our neighbors.

I’ve just made a Facebook friend request. Fingers crossed.

Thursday, 19 July 2012 ~ 9:54PM:

It is official: Gretchen and I are Facebook friends. She is a retired teacher living in Denver. Her property is leased to her cattle rancher cousin.

Regarding my request to build a treehouse on her land, her reply was: “Go for it!”

She very much hopes the project will help me to deal with my grief.

I have a vivid fifth grade memory: While lining up to go out for recess, once, Gretchen accidentally (or maybe not) tripped, knocking us both to the floor … laughing. We were then punished by having to sit out recess together, side by side, on a bench.

She may be in the area in a few days.

Friday, 20 July 2012 ~ 11:22AM:

This morning, I willingly allowed a used car dealer to get the best of me, and rented a pickup truck.

Friday, 20 July 2012 ~ 7:11PM:

After some boyhood years of daydreaming about the treehouse, over a blustery 1962 Easter vacation the original plans for the treehouse — amazingly still vivid in my memory — were put on paper.

But with our abrupt relocation to New Hampshire at the end of the school year, I never got the chance to build it.

Now, fifty years on, the tree has changed — and in some pretty interesting ways. I am having to make adjustments.

Saturday, 21 July 2012 ~ 5:37PM:

At the lumber yard, this morning, the pickup was loaded with everything required for phase one: the treehouse platform.

From a ‘mom and pop’ hardware store, the necessary tools were acquired.

After offloading everything at the ‘job site’ in the afternoon, I had a picnic by the creek, followed by a nap under the tree.

Sunday, 22 July 2012 ~ 10:03AM:

Thunderstorms and possible tornadoes are in the forecast. I shall take this Sabbath day off.

Sunday, 22 July 2012 ~ 1:17PM:

To live soul-mated is to exist on a higher plane. Somewhere along the way Louisa and I achieved that. It was not without effort — and the will.

Sunday, 22 July 2012 ~ 4:28PM:

It is storming hard out my window. I have visions of building materials being strewn across the prairie. I feel very alone.

Monday, 23 July 2012 ~ 9:48AM:

As I write (offline), I am sitting, leaning against the red oak. All is well here, if a bit damp.

Monday, 23 July 2012 ~ 7:31PM:

Back at the motel.

Today’s accomplishments: 1) A ladder was securely tied to the tree. 2) A rope and pulley were put into place (It’s all happening 15 feet above the ground!). 3) Two 2" x 10" x 12′ boards were roughly situated, which will be the major structural components for the platform.

Not bad, I’d say — for an old coot, that is!

Tuesday, 24 July 2012 ~ 7:11PM:

One of the 2x10’s is now secured at one end by a 10-inch lag screw, driven directly into a major branch. Its other end sits unattached in a notch between two vertical branches, allowing for movement with the tree. The other 2x10, on one end, rides on a sliding-cleat, attached to the main trunk, while its other end is supported by a lag screw.

Wednesday, 25 July 2012 ~ 6:38PM:

Took things more slowly, today. Before starting work I fished some on the creek. During a two-hour lunch break, got back into a novel which I had begun before Louisa died.

By the afternoon the project had drawn an audience: two boys and a girl — probably ten-year-old’s — sitting up on the low bluff the other side of the creek.

Work done: Five of the eight 2x8 joists, spaced 16 inches ‘on center,’ are in place between the 2x10’s.

I wish I had bought a tool belt; three times, I had to climb down and retrieve my hammer.

I am feeling it in my legs.

Thursday, 26 July 2012 ~ 7:11PM:

When I arrived at the building site, around 9AM, the three kids from yesterday were there, waiting — and they had been joined by three others — two of whom were teenagers. And, they had brought tools!

As a result, by noon “phase one” of the project had been completed!

While I sat with my ‘crew,’ lunching on the peanut butter crackers they had brought, a late model SUV pulled up. It was Gretchen.

Saturday, 28 July 2012 ~ 3:02PM:

I am now in Denver, staying in Gretchen’s RV, parked in her driveway. She is a widow, herself. Tonight, she is taking me to a doo-wopp concert at the Red Rock outdoor amphitheater. (Louisa loved doo-wopp!)

The project has been passed on to the kids. With a sturdy platform well in place, they should have no problem completing their treehouse by the end of their summer vacation.

I am very much pleased with this result.