Unspeakably beautiful day
Finished the basic frame of the new “treehouse,” which appears in quotes because our maple isn’t really well-suited for a treehouse and I wanted something with a little more structural stability to replace the aging “crow’s nest” that I put together in an afternoon back when Hannah was 2, and which has served us well but which now needs to go. So this is really just another crow’s nest, significantly bigger and much better anchored, that happens to go up into the tree. There’ll be a roof and everything. They don’t know it yet, but there’s probably going to be a drawbridge for getting into it. How cool will that be?
But the combination of rocks, maple roots and my own inability to deal well with spatial relationships (kinda crippling in a carpenter, I know) meant that the frame didn’t come out perfectly yesterday, and thunderstorms cut the day short, so I had to recast one of the corner posts this morning. But now all is up and well, and I got as far as I wanted to, or at least far enough to justify taking off for a little jaunt on my bike. I’m not a distance whore much – – I went around the lake two and a half times to get my final mileage up to an even 30. But it was a great ride out on the country roads of Schodack, and there were even a few other cyclists out. (Of course, when encountered, it is the rule of the alpha male that I must not merely pass them, but blow their doors off. And so I did.) And, super-bonus, I was able to walk up the stairs when I got home! That’s sometimes an issue after more than 20 miles. Lovely views of the distant Helderbergs, a slightly strong wind, warming sun, and minimal roadkill. (On Friday I saw a woodchuck that looked like a cartoon of roadkill, on its back, legs splayed and pointed skyward, somewhat surprised expression on its face.) Now if those girls would get downstairs for supper, we could cap this evening with a well-deserved chocolate malted shake at the Lickety Split.
Wanna know a secret? I’m getting one whether they get downstairs in time or not.