Home in the Sky

Today was a pretty lazy day for me, but that's OK - once in a while. I am recovering from a head and chest cold, so I didn't feel like doing much today anyway, and figured that I better recuperate in time for work Monday! The wind was a light north/northwest today, which is no good for flying Short Divide, and I didn't feel like a road trip, so I did a few things around the yard and house, and changed the oil in my pick-up. Then I napped in-between college football games. It was not a very productive day, but nonetheless somewhat satisfying!

Our house has two huge 40' + tall willow trees in the backyard, which were overgrown with branches clear down to the ground when we bought the house about 7 years ago. It took weeks of trimming branches before the sun could finally get through and reach the grass below. The debris covered the entire backyard like a 6' tall jungle. I lost count of how many trips to the green-waste facility I made with my overloaded pick-up. After completing the massive pruning project, I realized the tree house potential held by these trees! As long as I can recall I have always loved climbing as high as I could - including (but not limited to) trees, fences, houses, schools, mountains, etc... I was not very old as a kid when my mom received a call from the neighbor, asking her if she realized that her two boys were on top of our two story house! (sorry mom!) Growing up we had a few different tree houses, but most of them were poorly designed and of flimsy construction.

After I had mentioned the idea of a tree house in our backyard, my boys never let me forget, and regularly asked when we were going to build it. Finally, "someday" came in the spring of 2005 and construction began. I looked at all kinds of extravagant plans and designs on various internet websites, but we were on a tight budget, and I wanted something fairly simple and open, yet sturdy, roomy, and functional. I didn't want something that was an eyesore, but rather a tree house which blended into the form and color of the tree. I knew it had to be very sturdy, and I puzzled over how to design it to withstand the occasional windstorm, microburst, or canyon winds. I finally decided that I would build the main deck or platform on the ground out of a 2 x 6 framework, hoist it about 25' up, and suspend it between the 5 main trunks with heavy chain pieces. This would allow the entire rigid platform to "float" with the movement of the tree when the wind blew, and not just twist it to smithereens!



I began by "laying it out" in thin air, and came up with a rough pattern or template for the main frame.



The completed platform ended up being hexagonal in shape, and quite heavy. We first tried rounding up all of the neighborhood kids


but were barely able to lift it off the ground! Then I borrowed a come-along, and my neighbor brought his rock climbing gear to assist. I climbed 30' up and ran a rope over a branch, and then tied off to our apple tree.


We used a combination of the hand-winch and Jumar ascenders to slowly raise the deck, inch by inch, until we finally got it secured and into position!


It took a lot of trial and error to get it suspended and level.



My neighbor had loaned me his climbing harness and a rope for safety, but I didn't need them - or so I thought... While securing the platform it shifted unexpectedly, and the last thing I remember was the ground coming up at me very fast. When I came to I was face down on the lawn on my right side, and, looking up, I realized that I had just fallen about 23 feet! I was afraid to move, wondering what the damage would be, but soon came to realize that nothing seemed to be broken, although my right shoulder and thigh were obviously bruised. After lying there for about five minutes, I crawled and dragged myself into the back door, where the family was just sitting down for dinner. Seeing my obvious pain, my wife exclaimed, "what did you do?!" I bashfully admitted that I just fell out of the tree. At first I was just glad to be alive, then I was embarrassed, and then I was just mad at myself for allowing this to happen and worried about being able to go to work. Other than severe bruises down the right side of my body, the worst injury was a badly torn right groin. You don't realize how much you use these muscles until they become injured, and then almost every movement causes severe pain to shoot through your body. I couldn't get out of bed for about 3 days, but finally found a combination of an ace bandage wrap and alternating hot/cold therapy which allowed me to get around and go back to work. There was no "quick fix" (no pun intended) for this injury - just time and patience - neither of which I had in great supply. Finally, about a month and a half later, I was able to resume work on the tree house.


The next step was to build a sturdy rope ladder with 2 x 2 rungs.


Then I added 4 x 4 posts at each corner, and built a 4' tall railing all the way around with closely spaced baluster and a 2 x 4 cap.


The railing was sturdy and independent of any tree trunk or branch.


Then I added some final trim, and finally two coats of oil-based deck stain. I also attached a small crate with a rope for safely hauling up supplies. Before the inaugural "sleep-out", I ran power and cable and built a small platform for a TV, and mounted an exterior light. We were all pleased with how it turned out. It has room to sleep about 5 kids or 4 adults. It has a beautiful view,


looking out on neighboring hay fields and beyond to the Short Divide, and it is so nice to spend a warm summer night with a nice breeze blowing through the willows. It has weathered the past 2 years quite well, and last summer I added a "crows nest" one-person sleeping platform,


which is suspended about 5 feet above the main platform (30' above the ground) by climbing ropes at each corner. Any "floating" movement of the main deck is almost imperceptible, but the crows nest will rock you to sleep very nicely on a breezy night! The boys and I enjoy weekend camp outs well into the fall,


and they have had some popular sleepovers too! They are now lobbying me to add a zip-line, but that might be a little too much of a liability - although the idea is tempting (I'll always be a kid at heart!) I'm glad that "someday" actually arrived before the boys grew up and out...


...and in time to build some unforgettable tree house memories!