D - Too much month...

Too much month at the end of the money - That's the problem I have this week! I'm sure most of you know that the Bosleys are a Dave Ramsey family. Well, between consignment sales and Spring Break, I've gone through my cash a little too quickly this month. After taking all of the bills from all of my envelopes and pooling them together, I have a grand total of $21 (errr, now it's only $12) to make it through this entire week.

This, apparently, is cramping Noah's style as well as my own. On Monday he decided he really wanted McDonalds for lunch. I explained our dilemma to him and told him we weren't going to be spending any extra money this week. On Tuesday he wanted to go to Eileen's for a cookie after school - still, no can do. So today on our way home from the Y, he asked what we were doing for lunch. I replied, "Going home."

Long, quiet pause.

"Is it April yet?"

M - The treehouse is FINISHED!

Well....IT'S DONE!! Overall, I am very happy with how it turned out.

I can definitely see things I wish I'd done differently or better but most importantly I believe it is very solid and very safe (at least as much as can be said for something six feet off the ground that will be inhabited by the little people.) I’m least happy with the appearance of the railing and most happy with the really cool ladder that comes up through the floor. Katie has already fallen off the first rung of the ladder and busted her tiny little 3yr old bottom. She was attempting to carry some toy up the ladder and thus was climbing one handed.

The other new rules are basically this: DO NOT climb up on the railing and DO NOT climb the tree (that will come later, of course!). Splinters are the remaining safety hazard. I already had to use a 3" decking nail to pick a nice splinter out of Noah's finger. He was a real trooper about it, too. He never uttered a complaint. It's called field expedience, my non-military friends :-). Otherwise I would have had to climb out of the treehouse, take off my boots, go get a straight pin from who-knows-where in the house, etc. etc. This would have given Noah way too much time to consider what was about to happen and, well, you can see I clearly made the right choice. For those wondering: field expedience - an alternative means or improvised method used to achieve the desired end when the right or proper men or materiel are not available, such as a timely but temporary improvisation from available resources; to stopgap, makeshift…

The only remaining things are touch up items such as more appealing trim work that would add to the aesthetics of the project. I put the slide at the maximum angle allowed per the manufacturer so it is about as fast as I'd like to see it go anyway. Since the ground slopes up slightly at the bottom of the slide it gives you a pretty good pounding as-is!! I've made a couple of trips down the slide and fairly quickly decided the ladder is so nice I should use it instead of the slide!

I wanted to share a few pictures of the treehouse in use as well as force myself to add up the numbers. I've resisted this until now because, quite honestly, I didn't really want to know. I estimated the total cost to be about $400 but wasn't even close! It seems building costs have gone up considerably since I built the deck several years ago.

Nonetheless, here is our treehouse project by the numbers:

• 520 linear feet of wood
• 7 pounds of screws
• Lowe's and Home Depot were essentially the same price on everything BUT major nods to HOME DEPOT for having a far better return process and much more helpful representative than Lowe's
• Single most expensive item - "Super Wave Slide - $69.97"
• Least expensive item - "Flat Washer - $0.15
• Number of 2x4x8's purchased - 18 ($3.39 ea)
• Number of 5/4x6x8's (decking) - 18 ($5.97 ea)
• Number of 4x4x8's - 4 ($9.97 ea)
• Number of 2x6x8's - 5 ($4.97 ea)
• Number of 2x8x8's - 5 ($6.97 ea)
• Items I had to buy but really didn't want to: 8lb sledgehammer - $19.97, Drill bit set $14.97
• Hours spent actually working (not at the store spending more money) - ~35 hours
• Sunday - 5hrs
• Monday - 3hrs
• Tuesday - 0hrs (RAIN!)
• Wednesday - 3hrs
• Thursday - 2hrs
• Friday - 11hrs
• Saturday - 11hrs
  

Total b4 returning excess materials: $679.86

Total of return materials: $103.11

GRAND TOTAL: $576.75

Was it worth it? OF COURSE! It gave me a fun alternative to spending lots of extra hours at the office (which is what I ALWAYS do when the family is gone). We've already planned a summer campout in the treehouse. Noah quickly identified another advantage of this elevated camping surface - Skunk Avoidance. If you need to know more about why that matters, CLICK HERE.

I also plan to add some swings and other features to the structure. Perhaps a zip line all the way to the pond should be in order????

Here are the first and last pictures I took in this series:



















And finally here are some pictures of the treehouse in good use by the kiddos. (For what it's worth, on a little housekeeping note, the whole place looks alot better now that I've picked up all the scrap lumber.) Does anyone want an old swing set?

M - Treehouse Update #6

This is my last progress report. However, I promise one more report after this one which will be pictures of this fine structure in use.

I'm SO glad I was able to get the railings and ladder finished before the family returned from Houston. This allowed them to start playing on it right away. It took me several more hours to get the slide attached and handrails built for that.

This is how it looked when I started out Saturday morning. It was a bit chilly but still a nice way to start the final day of the project.










Prepping ground for the ladder










With some debate and advice from others, I finally decided to run the ladder up through the floor of the treehouse. While unfortunately taking a little floorspace, this is a notably safer design. Since the ladder runs up higher than the floor, it provides a handhold throughout the whole process. It also partially blocks that hole to help prevent someone falling back through. I also placed some extra bracing along side the ladder on the way up to hold it more securely and provide extra surfaces to hold in case you lose your balance. I measured and measured and measured again before cutting a hole in my beautiful decking. As you can see, some of the finer details of certain jobs just can't be accomplished by power tools!




























LUNCH! -- Man cannot live on nachos alone...unless there's still cheese and chips left in the house and the bride has been gone for a week. In that case, who really gets tired of homemade nachos!? A nod to my wife --> she did an amazing job of grocery shopping for me before she left. I appreciated it immensely. She even went through the trouble of making a list of meal options for me and hung it on the fridge. I never saw it though because I probably wasn't listening very well when she told me about it. Why would she do this? You may remember the whole 'food retarded' thing from an earlier post.










The slide posed a bit more of a structural challenge in that I had to be able to support 200lbs or more hanging outside the base structure of the main frame. I decided to but two sets of 2x4's in tension, two in compression, and two to work as a pivot. Each are held in place by eight 3-inch screws. As you can see, I still need to round some corners since I guarantee other skulls besides my own will meet up with one of these corners. I still have a major knot and sore spot on top of my head from an impacting union betwixt the two. This was the second time I raised up before I should have and in this case I hit my head so hard it made me a little dizzy. Here are a pic and video:












The final step was adding handrails on the step down to the slide.

M - Treehouse Update #5

I knew the railing would be a challenge but it turned out to be much more so than I anticipated. I had to make a lot of design revisions on the fly and....correct several mistakes - bummer!

For those that have been so kind enough to read the blog and ask for updates, I'm (kind of) glad to say that the family will not return until Saturday. While I REALLY miss them, I sure want to have this project complete before they return.










I AM SO SORE in the neck, back and hands (I'm also apparently much older than I'd like to think)!!










I had a spectator or two most of the day today.











Click on this picture to see my dinner delivery (thanks MOM!).









YUM!!










I'm not really happy with the railing. It still needs some trim work but most importantly it is strong and safe. It was another late finish tonight and the biggest challenge lies ahead for Saturday - Stairs and Slide. Dana, Noah and Katie will probably arrive back home in early afternoon so I'm not quite sure where I'll be with the ol' treehouse. If it goes very very well, I'll be done. Otherwise, I should be close and I put the railing on today just so the kids could at least play up there without being unsafe.

M - Treehouse Update #4

I got a little more done tonight after work. However, I'm taking off work on Friday so I better make a LOT of progress! Dana hinted they might come home Friday night instead of Saturday so I need to get really busy.

I added some blocking between the otherwise laterally unsupported joists. I didn't want to use joist hangers but probably should have. I really don't like to toenail in boards but that's what I ended up doing.










I also added knee braces at all four corners.








One of the things I REALLY didn't want to do with this TREEhouse is actually attach it to the tree. You see, trees tend to grow. Thus, the shape of the treehouse would continue to change and warp over time.
Tonight I figured out a way to provide some structural rigidity by attaching to the tree but in such a way that I could remove the attachment as the tree grows.







The 2x4 is attached at all points from the outside so I can simply remove the screws and pull out the spacer. If I'd attached to the tree first then built around it, I'd never been able to remove it later. Not revolutionary but still gets the job done.

M - Treehouse Update #3

There hasn't been a lot of progress the past two days. Silly things like rain and jobs have really gotten in the way. Last night I was able to spend about 2 hours on the treehouse. It really seems like parts of this should go faster!

If I need a board on the far side of the tree it seems like it should just pop right in. Unfortunately, three other things had to be done first and each of those took 20-30 minutes each.

I kinda started with this hole (had to add some joists underneath). Notice - I finally got a clean shirt.









Got to this (how does it look?)









And when I finished it looked like this. Yep, it was pretty dark. My neighbor to the north goes to bed about 8:30pm each night so I was REALLY hurrying!:

I also had a nice view of this from the treehouse (click for a larger view):

M - Treehouse Update #2

Decking...on one hand this part is usually satisfying because it starts to actually look like something. On the other hand, I take no shortcuts and as a result it takes a LONG time to put twelve 3" wood screws in sixteen different 8ft boards. My hands are REALLY sore today, too. What an aged sissy I am...













I knew the rains were coming hard and heavy; thus the life preserver. Either that or my knees were seriously in pain and it provided a nice knee pad. Actually, I couldn't have asked for better working conditions. The winds were calm, the temps cool, and the rain skirted Edmond quite nicely. I got a LOT more done than I would have otherwise because my goal was to get the deck boards cut before the rain hit. Instead, I got them almost all screwed down as well.













Chalk lines are essential to keeping the screws in line across the 8ft deck. It also helps ensure that every screw gets a full grip on the 2x6 support joist below. As you can see, I'm not quite finished working around the tree. You might notice the other lumber worker's essential gear besides the orange life preserver --> sunflower seeds.













You should have seen me cut this curve with my ancient orange garage sale jigsaw. It wasn't pretty (the cutting, not the curve). The curve turned out quite nicely in my opinion. The blade on that jigsaw is so dull I think it burned more wood than it actually cut.

My last major woodworking project was the deck:

M - Treehouse update #1

So here's my job while the family is away on spring break --> Build a Treehouse. The goal here is to surprise the kiddos when they return from Houston. I'll be updating this project throughout the week as I make progress.

As a mechanical engineer, it pained me CONSIDERABLY to do my drawings and plans on paper! I used to be very proficient at CAD software and could have done this much more quickly and without going through so many erasers. This page, although very simple looking, is the result of many iterations of mounting options and working around the tree. The lowered landing to which the slide will connect will be the toughest challenge to make strong enough. I have an extra 4x4x12 that I hope to use to add an additional swing to the structure.

I officially started construction on this project on Sunday afternoon and made good progress over the course of several hours.

I started treating the wood on Saturday night. I've since put on three coats of the weather treatment. I chose not to purchase pressure treated 4x4's for the main support posts simply because the ones at Home Depot were still VERY wet from the treatment and pressure-treated 4x4's are NOTORIOUS for cracking and twisting. I couldn't run the risk of that happening.










To avoid pouring concrete, I used some really cool 4x4 post spikes for support. The ones I purchased are 30 inches. The other models were about 24 inches. I highly recommend them but I must admit that about halfway through the the first 30-inch spike I was thinking how much better cement would be. Apparently, there are some very solid roots below my first post location. Fortunately, the next 3 spikes took half the time of the first (no roots involved) and they are all very secure.










Getting things level









Hanging the curtain support beams









Joist hangers spaced perfectly, of course.


















My cordless drill battery died mid-project so I had to switch to my very old electric drill that has no reverse. I put the first two joist hangers in about 1/4 inch too high and had to back out eight 3" deck screws and eight 1" deck screws by hand. It took WAY too much time and my wrist and forearms just about gave up on me!



















I'm pleased with the first day of progress. The decking and bracing should go quickly but I'll slow down again when the railing goes up and the slide gets attached. Either way, I only have until Saturday to finish! The rain this week isn't going to help at all.

I almost killed myself getting this next picture. Ten seconds on the camera's auto-timer seems like so much time than it really is!

M - Date with Dad

Katie and I went out for ice cream the other night and we sure had a great time together - just the two of us. I initially invited her to McDonalds for ice cream and, with all kinds of sweetness, she offered "Braum's has ice cream, too, dad." So guess where we went? She even shared her chocolate chip cookie dough waffle cone with me.

M - Fishin' Buddies video

I made this a few years ago and now that we are bloggers I thought I'd share it with the masses. This short video chronicles our fishin', crawdad huntin' and other outdoor adventures for the summer of 2005.

Enjoy!

D - Spring = Skunks

Everyone has their own "Greatest Fear." Noah's happens to be skunks. He came by this fear honestly a couple of summers ago when he and Mike were out exploring one night and got the fright of their lives. The boys were 'spotlighting frogs' on the opposite side of the creek when they heard a thumping sound behind them. In case you were not aware, a skunk will give a final warning before the spraying commences. He will hiss and stamp his feet, and if this ever happens to you - Run. Run like the wind. That's what my boys did, and that's why they were still allowed in the house that night. As Mike tells it, "The skunk in question was about 8 feet away when they realized what it was and by the time they figured out that part, the skunk's tail was high in the air with the business end of the skunk ready to wreak havoc." That was the beginning of a very real and very deep fear for Noah Boz.

That brings you to present day. On Tuesday morning, I was driving the kiddos to Sonshine School and noted how nice the weather was and how glad I was that it's finally starting to warm up around here. Noah was very quiet. A few minutes later he said,

"Mom? You know, I don't really think I'm that excited about Spring."

"Why not, Noah?"

"Because that means the skunks will start to come out."

Later on that same trip we were discussing the meaning of the phrase "I got nerve" (also the title of a popular Hannah Montana song for those who aren't as cool as us). I explained what it meant with a brilliant example of climbing a huge slide and having the nerve to go down it. Again, Noah contemplated this. You guessed it. "Oh! So it's kind of like how I will still go outside at night even when there might be skunks?"

My poor baby! We've got to get him into therapy!