elfs | Dismantling the Treehouse

Achievement Unlocked - Framed

Some people, those who have visited us but also those who have seen older photos, might recall that we had one hell of a kid's fortress in our back yard. It was nearly two stories tall, with an upper deck and a hidden inner deck. It lacked all of the safety equipment that any well-meaning modern helicopter parent might expect, and for seven to ten year olds, it was awesome.

Sadly, neither of the girls is of an age to appreciate it. Kouryou-chan still loves the swingset, but the fort has long since started to decay. The upper deck had become a haven for spiders and wasps. There were at least two nests in there, one for wasps and one for hornets. The roof, an unprotected sheet of plywood, had disintegrated after years of abuse. A tree limb had crashed into it last year, leaving a gaping hole.

So this past weekend I cheerfully took my Gordon Freeman-approved wrecking bar and went to work. Whoever built this thing clearly intended for it to last forever, because it was a serious effort to take apart. It was held together with many more nails than were necessary, and it sometimes took a wedge-and-sledge approach to drive two piece far enough apart to get the wrecking bar in there. But eventually I raised the roof and knocked out the walls before dismantling the upper frame.

I succeeded in jamming a knuckle, scraping my arm, and cutting one finger while working on it. As if that weren't enough, as I was walking away from it I stepped on a piece of wood, lost my balance, and fell over, wrenching my right ankle. (For those who remember, this is the other ankle from the one I broke last year.) I am now dutifully wearing the ankle brace I got last year to make sure that I don't wrench it further and do more damage, thus making my rehab longer, and my summer less fun.