Tag Archives: tree
Silence by Hengki Koentjoro
day 3073: christmas tree hunting on a not-so-snowy ridge.
it’s the holiday season which means it’s time for another trip to snowy ridge our favorite christmas tree farm! only there wasn’t any snow. boo. at least it wasn’t muddy.
odin picked out a fine looking white pine for our family tree.
he’s holding the tree while i lay in the ground with the saw after he gave up trying to cut it down himself. maybe next year! of course he’s totally used to me saying, “oh hey, wait, let me take a picture!”
haulin’ the tree out…
time to start the process over again with the second smaller tree that will go in odin’s room.
he gave another go at cutting down the tree and almost made it through before running out of steam. i bet he’ll do it next year and this will actually end up being the last year i cut down a tree for a while 🙂
happy to be haulin’ both trees out…
it’s a long walk back to the car so i guess i should lend a hand. but just one. the other one is for the camera.
then it’s finally time to ride the zipline! they took the tree down and built a bigger platform.
we’ve been doing this for six years and i still marvel at the genious of combining a christmas tree farm and a zipline. it’s a magical memory maker.
seeing this treehouse every winter partially inspired our wanting to build a treehouse with a zipline.
as we do every year, we ended our visit in a cabin warmed with a wood fire and enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate and more than a couple of cookies.
thanks once again to the folks who run snowy ridge for all the great memories.
day 3046: odin inspects progress on The World’s Most Awesome Treehouse(s).
slowly but ever so surely i’m making progress on The World’s Most Awesome Treehouse(s). i got a few of the 16′ joists up on the supports while almost nominating myself for a darwin award. today odin helped me attach more joist hangers to the 14′ 2x10s so we can quickly drop in the rest of the joists.
lots of folks are asking me about the how secure the platform will be. you can probably see the top of the four supports are bolted on to the 3/4″ threaded rod that runs through the trees. the bottom of the supports are attached to the trees with 3/4″x8″ lag bolts. the top of the supports which i think are called knee braces are made from 2×8″ treated lumber and angled boards are notched into the top and attached with 1/2″x6″ lag bolts. the joists in 16″ on center. somewhat surprisingly, everything is level and mostly square!
the supports are about 11′ off the ground and the joists add another foot, so the treehouse will be about 12′ off the ground when i built it on top of the platform.
i’m pretty impressed with the stability of the structure. hopefully, i’m just as impressed after all the joists are attached and the flooring is put up 🙂
( side note: the blue rope is part of the the most super awesomest tree swing. EVAR! )
how to drill a two foot hole through a tree.
wanting to make progress on The World’s Most Awesome Treehouse(s) i asked about drilling a hole through a tree and got some fantastic advice which led me to ordering a big bit, baby. but how to get that bit through the tree? well, for that, you need a big drill. something like the milwaukee 3/4 inch “super hole shooter” which our local true value “agri-center” has in stock for rent.
the agri-center folks loooove when i start a big project and are always very helpful with advice and tips. when i picked up the super shooter the rental guy told me to keep a good grip on it and to be mighty careful because it’d really want to twist me around the tree.
turns out it went smooth as a hot knife through butter.
after i drilled the hole, i banged a 3 foot threaded rod through the hole which will hold the tree house supports. i thought it would be a pain to get the rod all the way through but it went in without too much of a fight.
next up, hanging the supports without falling from the ladder!
a big bit, baby!
progress on The World’s Most Awesome Treehouse(s) is going a little slower than i’d like ( pesky marathon training! ) but it’s still happening.
thanks to suggestions after asking about drilling a hole through a tree i done did ordered a 3/4″ x 24″ auger bit which is plenty long enough to make it through the tree 12 feet up.
i’m hoping to drill a hole straight through two trees, run threaded rod through the holes and bolt the tree house supports to the threaded rod. so now i just need to figure out how to drill the holes through two trees that are about 15 feet apart so everything will be level after i start building the deck on top of the supports.
despite a spring freeze and a drought, everything’s looking peachy!
i can’t believe after a brutal frost while the blossoms were out and a devastating drought that it actually looks like we’re going to have a bounty harvest of peaches!
hurray! with no small amount of luck we might actually get to enjoy The Transformative Power of A Real Peach ( and a little heavy whipping cream ).