Construction Project

Construction Project

 

Sleepover Pending

Eddie asked to sleep over one night recently and as usual with the overnight came a petition to tackle a major building project. His idea was to build a tree house. I suggested pushing that back until Spring, or Summer – plus I said, “I don’t think my yard has any trees that would hold a good tree house.”

“No!” he said, indicating that he thought otherwise.

I grimaced affectionately. “Can’t be helped,” I said, as if offering a lesson on the ways of the world.

“OK,” he said, “then we’ll have to build a fort in the bunk bed room that we can sleep in.”

Sensing something I could actually do, I immediately gave my support.

Off to Home Depot

“We need to go to Home Depot and get wood,” he said.

I nodded.

We returned from Home Depot with thirty dollars of wood, four six foot 2 x 4’s and an equal number of four foot 1 x 1s. Ed put on his gloves and safety goggles and we got down to the business of securing the 1 x 1s to the midpoint of the six foot 2 x 4s with metal brackets – something like two boards creating a “T” shaped bracket. This turned out to be more difficult then I imagined. The heads of the screws kept twisting off when I tried to tighten them.

When did they start making screws that were so fragile? Or was I doing something wrong?

I decided to use nails which I felt was a cop-out of sorts, (real carpenters wouldn't) but as there were no real carpenters present I went ahead with it. Strangely, the same thing happened to the nail heads. They popped off when I pounded them all the way in. Huh???

Construction Phase Complete

Finally (2 hours later) I managed to create the two Ts with the 2x4s as the base. All that was left was to drape a sheet over the upright sticks and voila – we’d have a tent. Pup tent, I believe would be the correct terminology. Anyway, that didn’t work because the upside-down Ts, situated approximately four feet apart, just collapsed into each other from the weight of the sheet. Guess I missed that in physics class.

I scratched my head. I came up with the idea that I could slide one end of each 2x4 (the T base) under the legs of the bunk bed. Hoisting the metal bunk bed and kicking each 2x4 under a leg was a feat for which I expected little notoriety – but it was ingenious, if I must say. Regardless, you’ll have to take my word for it because there's no video. Ed, meanwhile, had left the work site some minutes ago in favor of the living room couch and the Noggin network.

Confident now, I fetched a larger sheet, and re-draped the tent roof. I stood back, surveyed the masterpiece.

Cool!    

I called Ed.

“Cool,” he agreed.

Honestly? It wasn’t that cool, not one of my better construction projects, but I slid a gym mat under the flimsy sheet roof and thought - yes, it could pass for cozy sleeping quarters.

I laid a second gym mat against the edge of the first and that was how we slept – L-shaped head to head.

When Ed went home the next day the “tent” was still up. I think I dismantled it about a week later. The parts have been dismantled as well. They’re in the cellar. I notice them when I go down to do laundry. Honestly the tent project barely rises to the level of low-grade amateur but in my book it’s a marker of one good night’s sleep and one of those bits of love that I share with my grandson.

Life at its best.