posted 03-21-2008 10:42 AM            

r

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"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here. This is the war room."
--(Stanley Kubrick/Peter Sellers - Dr. Strangelove, 1964)

posted 03-21-2008 11:50 AM            

Having small boys, our outings are a little more prosaic than mudding in the Rockies----but I look forward to our outings nonetheless.

I REALLY look forward to building a stilted clubhouse for the boys this June when we move, as it was a promise I made to them to lesson the hurt of displacing them from their school and friends. If my wife keeps riding me over smoking (every 10 minutes) I might just sleep in the damn thing (lol). She's in the right, and just because I always go outside to smoke----I still am a pathetic addict for continuing to do so.

This is similar to my plans, but I will build some walls, and ours will have a center ladder with a trap door rather than this side ladder type. Benji said he wants it to be 500 feet tall. I said, "how 'bout 5 ft?" He said "cool dad."

posted 03-21-2008 05:57 PM            

Your kids are gonna have a lot of fun with stilted clubhouse.

Here's a shot of a tree-deck I made for B'Etta.

It's perched on a what was a perfectly live limb that the previous homeowner chainsawed off into the street shortly before he died. Its a 70 year-old silver maple, that survived the fire. The empty limb always looked odd before. One corner sits on the limb, the other three are suspended by chains.

Its small about 6'x7'.Features include a trap-door with a rope ladder, and a pulley-and-baset the Mikki added so she can get the Yorkshire up their.

Here is a drawing my project with Nick, while he's out of school next week.

Luckily, I live in an old neighborhood with no CC&Rs.

We're planning on a beam of about 10 feet, powered by 800 to 1000 lbs of gravel.

r

------------------
"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here. This is the war room."
--(Stanley Kubrick/Peter Sellers - Dr. Strangelove, 1964)

posted 03-21-2008 06:44 PM            

That catapult (?) is something else. Looks like you'll need a lot of wood. Expect alot of curious onlookers (Field of Dreams.)Just make sure that that drawing wasn't made by someone who holds more fancy for those weapons than practical knowlege. I suspect you know exactly what you're doing though.

posted 03-22-2008 11:39 AM            

Your neighbors would hate my Jed Clampet impersonation.

Here is a pic of my kid playing with a transmission and transfer case.

This was right before we did Mt. Humbolt, the filthy green wool blanket later became a splint for a woman with a broken ankle on the route in.

Nick is in high school now, so I have to find high-incentive things to gain any traction against activities with his friends.

We don't have a plan for the treb/catapult.

I built one before during about 96 or 97, with a bunch of teenage block-heads that I had in a treatment program. We had a bank donate some old worthless 'puters that we threw across a ball field.

Don't let Nick's hair fool you. He's a nerd, who attends an IB high school with a bunch of other wonderful uber-dork smart kids.

We're working on some engineering problems today, including pivot bearing for the beam and counterweight, a winching system to cock the weapon, and trigger/sear that'll hold 1000 lbs reliably and still release easily.

The other problem is where to test fire the machine.

My neighbors may not actually mind, but ya never know. Actually my neighbors may not even notice, if I were to fire the machine before 1:00 PM when they come to.

r

------------------
"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here. This is the war room."
--(Stanley Kubrick/Peter Sellers - Dr. Strangelove, 1964)