Dangerous Book for Boys Meets Mead Street Acrophobes

Okay, so first you have to imagine the scene in which Mikala in red high heels and Josie in flip flops are standing in the hardware aisle at Lowe's consulting the maddeningly vague treehouse instructions in this rather conspicuous red book and peering hopelessly into drawers of bolts and screws and nuts and nails and washers. (The book specifically forbids the involvement of mothers in the treehouse building process, but Mead Street dads are manly enough to accept the help of females, we find -- especially when they are home in bed with a summer cold & their wives are willing to stop at the hardware store on the way home from a morning at the office.) Our two brave heroines emerged eventually with a load of supplies.

Here is the plan:


And here is the tree:


Next you have to imagine the scene in which two acrophobic parents had to get a supporting rope up over one of the high branches. Somehow it was determined that the best way to achieve this would be to climb the 22-foot ladder, tie the end of the rope around a rock, and toss it up over the branch. The trouble with this marvelous plan was that if you leaned back to take aim, you risked toppling backward off the the ladder. And if you missed, the rock came back down at your head, which was a little alarming, to say the least. After three failed attempts, we reverted to Plan B, which could be enacted from the safety of the ground and summed up in seven words: "Everybody stand back, I'm throwing this rock!" Which worked the first time, much to our surprise.

Then you have to imagine the next couple of hours, during which four adults and seven children climbed up and down three ladders, anchored ropes, handed drill bits & levels & flocked pink pencils up and down, called for advice on cell phones, ran into the kitchen for dish soap (recommended as lubricant for the screws), and made brownies.

Trees are tough! When smoke started coming out of the drill, we switched to manpower:


And here is the result of our first day of labor (don't laugh!):


Tune in tomorrow for.... the Second Board!

-- Mikala & Josie

Confidential to Andrew: Get well soon! We miss you (and your head for heights)!