A few weeks ago my neighbor expressed to me his concern that one of our pine trees in our yard was threatening to fall on his house. So we decided to cut it down. When it finally fell, it seemed a shame to cut up this nice 30' straight segment of it.
So my mind got to thinking:
-this could be useful timber when it dries
-if I leave it on the ground it'll rot
-we have two tree stumps in the yard that the neighborhood kids like to climb on
-this long tree could be turned into almost anything given enough time.
-what if... I....
What I decided to do was to notch the tree trunk, and set it across two stumps in our front yard.
My wife asked 'why?' I didn't have a great answer.
The answer ended up becoming 'because... it's AWESOME!'
Yesterday I put the tree across the stumps. Before ten minutes went by one of the neighborhood dads saw it and said 'Awesome!'. An hour later, three neighborhood kids came by, eyed it and I said 'yes you may'.... the question was in their eyes... and they said 'Awesome!!!'
I don't have to explain the 'why did you do this?' to the men or the kids. The wives however, can get together with my wife and commiserate about crazy things that their husbands have done.
So it's a win win.
-My wife gets a conversation piece
-my kids get a new balance beam toy, something that brings them outside
-it's got a hundred and one uses (I can make it into a huge table, a picture spot, a bench, a balance beam, future firewood, etc).
-it fosters community, people come and play on it
-it is a landmark now... 'turn right at the big tree laying across two stumps... you'll see it.'
it's just awesome.
But then, it got even more Awesome!
I was rooting around in my spare parts shed, when I saw an old foam mattress, and two lengths of pipe. And now.... we have
PUGIL STICK WARS !!!! (ala American Gladiators)
The AWESOME just got kicked up a notch.
So when my wife turns to me, with that look that says 'okay it was weird and crazy but somehow it works.' I reply 'our kids will never forget this. AND it was cheaper and easier than building a fort!
