There were any number of projects completed yesterday outside. More plants planted, some pavers not quite installed, a brush pile burned, and the kids play fort.
Fort McLane
Late yesterday evening I buried the two posts that will hold the swing set still for the next decade or so. That’s pretty simple, but getting to that point wasn’t simple. I had determined that I wouldn’t call for help unless I really, really needed it.
One of the cool things about working at a church is that the people are always happy to help. One of the problems with that is when I do call for help, I don’t often get help so much as I get people who come and do the job and allow me to just stand by or "hold stuff." I’m not whining about that, but it’s just nice to do things for yourself sometimes.
The big challenge was getting the fort level. Since we got a "used fort" some of the boards were pretty badly warped and this makes getting it level hard. Put that together with the bumpy place we decided to place the fort and it’s no wonder we struggled.
Since we had cut off the swing set arm to get it on the trailer I had to rejoin everything at the new location. First I used a joist hanger to mount the old 4×6 post where we cut it off. But to make it stronger, I had to marry a new 2×6 onto the old post. With the swing set a little high and the edge of the fort a little low, we had quite a predictament. Kristen and Andrea would move the posts out a little, then in a little. To the right, to the left… but with little net change. Finally we decided to jack up the middle of the fort a little bit to see if that would help.
Bingo! From that point on it was gravy. I just have a few more things to do and Fort McLane will officially be open for business. In a few weeks we’ll be adding a slide or climbing wall… but for now it’s just fine.
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