Playhouse

First, in regards to the "sagas", I really can't say that anything is getting better.

But on to other topics.  Last winter my Dad decided that he would give my son the wooden playhouse/swingset from their backyard.  It had been through two tornadoes so it needed some repair and modifications.  One whole section had to be removed.  He did some work and then brought it up to my place.  For some reason he and my brother thought that it would stand upright in my garage.  It didn't.  It filled one half the garage laying on it's side.  And because of the space limitations I couldn't do anything with it.

So spring came.  And with no other help in sight, a friend had her husband and boys come up and pull it out of the garage for me.  I am very grateful for this help.  Once it was out it was easy to see that Dad has missed a few things - like safety rails on the upper part.  So I got to work on the rails and on painting the playset.

I got most of the wood cut and 2/3s of the playset painted before the "sagas" and everything else hit resulting in no further work getting done for a couple of months.  One of the mini episodes that occurred over those months was the discovery that some of the teens at the apartment complex next door had gotten it into their heads that they wanted it for a hunting blind.  Whether or not I was willing to give it up.  So same friend's hubby and boys came up and moved it deeper into my yard and closer to the fence.

Over the last few weeks I have made a determined effort to get the playset finished.  Most mornings I spent an hour or two working on it.  There were things that had to be changed because of problem that I discovered after I started working.  And a few things that just had me shaking my head over either the original design or Dad's modification.  But I finally got all the wood cut correctly.  Then it was put in place and anchored as securely as I could, which typically meant a lot of screws.

Some days were amusing because my son was getting jealous of the fact that I was getting into the playset.  It seems that he wants to play in it.  ;-)

Then I finished painting.  Just two coats over most of the body of the structure took 1 1/2 gallons of paint.  I was amazed.  The first layer took a heck of a lot more paint than the second layer did.  But it looked a lot better.  And the paint should help keep my son from getting many splinters.

The only part I hadn't managed to paint was the roof.  I was debating replacing the wooden shakes with some of the asphalt shingles I had in the garage or the molded roofing that we had used on the little house.  The main reason for this was because I had those items on hand and I didn't have anymore outdoor paint.  But on an instinct I went by the local Habitat Restore one day last week.  I had figured that if I could find a red paint, or any primary color, it would work for the roof.  Well amazingly they had a can of exterior paint, actually two, in the exact same shade.  That was the only exterior paint they had and I was amazed to find even that.  When we opened the can to see what color it was it looked like a deep magenta.  I decided to go with it.  At $5 for the gallon it was the best option.  I don't know how to do the other types of roofing and it would have taken months to get someone up here who did know.  I wasn't willing to wait anymore.

So Monday I started painting the roof.  Three layers later the paint can is empty and the roof looks good.  And that deep magenta color dried into a barn red color that looks great.  So tomorrow I dig the holes for the support bricks.  And hopefully, at some point this weekend, we'll get the structure into the backyard and all the parts connected.  I'm quite sure that my son will spend hours playing on it each day until it gets too cold to play outside.  And maybe even after that.  I'm enjoying the reminder that there are a lot of things that I can do on my own.  And I'm immensely grateful that there are folks out there who are willing to help with the parts I can't do on my own.