In the previous blog post we mentioned the storm that came through this area late last Wednesday night. It brought down a couple of huge branches in the backyard of our neighbors Brian and Nadine. The branches landed in the backyard and driveway and destroyed part of the fence. Fortunately no one was hurt and none of their cars were damaged. Unfortunately the branches took out the power line to their house and created a short to the television/internet cable, which momentarily caught fire and scorched their siding before breaking. They also created a short to the ground wire for the house, which was connected to the water main, and the amount of current passing through the wire burst the pipe, flooding their basement. We stopped to talk to them about it on Saturday afternoon, and in the course of the conversation they reminded us that we are welcome to the jungle gym and swingset that their boys used when they were younger but has since been languishing in their backyard. It turns out the timing was right: Chris and Everett had been talking about building an outdoor fort, and Brian and Nadine’s sons happened to be home at the time without much to do, so they were available to help with the move. Brian attached some old lawn mower wheels to the jungle gym and we wheeled it down Kavanaugh to our house. It was a pretty funny sight, though not one that we have a photo of.

Everett was extremely excited about this turn of events. We put the jungle gym upright in the backyard and temporarily stabilized it, and he spent the rest of the day playing on or in his “fort”. On Sunday morning Chris was getting ready for a bike ride about 6:30am when he heard the characteristic stomping from upstairs that could only mean that Everett was awake. Apparently the excitement of having a fort in the backyard was more compelling than sleep. When Chris returned from his ride we made a trip to the hardware store for some parts: a roof, a replacement periscope, ground anchors and some cedar fence panels to replace the rotted plastic panels that were originally on it. On Sunday afternoon Chris and Everett worked to put it all together.




For some time now Chris has been wondering when we would build a fort for Everett. We have been building forts inside for quite a while, and for at least a couple years Everett has had an outdoor “fort” in the crook of a tree in the backyard, but this is our first proper outdoor fort. It feels like a rite of passage for us, and both Chris and Everett are looking forward to whatever new adventures this brings.