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10 Secrets Every Father Should Know (Hardcover)
by
Meg Meeker
The
most
important
person in a
young girl’s
life? Her
father.
That’s
right—and
teen health
expert Dr.
Meg Meeker
has the data
and clinical
experience
to prove it.
Garden
water fountains and Water safety for kids
One of the biggest
concerns about water gardening or a water fountain is the
safety of kids. A toddler can drown in just an inch of water
or in a partly filled 5-gallon bucket. No wonder that
parents, grandparents, and neighbors are fearful around any
kind of garden fountain. No garden fountain can be made
absolutely childproof, but there are a number of ways you
can make yours safer.
10 Ways to be a Better Dad
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Building a Treehouse?
How the Internet Can Lend a Helping Hand
When was the last time you thought about treehouses? Was it
during a dream of your long-lost youth, filled with
visions and thoughts of carefree days?
You don’t have to reminisce any longer, because
treehouses are back. Whether they are the manifestation
of our innate desire for freedom, an attempt to relive
those untroubled days of our yesteryears, or an attempt
to create the perfect play space for our children,
treehouses are sprouting up all over the country.
From Washington and Oregon to Tennessee and New York,
the number of treehouses being built is growing. From
what I’ve read about them recently, they’re not the
simple treehouses of our youth either: Some of these
newfangled treehouses have electricity and plumbing in
them.
There’s even a schoolhouse treehouse. Go to
http://www.grandoakstreehouse.homestead.com/Grandoakstreehouse.html
to see how a family in Tennessee built a schoolhouse in
a tree and then home-schooled their children in it. They
got the idea to build a treehouse when they were doing
research at a local library on how to build a chicken
coop.
If you find the idea of building a treehouse
appealing, the first step is to determine if you have a
suitable tree. You can find help with that
decision-making process by visiting
http://www.thetreehouseguide.com/choosing.htm.
Topics and considerations such as tree height, branch
thickness, prevailing winds, choice of materials, and
construction methods are discussed. I like fireplaces,
so I hope to find instructions about including one in
the treehouse I plan to build one day.
If you’re good with a saw, hammer, and nails and know
your local zoning ordinances, you can buy plans from The
Treehouse Guide, which is located in the U.K. At the Web
site you will find plans for a one- or two-tree
building. The plans range in price from $19 to $27. They
come in book format, are approximately 40 pages, and
cover every aspect of construction. The two houses that
can be built from these plans are suitable for two or
three children or a small office, given their
64-square-foot dimension. Oddly, given the amount of
useful knowledge on this site, no mention of an author
or builder is made.
Another site for help with building a treehouse is
http://www.americasbestonline.net/treehouse/treehouse.htm.
There you will find a variety of treehouses suitable for
adults or two or three kids. There are pictures of
completed treehouses along with some photographs of
treehouses under construction. Also included here are a
list of books that contain treehouse plans and links to
treehouse builders.
For a human interest story about treehouses, go to
http://users.adelphia.net/~ironmtnarts/page1.html.
Here you’ll see Ron and Michelle’s treehouse in New
York. Begun in 1995, this couple’s treehouse took 3
years to build, and it even hosted their wedding. While
I wouldn’t recommend following their building style (the
treehouse doesn’t seem like it was built to code), this
is a wonderful example of two people working together
and building their treehouse with their own hands,
without the benefit of a store-bought plan or
contractor.
Included on their site is a journal that contains
photographs taken during the entire construction period.
You’ll be able to see how much can be accomplished with
a little money, a lot of imagination, and true
dedication.
If you don’t have the time or energy to undertake
your own construction, there are companies that will
build a treehouse for you. The builder who seems to have
the most experience has a site at
http://www.livingtreeonline.com. The aptly
named Jonathan Fairoaks is an arborist with more than 40
years of treehouse-building experience.
His site is quite extensive and includes still photos
and virtual tour movies. Also listed on the site are
articles written about Fairoaks. These give insight into
the man and the driving force that motivates him.
While he is located in Pennsylvania, Fairoaks has
nevertheless built treehouses from coast to coast,
averaging 12 abodes in the sky per year. He utilized a
variety of woods for both the construction of his
creations and in the trees he chose to support his
structures. The preferred method of construction
utilized by his firm is one of “floating mounts,” which
prevent any harm to the tree or the treehouse.
These treehouses are certainly of a higher-end,
custom design. They feature such amenities as
electricity, redwood siding, and bathrooms. Also, they
are building-site specific. I’d like to have one myself!
After seeing Fairoaks’ site, the only place left to
visit is the Popular Mechanics article “Extreme
Treehouses” posted at
http://www.popularmechanics.com/outdoors/outdoors/2456277.html.
This article includes a discussion of high-end “treemansions.” It
includes useful tips for folks who’d like to build their
own treehouses and contains photos of two- and
three-story treehouses that weigh in at 6,000 or more
pounds.
How do they stay up in the air? Included in the
article are a number of different support systems and
devices, including clamping and cabling, which are
thoroughly discussed. Treehouses on this site are priced
in the six figure range and can reach $500,000.
The article contains photos of treehouses from the
states of Washington, Maine, Pennsylvania, and
Wisconsin, representing a reasonable cross-section of
the United States, with different architectural styles
and influences. You’ll see a treehouse named The Lantern
in the Sky created by Dustin Feider. Built using an
unusual and unique geodesic dome shape and style, the
wall panels are translucent, allowing daylight in and
artificial light out at night. The shape looks like a
Japanese lantern, according to Feider. Another unique
feature of this treehouse is the method of access: An
electric motor powers a basket, into which one steps,
for a ride 45 feet up an ash tree.
Imagination, it seems, is a necessary ingredient when
it comes to building a treehouse. When his children
wanted a new play set, Alister Orme initially went to a
store to buy one. Turned off by the lack of quality and
high price of the plastic, factory-made play sets, this
fellow built one of the funkiest treehouses you’ll ever
see.
A 6-foot by 7-foot treehouse 10 feet in the air makes
for the most popular playground in town. Suspension
bridges, a slide, and a fort comprise a mentally,
physically, and environmentally healthy alternative to
the usual red, yellow, and blue plastic play sets that
are outgrown and discarded in a couple of years.
So why construct a treehouse? One builder said,
“Nobody needs a treehouse, so it’s truly pointless in a
way. But a switch [flips] when people go up there.
Everybody gets instantaneously quiet and just looks out
the windows. Leave the ground, and you leave the rest of
the world behind.” Fairoaks said, “Some things transcend
words, and maybe that’s the best reason to do them.”
Ken Rubino is a freelance
writer and photographer living on the picturesque East
End of Long Island, New York. His work has been
published in numerous magazines and newspapers. He can
be reached at
kenlovelanefoto@aol.com.
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Free Relationship
Assessment
As the excitement
of school children builds to super-charged levels as
they prepare to shift gears and fly into summertime,
there has never been a better time for students to
let their entrepreneurial wings catch the wind and
soar.
Choosing books
to read aloud to children
Quiz: Your Heart-Health Nutrition Knowledge
Confused about which dietary recommendations to follow? This heart-health quiz will give you an idea of how well you're keeping up.
Book
Review
 Children will love learning how to plant seeds and turn
their produce into delicious meals they can eat.
Then
when they've picked their crops, there are recipes for
snacks, lunches and dinners that are really tasty and
will encourage your child and family to eat healthily. Kids in the Kitchen
Make
crystallised oranges
Kids will enjoy colouring this
delightful picture of Poky Recipe
Ed's Portugese Style Barbecue
Chicken
It's worth waiting overnight for
this spicy chicken dish!
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