Saturday, November 3, 2012

Fencing

I've built a lot of forts in my day. There was a big igloo-like structure made out of chunks of ice that I helped some high school kids build off of Washington Avenue. It was a thing of beauty, but how much fun can you really have huddled in a hut with temperatures well below freezing. My forts made out of wood were all constructed in the summer sun, under more comfortable conditions. My bests were the ones we made while living on Stevens Avenue. There was the one behind the P's house. It was a two floor structure, complete with a shingled roof and sides. The one behind the Esso station, that was up a large tree about 20 feet was our best. It had a small woodstove in it, (ya, I know not smart to have a wood burning stove in a fort made out of wood), and fortified with Old Golds, we attempted to ride out Hurricane Donna in it. Gosh, but that tree did some swaying! My last fort-building effort centered around the one off of Warren Avenue. We built it when we were in high school down behind the cemetery and transported all the lumber via the railroad tracks. We found this small railroad vehicle, discarded in the bushes, got it on the tracks. It was perfect for what we needed. A few years later, home from college Eddie, Brenda and I walked through the woods on a crisp, winter afternoon and found it still standing. Forts and I go way back. Nice memories.

15 comments:

  1. Wow, you really have a background in construction.

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  2. Your photo reminds me of the coyote fences in New Mexico!

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  3. We had a vacant lot next door to our house when I was growing up and we built so many forts there that I couldn't begin to know how many. Thanks for bringing back some good memories!

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  4. Lovely post. Never had a fort, but had lots of much-loved hiding places in a nearby wood as a kid.

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  5. i only built a few snow forts in my day, but i like that rustic fence.

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  6. Are you an architect by any chance -- barbara

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  7. Sounds to me like you were a very talented young builder. I grew up with two sisters so we didn't do much building ourselves but, dad did make us a fantastic playhouse in our backyard in Quincy Illinois and we spent many summers enjoying the place.

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  8. We had a small bush across the street in our neighbourhood and fort-building was one of the major pastimes of the summer holidays. You've brought back nice memories!!
    Love this fence!

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  9. Well, go check it out. Maybe it is still there.

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  10. I also built a number of forts as a kid. Did snow forts, but they lasted just long enough to be protection from brief snowball wars. Our best forts were made of hay bales in the haylofts of our barn and neighbor's barns. Neighbors had ropes hanging from the barn roof we could swing on. Never built a real looking fort like the one you have pictured. Thanks for your post.

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  11. I envy all your opportunities. There was no space on our streets for such engineering. The closest I came was on a couple of Christmases when my sister and I were small. We'd crawl under the piano and build a wall around us with our loot.

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  12. Impressive that your last construction project lasted all those years.

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  13. Building forts must be fun!
    God bless you!
    Cezar

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  14. Picturesque, I have built several forts in my days...

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