Yesterday, while refurbishing a hammock stand I found at the side of the road, it occurred to me that very often my ambition far outstrips my ability to get things done.
I noticed the hammock stand on a Monday while taking a bike ride with my children. When I went back by on a Wednesday – it was still there. And now it’s at my house.
The first thing I did to the hammock stand was take it apart. It has a significant crack in one of the wooden pieces and it needed to be cleaned and glued back together. That was messy work. But it gave me a great opportunity to teach Charlotte and Arden how to use C-Clamps.
On Saturday, I had some homework to do but I finished late afternoon and headed outside to work on the project with Char. I wanted her to use wood filler to patch up cracks in the laminated pieces. I need to keep water and mould out. She worked at that while I finished the sanding and also set to work preparing the plywood strapping that I have begun laminating on in an attempt to provide greater structural integrity.
I hope to have the project done before the end of the summer. It’s not quite the same as building a bunk bed – but kind of has its parallels – plus it still needs to be stained, verathaned, and put back together.
The upside is that now I have charlotte in it with me. And while I know that I could buy a hammock stand online for far less than the value of the hours I’m putting in – and assemble a new one in a fraction of the time – there is something that feels good about restoring something to the value it once had and still holds in its potential.
Plus I gave Hil a hammock for Christmas.
Plus I’m spending tons of time with my daughter. After we finished working on the hammock stand on Saturday evening she helped me rip down and bundle the railing that was rotting off our back deck.
3 Ginger Snaps 