Bob and Me and the Tree House

Bob and Me and the Tree house
(Continued from Carter Creek Country Boy)

Yesterday, Daddy and I rode up to the cow camp looking for a coyote den. I had quite an adventure as I had my latigo strap break and my saddle fell off. All is well that ends well and daddy was able to find the coyote den. He called the trapper and he will come today to smoke the coyotes out ,and destroy them. That will put an end to their killing but it is just a matter of time before some other coyotes kill again. We will just have to work harder to protect our herd.

I got up and jumped into my work clothes and headed out to do chores. The gentle breeze brought the smell of Jeep exhaust as Daddy headed out to check the sheep. I had to go to school today and I only had about thirty minutes till the bus got there.
I milked the cow and fed the horses and bulls and carried in an arm load of wood. My homework wasn’t done and I probably would not get it done. I really didn’t care; I just wished I could stay home and check sheep with Daddy. I picked up our old yellow cat and gently stroked his back as he rubbed his face against my cheek. I ate breakfast, quickly got dressed for school and gathered up my books.
The bus arrived and I jumped in to the front seat, where I could see what was going on. As my sisters and brother sat down, the driver backed the bus around the house and headed down the country road to town. We lived twelve miles from town and we were the first ones on the bus. I eagerly awaited the chance to get to school and have a little time to play before the bell. As the buss rolled to a stop and the driver opened the door, I saw my buddy, Bob. I ran from the bus to tell him about my big adventure. He laughed about me loosing my saddle and smiled when I told them how I got it back on.
Bob was my best friend and I was always invited to stay at his house when my folks had to go somewhere. He was a super strong buddy whose big brother was the star of the High School basketball team. Bob told me he didn’t have to practice basketball tonight, so we made plans to see if he could come home to the ranch with me for the weekend. I called my mom and he called his and they both said yes. Bobs mom would drop some old clothes by the school so he didn’t tear his school clothes. She knew that any adventure we had, would be hard on pants and shirts.
I don’t know much of what went on in school that day as I spent the entire day thinking up how and where, Bob and I would build a tree house. I made a list of the tools we would need and I think I was supposed to be studying my multiplication table. My list included two hammers and fifteen boards and a bucket of nails. We could carry the boards on my go-cart and I could pull Bob and the go-cart with my horse. Maybe we would just run the go-cart and leave the tree house to another day. Just then the teacher asked me the answer to eight times eight, and I sat there with no answer. She reprimanded me for not paying attention and went on quizzing my classmates. I remember Ruth Anne, the great big girl who sat behind me, hitting me and telling me I was a dummy. I took a swing at her and missed. The teacher saw my swing and swiftly scooped me out of my desk to the hall where she sent me to the Principal. When I returned she had placed my desk in a closet on the left side of the room where I could see her and the black board but none of my classmates. I climbed into my desk and quietly continued my plans for the weekend.

As the bell rang, I quickly gathered my books and Bob and I raced to the bus. We had to get there first so we got my front seat. It seemed like forever as the other kids got on the bus and we headed out. As soon as we got home we raced to my room and changed. Bob was right behind me as we headed to the corral to see the horses. Bob didn’t have a horse but he sure loved my horse Grandma. She seemed happy to see him as she nuzzled him checking for a little bite of oats. I shook the oats bucket as she and Mr. Dusty trotted up to me. I gave Dusty a couple of bites and led Grandma to the barn. We brushed her and put on the blanket and saddle. Bob led her outside as I separated the Milk cow and her calf. We had to keep them separate overnight, or there would be no milk at the morning milking. I filled the manger with hay for Maude and sprinkled some steam rolled barley in the trough for her calf. I closed the corral gate and jumped into the saddle, I pulled Bob up behind me and we headed out to search for the perfect tree for a tree house.

As we headed up the canyon behind the house we chased two deer up the slope, Dusty whinnied from the corral, wondering if we had forgotten him. Grandma answered back but kept a steady pace as she knew we had a mission and she was part of the team. As we rode up behind the bunkhouse and the trailer where the hired men lived, we spotted a big old limber pine tree about a hundred yards up on the south slope. That trees branches forked out in a big old v shape that would be perfect to lay boards on for a tree house floor. We rode closer and checked out all the trails leading to our find. We had not only found the perfect tree but it was also a great location with the trail leading right up to and beyond the base. About twenty feet behind the tree was a steep rocky cliff and about a hundred feet below was the wooden sheep water tank, fed by a spring. We rode on to the top of the hill and checked out all the other trees, but none were as perfect as this one. As we reached the ridge overlooking home I kicked Grandma into a gallop as we pretended to be chasing bad guys. Bob was shooting on the right and I pretended to drop a few bad guys with my right hand. Grandma slowed to a fast walk as we wheeled around toward home. We had checked out the area and destroyed the enemy. Now it was time to head home for tools and lumber. If we worked hard and fast we could have the tree house floor done by dark.

Bob pulled boards from the lumber rack as I gathered up the hammer, saw and nails. I grabbed some rope and a few spikes and loaded them in a bucket. We piled our tools and supplies on the go-cart. I tossed the rope from the go-cart up over the saddle as Bob climbed into the seat of the cart. I climbed up on Grandma and wrapped the rope around the saddle horn. We headed up the canyon with me and Grandma pulling and Bob carefully steering the go-cart with his feet. As we reached the grassy spot below the hill I unfastened the rope and tied the reins over her neck. Grandma started to graze peacefully as we began carrying the boards up the narrow trail. I was better at sawing than Bob, so he nailed the boards on to the tree to make steps to where the branches v’d. As we calculated the size of the floor I cut the boards to length and bob nailed them firmly to the branches. In no time at all we had a floor about six feet by six feet and the sun was setting on the horizon. We admired our handy work as we walked down the slope to our waiting horse and go-cart. I jumped on Grandma and Bob turned the go-cart toward home. The trail was gently sloping so he could coast most of the way to the house. We took Grandma to the barn and unsaddled her, gave her some oats and turned her out into the horse corral. We headed to the house for a late supper and plans for a big day tomorrow.




Bob and Me and the Tree House (part 2-11-20-06)

It was 5:30 am when Mom called us, Bob and I jumped out of bed ready to start the day. We dressed and headed to the corral. I was swinging the milk pail as we crossed the yard to the corral gate. I told Bob how to feed a bale to the horses and bulls as I opened the barn door. I filled the milking stall manger with hay and a bucket of oats. I let Maude into the barn and she made a beeline to her stall. I milked her as fast as I could and the creamy froth overflowed the bucket. I took a few squirts toward the barn cats and watched as they happily licked the milk from their faces. Bob walked through the barn door and I squirted him. He quickly came over to try his hand at milking, or revenge. I just opened my mouth and took it like a man. The warm milk fresh from the cow, was a rich delight. We finished filling the bucket and turned the calf in with his momma. As we headed to the house, milk bucket in hand, we shared the load as we talked about our plans for our tree house.
I had recently seen pictures of a cable car and I thought we should try to build one, from our tree house to the ground. Bob said it sure would be fun but he didn’t think we could find a cable or get the cable tight enough to carry a car, much less passengers. I was a dreamer, not an engineer so I proceeded to tell him my plan and show him the materials we would use. Daddy had a new roll of wire cable to fix the Farmhand loader and I thought it looked long enough. I planned to nail a two by four board, about four feet long, to each end of a four foot, two by ten. Then we could fasten two round logs about ten inches in diameter and fifteen inches long, to the two by ten. These would be our seats and we would use a rope to pull ourselves up, and we could just float down, using gravity. We spent a couple of hours carrying the supplies and tools, to the base of the hill. We unrolled the shiny new cable and Bob headed up to the tree house with his end. As he climbed the ladder steps to the platform, he attempted to fasten the cable to an upper branch. He told me it wouldn’t stay fastened unless we had a cable clamp to hold it tight. We raced to the shop to look for cable clamps and wrenches. We found several and bob picked out the ones he thought would work. He knew a lot about cables and clamps because his dad ran a gas station with a repair shop and he said he had helped repair some broken cables on farm loaders. We headed out to our tree house with new fire and determination. Bob got the clamp on the cable and had it secured tightly to the branch. He reminded me that we had nothing to fasten the bottom of the cable to and no way to stretch it tight. We went back to the shop for a sledge hammer and a large steel stake and the fencing wire stretcher. We proceeded to drive the stake at a good angle. The next step was to stretch the cable tight and hook on the cable car with fencing staples. I tried several times to stretch the cable and a few times I got it suspended to where it was almost tight. Bob reminded me again how it probably would not work but he kept on helping and believing in me. Finally after about an hour and many failures, I conceded that this might not work. We left the cable hanging and all the lumber and tools where they lay, as we headed out for a new adventure

We climbed up the rocky cliff behind our new tree house and gathered pretty rocks, to build a fire ring on our tree house floor. The shiny quartz rocks were streaked with yellow and red and they were each about six inches in diameter, the perfect size for a fire ring. We found a plate of steel off an old binder that was about eighteen inches across. We placed the steel ring on the floor and placed the rocks in a neat ring around the edges. I remembered some old refrigerator grates that were in the dump so we headed out to retrieve them. As we came back by the house, I noticed that my mom and the kids were gone, so we went into the house to gather up some matches, newspaper and a pan to cook stuff. We went to the garden and picked some overripe peas and carrots as well as a couple of ears of corn. We toted our new treasures to our tree house and Bob gathered sticks as I prepared the paper in the fire ring. The matches lit quickly as we struck them on the steel plate. In no time at all we had a fine fire crackling and we were ready to cook up a meal. Bob said we needed some water, so he headed to the spring as I shucked the corn. I used an old knife to cut the ears of corn into quarters. When bob got back we placed the grate over the crackling fire and proceeded to cook our dinner. The fire just got hotter and hotter; the vegetables were cooking nicely as the water came to a full boil. Suddenly we smelled a new smoke as the steel plate on the bottom had heated, to a glowing red. Small flames leaped from the edges and a strong black smoke rose from the floor. Bob quickly dashed the pan of boiling water and vegetables on the flames and jumped from the tree house to get another pan of water. I grabbed a nail can and dumped out the nails as I raced to the tank for my fire fighting water. We must have carried twenty containers as we finished snuffing the smoldering coals and charred floor. We were lucky my mom or dad didn’t see the smoke or we would have gotten our whipping right away. I guess this was one more time that God decided to save me so I could bring my children to this world.