PanterA
03-07-2004, 03:09 AM
A few days ago I drove by the old woods where my closest buddies and I spent many hours as a kid building a get away from grown ups. We spent hours a day, stealing wood from various construction sites. Searching back yards and alley ways for assorted items able to be used for our castle in the tree. I remember the joy of spotting that perfect piece of ply wood carelessly left out by the lazy construction workers. Days, weeks, months, years we spent perfecting our fortress. I remember fixing the shaky climbing step that would spin around if you didn't stand in the middle of it. Reinforcing the floor after days of rain and water damage.
It wasn't just a place to stash porn and post pin up girls. It was a part of you. We would protect them with our lives! Don't you remember the traps you used to set? Thinking back on it, god forbid nobody really got hit with those things. We would have the trip wire that would swing thorn bushes into the intruders face. Holes with sharp sticks set in them as spikes. The bag of rocks that would drop on the bastards head if they tried to open the door. We did ANYTHING to defend our stronghold! We never thought about the consequences. We always had the pile of throwing rocks stacked, just in case we got raided by kids trying to take over. Life was so different as a kid.
What were some of the cool features you had on your tree house? I remember we experimented with a lot of different contraptions. Numerous types of rope swings, elevator pulleys, bridges, and look out positions. But the greatest one we had was a zip line that ran almost 50 yards across the woods. We snagged a bunch of nasty mattresses that were being thrown away to have something soft to land on...but God forbid you lost your grip before the end, you were in for a handful of scrapes and bruises.
All the memories always come back to me when driving past that area of Queens. I did go revisit the old tree over the years, and the tree never actually recovered from the stress and damage we've done to it. It's actually pretty sad seeing this thing that brought so much joy to me, withering and dying. Some of the old boards and rope swings were still set in place. I could tell a new group of kids have tried to rebuild the tree house but didn't have the heart and dedication we did.
Share your stories of the forts and club houses you've built as a child. What were some of your special gadgets you've created? Tell us of the vicious traps you set to protect your fort. I really miss being 10 years old.
<center><img style="backround:COLOR" style="color:BLACK" style="border style:double 3px" src="http://members.aol.com/rnfpantera/rfsig4.gif">
I Crush The Rush. I Rule You Fool!</center><font color=white>
This message was edited by PanterA on 3-7-04 @ 4:01 PM
It wasn't just a place to stash porn and post pin up girls. It was a part of you. We would protect them with our lives! Don't you remember the traps you used to set? Thinking back on it, god forbid nobody really got hit with those things. We would have the trip wire that would swing thorn bushes into the intruders face. Holes with sharp sticks set in them as spikes. The bag of rocks that would drop on the bastards head if they tried to open the door. We did ANYTHING to defend our stronghold! We never thought about the consequences. We always had the pile of throwing rocks stacked, just in case we got raided by kids trying to take over. Life was so different as a kid.
What were some of the cool features you had on your tree house? I remember we experimented with a lot of different contraptions. Numerous types of rope swings, elevator pulleys, bridges, and look out positions. But the greatest one we had was a zip line that ran almost 50 yards across the woods. We snagged a bunch of nasty mattresses that were being thrown away to have something soft to land on...but God forbid you lost your grip before the end, you were in for a handful of scrapes and bruises.
All the memories always come back to me when driving past that area of Queens. I did go revisit the old tree over the years, and the tree never actually recovered from the stress and damage we've done to it. It's actually pretty sad seeing this thing that brought so much joy to me, withering and dying. Some of the old boards and rope swings were still set in place. I could tell a new group of kids have tried to rebuild the tree house but didn't have the heart and dedication we did.
Share your stories of the forts and club houses you've built as a child. What were some of your special gadgets you've created? Tell us of the vicious traps you set to protect your fort. I really miss being 10 years old.
<center><img style="backround:COLOR" style="color:BLACK" style="border style:double 3px" src="http://members.aol.com/rnfpantera/rfsig4.gif">
I Crush The Rush. I Rule You Fool!</center><font color=white>
This message was edited by PanterA on 3-7-04 @ 4:01 PM