Even this latest photo doesn’t capture the current state of the project. I’ve got tar paper on the roof, all the siding attached, and rope ladders hung. I’ll get a picture of the finished project as soon as I get everything done.
We actually had a surprise visit from the building inspectors from our town. Apparently one of my neighbors snitched me out, but the inspectors said they didn’t have any codes for tree forts and we weren’t violating any other rules. I am glad. I would have been very disappointed had they asked me to demolish my work!
Although it is still in progress, the fort was christened this weekend with an overnight sleep out and many hours of books on tape. As far as the kids response, I couldn’t have hoped for better. As far as the work goes, the only thing left to do is attach the asphalt roof roll and build the rail for the deck. I’m quite pleased with my work.
Although I accomplished everything I set out to do (gable roof, rope ladder, secret trap door), I did make a few compromises here and there. By far the biggest compromise had to do with cutting limbs from the cherry tree. I had originally imagined the fort nestled under the tree, with limbs sticking up through the roof. Once I got the platform built and started working on the walls, I realized how difficult this would be. I kept bumping my head! A quick vote revealed the kids didn’t really want the limbs anyhow, so I lopped them off. The tree is only ~18 feet tall and the top of the fort is about 13 feet off the ground, so now the tree seems pretty incidental to the whole fort, but I still think of it as a tree fort.
Here is a picture from a few weeks ago of Kennedy and I erecting the walls. Notice all the foliage?
Present Tense 
Even the building inspectors thought you’d done great work on the fort! They were pretty embarrassed to be called out to inspect a tree fort (in the claim, whoever reported it called it “an out building structure”) so they spent all their time admiring the nice quality features of the construction.