Tree Houses

Long time no post. By the time I'm done with work these days I'm just too tired to post. The odd thing about that statement is that I don't have a job! Except to find a new job. And it's a lot of work.

Anyway, a week ago, right after Thanksgiving, my wife took her three boys to the Dallas Arboretum to see the Tree House exhibit. I think it was the last weekend, so I'm sorry if this post makes you want to go see it. (HA!)

Anyway, the first thing to keep in mind is that no trees were harmed by this exhibit. I can understand the requirement. But what I don't understand is why they let artists design the tree houses, and I can assure you that they were artistic. That's not a good thing.

For starters, one requirement for any "tree house" design ought to be that you could put it up in a tree. Only two of the thirteen "tree houses" had obvious tree potential. One other "tree house", while lacking any resemblance to something you could put in a tree, managed to include some structural elements (large PVC piping) that that could clearly have been used to support elevated tree houses so that no damage would have been done to the trees.

Instead, we were treated to very artistic designs on the ground that not only had no potential to exist in a tree, but looked like they would be absolutely no fun to play or spend time in!

I'm sorry, but a tree house is, first and foremost, a play structure. It is secondarily a clubhouse. If you build a structure that cannot be placed in a tree, cannot be used as a play structure, and cannot serve as a clubhouse — well, you darned well better not call it a tree house!