The Summer Cabin

One year Jr and I decided on a summer project. I think we were about 12 at the time. You now how sometimes kids build tree houses. We decided that we wanted to build a cabin in the field next to Jr house. I don't know how to explain the field but it was completely cleared of trees. Maybe someone was going to build in the field at one time and ran out of money. There was a big hole in the center of the field. It could be the people had dug the hole in the field to put in a basement. I'm not sure but that is the only way I can explain the hole. The field was completely covered with a tall grass so we used to play army in the field and use the hole as a bunker to hide in. We had our pretend guns and would have running battles in the field. If you laid down and crawled no one could see you.

One day we decided to build a cabin in the hole. Jr's grandfather had wood behind the garage and we got permission to use the wood. We had 4x4's for the corner and 2x4's for the bracing. We set the 4x4's at the corners and the 2x4's to do the cross bracing. We used 1x6 boards to cover the sides and top. The cabin was 8' x 8' with one really special feature. We had a secrete hatch on the roof of the cabin for entry into it. We had a disguised built in ladder on the cabin side to get up to the roof. The newspaper boy found the cabin but couldn't find a way into it.

The cabin was pretty fancy with a desk and chairs and bunk that we had built. It was pretty elaborate for two youngsters. I had received for Christmas a base unit walkie talkie with a separate talking unit. We were able to have one person on the roof checking the area and reporting to the base unit. It really added onto our Army games.

We really had a fun time in the cabin and had stocked it with some of our toys. So now for the sad part of the story. The field where the cabin was located caught on fire and burnt the cabin to the ground. All of our possession we had in the cabin were gone. Jr called me and told me he tried to put the fire out but was not able to stop the fire. He still thinks to this day that the newspaper boy set the fire. Without proof, what could you do. It was a fun summer in the cabin.

We sifted through the ashes and found very little. The head of one hammer was still there but our toys were gone.