Goodbye Swings

I know most everyone that reads this is just itching to learn about where the studio project is at, but Jen needs to take a break from working and will be doing a few posts this week (she wants to make sure she hasn't missed any of the fun happenings on West Street with all the different pictures she has on her computer)!

In any case, a few weeks back (on the very first hot, humid weekend we had for the season), Graham needed a break from the studio and decided to surprise Jen by taking down the swing set in the back yard.  In reality, he was just sick of mowing around it!

As some of you have seen, our house came equipped with a bomb shelter.....errr.....a playhouse in the backyard.  Attached to it was the swingset.  The ultimate goal is to have both of them come down, but getting the swingset down was a good starting point!

(you should know that all of the pictures below are taken by Jen sitting in a comfortable chair, at a comfortable distance away, with a cool beverage in her hand........Jen thought Graham was crazy for tackling this on such a warm day, but couldn't miss the picture taking opportunity)

step 1 -- take down the swings

Oh no, the support beams are missing!!!

Oh wait, here they are on the ground (as Jen moves her chair back just a bit more)

first attempt at taking down the other support beams -- loosening the bolts

second attempt -- trying the rock-back-and-forth method

still rocking (and Jen moving her chair back again -- zoom was now being used on the camera)

ok, rocking didn't finish the job completely, so now we will try the pulling and twisting method

FINALLY it's down

triumph over the swingset!

So at this point, Jen thinks there is just a couple of bolts left to take off (on the left hand side of the set where it was attached to the playhouse).  Little did she know the rocking and swinging method still needed to be employed:

all Jen could think at this point was "I wonder if that would fly far enough to hit the neighbor's garage"

but, in the end all went according to Graham's plans

and now we no longer have a swingset in our backyard!