Life On and Off an Acreage

In-sights into moving from an Acreage back to Town, plus a few things I find of interest.

Two things that horses are scared about:


1. Things that move
2. Things that don't move




Old enough to be eccentric, but not rich enough

August 1, 2013

I Flew the Coop!

Elaine and I disappeared for a week over to the Shuswap in B.C. for a week to visit our oldest son and family on his 41st birthday. We didn't do much other than sit around with our family and some old friends from 20+ years ago.
Tensioning the First

To keep 6 kids under the age of 11 entertained, we concocted 2 Zip lines for their amusement.
Picture this: A safety director (all of the U.S.) for a major company, a safety corrections/inspector for the alberta government, and me, a retired jack of all trades, building a Zip line!
Take off Point

The first one was about 75 feet made out of a climbing rope. Adequate, but too short. The solution was to get 200 feet of wire rope, a come-along for tensioning, scaffold (2 levels for landing, and a step ladder for access. The brake! Almost forgot the brake. After sending a 50 pound block of wood down as a test run and having it hit the end ( a tree) with enough force to do a couple of 360 degree loops, it was decided the zip line needed a brake!
Early Run With Emergency Brake

Two blocks of wood bolted together with a hole in the middle and a rope to pull on sufficed. It actually worked. I was impressed. After the angle of slide through the trees was adjusted, lower end up, and upper end down, it worked great.
Solo Run

Until the kids could show 3 consecutive runs without my son stopping them with a rope, they were free to solo. My son ran alongside at a full gallop holding on to the emergency rope in case it was needed.

The 9 year old and the rest really enjoyed the project.

The 5 year old and the rest really enjoyed the project.


 Note: No kids, trees, dogs, or adults were seriously hurt in this exercise!

9 comments:

  1. What a great family project and it looks like all were having a wonderful time! Bravo!

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  2. That looks like great fun.

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  3. That's so cool....its amazing how grampas can make anything.

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  4. Those kids will be the envy of their friends...a homemade zipline. Fun!!

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  5. thank goodness for the safety-conscious adults building and testing this thing! yikes! kids have more daring than i do. :)

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  6. Yup, more daring than I have too! Looks like they had fun though.

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  7. Wow! That was a fun family project that surely created lasting memories. And your son must've been getting a fantastic workout with all that running he had to do! Sounds like you both are dads that have a fun side, glad it was able to be released in the form of a zip-line!

    Lana

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  8. That's great healthy fun for the kids, I love to see them outside in the fresh air dong the kid thing with no shoes on and plenty of laughing. You are both a great father and grandfather. Well done!!!

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