The Hammock

One Hundred Best Days of My Life, Part II - Day3

There’s a hammock in our backyard, a home made hammock. It stretches from the birch tree to the siding of the house. The elements of its construction include hooks, rope, dowling and fabric (50% of the Bargain Centre Price at Fabricland).

Michael and Alice use the inside hammock often. It comes down when they get too rambunctious in it, or when they refuse to come to dinner but swing in the hammock instead. But the rest of the time the hammock is in full use.

When I saw them in it, all I could imagine is the fun a second one would be outside. So when I would sit in the backyard, I would imagine where one could go … and was on my way to Mountain Equipment Coop to get their camping brand of hammock. But Miranda had a second one made before I got my shopping done. I got to see it in action this afternoon.

There seems to be no toy to which some rules do not have to be attached. In this case, it is no longer allowed that two people can be in the hammock at the same times. That is about it for rules. There is a lot of hopping in the hammock, flipping it over, sliding out of it, dropping to the ground and doing a trick which results in having the hammock over head and one’s body on the ground.

Richard pulled out the soap bubbles to keep the second child entertained while the other was in the hammock. He got interested in where the wind was whipping the bubbles, circling them upward and then sometimes taking them over the roof of his house and to the north. “This is why I am having so much trouble controlling my smoker,” he said of the unit that was cooking the chicken for their supper. “I can’t control the heat when the wind sweeps to the north at one minute, and in the next it is blowing to the west.” He had finally pulled the dog fences, circled them around the smoker, and then thrown blankets over the dog fences to keep the wind away from his fire. Ostensibly he has been entertaining Alice and Michael by having them chase the bubbles he has been releasing into the air. But in fact, he has been working on keeping the wind from interfering with the smoke in the slow cooker.

Yes. A lot of fun goes on in my backyard.

Arta