Three Rivers Photos-Finishing the TreeHouse

Three Rivers Photos Finishing the Tree House

04/22/05 - 04/24/05

It's done! We can't believe it. Rob finally finished the tree house. We had to look back at the pictures to see when we (notice how anything that Rob does that is difficult gets billed as 'we') started it. It was in late December. But with all the rain, there were several trips that no progress was made. And it was HARD! But definitely worth it.
Another gorgeous weekend.
(As always, click on the picture to get a larger picture that you can see better)


It's early morning, and Coco greets Wes as he comes out of his tent....	...while Loretta is a sleepyhead. This is about the only time she gets to sleep in, so she takes advantage of it, while Rob starts the coffee.	While Rob was working on the treehouse, he saw a whole bevy of quail on the road. But, of course, he didn't have his camera or his gun. So then he brought up both to the treehouse. But he never had another chance.

This very interesting cocoon was created in the corner of our green cupboard while we were gone. Loretta put a pack of Rob's cigarettes next to it, so you could see the size. It's pretty large. We'll keep watching it to see what emerges.	Grass! It's the bane of our existence. I swear it grows much faster up here than at home.(slideshow)	Rob works on a railing for the treehouse.

Wes stands next to a Common Madia to show how tall it is.	These are wild oats, growing next to the road. They are very pretty swaying in the breeze.	We don't know what this is. It has very strange, round, flat seeds that are about 1/4 inch in diameter.

Tomcat clover in the road. Wes and Loretta go out walking with the flower book, and Wes quickly identifies the flowers.(slideshow)	We didn't know what this was at first. We've been seeing the twining red stems for a couple of weeks now. But this weekend, we finally saw some flowering, and determined it's a Twining Brodiaea.(slideshow)	Another unidentified plant. It's bright red, and about 18 inches tall, with flat seedpods.(slideshow)

We've been seeing these plants growing, and Loretta thought they might be a thistle - the leaves are very prickly. But now that it has flowered, we looked it up and it's a Milk Thistle. It's a non-native noxious weed that is rapidly spreading in the Sierra foothills. Isn't it beautiful, though?	Rob 'mows' the lawn, while Loretta rakes (well, you can see that if she's taking all these pictures, she sure isn't doing much raking). It took about 3 hours to weed-whack the camp. Then on Sunday, we went up to the cul-de-sac and spent another weed-whacking the border around the road. (slideshow)	As we were leaving, we saw another thistle. This one is white, and has different leaves. We think it might be a California Thistle.(slideshow)

Well, the railing is on, and the rope 'fence' is up. Here's a 360 ° view of it. (slideshow)	Rob climbed up on the next highest branch, so he could get a 'bird's eye' view of the tree house. (slideshow)	It took Wes quite a while to get used to the treehouse, but once he did, he spent lots of time up there, reading and hanging out. (slideshow

Rob finally rests and looks at all he has built.	View of the treehouse from below, as Wes climbs down.(slideshow)	Our 'hanging mountain lion'.