Fort Time!

One of my favorite activities to do with my cousins when I was little was to build and then play in forts. The first forts I remember were ones that my cousins had already set up. One was where the water had leaked out of the cement ditch in front of my grandparent's house and created a large cave under the ditch. It was kind of like a little cliff dwelling perched under a ditch and overlooking a cotton field. There was another one that was made when my cousins put big blue tarp over a huge hole in the ground and then started adding weapons and creature comforts (read: dirt clods and junk).

The fort that I really remember establishing myself though was way better than a glorified dirt bunker. Jake and I found that we could climb into an old wood cotton trailer. It had steps going up on the outside at one end which we utilized to get into the box. The box was about 3 feet off the ground with dimensions feet wide, 12 feet long, and 6 feet high. We equipped it with old couch cushions, fire wood, some art work, some cool sticks (every boy's ultimate toy is a good stick), and the we built a fireplace. In one end we layed down a sheet of metal and then found and old metal rim to place on top. We put a couple of 2x4's across the box and then hung a tarp between them for a little roof.

After it was completed we camped out in it. Everything was going well until we decided to get the fire going. First of all, our ventilation wasn't great so we about smoked ourselves out (I can still remember my eyes burning). Then we noticed that our fireplace, being built on a wood floor, was hot enough to burn the floor! We had to quickly elevate the metal sheet onto a little metal frame. It's lucky our fort didn't burn down.

Our usual place for fort supplies was the local dump. It wasn't a big commercial dump, just a local family dump. We managed to find all sorts of things in that dump. It's  a wonder any of us survived to tell these tales. My advice to kids today: Don't furnish your fort from the local dumpster and don't light fires in or near things you don't want to burn.