Category Archives: Art, Graphics, Woodworking

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Our treehouse

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Last weekend was a three day weekend, and I had lots of plans to get all sorts of tasks done around the house. Until my seven year old came up to me on Saturday morning and asked me to build him a treehouse. Little did he know that many months earlier I had scoped out the tree in our back yard for a treehouse and I had even drawn up plans and figured out all the materials I needed.

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Here is a photo of the tree I used.

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Here is a photo of the treehouse platform under construction:

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Here is a photo of the completed platform with flooring planks installed and a hole for the trap door:

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And here is the final product complete with railing:

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Reverse angle of final product:

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Here’s a photo of the kids enjoying their new treehouse:

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The boys got out their play tools and pretended to help me build the treehouse:

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This took me the whole three day weekend to complete and it was a labor of love.  It also took me four trips to Lowe’s for various materials.  I’m very pleased with the results and the boys seem to love it.  The biggest problem for me was the deer flies that hang out in the backyard.  They were all over me all during the construction, and I have welts all over my arms and legs to remember the experience by.  🙂

For anyone who wants more details, I have posted detailed high resolution photos and construction instructions on my website here:  http://www.leucht.com/kurt/treehouse/

Art, Graphics, Woodworking, Miscellaneous

Comics For Sale: The story of my little entrepreneur

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My 7 year old came to me a couple days ago with an idea.  He wants to raise some money so he can buy something he saw on a TV commercial.  It’s probably that Aqua Sand stuff or maybe some sort of remote controlled flying device or whatever is being shown to kids watching Phineas and Ferb these days.  He has quite a bit of money already, but for some reason he wants to save that money and raise some new money just for this purpose.  The kid has himself on a budget already!  I’m so proud!  🙂

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So the idea that he came up with was to draw a comic strip, scan it in, print out multiple copies of it, and then hit the street and sell them to passers by.  Not a bad plan, I thought.  The only wrinkle is that our quiet little neighborhood doesn’t have a lot of passers by.  Both boys hit the streets anyway right away this morning (in their pajamas, even) and after about an hour had sold exactly one comic.  That’s not counting the few that they had sold earlier in the morning to my wife and to myself.  🙂

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So I suggested that we advertise this product to all our friends and family using the Internet.  If you’re interested in buying one of these comic strip “reproductions”, just click on the PayPal button below.  You don’t actually need a PayPal account to make a payment.  It’s super fast and super easy to send us a dollar using PayPal.





So for every one of you that sends us a dollar using PayPal, I’m going to dig into my wallet and hand one dollar directly to my seven year old.  Then I’m going to mail you one of these comic strips!  I’ll eat the PayPal fees and the cost of the stamp and envelope.  So 100% of your “donation” is going straight to my 7 year old for this purchase that he wants to make.  Also, after he makes this purchase I will email every donor a photo (or a video) of him enjoying whatever he decided to purchase with the money that you have so graciously donated to the cause!  That way you’ll all get to enjoy the fruits of your donation!

Thanks in advance for your donation to this worthy cause!  🙂

Kurt

Art, Graphics, Woodworking

Auditions: Evita at the Cocoa Village Playhouse

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Announcing auditions for Evita at the Cocoa Village Playhouse!
No experience necessary!

  • Saturday August 15th, 10am (children 8-12 years)
  • Saturday August 15th, 2pm (males 13 years and older)
  • Saturday August 15th, 4pm (females 13 years and older)

There is nothing to be afraid of! They need all ages and all body types! Not everybody has to be a great singer and not everybody has to be a great dancer! If I can do it, so can you!  Try it just this once and I promise you won’t regret it!     🙂

From wikipedia: “Evita is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. It focuses on the life of Argentine political leader Eva Perón, the second wife of Argentinian president Juan Perón. The story follows Evita’s early life, acting career, rise to power, charity work, feminist involvement and eventual death.”

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Evita is a terrific musical.  And in case you have been living in a cave, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice are the geniuses who collaborated on Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and also on Jesus Christ Superstar. In addition to those collaborations Andrew Lloyd Webber created the music for Cats, Starlight Express, and Phantom of the Opera while Tim Rice created the lyrics for Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and Aida!

These guys simply cannot create a bad musical! So if you don’t want to audition for Evita, at least put the performance dates on your calendar for September 25th through the middle of October and make sure you call the playhouse box office between now and then and reserve yourself some tickets! You know these are going to sell like hotcakes, though, so call today! 321-636-5050 (www.cocoavillageplayhouse.com)

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From the audition flyer:

  • No experience necessary.  We will train you!
  • Please limit vocal auditions to a maximum of 1 minute or 16 bars of music.  Sheet music is preferred (we provide pianist).  Cd accompaniment must not contain prerecorded vocals and must stop at 1 minute.  No cassette tapes please.
  • If you do not have a prepared song, you will be asked to sing “Happy Birthday” with the piano accompaniment (a pianist will be provided).  No acapella vocals, please.
  • You will also be given simple stage movement to follow.  Please dress comfortably with correct shoes to move.
  • Phone 636-5050 for further information.

To buy the London Cast Recording, just click on this little “ad”:


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