I've been excited about this post for some time :)
Remember back in the summertime, when we did our deck? If you don't, you should look. It was by far the biggest DIY project we had taken on, and it turned our really good. But honestly, it was mostly just screwing boards together of a predetermined length. I was proud of it though, and it gave me the confidence to take on an even more complicated project that I have been wanting to do for a long time.
Let that be a teaser for you. First though, I want to get through some other stuff that we did this week. If you really can't wait, then just scroll down.
First up...Annual apple picking trip! Like always, this was a lot of fun. As our kids get older, it just gets better and better. We started our day by picking apples together as a family and carefully selecting which of the strawberry rhubarb pies we wanted to take home. We then separated, with all the kids hanging out in the county-fair-like atmosphere, playing games, chasing chickens, doing corn mazes, etc. Meanwhile, Rach and I sat back with a homemade cinnamon roll and some delicious local cider, and just basked in the ambiance of autumn. The crisp air, fresh smells, warm lighting and twangy music absolutely bathed the entire area in that beautiful weird melancholic aura that I have come to love so much. Such a lovely afternoon.
Later, we would take our apples and make sweetly spiced baked goods, filling our homes with that same autumn goodness and loving every second.
*****
This has also been a fun week, because the weather has actually been really nice on some days. Even though it is October we were able to get out to the beach as a family, and Rach went out on an evening paddle with one of her friends last night. It's been great!
*****
One last thing that segues nicely into my big project. Climbing. I know, it seems like every week I have to mention something about it. Fact is, I climb a lot. And these last few weeks have been really great. Like, grade-wise at least, I have climbed more difficult routes in this last week than I ever have in my entire life. I have done lots of hard stuff and have confirmed to myself that some of my earlier successes weren't just flukes. Things that felt nearly impossible to me, even earlier this year, feel casual now. And a lot of the more difficult stuff I am doing is going down really quickly. It feels like I have broken though a plateau and I am now better and stronger than ever, just primed and ready to be set loose upon the world of rock. A little dramatic? Maybe. But I am climbing harder than I ever thought I would, and I think I still have a lot of unleashed potential in there.
Okay. On to the project. I think that I'll just share a before/after picture (because that's all anyone wants to see anyway), and then go through all the details if you are interested.
Before:
After:
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| This is a big picture that is worth clicking on to see the detail. There will be more close-ups down below. |
So, what you are looking at is my "shop." There are quotes around that word for a reason. When I first moved here, I had great aspirations of becoming a master craftsman and making things out of wood. Next, I thought it would be cool to restore classic cars or something. I dunno. Obviously, I was trying hard to be someone I don't think I could ever be, but I spent a lot of time and money getting this area ready for those kinds of things. I got lots of tools. Set things up nice. Even got an old motorcycle to work on. It was admirable.
It looked nice, but, because I am me, it never actually got used. I mean, there was that one time when I fixed one of our kitchen chairs. But that just required some wood glue and a clamp, so, maybe not the best example. The motorcycle just sat there and collected dust.
Eventually, also because I am me, I realized that it would be nice to have a place to work out occasionally instead of driving to the gym. I installed a little workout station and a couch to rest on.
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| See the exercise stuff on the right? |
This is pretty much how things stayed for the next several years. And I did use it. Like, a lot. But now I had all this extra space that was just filled up with tools and stuff. I was in there enough though, that an idea started forming. About a year ago we put a pool table in there and the transformation started.
And then the dam broke, metaphorically speaking. But in a good way. Like a dam that you wanted to break.
Bad analogy.
But things sort of lined up and then happened all at once; The deck gave me the confidence, Covid gave me the time, and Rach allowed me to use our money. This thing was going to happen!
The first problem was figuring out where to put all those dang tools though. I should probably just sell them. But a part of me feels like "a man should have tools," so I was able to move most things to the garage where they can continue to collect dust. For the yard-care stuff, I built a little add-on to the back of the shop.
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| Not too fancy, but it'll do. I even shingled the roof! |
Now that things were cleared out, I could move on with paint, carpet, new workout equipment, furniture stuff, and the installation of the central feature- the Tension Board.
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| I actually had to pull out some of my climbing knowledge to get this thing up. I suppose I could have just gotten a bigger ladder, but climbing around in those rafters was only like a V3, so not too bad. Also, if you look on the left, you can see the crevasse rescue haul system I used to get the wall into place. |
So...I don't have a shop anymore. Which is great, because I, Logan Hazard, don't need a shop. I need a gym. And a rec-room. And I couldn't be happier with our results.
At this point, it is probably best to just show close up photos. Moving in a clockwise direction...
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| Hang out area. Guitars. And, of course, I love my books. |
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| Fridge, sound system, pool table with table tennis topper that stores underneath. The two big bins on the right were part of the construction process and will be gone soon. |
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If you do much gym climbing, you can probably skip this next part. But I have been asked repeatedly, "What the heck is a Tension Board? How is it different than any other home climbing wall?"
Well, my friend, you have come to the right place. A tension board is a tool, an instrument, an entire climbing gym in an 8x12 foot piece of plywood. In short, a Tension Borad is the very best piece of rock climbing training equipment in the known universe. You may have heard of its more popular cousin, the Moonboard. The TB is better though, by a long shot. At least, that's my opinion. But seriously, lots of coaches agree with me, so...there is that.
Use the analogy of a keyboard. Every piano you ever see will have the same configuration of white keys and black keys. For the most part, they are tuned the same so that an E flat in my living room sounds the same as the one at the local bar. But then you look, and using this same basic set-up, you have virtually an endless variety of music that can be played, from Mozart to The Doors.
Alright, the analogy ends there. Let's move back to the Tension Board (TB). Every TB that you see is exactly the same, whether it be the one at my house, or the one in a random climbing gym in Taiwan. The holds, the spacing...even the exact angle that the holds are screwed in at. Furthermore, every hold has an LED light underneath it that can be one of four colors. This makes it so that people can set their own routes, and then share them with their friends or with the world at large using the internet and a bluetooth app. I could make a route in my gym, put it in the database, and then you, in Colorado or Salt Lake City or Argentina, can go to your own TB and with the push of a button light up the exact same holds and sequences. I can also post a video of me climbing the route so you can get help with the beta (information about how to do it), or you could mirror the route (the board is symmetrical) to work similar movements on both sides of the body. Man, I could go on and on. As of this minute, the database has 21,166 routes in it, all searchable by various criteria.
It is a really neat tool.
You might have noticed in my photos that the wall is blank. That is because the holds, over three hundred of them, not to mention the lights, are all being shipped to me as I write this post. That also means that in the very near future I will be setting the wall. If anyone wants to help, I'll provide you with food, drink, and a free pass to hang out with me whenever you want :).
Can I just say that this project, to me, is a dream come true? I mean, wow. If I could go back in time and describe to myself the life that I am living right now it would automatically erase every little bit of hardship that I've ever dealt with. But then...would I be living this life? Probably not. But that's a question for another day. The point is, We Are young! Life is fun! We're gonna make the most of it (make the most of it)!
Or something like that.
Have a good week!
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