The pond has been beckoning us since it warmed up. The temptation to get in the water has been great. Too much for four children who can barely doggie paddle: solution: build a raft or something to get on the water without needing to swim. Hence, we’ve been building boats the past week . . . . well, Little Man’s been building, the rest of us just help out with the chopping, dragging, heaving, and cheering.
First came The Barnacle, which was a wooden pallet, topside boarded up. It rocked, it tipped, it was unsteady, it got pulled ashore and awaits becoming part of a pallet picnic table 🙂 Next came The Jet Wind, which Little Man made by first fashioning a wooden ladder from extra lumber from our cabin project last year. He tied on empty 5 gallon buckets (with lids on) between the front and back rungs, then added horizontal bars front and back, and a seat in the middle. And off they went, turn by turn since it only holds one, with a stick paddle.
Yesterday we gathered deadfall birch and pine logs, which we hatcheted down to approximately 8 feet lengths. About 10 were laid out on top of 2 logs, and tied together with lots of rope woven through the logs in a criss cross pattern. Then 2 more logs were laid on top, and tied onto the 2 logs directly below them. It was done by evening and Little Man rowed off on The Mighty Barnacle into the middle of the pond; he wanted it tethered as the waters he rowed out into were in the deep as opposed to where the bucket boat was being paddled and he stated he wanted to row not learn how to swim in a hurry! Today was cooler so we pulled it back out and it got a bit too sloshy on board, so he’s thinking of ways in which to get it to float better 🙂
“Knowledge that is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.”
- Plato
The Coddiwomplers Cauldron 
and off they go, into the future. Lovely, love the way they created this, and the above quote is soooooo true.
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