Picture This

Assembling a Trampoline

Photo of assembled trampoline almost overgrown by vegitation — Looks like it has been there a while

Our daughter grew up with a trampoline in the backyard. Her cousins had one when they were growing up and that gave us the idea. Now she and her friends, who used to spend hours discussing the world’s mysteries sitting on the trampoline after a quarter hour of bouncing, discuss their disappointment with reality on FaceBook or Text and skip the trampoline altogether. So hey, we can get rid of the tramp and get our backyard back.

The photos were taken while the trampoline was being disassembled but we believe that they can be used for assembly instructions as well. Like every other set of instructions you ever waded through, we recommend that you read them completely and identify all the parts before beginning

Basic Trampoline Parts

The trampoline is pretty easily managed if you mentally divide it into three areas: the frame, the surface and the “optional” safety net. The frame consists of the rim, the legs and the feet. The surface is a big circular piece of densely woven netting connected to the rim of the frame with lots of springs and the safety net is mostly its supports which are bolted onto the legs of the frame. Assembly is pretty much from ground up.

Speaking of ground, you – and your kids – will enjoy the finished product a great deal more if the ground is level. I had to spend a fair amount of effort digging a couple shallow trenches for two of the feet and creating some custom lifts for the other four.

Tools

You don’t need many. I used a common pair of pliers and a ratchet with… I think it was a 3/8ths socket. I recommend a tape measure. I also had a helper.

I don’t think you need a helper, but there are times when just two hands is almost not enough. If you’re the strong silent type with a “Don’t talk to me, Ima ‘Git her done!'” vibe, just know that you can do this.

The Frame

Photo of an unassembled trampoline — An unassembled trampoline

I believe this is a great design; it’s easy to figure out patterns and stick with them. Find the feet which are all taped together and labeled “Feet” (or may-be “base”). Find the legs (also labeled) and shove two legs into each foot. They can only go one way; just make sure the lock button pops through the hole made for it so the leg won’t separate from the foot by

Photo of Leg held to foot with lock button — Leg held to foot with lock button

accident. You can make an untidy stack of assembled feet with legs in the middle of the area where the trampoline will go.

The rim is made of twelve curved pieces with a short stub that fits a leg. Two pieces of rim assembled to make a bigger arc will have the two stubs at the right distance to fit one of the foot-leg assemblies. You can leave each assembly of one foot, two legs and two rims around the estimated perimeter of the Tramp. When you have six sub-assemblies, start putting them all together to make a circle. there are rivets in each rim piece to insure that when the rim fits snugly, the leg points straight down. Don’t worry about the lack of springy buttons around the rim. With all the springs holding the surface to the rim, those rim pieces will stay together. You are looking at a circle of black painted metal tubing, right? If “No.”, figure out which piece isn’t right and change it.

Trampoline surface

The best way to attach the surface to the rim is to lay the trampoline inside the circle and spread it out flat and then get the bags of springs and go around the rim hanging a spring in each hole.

Potential Brain Damage

Photo of Staggered spring attachment — Staggered spring attachment

I’m not talking about how you might get hurt, I’m just talking about assembling the thing. The easiest way to make sure that the springs line up with the rings sewn into the trampoline would be to start with one and move to the next one until you are back where you started. Unfortunately, that would force the frame into an egg shape and the uneven force on one side of the circle would make the pull to fit harder and harder. So, even though there’s more walking involved, the way to do it is to go to the opposite side after the first one and hook up the spring on the opposite side of the circle. Do that until you have a spring attached to the surface at every leg. Now would be a good time to make sure that you have the same number of unattached rings and springs between each attachment. Let me humbly tell you that there is very little joy for you and any helpers if you get to the end with an extra ring on one side and an unattached spring across the circle. Now, pick one of the holes and attach a spring in the middle of the space and then its opposite, move a quarter of the circle and do that again. Keep choosing the largest hole to divide in half until you can’t stand it any more. At two or three spaces together, you can probably fill the hole without problems, but you should still try to do the opposite side next rather than fill in with one revolution.

The Safety Net

No one that I know of in my extended family has ever been terribly injured on a Trampoline. I have been at parties where the fun stopped because someone’s precious heir bounced off the Tramp and broke their arm. I resent the additional time and effort of the “optional” safety net, but I like the hours that I didn’t worry about my own heir or false sympathy of the Emergency Room staff. So here’s how to assemble that.

Safety Net Frame

There should still be a bundle of long tubes and a bag of weird hardware.

The tubes are six tops and six bottoms of the frame for the safety net.

Photo of Top and bottom of Safety net support pole — Top and bottom of Safety
net support pole

They look almost the same. The difference is the spring button in the top of the bottom tubes to hold the two pieces together. When you assemble these make sure there’s one spring button in each assembled long tube and that it is in the middle. These six tubes will ultimately go on every left leg – or every right leg – of the frame.

Photo of plastic cap on top of net support pole — Yeah, I don’t really call em Finials either

There are six plastic finials – or tops. They are held on with hooks that screw through the top of each long tube. (Another reason not to have a spring button on the top tube.) The hook holds the top of the safety net and the plastic cap prevents water from getting into the tubes and rusting them away. It’s easier to put these caps on while the Frame tubes are lying on the Trampoline rather than when they are head high above the Trampoline surface.

Safety Frame Mounting Hardware

Photo of Safety Net Support Fastener — Safety Net Support Fastener

Each Safety Net support is held upright by two u-bolts and saddle brackets, an ingenious way to fasten two tubular pieces of metal together. Each U-bolt gets a lock nut on each end and then each end is covered by a plastic threaded cap nut. Your safety net will look more attractive if you measure the same distance from the bottom of the surface of the Trampoline and mark it so that you know where you want the bottom of your support frame to be.

Try to balance the tightening 0f the locknuts or the bolt will push the socket off the nut. While the U-bolts are very loose, you are better off resting the bottom of the tube on the ground. Then as they are almost snug enough to hold the support tube, lift the tube into place and finish tightening the U-bolts.

Hanging and Securing the Net

Although my Safety Net installation held, I was never sure I’d done it right so it’s the part I’m least comfortable telling you how to do, but here goes.

The net has a top and a bottom. The bottom has several woven tethers that are intended to weave between the rings of the trampoline and the bottom of the net to prevent people from falling though the border between the frame and the surface. That part isn’t too tough; where I got confused was where the two ends of the net come together and people are supposed to enter and exit easily, yet not fall out by accident. I settled for an overlap of two rather loose end panels.

This project might take a half day unless I wasn’t as clear to you as I was to me. You’ll have to grow your own shade. That took us years. Hopefully, the trampoline will give you years of summer fun.

Eggs and Bacon Wrap

I came across a recipe for something called Egg Sushi which was simply a small omelette garnished with cheese and spinach, wrapped in a tortilla and then sliced into inch wide cylinders. I skipped the fake sushi step and cooked it for myself a couple times calling the final product a breakfast burrito. I had major pushback from my wife. She has insisted that a breakfast burrito must have potatoes. Furthermore,”Eggs”, she says, “deserve bacon!” Here’s the latest variation, and that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is a Wrap.

photo of frying bacon — It doesn’t get much better than this

Who was it that said, “Everything goes better with Bacon.”? I’m not sure I agree, but I’m not going to waste time arguing small points. I know bacon has great potential for this meal. And bacon does well waiting for attention after cooking, so I’m cooking it first. The real risk with bacon is that you’ll eat it and then tell the others that there wasn’t enough. You’ll notice that there are only three strips in the pan. That’s easily explained by saying that two strips cooked quicker and were removed before the photo was taken. I’ll do a little foreshadowing and say that I have a much more difficult time explaining why the rest of the pictures only display bacon in multiples of two.

photo of tortilla in frying pan — The tortilla warming pan

After frying the bacon, I heated 10 inch Tortillas. They just taste better after heating. It’s worth noting that I’ve yet to find an efficient way to make more than two of these wraps at a time. Anyway, I dumped the grease from the bacon and wiped out the pan an started warming the first tortilla.

While the tortilla was warming, I turned on another burner and found my small frypan. I cracked a couple eggs into a small bowl and whipped them into creamey oneness with a fork. After the small pan seemed hot enough I poured the eggs into the pan, shook in a little salt and pepper and made my small

photo of a small omellette — Two egg omelette

omelette. I always start messing with the omelette too soon – you can see here, after I flipped it to make sure that both sides were cooked, that I tried to flip it too soon – that’s why the edges are lighter than the center. I sprinkled some grated cheese onto the warm tortilla and when I figured the omelette was done, I slid it onto the tortilla. I laid a couple strips of bacon in the middle, added a hand-full of spinach leaves and rolled it up. Just to keep it warm and get the wrap accustomed to the wrapped condition, I left it in the pan for a bit.

image of all ingredients before wrapping — Start at one side roll tightly

This approach works well for one wrap. I’m still looking for the ideal approach when making more than one.

Leaving Bozeman

We didn’t get up quite as early on Monday as we had on earlier days. We went out for breakfast at the Western Cafe on Main Street. We had one last great meal of good times with each other where Andrew was part of the group. Then we all hugged him and he drove away. It took longer for the six of us to get into two cars than for Andrew to get himself into one, but then we drove away too. We all suspected that Andrew also got where he was going that day well before we got home to Denver but that hasn’t been confirmed. The weather wasn’t as nice going home as it was for the trip up, but the sun was much less aggressive coming in the windows so we had that going for us.

Photo of Cayla and Jonathon smiling and also Andrew

Andrew, Cayla and Johnathan

Dell, Cheryl and Steve

Bernhard and Andrew

Cheryl, Andrew and Bernhard

This must be the Western Cafe

Bozeman and the Place We Stayed

Photo of Deck and Backyard from back door — Out our Back Door

We often focus on the location of a good time when almost certainly it’s the participants that make it memorable. Just to acknowledge that the place plays a role here is the physical setting and home base of our good time in Bozeman. Through the backdoor we could see a well landscaped backyard and some very welcoming common area. Our last night in Bozeman, we grilled steaks on this deck. We enjoyed the sun while they were grilling, and then we retreated inside as the temperature dropped a bit.

Entry and Exit

Photo of the porch and front door — Entry

It sure felt good to find the place as we worked our way into Bozeman. And, to a lesser extent, it felt good to get back here every time we went away. That first time, we had to find the lockbox to get the key that would let us in. If you look sharp -and are willing to believe – you can just see it below the handrail just to the left of the first post.

photo of sheriff's vehicle parked outside the house where we stayed in Bozeman — Real hospitality, Serving and Protecting Bozeman’s visitors

Something that struck Steve funny every time he saw it was the Sheriff’s vehicle parked out front. It seemed to be there in the morning and stay all day and then leave sometime in the evening, just when Steve was starting to feel safe.

Common Living Areas

After coming through the door, we usually chose to walk down the hall to the living area. As you might see, neither the stairs, nor the hall were particularly good for two-way traffic, but we worked it out cooperatively without the help of the driver of that Sheriff’s vehicle. After the hall, if you weren’t Bernhard and Cheryl (who had the option of turning right into their bedroom, one turned left and had the choice heading to the living area or the kitchen, either one would give you access to the dining table, the laundry area and the back deck.

From the Hall into the Living Room

photo of the hall and stairs to upper level

Hall and stairs from the front door

Kitchen

photo from the dining area, of the laundry area and a door leading to the garage

Laundry Area and door leading to the garage

Photo of the living room from the dining area

Andrew discussing plans with Cheryl and Bernhard while Cayla looks on

Garage

Dell and Andrew enjoying a rare bit of downtime in the Living Room

Bedrooms

There were two bedrooms up and two down. One bedroom down stairs had a window that you see in the photo of the front of the house. The door is at the base of the stairs. There is a half bath about the halfway point of the hallway. The door to the other bedroom downstairs is at the living area end of the hall and it runs front to back along the length of the house and is really a suite, containing a full bath and a walk in closet (There was generous closet space in each room). Upstairs, there were two bedrooms and a full bath. Special attention needs to be focussed on the room with two single beds because there was no other room with a moose on the bed – or , for that matter, with a moose on the sheets!

Master Bedroom

photo of the room where Steve and Andrew slept

Steve and Andrew’s room

Moose

Moose close up

Details

There were little details in the decorations that made the house fun. There were many depictions of Moose. Not pictured are the Moose on the outside of the front door and the Moose over the backdoor on the inside. there were depictions of other animals as well.

Jonathan took some delight in pointing out that the paintings of the deer and the bison were from behind. He would point at the deer and say, “Buck butt!” and at the bison and say, “Buffalo Butt!”. We were grateful that the bear painting was of three bear faces.

Photo of a framed picture of a buffalo hanging on the kitchen wall

Buffalo in the Kitchen

photo of the painted picture of a male deer

Buck

Three Bears

photo of a note pad on the rerigerator titled "Things I Moose Do"

Moose Refrigerator notes

photo of a light switch combined with the sillouette of a moose in the kitchen

Moose Light

Photo of landing at the top of the stairs

Upper level landing

photo of front wall from the stairs to the upper level

Front door from the stairs

Small Moose Statue on a Shelf Over the Front Door

All in all, our house was a very, very, very fine house.

Graduation

Hazy photo from Peets Hill — View from Peets Hill

Long before we had finalized our plans to come and see Andrew for graduation, Andrew had made it clear that he saw no value in walking across the stage and accepting a blank sheet of paper from a highly regarded academic from Montana State University. That being established, we had a wide open day and no need to spend it getting grumpy with thousands of other well wishers. Andrew offered to show us some of the things he liked about his adopted home. He warned us that it wasn’t as clear as usual due to forest fires in Alberta, Canada.

First thing, at about 9 or 9:30, he directed us to Peets Hill, which, if we got it right, is part of Burke Park. There we feted the graduate with photos in various permutations so that when he described his graduation experience to his friends and – much later – to his heirs, he could get the necessary long-suffering tolerance of his familial responsibilities out into the air. Then we climbed some of the hill and greeted people and dogs going up and down. To Bozeman’s credit, most of them, people and dogs, were pleased and greeted us back. From the place that we stopped and turned around, Andrew pointed out the Field House where, but for his thoughtfulness and concern for our well being, we could have spent hours that day.

Father with Graduate

Grandfather, Brother and Mother with Graduate

Grandfather, Brother, Sister-in-Law, Mother and Father with Graduate

Really good looking bench near the top of Peets Hill

Path on Peets Hill

Field House from Peets Hill

From Burke Park we headed up past the ‘M’ on Bridger Canyon Road and into the Bridger Mountains, with a stop at the Bridger Bowl to acknowledge the skiing possibilities back in the winter and then up over the pass. We traveled down hill to Flat Head Creek Road which remained Highway 86 and followed that to Highway 89 which took us to I-90. We went east to Big Timber. Now, nowhere did we see massive trees in Big Timber. It may have been a problem of perspective since we were in Big Sky Country. We did find the Thirsty Turtle where a good time was had by all.

We returned back to the very fine house and had a Ceremony of Tribute to the Graduate complete with gifts from proud family members, yet without crowds or traffic jams.

Friday and Chi Alpha House

photo of Chi Alpha house — Chi Alpha House from across the street

On Friday our first big thing was to see a few properties that Andrew thought might help him make money. Part of what he has been studying while he has been in college is rent – as expense – and longingly thinking of it as income. Now that he has graduated and is reasonably confident of generating an income, he is casting about for ways to do so. All that ignores the impact of six more bodies on the Realtor on a Friday morning.

It took longer than we anticipated and there are no photos because we cannot claim to have helped any decisions about new places to live. From Steve’s point of view, the properties in Belgrade did not show as well as the properties in Bozeman. But then, Steve doesn’t have a dog in this hunt.

For dinner, Andrew took us to the Chi Alpha house, which played a large role in his college years. He roomed there his Sophomore year. Once he discovered the place his Freshman year, it became his study hall, his source for social activity and his spiritual anchor; it was his home in many ways. As Andrew explained it, the house hosted dinner to celebrate its graduating members and their families. It was a shame that we met so many of his friends so quickly; it proved impossible to remember their names.

Andrew and Friends

Bernhard and Cheryl reacquainting themselves

Dell checking the time

Cayla, Andrew and Cheryl

Denver to Bozeman

Areal photograph of Bozeman. Montana — Bozeman, MT from the air – Wikipedia

Steve went to Bozeman and that wasn’t even the best part. Steve went to Bozeman to celebrate Andrew’s graduation from Montana State (go Bobcats). He went with a lot of Andrew’s family, like Dell, Bernhard, Cheryl, Jonathan and Cayla. The weather was fantastic on the drive up. In Casper, Wyoming, we had a picnic lunch.

Unfortunately, when talking about road trips through Northern Colorado, Wyoming and Central Montana, after you’ve said I-25 and I-90, there’s not a lot to say, except maybe that you wish the speed limit could be eighty all the way. Steve rode with Jonathon and Cayla and enjoyed listening to an audio version of James Herriot‘s “All Creatures Great and Small”. The company was great. Lunch was grand. The park in Casper was a fine place to stop.

hhhhh

Celebrating Lilacs

I’m particularly grateful this year for Lilacs. Whether you see them bloom depends greatly on when the snow falls. When the last snow storm of the season hit (I guess I don’t know that for sure), the blossoms were already starting to bud. The snow only took out the blossoms on the north side this year. As this next photo shows, the snow didn’t get them all.

The Train to the Plane

WaitingForTheTrain — Waiting for the Train to the Plane

The new train from the airport to the train station downtown is a Big Deal! The folks who made it happen threw a party and invited all of

Rail lines in 2016 – Click for larger image

Denver. To get us to come, they made every train free – and who doesn’t love a free party? It’s probably time to admit that I was wrong in initially resisting the idea of trains as part of Denver’s mass transit solution. I spoke to people from Lone Tree (south) and Golden (west) who were trying the new line and were excited about the possibility of not having to park at the airport for their next vacation. By linking DIA (Denver International Airport) and Union Station in downtown Denver, I feel that our cow town has announced its desire and intention to be a real city.

The New A Line

The new train line is called several names: the A Line, the University of Colorado A Line (for sponsorship reasons that I can’t quite get my head around) and my personal favorite, The A-Train. If you ride it from one end to the other, it should take you less than 40 minutes and cost you $9.00.

Back to the Party

Student Choir getting off the train at DIA

We decided to drive to the Central Park station and ride the train from there to DIA. On the way we met a group of young people wearing blue T-shirts commemorating the day. They were a Denver Public Schools acapella vocal group performing at various stops along the line.

Denver International Airport from the Train

They helped give the car a sense of vitality that we couldn’t generate on our own. We also enjoyed a new-to-us view of the Westin Hotel as we approached the terminal.

At DIA

We rode from the Train Terminal level up a couple levels on a long steep escalator. We saw the selfie station next to the ice cream vendor and the Westin staff selling food and drink at what looked to be Happy Hour prices, but the most fun we had at the Airport was listening to the Irish band, Chancers Hooley. They were better at the fast rowdy numbers than the ballads, but it may have been the acoustics of the area they played in. We noticed the line to catch train away from the plane was getting longer so we got in it. We were able to listen to the band for quite a long time in line. After we descended by escalator back to the train terminal level we discovered that same high school acapella group singing for our listening pleasure. Forty five minutes after getting in line we were seated on the train.

DIA to Union Station

It probably took twice as long for us to reach Union Station as advertized. The best we were able to understand, some warning lights wouldn’t go out. We don’t know whether the warning lights were faulty or there were really things to be worried about. After sitting in one place while two trains went the other way, our train finally started moving again and crept along for a time. Either the warning lights went out or the train operator gained courage in ignoring them, because we seemed to speed up. I’m sure that is the sort of thing that can be expected in a new system and will be resolved in a very short time. And, it wasn’t all bad, we had a great view of the Front Range from our window as we waited for the train to move.

At Union Station

We arrived at Union Station and were amazed to see all the people patiently waiting for their chance to take the ‘Train to the Plane’. We wandered around the underground bus terminal. We stepped into Union Station itself and listened briefly to a very understated Jazz quartet. We walked around the west side of Union Station and

admired the father and children taking advantage of the climbing temperature to play in the water feature. We compared notes and agreed that we’d done a lot of walking for a train trip. Then, after one last look at the weight of humanity waiting between us and a train ride home, we called and begged a ride home in a car.

I don’t know much about Art, but . . .

Because we started at the Central Park Station, rode to DIA and then rode downtown before finding an alternate way home and because RTD made sure Art is presented at each stop, here are photographs of three Art Works to ponder. . .

Art at DIA

Make Your Own Caption or Pick One – ‘Balloon on the Edge’ or ‘Google Was Here’

Art at Union Station

Presents and Balloons

Slightly less than a lifetime ago, when we asked if there was anything special that she wanted for her birthday, she responded, “Presents and Balloons.” As doting parents, we’ve labored within those constraints ever since. This year, it was mostly novels filled with dystopian magic and T-shirts with printed snark – and balloons.