PROJECT PLAY SET: Prep & Destroy (Or Preferably, Destroy Then Prep)

This past May, our twin daughters celebrated their 6th birthday. To celebrate this special occasion we got them a brand-new outdoor wooden play set, to replace the previous one, which was apparently left in our yard by a previous owner, who must have built it before they invented measuring tape and bubble levels, judging from the condition of the wood, and the craftsmanship.

My father has been helping a great deal on this project. We've just started building the new one, and this promises to be a massive project. So far, the manual instructed me to buy drill bit attachments that I didn't need, it failed to tell me to buy drill bit attachments that I would need, it has inconsistently labeled washers and bolts, and at least one diagram is drawn incorrectly. In comparison to most projects that my family works on, this project is going amazingly smooth.

Our 13-year old son proved to be quite enthusiastic and adept at dismantling the old playset.
The first phase of the project involved the deconstruction of the previous play set. Here is a word of advice. If you ever need something destroyed, you should go to someone who has a lot of experience at breaking stuff. This is why I put one of our children in charge of this portion of the project.

It took a surprising amount of work to fully eliminate the previous playground, considering that it looked like a strong breeze would have taken care of it.

The next phase was a little more work. It involved leveling and preparing the ground. Our backyard somehow has all the mud of a swamp, combined with all the solidity of a quarry. In fact, our yard seems to consists entirely of rocks, roots, ancient bottle caps, which makes it an ideal location for a children's play set. Also, our entire yard seems to sit at a 45° angle. So all in all, it was loads of fun. So far the ground is level. The base is built, and the previous play set is completely destroyed.

I plan to chronicle this project. It will involve 9,000 screws, chainsaws, and complex and inconsistent instruction manual, so I foresee many opportunities for hilarious disasters. So far I have learned:
1. Don't automatically assume the instruction manual is incorrect, but also do not blindly assume that it is 100% accurate. I have yet to find how to determine the exact point where the line between those two is drawn.
2. Barking dogs and excited children do not make the concentration process any easier.
3. The possibility of rain is directly proportional to how important it is for something to remain dry.

WORK COMPLETED BY JUNE 1
TOTAL WORKED HOURS SO FAR: 8

PHASE 1: REMOVING THE OLD PLAYSET
June 1, 2013

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