GO CLIMB A TREE! - The Tree Thread

[HairOfTheDog]

Mark Tucker spent $18,000 constructing a 40-foot-high tree house for his five kids in his St. Louis Park, Minnesota backyard. That was back in 1986. Lucky kids! I think it's so cool. Even as an adult, I'd like to hang out in it.

The city ordered him to remove it way back then - but a judge ruled he could keep it as long as he followed safety regulations.

Tucker has kept up the tree house all these years, though some residents resent the fact that it attracts tourists, and thus creates extra traffic in the neighborhood. (I bet the local businesses didn't mind the tourists.)

Now aged 65, Tucker says he can no longer maintain the house according to the specified standards. And, since his kids are all grown and "nobody uses the damn thing anymore" he started dismantling it. The city has given him until the end of the year to get rid of it entirely.

Ah well, times change -- still makes me a little sad to see it being torn down though.