Fire Engine No. 9

When I was a little boy, my grandfather subscribed to some kind of a woodworking magazine. He and my dad found a plan in there to make a "Fire Engine Bunkbed" and they decided to build it. My grandfather is very handy with wood and has built many things large and small for his relatives. It is a hobby he still enjoys doing when he is in WA for the summers. So he and my dad built this initially for Robb and I and it was later inhabited by Jordan and Braden. When we moved out of our Mays Pond house in 1996 (?) it was dissembled and put in my grandparents barn in Lynnwood. It remained there until recently as a cousin of mine is sprucing up the barn for my grandparents while they are in AZ for the winter. A lot of stuff has been stored in there for a long time and this was certainly one of the things that needed to get cleaned out so my grandpa could fully occupy the space and use it for his summer hobbies. My grandpa is an extremely hard worker and when he does something he does something right. This was no exception. I don't know exactly what the original plans looked like or called for, but this thing is STURDY!



When my Dad texted us a month or so ago and asked if we wanted it, I was surprised when Mary was for it. No one else among my siblings wanted it or could take it at this time and we were in that boat until we moved back to WA. We felt like we had the space for it so we decided we would take it. Remarkably, this things was only in 8 different pieces/sections. And the only assembly required was carriage bolts and nuts - all the same size throughout the whole thing. My parents brought it up to us a couple of weeks ago and Mary and I assembled it about a week or so later. It took us a couple of hours to clean and assemble but went up remarkably quickly. As we were assembling it I kept commenting on how well it was built and some of the exactness of the details in the building - all of the perfectly rounded corners, the detail on the paint job, how perfectly everything fit together many years later... it makes me smile and I feel an added measure of gratitude for my grandfather and father and the care and concern they took in building this special piece.

I was skeptical about it's condition and it's ability to hold significant weight (mine - as an adult), but it is strong and solidly built. It's funny how it looks so much smaller to me than I remember it. I kept telling Mary that it would take up a lot of room (and it does, due to it's length with the hood and it's width with the running boards, but I just remember it being so much bigger.

We decided to put it up in our toy room and the kids have really enjoyed having it in there. As you can see we just have a futon mattress on the bottom and we don't have any kind of mattress on the top. But the top bunk is one solid piece of plywood, so the kids go up there and play as well. There have been numerous head bonks in the bottom bunk area, and some finger smashes in the hood compartment, but, thankfully, no one has fallen yet. I'm grateful that my kids are thoroughly enjoying something that my grandpa built. We have had some people over during the last couple of weeks and the kids are always excited to show it to their friends or other adults that come over. My son slept in it for his birthday last week and he was quite the happy kid, as the picture shows.

THANKS DAD and GRANDPA HAMM!