The swingset.

Almost done. It is completed, just not quite anchored yet. Throughout the process of building it, I was actually impressed with it's construction and lack of cheap materials. That is until I got to the anchoring process. It was a joke. These tiny little anchors had to be placed in concrete just before it set and at the exact right spot. Then you attach the legs to these tiny anchors. At least that's what I could surmise from the pictures as there was no verbage of any kind. Likewise there were no measurements given to tell you where to put the anchors. So, I decided to wing it. The jury is still out on whether or not it will work well enough to keep it from flipping over during play time. I'll keep you updated.

Putting it together didn't go too badly. It took the 4 of us about 5 hours, which is to say that Dana and I together could have done it in 4.

There was only one minor hiccup: Judging by the name, I'll assume that Murphy was an Irishman, so I don't know if the French have a translation for "Murphy's Law". Regardless of whether or not the name exists, the law does. It must be like gravity. Like the students that always claim that Newton made the Law of Gravity or how Ben Franklin invented Electricity. Nope, they've always been there. Anyway I opened up my shiny brand new metric socket set (purchased in the U.S.) to assemble "Happy Garden". Right away we noticed that the 10mm socket was somehow missing. I have no idea how. Since you can see where this is going, I'll skip the stories about Dana and I tightening every hard to reach nut with a socket wrench and a pair of pliers. I can skip it because, you've probably been there. Like I said it's "Murphy's LAW" and not Murphy's theory.

I'll include some pics of the kids playing if and when the anchors set properly.

Oh, by the way, Happy Belated Labor Day. We didn't get it here, but don't feel bad we get plenty of others. We did however miss some things that typically happen on this day. Dana missed the big Labor Day Parade in Pana and I miss sending them to it so I could go Dove and/or early Goose hunting.