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Noah's Ark |
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What's a Farm without a Lake? Paul, the eight year old, had been eyeing the little creek that flows into the pond by the drive way entrance to the Farm. Two steeply rising hills form the two sides of the little creek... a site just begging for a lake stocked with a bounty of fresh water fish to be built. |  |
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| "Eyeing" can be dangerous here at the Farm... and so it was that construction began on Lake Cheri... appropriately named after the rambunctious four year old. |  |
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| Paul's original vision of the project was to obtain an old antique house boat to anchor in the lake, another quaint place for guests to stay and enjoy. Midway through the lake building, Paul and Cheri were watching the big diggers do their thing and Paul mentioned the house boat idea again. The four year olds eyes lit up... a vision in her mind... and out of the mouth of babes she blurted... "Why don't we build a Noah's Ark instead." |
| Now, the story goes that when Noah and God started planning for the adventure, , the Ark had to be really big... big enough to hold a lot of animals and other sundry things. (Check out the Amy's rendition of the Biblical Account of Noah's Cruise) |
| On the other hand, our version of Noah's boat only had to hold only a fe w people... plus a few easier to manage stuffed animals and other sundry things. Now, while I certainly believe that a Creator with a master plan devised this great world we live in and the vast Universe beyond... unlike Noah, I had no direct access to the Creator to help with plans for the Farm's Noah's Ark. I also realized that Home Depot or Lowes probably didn't stock plans on their shelves for an Ark, so when all other alternatives fail... try the Internet. A quick search provided only a lonely cartoon picture of Noah's creation. |
| When I showed the ark picture to Jerry Vandercook, most honored contractor, he gave me his patented quizzical look, sighed, and said, "Sure... we can build an ark"... and they did. |
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We first poured a footing and laid a block foundation. |
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After the first task was completed, it was time to move onto the fun part, where we would start to see Noah's Ark come to life, the framing had begun. |
| It was somewhat of a challenge to figure out just how we were going to make the Ark look like a boat, we found bendable wood that worked perfect. Next, we found the perfect windows to go in The Ark, they were circle, and really just set the boat theme off. |  |
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The framing of the first floor was complete, then it was time to turn our attention to the second floor. We had hand hewn logs, which was a treasure we had found inside of a barn, and this would add to the nostalgic look, that is somewhat of a necessity we have here at The Farm. |  |
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| Once the hand hewn logs were in place, we chinked in between the logs with concrete. We also, added large windows, so whomever would visit this unique place, would be able to enjoy the view from the Ark, to the absolute fullest, and from someone who has seen the view, it is breathtaking. |  |
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When the hard work of chinking was complete, the windows were all set, and the second floor was closed in. There were more ideas coming to the Chief Explorer here at Nostalgiaville. |
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One thing was for sure, the Chief Explorer wanted to add a special touch, you could say that it came from the kid in him, but he had this wonderful idea to add a third story, yes a third story. What could he possibly do with a third story you ask? He wanted to make a control panel, so the visitors would be able to navigate Noah's Ark, to get to their destination in life. This story was built, and it added a childlike touch to this massive boat on the shores of Lake Cheri. |  |
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| When the outside of The Ark was completed, it was really time to play. The first thing we did was lay completed puzzle, that had been cut into squares of 8" by 8" on the outside of the walls, doing this gave the Ark a very special affect. Around the curved portions of the Ark's walls, we used vinyl siding, the color was light blue. On the vinyl siding we hung shelves, on them we placed stuffed animals to add to the theme of Noah's Ark, and as we always do, we used barn wood for the remaining portions of the walls. |  |
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The first floor was furnished with a T.V., a small refrigerator, a microwave, a futon, a bathroom, and hundreds of different species of stuffed animals. |
| The second floor is more of a child's haven. It has a bunk bed, with a fort built onto the top bunk. We also, have a day bed upstairs. One wall is filled with Coca-Cola memorabilia, and more stuffed animals. The deck connected to the second story is a terrific place to relax and unwind while you watch the fish swimming around in the Lake below. |  |
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During the Spring, Summer, and Fall, there are always beautiful flowers planted around the Lake and the Ark. These pictures were taken during the Fall when we had magnificent mums planted in the bed right beside it. |  |
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To add to this amazingly designed creation, it has a splendid view as far as you can see. |
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