The seamy under-belly of a USFS fire lookout tower.

[DemoTex]

[tabatha]

1. Looks nice and clean.

No spider webs there!

[DemoTex]

2. Then I need to get the macro lens out.

There are some wicked looking spiders, always outside. And another lookout who once worked this one says that there are Black Widows here.

[dmr]

7. I would not be able to handle that knowing they're out there.

I think you're brave (even w/o spiders, I think you're brave) to be out there.
:hi:

[roguevalley]

11. you are in Oregon. I remember them all over my house and my

cats catching them and tossing them in the air and catching them for fun. The moment of moments came when I opened my covers to go to bed and there one was.

[DemoTex]

12. To clarify the black widow story ..

He said they are in the water cistern building (containing a tank of about 400 gals of non-potable water), next to the lookout. That's why I try never to have to draw wash water from there. I carry my 1 gal. plastic jugs and 5 gal cubies into the USFS compound every week and fill them with potable water (usually about 20 gals total). Right now, for example, I have about 30 gallons of water stored on the lookout catwalk - all potable (so I can drink it, water Nick with it, cook with it, and wash with it without worry).

I have about 30 gallons in empties in my truck (I did not resupply water on my off days last Monday and Tuesday because I had so much out here). But I will on Monday.

But the wicked looking spiders here on the lookout (usually outside, but occasionally inside, have an orange marking on their abdomen that looks red at a glance.

When I was at Georgia Tech I worked in the Poison Control Center at Grady Hospital (another chapter in my book), and I remember having to research black widow bites for a new MD-resident in the MEC (medical emergency clinic). Two things have stuck in my mind to this day:

1: The primary treatment for a black widow bite is pain management, usually with morphine.

2: Most black widow bites involve males (camping, tool shed, well house, etc), and those bites are to the warmest part of their bodies - their crotch. GREAT BALLS 'O FIRE!

[onehandle]

3. Heckuva treehouse. nt

[Suich]

4. Looks like a combination of Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs, and

an Erector Set!

Do you think it's not safe???

:hi:

[upi402]

5. what size joists, length of span?

The vertical posts seem thin, wonder what they are?
Good workmanship, it's in the wilderness right?

[DemoTex]

13. It is in the wilderness ..

The total cab + catwalk is about 20 X 20. I don't know the floor/deck joist size, and I ain't crawling out there tonight to measure them. But the substructure timbers (corner verticals, horizontal braces, and crosses) are massive. They look small in the photo because of the inherent spherical aberration of a 16-mm wide angle lens.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. Cool pic, my dear DemoTex!

Doesn't look seamy to me!

It does look high. Too high. I'd want an elevator, myself...:scared:

Thanks for sharing!

[DemoTex]

14. There was a crank-up hoist system (dumb-waiter)

It almost killed me the first day of last season. I condemned it. Took it down. It is in the storage shed with a note about it's hellish past.

:hi:

[Solly Mack]

8. I would have to climb that...if I were out walking and came across the structure.

It just looks so neat and inviting. I'd hafta climb it. Because it's there.

[xchrom]

9. Very cool. Nt

[Delphinus]

10. You have such a neat job!

Years ago, seems like a few lifetimes ago actually, I thought seriously of becoming a forest ranger. Back then I couldn't find anyone to help me plan college courses or things like that.

Oh well - continue posting your pictures and your stories and I can live vicariously through you. :)