Hammock

The following is a little story that has no real purpose, other than to express how much happiness I've gotten from a cheap and kind of silly little purchase from almost two years back.


While I was on my Journeyman qualification in 2010, a friend and I visited Montreal and we stopped by a quirky shop specialising in military gear.  They also sold camping, hiking and hunting things, but were more about "interesting things" than "high performance" or very technical products (I don't think they would have carried the latest model of anything).

My eyes drank up the tall shelves and aisles bursting with wares.  I didn't know what most of it was.  Honestly, military gear isn't a hobby for me the way it is for some of my coworkers.  My eyes landed on a coat tree, on which were hanging brightly multicoloured net-things.  I reached for one.  It was about as heavy as I expected.  Nylon cord had been knotted together to form a net with two ends; one end hung on the coat rack and the other in my hand, a large eyelet of tightly coiled cord, about the size of my palm.

It was a hammock, and I was in love with it.  

I picked out the least gaudy-looking one, a sort of puce-burgundy colour overall, but each cord having several different colours of strand.  The whole thing cost me about four dollars, and I was exceedingly proud of my purchase--even if I had no clue how to use it.

I had hoped to use it on the next military exercise, but it slipped into the background of my thoughts, and all too soon, I was back home in Winnipeg.

I really love this hammock.  You can see how simple it
is, no spreader bar and no complicated mechanisms
whatsoever!  Here I am just laying in my back yard.

A year went by without use, but in June 2011, I went camping for the first time (that I'm old enough to remember well) with some friends.  One showed me how to set up and use the simple hammock.  A simple lark's head in some 50/50 cord (I'm told this is actually not real "paracord", but we call it that anyhow) and a few winds around a tree would be enough to support my weight.  I was impressed!  I proceeded to spend the next several minutes attempting to climb in!

After a few tumbles, I got the hang of spreading out the net before sitting, and spreading again with my elbows to lay inside.  I loved it!

When I came home, I immediately sought a place to set it up in the back yard.  There weren't a lot of options, since most of the trees were planted immediately beside the deck.  But we did have the young apple tree!  I just made sure to tie it low enough that the apple tree wouldn't sway much.  Have I already said how much I love this hammock?

One especially warm night, I even slept outdoors in it!  I hung a bug net over top and staked the corners to the ground.  I even brought a little folding stool as a night table!  Sleeping was a bit difficult, especially with the mosquitoes, but by then I was a veteran at not falling out!

Morning was gorgeous.  I woke up to birdsong long before daylight.  Sore from the hammock, I moved to the grass below.  A fat young rabbit came hopping out from behind the trailer, completely oblivious to me.  It came to within three feet, when I decided I should frighten it away from my carrots!

This year, I'm looking to take my hammock to different places.  I've already taken it to a nearby park and used the little soccer net as posts!  (The trees were too far apart).  It may not be related, but when I started setting up the hammock, three of the four families (with very young children) left the premises.  I probably looked very strange!

This hammock is, perhaps, the best four bucks I've ever spent, and if it had a brand and a website, I would probably recommend it right here.  It really is one of those things one buys kind of randomly, and then happens to bring so much simple, unexpected happiness.

---