“I’ve pretty much been a monkey all my life”

Washington Man Builds Dream House in a Tree

source: Associated Press Strange News

STEVENS PASS, Wash. – With a chain saw, a rope and a hatchet, Tony Detmer built his three-story dream house — suspended 20 feet up, in a stand of Douglas fir and cedar.

Detmer, 31, often starts his day with a plunge into the snow below. In the deep chill of a mountain morning, he said, the jolt is better than a cup of coffee.

“There’s something about being off of the ground,” he said. “I feel lofty. I want to fly. This is the closest I can get.”

Detmer began working on the tree house in the fall of 1999. The deck went up first. Then straps were wrapped around trees to hold up parts of the house. The whole thing cost less than $2,000, most of which went for a 3,000-watt generator to run a saw and a television.

“I never used a level, it’s all by eyeball,” he said.

Detmer’s girlfriend, Betsy Delph, 23, and another roommate, Brett Hoisington, 19, also live in the house, which has a wood-burning stove and a rope swing on the deck.

Detmer sleeps on the third floor. The only way to get there is by climbing over a couch, up a wall and through a small, square hole.

There are no bathrooms, and showers come once a week at a nearby ski area.

Detmer’s envisions a worldwide community of tree houses. In the meantime, he wants to build a village in the trees, and have rope swings connecting all the houses.

“I’ve pretty much been a monkey all my life,” he said. “This is what makes me happy.”

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