Danby Highway Superintendent Andrew Thurnheer rests his head 42-feet above the ground.
The 45-year old Danby native lives in a treehouse on the 200 acres of land he shares with his brother, sister and parents. Thurnheer’s love for heights make the two-story abode, with a third look-out level that reaches 50 feet above ground-level perfect for his needs and dreams.
“Anything I can climb, I climb,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to climb up to my house.”
My treehouse didn’t have an elevator, running water, and a propane heater.
related link:
Adults still living at home with Mom on the increase
TORONTO — They were once known as “mama’s boys.”
Now it’s “adulescents” (U.S.), “mammoni” (Italy), “parasaito shinguru” or “parasite singles” (Japan), “boomerangers” in the U.K. or just plain “spoiled singles” (universal).
They’re the increasing numbers of older male children opting to continue living at home with their parents.
Generally aged from early 20s to the mid-30s, the “adulescents” are staying longer than ever before in the parental home, with many showing no signs of moving out on their own or of making a commitment to a partner. Others moved back home after a period of living away or a failed relationship.
And it’s not just young men — although in the western world young women living at home are the minority.
Living on a sliding hill of mud in Califoria could be worse.
An earthquake could be a lot worse.
You guys don’t have basements to worry about out there.
I say, give California to the Mexicans. They love it!
I guess anyone can be insulted, but Andrew seems OK by me. He’s the boss at work, plans to put in an airstrip at his office so he can fly one of his planes to work when he feels like it and, “During the winter months, Thurnheer usually travels to Sri Lanka, where he also lives in a tree house and works with elephants skidding logs out of the jungle.”
nothing manlier than living with momma…..I always found this pathetic. Get a life weenies!
I don’t know – i think it’s telling that it’s no longer possible for many in the GenX category to live successfully on their own – when it’s one or two you think it’s something wrong with the individuals. When it’s a measurable percentage, one has to think it’s something wrong with either the generation who raised them or the economy they were born into.
Methinks it’s a combo of both. Thanks, boomers.
/a genXer who is lucky enough to not live at home.
a few weeks ago I tatled on myself about a curtain green herb – now I have I’m admitting-
Yes, at 32 years of age I am moving back in with my mother, ok not really just moving onto the property. Okay, Okay so we are building a house on my parents land.
I think once my sister sees what the set up is like she will want her own parcel as well.
Shared resource is the biggest plus, I am close enough to tap the well, but far enough mom can’t peek in the windows.
If you look back at the whole of human civilization it seems that the children leaving is the exception rather then the rule. In a more agricultural-based society a family would all live on the same piece of land for many generations…
First of all, that ain’t no treehouse, it’s a jail tower. A real tree house incorporates the tree, it hugs it, it is a part of it–or at least an attempt at a communion with Nature. This man is just living away from Earth for which I don’t blame him, but his approach is wrong. His biggest mistake which is the mortal human’s achille’s heel is attachment to the past. He cannot get away from his family. It is the flaw of sub-humans. In Nature, a lion cub is thrown off the pride once he reaches adult hood. His own family throws him out. It is for his own good. I was at a coffee shop one day and I heard a woman next to me take a call on her cell phone from her mom and batted away with her gripes regarding her mother. Insanity! I left my family. I don’t like my mother. She did a good job as much was possible but I disasociated myself from her because she wants me to follow her advice. I don’t. She is like an alien to me. I went two years without seeing her or even speaking with her even though she lives 20 minutes away by subway. My dad, on the other hand, I respect, because he gave me freedom to make my own mistakes and only offered input when I asked. He always left me alone. People are always trying to change people to their image. It disgusts me, even though I’ve done it too. It’s a basic law of nature it seems. Anyway, he should build his own house away from his previous house. Gotta let go. Growth is not possible without letting go.
Maybe those dinner dates are just so expensive these days they can’t afford to have their cake and eat it too 🙂
Some of my (married) friends have told me they had more freedoms living with mom and dad. Note: Since my wife is looking over my shoulder I can’t comment. Could this be a reason? Or is it just “free-loading”?
Then, there are those of us who are “Life’s Little Failures”…
Who might as well live off the folks while we wait to get killed in an accident…
or get the balls to commit suicide
Turn this thing around and look at it from another end; empty nest syndrome is becoming ever more common. Fairly successful parents raise family, have big house, then kids leave. Parents retire, retirement income not as much as it possibly should be, one or more kids come home, plenty of room and the money crunch eases. Living in the family homestead does not denote failure, it’s a simple lifestyle choice. And it keeps the family home in the family.
Familys living together is norm in most countrys and was here untill recently. This is also how imigrant familys succeed when natives do not.
It’s unlikely that the folks who left the messages above, with some less than complimentary remarks about Andrew Thurnheer (lives in a tree house on his parent’s property) will ever read this, but I’m going to add my two cents anyway….
I just had the distinct privilege of meeting him this past weekend – and this is NOT a man who can’t break the bonds and move on – he’s had his own business since the age of 13, taught himself to fly an Ultralight, and just sold a plane he built himself. He’s just given up being a test pilot, but still performs aerial acrobatics in his Cessna. He’s part of a group who drops rabies vaccine into wild areas throughout the NE (disguised as raccoon food) to help curb the spread of that disease. He builds cars, motorcycles, runs an excavating/heavy machine business, and has accomplished more in his 47 years than many of us could hope to do in a lifetime. He’s well-loved in his community – doesn’t sweat the small stuff, and is making
a difference in this world. He’s pretty incredible, and for those of you who judged him based on a four-sentence article are sadly uninformed about an outstanding individual.
A little note to “Nobody Important” – I think you chose the perfect username – Andy will never read your comments, but even if he did, I think he’d just laugh, as will anyone who knows him.