Hammocks cure depression

Hammock Therapy Music

Another beautiful afternoon in the early summer.

Photo taken from the hammock 

at Mikie's Fun House, Del Mar, CA.

Listening to "Hammock Therapy"

Proof that hammocks extend lives

The proposition that hammock time extends one's own life may seem right, but how about the fact that hammock time extends the life of the universe? Check this video, especially around 10:40!

Software Pioneer hurt in sudden Hammock Failure.

According to news sources who covered the event, "Ow, that hurts" were the first words he uttered after the hammock he was testing gave way without warning.

The night-before-Easter accident took place in the seaside home of Michael McCafferty, Del Mar, California. 

Here are the victim's own words:

"WTF?"

"That was my first thought when I heard the loud metallic snap. I thought the heavy steel screw anchor had come out of the wall stud. While I'm thinking this my head is falling backward and down, my butt hits first, then my head hits the floor last, like instantly and all simultaneously...

"I don't know how long I was out, or even if I did lose consciousness. I probably wasn't very conscious before it happened, because, well, I was totally chillin' in the hammock and had been there for at least an hour before the Big Surprise.

"The cause of the failure was determined to be recent changes to the support rope knots and metal eyelet. The work was performed by a handyman (name withheld) who professed experience with knots. It ultimately comes down to my own fault, of course, because I approved the work, but then only after several live tests by the handyman who weighs more than i do."

McCafferty has extensive hammock testing experience, starting over 25 years ago when he sold his software company, which developed and marketed the first CRM software product, called TeleMagic. He authors the blog "Hammock Therapy" (http://hammocktherapy.blogspot.com/)
which is dedicated to the proposition that Time in a Hammock is not deducted from one's Lifetime. Which seems ironic in view of recent events.

Repairs are underway and normal hammocking is expected to resume in a few days.

McCafferty was not rushed to emergency care, saying he was "no girly man crybaby, and this wasn't the first and won't be the last life threatening event in my relentless pursuit of hedonist perfection..."

He remains in guarded condition, and is being looked in on frequently by friends and neighbors, which is another source of vexation to the reclusive and devastatingly handsome polymath.

Read the comments on the facebook post:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154373117581825&set=a.53757166824.63475.588331824&type=3&theater

A kinder, gentler hammock

The Pawley's Island hammock was replaced with this new Brazilian model. The former was a rope hammock that had a lot of holes in it, by design, of course, and while it was great for ventilation, it was sub-optimal for keeping remote controls and phone/tablet handy. They would always fall through the holes.

The Brazilian job offers a hole-free support from head to toe, so the serenity of hammockery is never interrupted with the search for hardware.

Also note the new white leather sofa and leather swivel chairs and the big screen TV in place of the biplane propeller. There's always something changing at Mikie's Fun House in our relentless pursuit of perfection...

The advantages of this new hammock design are also:
1. It is much lighter than the Pawley's Island model previously used because it doesn't have the 4' wide wooden spreader bars.
2. Takes up a lot less room when stored.

Experiments continue.
Watch this space for updates...

Extreme Hammocking

Breathe.  Smile.  Repeat.

Moraine Lake, Banff, Canada

(Thanks, Rainer!)

:)

Check out all the images when you search Extreme Hammocking.

Indoor hammock images

Here are a Ton of indoor hammock images:

Click here

Enjoy

Hammocks I have known: Rooftop Desert

The highest point in the valley, the Borrego Air Ranch, just outside Borrego Springs, California. This is at the top of the airplane hangar that was my fantasy home for a year or so.

It was an amazing experience to lie in this hammock at night, clear in the desert air, with sky down to the horizon in every direction.  It was like floating in orbit.

New Official T-shirt for FastMikie's Fun House

I just bought this neat hammock t-shirt on Amazon, and then I found two others kinda like it...
So now there are three great shirts and only one can be the Official T-shirt for FastMikie's Fun House. These tough decisions are wearing me out. I should think about it for a while in my hammock... :)

Indoor hammock era begins

Two years ago, in the great re-invention of Michael McCafferty, I ditched the outdoor deck area single-wide hammock and put in a table and two chairs to replace it. It was a practical move. I could have outdoor business meetings in the previous hammock space. That left me with no hammock at all.  It was horrible...

I just couldn't take it anymore.  The idea of an indoor hammock has been rattling around in my head for many years. Finally, after an excruciating period of hammock deprivation, I splurged on this Pawley's Island double-wide from Amazon.

Installed diagonally in the space so that it is easier to watch TV without the hammock getting in the way.

Rope hammocks look great, but the TV remotes, phone, and other stuff easily slip through the holes. :(

The hammock is installed with anchors screwed into the wall studs, so there is no stand to take up space and get in the way. It's easy to remove by simply unhooking the ends from the anchors.

Pawleys Island Hammocks Large Original Cotton Rope Hammock

• Heavy-duty, zinc-plated steel hardware is included for installation and hanging
• Solid oak spreader bars for premium durability and strength
• Durable woven bed has a double-latch construction adding more rope for greater comfort and strength
• Accommodates 2 people and has a 450 pound weight capacity
• 55-inch x 82-inch body, 13 feet long, Stand not included

Hammock-based study of celestial mechanics

One of my favorite pastimes is to lay in a hammock at sunset, 
and late into the night, 
under a clear sky and a crescent moon, 
and imagine the celestial mechanics of the solar system.

I imagine how it must *feel* to be this enormous Earth, 
spinning backwards, with a slow wobble, at 1000 miles per hour 
while hurtling forward 60,000 miles per hour 
pulled by the gravity of a sun 92 million miles away,  
All this action goes on in seeming slow motion 
by the 7 billion humans scurrying over the surface, 
never suspecting that their earth is only a virus 
in the eye of a newt on a log in a bog 
on another planet in another solar system...

Earth doesn't know this, couldn't know this; 
it just keeps blasting through space, 
in this captive dance, 
with perfect precision, 
for billions of years...

Just when I almost get that feeling, 
I lose it, or I fall asleep. 
But mostly, I fall asleep before I can imagine that far.

Happy Thanksgiving 2009. Peace, love.

My 5 minutes of Hammock Therapy

email from friend tells of her 1st attempt at "Hammock Therapy":

 First of all a little history:

MM and I have known each other for a VERY long time-

We sort of  lost track (didn’t look) of each other- Also for a very long time-

You know how people cross your mind for no reason sometimes?

Well I was at my computer and MM just popped into my mind and I typed in his name

on search- and Poof there was a blog with his name on it- I’m thinking No Way!

 But I started reading it and then looked at the pictures and there he was-

I just Love the internet- I swear my IQ has gone up 10 points-

 Anyway he makes himself very accessible on his blog so I wrote him a note-

Not wanting to be intrusive I did put my information in the note- Just said hi and ask if he remembered me-

 I hardly ever use my Yahoo email address but  am on the Yahoo FoursquareHouses group because I’ve been restoring my house and keep the step by step pictures and we (the group) post questions and information there-

 I noticed I had mail and it was MM- We were both pretty surprised- I mean it’s only been… (I can hardly even say it!)

30 years-

MM has defiantly changed over the years- We were both super hyper back in the day- More energy than we knew what to do with-

 I was really surprised to hear about how much time MM spends in the hammock… Hermit! That also surprised me- After all I knew MM as Mr. Social, out and about constantly- Not the Hammock guy! Well I guess he’s still social but now its on the internet- Pool games are best at his home- Frisbee is best on his beach- You know, Hermit stuff-

 But the time spent on the Hammock amazed me- MM convinced me I should try it- So I bought one- But I’m still working and still restoring my house and I have a 57 Thunderbird an family that need care and feeding (not literally) but you know how families and old cars require a lot of attention-

 I never got around to any of  MM hammock therapy- So one beautiful Texas Saturday I went out and got on the hammock and took pictures of what I saw laying there, to prove to MM I did it-

 It lasted about 5 minutes- In that 5 minutes all I could think about was what all I need to do- The cell phone rang twice (not a good thing to take with you for hammock therapy)  and the neighbor came over to see what I was doing-

I’m retiring in February and I am going to make myself get into Hammock Therapy- and I hope I’m as happy in retirement as MM is- Hermit,  is maybe going a little far for me but you never know, as time goes on-


Written by "ckc57tbird"

Most Deserved Hammock

After 10 years of focus, I finally took a break from work,
and moved to a place a bit larger than my 500 s.f. apartment.
One of the first bits of decorating my new home was this hammock.
I remember it fondly...

Mikie's Fun House, Version 1.0 -- Rancho Santa Fe, CA   1993

Here's a wide shot, with the pool in the foreground:

HammockForums.net

HammockForums.net

Get yourself a couple of these neat stickers, only a buck each.

Crazy College Kids and their hammocks!

Kids!  What'll they do next?

Here they take the fine and gentle art of hammocking and turn it into an extreme sport:




For more, see http://extremehammock.com/

Bears Like Hammocks!

Hammocks I have known: MFH #4a

Mikie's Fun House version 4.0 has a narrow balcony with barely enough space for this single place hammock.  It was made with a loosely woven cotton thread and wore out rather quickly.  The hammock stand was all metal and rusted quickly, but as a wise man once observed:  "any hammock is better than no hammock".

This is a place where I have spent many pleasurable hours.

Some special nights I fall asleep here,

to the sounds of the surf,

while watching the stars drift through the sky.

I have solved many of the world's problems here,

and then I go to sleep

only to forget the solutions when I wake up!

After the first hammock wore out, I replaced it with a canvas model which has proven much more durable (made in Honduras).  I had to do some inventing to build a hammock support which was not in the way, underneath the hammock, and was not attached to the new metal railing (a requirement of the homeowner association rules).  See hammock video clip below:

Hammocks I have known: MFH #2

Mikie's Fun House, version 2.0, there was a place of honor reserved for the hammock, next to the pool, shaded by two young trees, in a bed of flowering plants.  Private, quiet, warm, comfortable... what more can you want?

I once lay in this hammock and watched a couple of new hummingbirds take their first flights, and it all happened just a couple of feet away from my face!  It was a most extraordinary event.

It seems that when you are lying in a hammock good things happen.

The hammock stand was a discovery in a Hammacher-Schlemmer catalog, probably in '92-93.  The simplicity and elegance of it really hit me.  It was a must-have.

The rope hammock is made by Pawley's Island.  You can get one from Amazon.com at this link.

Product Features Color: Oatmeal Hand-woven DuraCord rope hammock offers the comfort of cotton Superior outdoor durability with solution-dyed color-fastness Wood stretcher bars hand-dipped in multiple coats of marine varnish Includes zinc-plated steel hanging hardware for tree installation Measures 55 by 82 inches with overall length of 13 feet It was a great party hammock.  Who doesn't like a hammock?  Here's evidence:

      

Hammock of Destiny

After 30+ years, I finally got to enjoy a hammock under the giant redwoods of Big Sur.

The story of this Great Moment in Hammock History is here.