Until the past few months, retired engineer Bobby Fleming kept his handyman act limited to keeping his Sherwood Forest lawn clean for his grandchildren to roam freely during frequent visits.

Last November, his builder’s itch and the encouragement of youth merged to create an impressive lookout and hideaway for 7-year-old Robert A. Fleming.

“I’ve been at it since about Thanksgiving,” Fleming said, standing near a support of a tree house, featuring a shiny, tin roof and a lattice-work balcony.

The floor of the still-evolving showpiece encircles a towering oak, held up by metal support rods more than 12 feet above the ground. Windows on each side of the all-wood structure make for easy viewing from the back porch. Fleming said he might add another walkway halfway down the tree.

Robert, a Beechwood Elementary first-grader, easily climbs the steep ladder, where he can peer into the brush to spy birds and react quickly to the tree house’s first regular guests — wood-boring bumblebees.

“They come so close!,” he said, adding he likes his new place to play and possibly camp with his fellow Cub Scouts from Pack 115.

Robert is “quite the little builder” himself, his grandfather said, as he has assembled a pile of wood beside his grandparents’ house.

It might not be for another tree house, as Fleming says his days building things all by himself are numbered.

“It’s just something for them,” Fleming said. 

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Contact Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com