Day 20: Dobject's Inside of a Tent

How to Erect Your New Halcyon Family Size Outdoor Tent (V2.4.32). You only need one person to complete the following steps.

Step 1. Purchase your new Halcyon Family Size Outdoor Tent (V2.4.32[US]/V2.4.32[CA]/V2.3.25[FR])

Step 2. Remove you new Halcyon Family Size Outdoor Tent from the packaging.

            Tip: Try not to tear the box apart as soon as you get home! We understand your excitement, but first, appreciate your new purchase, reflect on your giddy and childish satisfaction, and imagine all of the exciting adventures you and your family are about to have together! Aren’t you the swellest fellow alive?

Step 2.5: Remove all 125 patented super-safety twisty ties protecting all 5 parts of your new Halcyon Family Size Outdoor Tent. Then, remove our custom made Tite-bond super-strength stretch-o-tape from our new triple bagging system covering all 5 parts of your tent. 3x as protected! And easy to remove!*©

·      Statement not yet verified by FCC or The High Stress Consumer-Packaging Council of America.

Step 4. Fling all of your Halcyon Family Size Outdoor tent into the back lawn to begin construction.

Construction:

Parts: 1. Tent canvas and containment bag

       2. Pole A

       3. Pole B

       4. Rain Cover

       5. Stakes and stake bag

Step 1. Lay out tent canvas in a parallelogram shape with the top of the tent on the ground.

Step 2. With tent inverted take Pole A and lightly push through flaps A.1, A.2, B.1, and B.3 of the tent until the structure is rigid. Once Pole A has been placed, flex the pole to ensure correct placement. Place the tent’s corner pegs into the slot at each end of Pole A to ensure proper flex.

Step 3. With a partner, take Pole B (Note: in CA, FR, UN, some regions of the US and BK, this part may be labeled Pole 3, and is not required for successful construction), and gently tuck it into all remaining flaps except for C.2, E.5, and A.2, ensuring enough room for rain cover (not included in CA and some regions of the US). Be sure to cross Pole A at a 90 degree intersection across the top of the tent. Once Pole B is placed, gently flex both poles to ensure correct placement. If the structure does not flex correctly, remove all poles, flaps, and studs, and begin again from Step 1.     

Step 4. Flip structure over so the top is facing up.

Step 5. Erect the tent using the below diagram.*

*(Diagram not included in V2.4.32 manual)

Step 6. Once tent is standing, attach the rain cover in all remaining flaps using the included Pole 3 and 4. (Note: slightly longer than Poles A and B.) If in FR, use the included bungee cords.

Step 7. Enjoy!

Note: Wash all canvas and cloth material in a cold bath with 3% bleach and 5% vinegar solution at less than 50 degrees F according to like colors and manufacturer recommendation before construction or removal from packaging. Failure to follow this step may void warranty.

             

Day 17: Pobject's Inside of a Tent

There's the tent I stepped into to find
my ten-year-old brother dancing naked
with his ten-year-old friend,

or

the tent in the backyard,
the one in which my young fiancée and I
once spent several summer nights,
overflowing guests in a tiny home,

or

the several and assorted
we're-all-one-big-happy-family
tents I've worked in...

...but...

I'll take instead the tented sky,
blue auroral fingers a cathedral arch
above our awestruck eyes. We said
our breathless eucharistos
while we clutched one another and clutched
the Earth to keep ourselves
from falling up into the night.

Day 15: Inside of a Tent

Bonnaroo 2006

Manchester, TN

I’ve never been so dirty in my life.  By day 2, there were discernable grim lines from my sandal straps on each of my feet.  Our “camp ground” was more like a field serving as a parking lot.  Once we pulled into the spot, there was no way to get out until the feastival was over.  We pitched our two modest-sized tents and headed out for days, nights, late nights, and later nights of music.

The line-up was my dream come true:  Death Cab followed by Ben Folds.  The Avett Brothers playing a late-night set under a small tent.  Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah, The Magic Numbers, My Morning Jacket… Bright Eyes playing on Which Stages bringing Gillian Welch on stage for a few duets.  Tom Petty rocked This Stage.  Beck playing This Stage as a headliner on the second night and Elvis Costello playing it the next night.

The music seemed to have an effect on everyone there – all 80,000 of them.  Everyone was very kind and generous.  We were offered every drug I’d ever heard of and a few I had not, and we politely responded “No, thank you.”  We were also offered multiple religions and varieties of spiritualties to which we also said, “No, thank you.” 

It wasn’t until after we were on our way home, back to North Carolina, that something struck me as odd.  As a slightly paranoid person, I tend to worry about most things, but during the festival, I never once thought – much less worried – about anyone going inside our tents.  Each day, we left everything – clothes, toiletries, electronics, prescriptions – unguarded and unlocked without returning until well after nightfall.  We never entertained the idea that any of it would be unsafe.  And it was safe.  Our parking lot neighbors were friendly but generally stayed to themselves and the music, just as we did.

This shouldn’t be a surprise or unusual, but I am not sure where else it would happen.

Day 11: Lobject's Inside of a Tent

We didn’t count

on twenty degree

breeze in May

flying the tent

like a kite over

Oregon’s coast

a dark fire pit

making sandwiches

for dinner

immediate

warmth inside

the tent