The "Little" Little Bald Mountain Lookout

The Gingerbread Version

 
 After the Christmas 96 ice storm nearly destroyed "Little" Little Bald, I decided I really should have a "backup".  As Christmas 97 was approaching, it seemed logical that the most appropriate construction material would be . . .

  Gingerbread!

 My Gingerbread version stands about 18" high.  It's made of "generic" gingerbread, rolled out between two 3/16th" dowels to maintain uniform thickness.  I cut out the shapes using cardboard templates and glued it all together with commercial icing.

 
  

 The windows were a major challenge.  My solution was to crunch translucent hard candy and sprinkle a few chunks into each opening during the last few minutes of baking so they would melt into flat panels.  I used watermelon candies, chosen for their color, but they proved to be a bit too soft at room temperatures.  During the next couple weeks, they sagged lower and lower, gradually flowing out of the openings.  Next time, I think I'll try lemon drops.

 I decorated it for the season - winter - but, unfortunately, ran out of time (and frosting) before I got around to adding the planned Christmas trimmings: wreaths, garlands and such.  Maybe next year . . . and maybe stairs, too.

 
 Even more unfortunate, the Gingerbread version of "Little" Little Bald Lookout did not survive the holidays.  Somehow, the constant aroma of gingerbread wafting through the house was just too much to resist.  It turns out that gingerbread is definitely not a good construction material for a "backup" lookout.  I haven't researched it, but I'm pretty sure that this was the only lookout in history to be "de-commissioned" by human ingestion. . ..