A Proper Gangplank

I'd never built stairs before, so I created these tiny steps to get to the gangplank.

Tiny.

Cooper had to stop, turn sideways and then slowly climb down.  It was pitiful.  I went out to Lowes, picked up some runners and whacked out a new set.  I also added in some security in the form of rope handrails.  

It helps.

EXCEL 13

For the first quarter of 2013, I joined an intrepid group of leaders from Randoplh County for EXCEL 13. This EXperience in Community Enterprise and Leadship Development is a 90-day journey through city, county & state gov't, local businesses and non-profits.  Imagine peeking behind the curtain to see the engines that run your community. All those questions get answered about tax incentives, municipal bonds, education bills... oh, not your questions?

What about the one that goes like this, "What happens if I flush Buzz Lightyear down the toilet?" 

On that note, did you know it takes approximately 20 minutes for your poo to travel downhill to the water treatment plant and that they just might be able to find that diamond ring you washed down the sink?

Did you know if you have the right Legislative Assistant, you can trek to the top of the Capital Rotunda... and go outside?

For three months, I grumbled and groused about having to carve out another two hours, four hours, two days from my already crazed schedule to visit ____________________ . Only to get to the appointment and find myself completely enraptured by whatever topic we were covering that week. It's a true time commitment; one that, having just started a new job, I probably should have thought through a bit more... but I made it and I'm glad I did.

Seriously, in the paragraph above... fill in the blank. What in Randolph county do you want to see? Who do you want to talk to? At the state level? How about unfettered access to a State Supreme Court Judge for the morning? Who also throws in a tour of his private apartment above the Courtroom and pulls out his brand-new, official portrait... that he hadn't even shown his wife!

I don't have time to go into the details of the 36-hour tour that Ralph Boots, the Community Development Director in Trenton, MO, put together for us. Or all the details of the 48 hours of Capital time that Sam Richardson created in Jeff City.

I was just amazed at the unparalleled access to decision-makers at all levels, at the candor that area school superintendents described their challenges, at the way hidden heros of our public sectors describe their jobs with deep-seated passion. Every week was another opened present of coolness, linking us deeper into bowels of our local economy, education or... well, check out the schedule below. It's a lot to take in.

EXCEL is an MU Extension sponsored program that reaches into 40 communities around Missouri. Each program has a local board that prepares the series and plots the course of events. Our group had 14 participants from every section... from a MODOT engineer to bankers and business leaders.  We spent hours together every week, learning about each other, making connections and drawing correlations. I have a much greater respect for the efforts of public servants and why it takes so blasted long to get anything done.

Anywhere.

There are plenty of pix from my experience over here.

Serious shout-outs to all the EXCEL Board members and Dr. Johanna Adams for all their immense work.  I'm still chewin' on stuff we got into.

Visit www.randolphcoexcel.org for more details or to join up in 2015!

And there was Lumber...

Since the delivery that surprised even my contractor-friends ("Man, Scott... that's an awful lot of lumber"), I've been learning the fine art of shipbuilding.

Pirate-ship Building, to be exact.

I started with the base over Memorial Day weekend, but that was quickly rained out.  I had the deck spars in place, but then had to get the hull wrapped or it would be too dangerous to leave alone. That led to the upper decking and railing... which opened up a whole can of worms with the gang plank.  

And that can still hasn't been emptied.

Plus, (oh, there's more!) I had to rip out chain link fence across mine AND my neighbor's alley; and rebuild a new fence in its place. 

And get poison ivy in the process.

I've learned to cut 68 degree angles (those don't exist on a 45 degree chop saw). I've hurled planks across the yard while unleashing very sailor-like tirades on everything from bent saw blades to mis-measured railings. I've learned a lot about splinters and where they can go... and a lot about myself. And where my ego should go.

Anyway... My son has a ship in the backyard. Some day, once I get all my real projects (re: paying) completed, we'll add in the slide, swings... and the rope swing.

Ah... the rope swing. 

"But I neeeed a rope, Dad," he pleads, "so I can knock guys into the water!"

"I need water, too!"

It won't end anytime soon.

And I'm pretty pleased about that.

Building the Port

Capt'n Cooper's boat hasn't come in yet, but we've started making room in the port!


Our concept will be a harbor and wharf that the Pirate Ship is approaching. Eventually there will be gangplanks and slides.


Today, Nathan from NCS Stump Grinding came in to relocate the play house.  I removed the front porch, pulled out the back fence and leveled out a space beneath two trees.

In one night.

I was beat.

Nathan came in and moved the house.

In five minutes.

Pulling that Bobcat in was the best decision I've made so far on this project.

The Summer of the YARD

Last year we spent most of our time working on the interior of our house.  It's come a long way and it feels like our own. For 2013, we're going outside.

Late last year, just before snow started blowing, we ripped down the fence on east side of our house. It was falling over so badly that previous residents had chained it to a tree. I enlisted the brawn of our friend John and a bit of help from my li'l guy. Cooper LOVES to get in the middle of whatever we're doing. Especially if it's Dad and power tools, a rake, a shovel, the list goes on.

He'll get his tools (for a while it constituted a stack of hammers) and get right down in the middle of everything. It makes getting stuff done next to impossible. This afternoon we worked in the yard and I nearly took off his foot with a shovel or smacked him with a hammer a few times. It's nerve-wracking, darling, terrifying and endearing all in the same instant. Hopefully, he's learning something... at least not to bonk yourself in the head with a rubber mallet. 

So, back to my original point... We've declared it, "The Summer of the Yard."

First on the list is Cooper's Pirate Ship.

Yes... One of these:

It may not sail the Spanish Coast, but it'll do fine plying the alleys near Lee Street. I'd like to say I'm not encouraging this, but I am... I'm just about as desperate as he is.  And every time he calls out, "Raise the sail, matey!" it only concretes my resolve.

The plans are on order, but first we have to move a playhouse, level the yard... and the list goes on.

Happy Mother's Day!

A li'l drum solo

We bought Cooper a drum kit.

He's been practicing.

I'm pretty proud.

Of my two-year-old son.

BTW... Cooper hates to be recorded, but he loves to watch himself after the fact.  It's a little hard to get anything on tape.  He wants to watch before he's done anything; hence, the anxious, "OK, I'm done!"

He wants to see the results!