The lack of internet will certainly explain the lack of blog entries from last summer. It surely isn't because I'm a slacker or anything...
But moving on, as I looked over those photos, I decided that I should do some retrospective posts this summer. You know, a "Where Were We, and What Were We Doing This Time Last Year" collection. I know. Yawns for you, but fun for me. Sorry.
So, at this time last summer, we were in the midst of a mighty Eagle Scout Project! Adam was trying to squeeze that in before moving to a country that doesn't do Boy Scouts of America, as well as taking classes at the community college to become a certified IT Specialist, and getting his driver's license. All before moving. No rest for that boy.
Our many thanks to all of our Clovis friends who so willingly gave of their time and effort to help with this service project of Adam's--it was a challenge, to say the least.
His project included a major clean-up and paint job of the area outside our church building that encloses the air conditioner units and satellite dish. Sound easy? Not.
The fence was in quite bad shape, with paint worn so badly that there were whole sections coated with rust. He also had to cut back a massive bush that was encroaching on the area, plus clean out all the muck and debris that had built up within the enclosure. Actually, he had to organize the man-power to do all of this, not do it all himself; and any mom will tell you, organizing man-power can be much harder than just doing the whole dang thing on your own!
The first physical work day Adam spent with a good friend of ours from church, who just happens to do landscaping. Good thing, since the first job was to tackle the man-eating bushes that were overgrowing one whole section of the fence. You can't paint a fence if you can't get to it!
Then we had to spend a day clearing and mucking out the area; and of course, it rained all morning. ick. We still had some loyal friends that showed up to work amidst the drizzle. We thought about postponing, but we really didn't have the time--we were scheduled to move in three weeks.
Our little neighbor M was so desperate to help that she pitched a fit in the car when her mom started to drive away with her after dropping dad off to help. And they were even headed to the doughnut shop! We didn't have any tiny gloves, so her mom popped one of M's hair ties off her head and wrapped it around her wrist to help hold that monster glove on. It was pretty mucky out there...
Looks like she's good to go! At least one-handed, anyway.
We unearthed quite a few of these bad boys that morning. Sorry, guys. No hard feelings.
The next week we had paint day--well, "scrape-away-the-rust-and-then-paint" day. We took any help that was offered, and even with all the joking around, we managed to get the job done. Eventually.
Go Josh!
Dallin's contribution to paint day...it's a rough life that boy has.
Here's the end result--doesn't it look wonderful?! It's nice to know that we left one little corner of Clovis nicer than it was when we got there. Of course, the photos conveniently don't show all the paint we dripped and dribbled on the concrete...ooopsies.
One hundred+ hours of planning and labor and you have a completed project. Now all Adam had to do is compile all his paperwork, get his letters of recommendation, and put it all together, submit it to the National Eagle Scout Committee, and that award's in the bag! No sweat.
Thanks again, everyone! We miss you, and hope you're taking care of that fence!
1 comment:
yikes - and that is coming purely from the part of me that is trying to help my oldest boys come up with a few projects that can be done this next year!
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