Wednesday, May 26, 2010

First Eagle Project


After






Before

This past weekend, Zach did his Eagle project. As far as projects go, this one was easy and quick in the planning from start to finish, coming from my hubby, an Eagle Scout. This one was two weeks from beginning to end, although I have heard that they can take forever to get the paperwork done afterwards.

Farmington City leisure services gave Zach the go ahead to sand and repaint the diving board poles and planks at the local pool. The only bad thing was we had a week to accomplish this, since it needed to be done for Memorial Day weekend, not that the weather will allow the pool to open. (I'm a pessimist this spring!) Last weekends forecast didn't look all that great either, but we knew we needed to get it done on a weekend as opposed to a weeknight, with school, sports, etc, there would be no scouts to help out. So we picked Friday night, which according to the forecast, looked the most promising. We met at 3 pm and headed to the pool. The boys were all really hard workers, but it wasn't until the painting part that I realized what a nightmare this project could become. First off, the paint was oil based, second, I didn't realize until too late, that 12 and 13 year old boys do not know how to paint! They were all sticking their brushes in the paint up to the handle, then pulling them out dripping! There were drips all over the plastic (at least we had plastic!) Fortunately, they all took their shoes off and ruined their socks, which is better than shoes in my opinion. As they were finishing the last coat, the skies turned dark and started dumping rain, and continued to pour all night long. Both Kris and I hardly slept, both just worrying about the eagle project and the 3-4 hours that were put into it. The next morning, Kris and Zach had to meet with the city and remove the tape. The paint was still wet to the touch, but for the most part it held up and the city approved it! Zach wishes he could stick a gold plaque on the diving boards stating that it was his Eagle project, but he is just going to have to pay homage every time he goes swimming and jumps off the boards!