Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's Off to Work We Go

Happy Saturday Cooterinos. I've said it before, but I'll say it again - I fear that summer is over. Today I was slated to help build the playground at one of our local community schools. When I left the house at 6:45 this morning, it was 38 degrees (Fahrenheit) and my oatmeal was fogging up the windows. I know, I know, I shouldn't eat oatmeal while I'm driving but I was in a hurry.

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It's Time to Play

When I showed up at the school this morning it was immediately evident that the company running the playground installation knew what they were doing. There was a detailed volunteer sheet, a breakfast spread to kill for, warmup activities and inspirational speeches.

I was assigned to the fitness track which basically consisted of loading wheelbarrows with a gravel-like mixture and spreading it around a track. We spent about four hours shoveling stones with an efficiency you could never repeat. Without instruction some people grabbed the wheelbarrows, others grabbed rakes and the rest of us grabbed shovels. The system kept moving perfectly until the stone was gone.

Once that was done I headed out front to help with the playground. This was a professional kit complete with a crew of installers. We volunteers stood around like morons until someone said something like "Grab a shovel and make dig a hole there." or "Grab those posts and lets get this slide set up." It wasn't as efficient as the track, but it was not the same basic manual labor.

After lunch, I didn't really do anything. I looked around at what had been done and it was astonishing. A new track, check. New playground, check. Classrooms and hallways painted, check. Former playground equipment rehabilitated, check. Railings and fences painted, check. Landscaping refreshed, check.

Last but not least was something I didn't even realize was an issue. The area where we installed the track was a perfect grassy field, but because of the overgrown bushes and the ghettofied neighborhood they didn't let the kids play out there. The school was afraid of who might be lurking in the bushes, so the field has gone unused for years... until now. With the bushes and trees trimmed back it's now safe for the kids to go out and play. The teachers were very excited about that.

What's best is that company organizing the playground installation doesn't do this as their business, but something they do to give back to the community. I couldn't get a clear answer (probably because I didn't ask people who would know) on the number of playgrounds they do each year, but it's at least one.

What's even better than the best was the little boy who came up to me and said "Thank you for making our playground better". He and his sister had been hanging around watching us work, and they were so excited about it. It was all they could do to stay behind the fence while we worked. I'll be sure to pass that along to the planning committee.

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Well, there's more to tell you, but my back is sore and I'm wiped out. Maybe I shouldn't have gone for that hour and a half trail run after working all morning/early afternoon.

Oh, the mayor stopped by and shook my hand.

Over and Out,
Old Coot