Pinewood Derby (Haiku? - Gesundheit!)

In the Wintertime when the races run And you spend some shop time with your son Cutting and shaping a block o' pine Teaching him how to cut close to the line

The wind is high the air is cold The boy is young You're not quite old The kerosene heater stinks but it's warm The radio calls for a possible storm

In the snug little shop that you want him to love There is time that is passing A gift from above That neither of you will ever forget That neither of you will ever forget

The bandsawing done the sanding begins You watch as your ten year old sands while he grins Only a ten year old grins while he sands He stops for a moment and looks at his hands

Then back to the block of wood that he's shaped Then back to his hands And a concept is shaped And a smile replaces that wonderful grin When a Dad sees that smile a Dad starts to grin

In the snug little shop that you want him to love There is time that is passing A gift from above That neither of you will ever forget That neither of you will ever forget

Regards,

Tom Watson

tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)

formatting link

Reply to
Tom Watson
Loading thread data ...

Since you are on the subject, here is a link to the photos I took of the cars that ran in our Pack's Pinewood Derby on Saturday, January

27th, 2007.

formatting link
son's car (the sub sandwich) is number 50. He won second place in the design category. All the design was his. He did 90% of the work on the car including cutting it in half on the scroll saw. I helped a bit with rounding off the ends on the belt sander and with the wheels. Due to the design there wasn't a lot of flexibility on how the weight could be distributed. So while it held its own, it wasn't real speedy.

Oh, and my car? It was number 111. SWMBO even got into it this year and made a car (number 113 with Don King driving). She did all the finish work but my 10 year old (Webelos II) cut out the car for her on the scroll saw.

My 3rd year Boy Scout decided since mom was making one he would too. Number 115 was this year's creation, and just for kicks he ran number

114 ( the picture doesn't do the paint job justice) that he made when he was in Cub Scouts (yes, he did all the dremel work). Unfortunately, I took the wheels off of one of my old cars and let him use them on his new car. His beat mine handily in the four-way family grudge race. I'm not going to hear the end of that for years!

This was our last year to take part in the Pinewood Derby as Cub Scouts (I am the Webelos Den Leader and Assistant Cubmaster). Each year open my garage for all the boys (and dads) in the pack to come over and make their cars. After four years of kids in the shop nobody had gone home with fewer fingers than they arrived with. I'm going to miss it enough that I might volunteer next year even without a boy in the pack.

It took a few years, but my boys finally understood why dad insisted on multiple iterations of primer/sand. The complaints about sanding disappeared quickly after the first couple coats of finish paint were on. The boys can now run a can of spray paint without major runs or drips.

Yours in Scouting, Jim

Reply to
Jim Egan

Very nice Tom, brought back some memories for me - my son (now 27) and I were just talking about our pinewood adventures with his pack - after all these years it is still a fond memory for us both. Your poem brought it all back.

Thanks,

Jeff

Reply to
JSC

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.