After a year of pushing by me and, to some extent, Hsuan, W finally completed his Eagle Scout project this weekend. He decided to do his project at the daycare center where he and J attended before going to elementary ("lower") school. The daycare center needed a front planter re-planted because they were being fined monthly by the city for some violations of this or that rule. The replanting involved removing old plants, laying down new potting soil, building a planter wall around the area, and then planting new plants. Then, at their request (and to fulfill a 100 man-hour requirement for Eagle projects), he replanted other planters in their back yard and built a new playhouse. W also ran a couple of fundraisers, both online and at a local restaurant, to help defray costs, and he arranged purchase and delivery of potting soil and new plants. For my part, I placed the order for the playhouse online and some planter edging, and I went with him in the past couple of weeks to buy some lumber and some tools that we needed that I didn't already have (mainly gardening or landscaping tools). I also rented a U-Haul van to carry the tools and lumber.

W, J, and I pre-built some of the front planter walls last week at home.

Of course, the point of an Eagle project is not to do the actual work himself but to use the help of his fellow scouts and some parents to do the work and to manage all of the jobs. About 28 scouts and parents participated this past Saturday and Sunday, including me and J.

The gardening expertise of a couple of the other dads was invaluable. Geoff, one of my fellow dads, managed the removal of some hedges in the back yard in about an hour, with the help of scouts, whereas I think it would have taken at least two hours if I had been directing the scouts.

My main task seemed to be in directing the scouts in building the playhouse. Another dad, Erik, helped lead the removal of some large, somewhat overgrown bird of paradise plants in the front planter, and he kindly took photos of the work.

And W bounced back and forth between the areas, directing tasks overall and also participating in some of the work.

The beneficiaries, i.e. the director of the daycare center, seemed pleased with the final results.

Moving rocks on Day 1.

Removing a Bird of Paradise (or a bunch of them).

The playhouse mid-afternoon on Day 1.

Putting the door on the playhouse on Day 2.

Laying down the soil in the front planter on Day 2.

Lunch break, Day 2.

Final gardening touch-ups in the back yard on Day 2.