The Confraternity of Derby Dads and Boys

Rod Dreher (aka the Crunchy Con) shares his experience with getting ready for his son's Pinewood Derby.

He then posted this summary. Power to ya, bro'!

Then he shares this follow-up with a long response from another of his readers.

Finally, there was this nice article in the Greensboro N&R forwarded from Uncle David.

The number of comments is testimony to how many of us approach Derby Day with enough baggage to fill the Hogwarts Express. Libby and joked that I, like Rod, would probably be better qualified to teach a proper Bechamel sauce than anything involving wood and tools. My dad remembered building a few cars with me and Greg; no idea where they ever wound up. He was a far better craftsman than I'll ever be; I'm sure those old cars looked great and won lots.

Rainbows

Tuesday was a turbulent weather day. It rained hard most of the day and there were strong winds later in the day. There were tornado watches in places the next county over. At dusk though, the sun broke through the clouds way off to the west. It was enough to create this double rainbow near us. One end was just across the interstate and east of us. The other end was just up the hill from us in the Kerlee Heights area. We took 5 pictures in all.

Derby Day

Eli had Pinewood Derby today. When I asked him if he wanted a car that looked cool or one that would win, he said he wanted both. Of course.

He selected an ambulance; Eli was most impressed with the word ambulance on the hood of the car, reversed just like in real life, so it reads correctly in your rear-view mirror. It looked pretty cool, and it did okay in the races.

Eli came in third in his den (Webelos). He raced 4 times and placed 3rd, 2nd, 2nd, 1st. His fasted time was 2.48 seconds, an equivalency of 199.3 mph.

It was enough to allow him to move on to the Council race (first time Pack 50 has ever participated in that), one of ten boys to move on. It will be a race with 300 cars. Pray for us!

New Look

Snip, snip, snip went the scissors and 4 years of fuzz fell to the floor. Briggs had his first big-boy haircut in 2006 with Miss Elsie in Richmond. But he had not had anything done to his hair since then and dad had grown weary of the moppy look. Miss Kim took a couple of snips last month, but yesterday was a major whack job. Briggs did great in the chair, having watched dad and Eli get haircuts for years. He's pretty pleased with the results!

Baby Update 1

Calvin and Libby are doing fine. They have been laying low for a few days just resting. Calvin actually seems to know how to sleep: neither Eli nor Briggs ever slept much. It's fascinating to meet a baby of ours who really does pretty much just eat, sleep and poop! We're not at all used to it! Here are some other photos from today.

Calvin Carter Barker

Calvin was born Wednesday morning 2/20/08 at 1:09 AM in Asheville at Mission Hospital. Laura Lallande, CNM caught him after Libby had labored about 9 hours. He weighs 8 pounds 10 ounces and is 20.25 inches long. Calvin is named after his g-g-grandfather Calvin Luther Saunders on Libby's side and after Mike's paternal grandmother, Nell Carter Barker. Libby did the whole thing without drugs, and even got to spend some time in the big tub in the room. When the time came though, she was on a birthing stool. Eli took his sweet time arriving (16 hours labor); Briggs was not much better (12 hours). Cousin Martha voiced the hope, as we walked out the door, that Calvin would take the hint and arrive after about 8 hours. He did: once he got off mom's pubic bone, he sailed right out. Let's hope his cooperative nature continues through his teen years.

Ice

Another day off from school, and a few hours without electricity. The ice fell harder and longer than the weather geeks predicted overnight. There was a pretty hefty layer on everything. We lost a couple of branches in the front, but nothing too severe. Crews were all over the place; even other parts of the county didn't get as much, or only rain. This is the arbor over the rear deck, and a tree crew working on our block. Very exciting!