Monday, September 1, 2008

Last Day of Summer

Spent today running about, getting last minute school supplies for the kiddos who start school in the morning. How very exciting!

My son, however, does not start until September 29, I think, or maybe 28th? Not sure. He's in college and needs to keep track of that himself. He is 19, having a birthday in October when he'll be 20 (duh!) and since my sister is here visiting now and not in October, she wanted to buy him a birthday gift before she heads back to Little (God Forsaken) Rock. (She doesn't love it there.)

So Taylor, the boy, has decided he is going to do some long distance backpacking. When? Where? With whom? These are all TBA issues apparently. But he's been hanging out on survivalist web sites getting all kinds of GREAT ideas for building his own gear, like how to make a camp stove out of a coffee can and two wire hangers.
So she asks him if he'd like a nice sleeping bag, or a light-weight tent, or a new pack to carry his gear in for his birthday. Nope, he's going to MAKE his own sleeping bag, and tent and backpack. Well, all righty, then. What do you want for your birthday? He settled upon a trip to the fabric department at Walmart to purchase nylon webbing and polyester fabric to make himself a hammock. (The fabric, as my sister eloquently described it, is the same fabric used to make McD's uniforms in the Seventies. Cozy!) His other choice of gift was going to be a bongo drum (anyone else hearing the refrain from Peter Pan's "I don't wanna grow up" right now?)

So, to celebrate the last day of summer vacation, here's a picture of a boy in his homemade hammock, who is outside sleeping is said homemade hammock right now, trying to hang on to the lazy days of summer for at least one more night; maybe trying to hold on to the lazy days of childhood a little bit, too.

No comments: