The Adventures of Derek

The Pit, part II

Last fall the pit that Derek and Chris had dug and put a "fort" over started to collapse.  For safety reasons, and for fun, they pushed it all in and left it for the winter.  However, this spring once again brought out their inner groundhog and they soon had their nine foot grave hole dug and ready to cover.  Derek found a place that would give them free pallets and with a trailer load of those they soon had a mini house built to cover the pit.

It was complete with a removable floor, weatherproofing all around to keep the rain out, a door with a padlock on it and peek holes so their could sit on the faux floor and shoot birds from their secret hiding place. Oh, and of course, electricity.

Derek has slept out in his pit a couple of times. Once his sleeping bag was laid out he realized his space wasn't much bigger than a coffin one man tent but it provided a cool place to sleep out on his own in the house that he built.


Wood Working
2nd Trimester, Junior Year

Derek tried to explain to me how he was making a fruit bowl out of 2x4 wood but I just could not visualize it
 so he took pictures for me.

This took quite a bit of time gluing, clamping, shaping, and sanding over a couple of weeks worth of classes.

The final product turned out so beautiful!  I love my new fruit bowl!

Paper Man

After watching the new Iron Man movie he was inspired to make his own mask.  However, there was no iron involved. He rather preferred the cheaper medium of paper, flour, water and time.

His patience, calm persistence and attention to detail is so rewarding to watch.  The mask fits over his head and looks amazing but I don't have a final picture yet because he wants to paint it first.

Welding 101

3rd Trimester, Junior Year

His first project consisted of welding nails together to create a man holding a copper piece with nuts welded on the end.  The trick was to get it all balanced so that his nail man could stand on one leg without falling over.

His second project ended up looking like something that could be sold in one of the Jackson Hole country shops.  Using pipe, barbed wire and horse shoes he welded together a cowboy resting against a fence with a cactus in the background.  This one almost made we want to do a country theme in the basement just to showcase it.

His final project was to cut and weld together soda cans to make a plane.  Going the extra mile, he collected Monster cans from his friends so that he could have a large plane with really cool designs.


A Display of Collection Affection

For the last few years Derek has been collecting watches, pocket knives, and Rubik's cubes.  He kind of have a fetish with each one.  One afternoon his boredom boosted him to organize his collections and make display shelves for them.

It's amazing what he can do with scrap wood!  He has informed me that on another day when boredom hits he will either stain or paint the shelves, depending on what he finds in the shed.


Hit & Run

On the way home one full-moon evening, Derek saw one of the neighborhood moose standing along the side of the road.  He had just turned a corner so didn't speed up much and stayed on the opposite side of the road.  Just as he went to pass the moose it charged into the car.  Derek braced himself for the inevitable and nearly ended up with a moose in his lap.

In a shaky voice he called to tell me what had happened and I headed there immediately.  We got a hold of LeRoy shortly after and he met us on his way back from Idaho Falls.  Derek's wrists were bruised and sore from gripping the steering wheel and locking his elbows and wrists on impact, and his ankle was bruised from slamming hard on the brake right before and during impact.  He had a few cuts from slivers of windshield that broke away and covered him and the front seats.  We were able to keep the mood light to assess the damage but I could tell he was pretty shaken.  I told him that I was going to put a personal mother's note on his mission application requesting that he only have walking or biking areas.  After battling a cow, a mailbox, our garage door, and a moose I prefer that he walk.  He laughed and readily agreed.

a - big dent where the moose had his legs knocked out from under him and his body rammed into the side of the car
b - shattered and bowing windshield ready to fall
c - fur (and more) that was ripped off the moose as he rolled off the opposite side of the car

We could still see the moose over by the river and could tell he was pretty injured.  We called 911 to have someone come do a report for insurance purposes and to call animal control to help the moose.  As the officer observed the situation (car, size of animal, dents, fur stuck in the windshield) he told us that it is quite common for moose to jump at a vehicle, which is exactly what the dents showed.  Derek didn't hit the moose, the moose hit Derek.  From the bowing and shattering in the windshield we could see that it wouldn't take much more pressure to have had the animal go completely through the windshield, so he was lucky that it was a young moose not the big one that we have seen roaming around and it was a good thing he wasn't going any faster.

Unfortunately, the moose had to be put down.  His back leg was dangling off and he seemed quite delirious. LeRoy mentioned to the officer that he would like the meat but we were informed there is actually a list for people who want the meat of wild animals that have to be put down because of accidents.  I was grossed out by the whole thing and grateful for this crazy carnivore list preventing my freezer from being stocked with moose meat.