Storms and Plans - Baby Steps

We had a chance to see how the backyard "remodeling" performed under pressure last night, as a serious thunderstorm rolled through town. Unfortunately it was already dark, and even though the lightning was going like crazy - practically lighting up the sky every second for quite a while along with lots of thunder accompaniment - DH still grabbed "the" (my) flashlight to check things out. 

Summers usually bring their share of thunder and lightning to
the Great Plains of the USA, and even if we're at the northern
part of the Plains, we still get some spectacular storms. 

The front window wells seemed to come through pretty well, although we did have some water pooling closer to the edge of the grass. The backyard seemed to also have survived pretty well. He mentioned there was some expected erosion but I think the sod we put up last weekend saved the bank. He'll get a much better look after sunrise today and he'll have the morning to work on it before the next bank of storms rolls in. 

I think the general idea will be something similar to this, although he
wants it a foot off the ground and three sections. Still, the basic
look will be close to this one. I'll have to wait and see what he's
ended up with. I'm sure it will be nice. 

The goal tomorrow is buying posts and needed wood for construction of the wood shed. He's been vacillating about height, depth, etc for months now, it's time to make a decision and go with it. It's going to be another large Home Depot expense, but if he can manage to get this up before the true end of summer, I'll be rather amazed. He'll probably have some time to work on it in September too, but most of our Sundays will be disappearing on him within a week or so once Renaissance Festival begins and the State Fair opens. 

Lawson Craddock looked pretty bad after his crash on Day 1 of
this year's Le Tour de France. He had banged up his eye and
had a broken bone in his clavicle. He was determined to
ride the race, though, and he actually rode across the
finish line in Paris on the final day. His time was hours
later than the winner, Geraint Thomas, but his courage
was indisputable. 

I thought all of you might be interested in a short article (just click the link) about Lawson Craddock, the bicycle rider in the Tour de France who rode the entire race with a broken collarbone. He was raising money to help repair the Velodrome in his home town of Houston, Texas (the fund has now reached $250,000). I loved how his attitude of "baby steps" and "one day at a time" got him through the entire race. He didn't win the race, but he won the hearts of so many, and he wasn't the slowest rider in the rankings either, ending up in position 136 of the 145 finishers across the line in Paris. 

I guess that's really the only way to accomplish things - personal goals and projects - baby steps and one day at a time. I know it's how I write and how I produce my art - there's nothing fast about making something right. It's still one bead at a time, one nail at a time, one piece at a time, one chapter at a time. When the item is completed, we stand away from it and take a critical look and that's when we can be amazed by what we've done. Of course, then it's time to dive into the next project or goal - LOL. Have a wonderful weekend. I think I'll be able to hit the outdoor pool at just the right time to get my swim in before the next bunch of storms starts to roll through. That's the plan, at least. I'll be back on Monday.