Pride

Ypsi Pride. Recreation Park. Three kids, four Bike Ypsi folks, three neighborhood people, three EMU students, a gaggle of EMU football players and their handlers. Two dozen donuts. Two misplaced shovels.

We cleared the gutters of glass, condoms, and assorted trash; weeded the playground areas and re-mulched them; trimmed around trees; and generally tidied up.

Thomas is broom-wrangler supreme.

The football players brought flowers, so FOUR of them went to plant them under the sign. I finally pulled two of them (I was 'Site Captain' doncha know) and a few others to help mulch around the fence at the pool. A few other scraped and painted benches at the Senior Center.

Jeff spent quality time with Trey's weedwhacker. So did Andy. The quarterback wanted it too, but the team handlers said no (he didn't want to explain to "Coach" how the star had cut off a toe). O had a go at it too, fortunately a 6 year old can't manage the choke and pull cord very well and he never got it started.

At the end of the morning there was picnic in the park. It was not the lavish spread of previous years -- no doubt a reflection of the poor state of the economy -- and my kids ate the last pieces of pizza.

O says, "Thanks for organizing it. We had a good time. Are you willing to do it next year?" I am.