Be nice to your Highlove

The beep, beep, beep of my watch alarm takes me out of my dream and I lay on the shore of consciousness like a beached whale feeling heavy from the change in gravity. I don’t get out of bed right away. Instead I linger and half doze for another 20 minutes before brushing teeth and heading out to Ojai skateboard park once again.

Highlove is booked for the weekend and next week as well. This translates to us having to get the quarter pipe fixed tonight so that the park can open for the weekend. When I arrive, I know that this will be a long day. It went a bit longer than I expected. Starting time: 9 AM…. Completing time: 8 PM – 11 hour day!

Not as many kids helped out today but there still were a few. Not enough to call up the ghost of Tom Sawyer but there were 5 or 6 kids who contributed at least an hour of their time. Will enjoyed using the screw gun as well as Dawson. They both put in a few of the sheets of skate lite.

My main task today was painting the various bits and pieces that make up this structure yellow. Ojai Valley Lumber donated several gallons of this happy color. We’re using it to extend the life of the wood.

Mark was featured on the front page of today’s Ojai Valley News as he weather proofed the ends of some beams. It’s a nice article which updates the valley on the current skatepark dilemma: Got cement? Answer: No. Reason: City’s got no money, honey. But it does have enough to keep the repairs flowing. The problem with this is that it means that it is closed while the repairs are taking place. The paper reports that the cost of the already designed cement skateboard park is: $500,000. Conclusion: Don’t hold your breath skaters. Bonus unsolicited advice: Be nice to Highlove.