Thank You, Slayde!
We are incredibly grateful to Slayde for choosing Down Home Ranch as the site for his Eagle Scout project. His vision, dedication, and hard work brought to life a beautiful outdoor game area that will be enjoyed by Ranchers, campers, and visitors for years to come. From the early planning stages to the final installation, Slayde showed true leadership and perseverance. Thank you, Slayde, for making a lasting impact on our community and creating a space that brings people together through fun and connection.
Here’s what Slayde had to say about his project:
“When I was first coming up with my Eagle project, I hadn't had many experiences with the Ranch yet. It was just a place my grandma volunteered at, but from what I'd heard from her, the Ranch seemed like a great place to learn more about, and eventually I decided to do my project there. Before the first meeting, I had a rough first draft of the project, just the single giant chessboard, inspired by memories I'd had of playing my dad at events that had their own.
After that first meeting, the idea of what the project would be had shifted from a single giant chessboard to an entire outdoor game area with horseshoes, benches, cornhole, and more. These changes led to frequent exchanges and visits to the Ranch to hammer out the finer details and fully define what work needed to be done. Benches got measured, the layout was designed, and problems were worked out. During that time, I got to know the Ranch and its Ranchers well during visits to the worksite.
Once everything was finalized with the games, the pathway, pond clearing, and benches, and donations were secured, my scout troop and I came out on the hot September weekends to put everything together. That first weekend was almost entirely brush clearing around the pond and laying down the railroad ties for the pathway. It was exhausting work, but plenty of help got the heavy work out of the way for the coming weekends. The second weekend focused on the horseshoe pits, chessboard installation, and driving rebar to hold the railroad ties in place. The dry, hard ground was very unforgiving while digging out for the board and pits, and we eventually had to bring in a tractor to clear the needed areas. The third weekend consisted of wrapping up the loose ends and bringing in the pieces assembled off-site and installing them. Having finished on that sixth workday with only a donor plaque left to be installed, it was great to look back and see the year of planning and work finally come together. The donor plaque itself took about a year longer than expected to get made, but that was understandable with its donor having been moving during the time.
Throughout the project and its many hurdles, I'm thankful the Ranch stuck with me and was patient when I hit a roadblock in the process. The Ranchers coming up and talking during the breaks on the workdays was always fun, and I'm glad I had the chance to work with them. Constructing the outdoor gaming area for the Ranch was a fun but difficult task, and I am very grateful to the Ranch for allowing me to complete my project with them.”
