4 to go!

160 feet and four balls. We're within reach. It's almost time to climb Adams.
On Tuesday, Wilson and I made another ascent of Mount Si, encouraged by two female traveling companions, (including a former Czech track star) who set a gentle pace that Wilson and I had trouble keeping up with. We made it to the lookout at the base of Mt. Si's famous "Haystack"  in two hours and 45 minutes. Nothing to write home about for some hikers, but a almost a record for me.

Setting the pace for the hike was Jara Popelkova, a Czech woman who was a young track star in her country when the Soviets took over, and who defected. She is in top shape and has served as a national parks guide; she is well conditioned for mountain hiking.

160 feet from goal: Arlene Levy, Wilson, me, and Jara Popelkova, who set the pace for Tuesday's climb of Mount Si.

One particularly rewarding moment in Tuesday's hike involved running into Curtis, a tall, blond hiker who is training for Rainier. Curtis sometimes packs his 24-pound toddler on his back along with other gear. He adopted his son and flew to Ethiopia when the child was 20-months old, to bring him back to the states. And while in Ethiopia, he saw what children use for soccer balls there -- including deflated standard balls that they kick around. He didn't require any explanation of the value of a One World Futbol.

It makes me wonder: By last Saturday, Team Wilson had raised 93 balls. Now the figure is 96. Do we thank Curtis for the sudden growth spurt? Unfortunately, we don't get the names of all donors. All I know is that I handed him my card with this blog address, and we are now within four balls of the 100-ball goal we set when we started the Wilson campaign to raise money for these virtually indestructible soccer balls. More than a million have been sent where they are badly needed areas where children have nothing to play soccer with but rag balls, deflated soccer balls,plastic bottles, and the like.

And the Wilson campaign to raise those 100 balls is also within 160 feet of the goal of 70,000 feet of elevation gain prior to climbing Mount Adams.

There remains a fly in the ointment. My original guide and hiking companion, Roger Matthews, has a problem with his Achilles tendon. He's seeing a doctor about that. And there's a concern that there won't be enough snow on Mount Adams; the south face of Adams is quite rocky, but most of the time it's a gentle snow field; you climb that side before the snow melts.

The snow was melting early this year, but snowfall has resumed, and now the question is the optimum time to climb.

If Roger's foot improves in time and the snow is there, the climb is a certainty. If not...

I don't want to think about that.

Love,

Robert, and
Wilson

How many futbols could one bomb purchase?

The end is in sight. The Wilson One World Futbol campaign has ascended the equivalent of more than two Everests and is within 7,000 feet of its fifth Rainier. Everest is 29,029 feet above Sea Level. Rainier rises 14,409 feet. And to date the Wilson campaign has ascended 65,531 feet, just 4,500 feet short of the original 70,000 foot ascent goal we set last fall. We will have ascended the equivalent of five Rainiers (72,045 feet) well before we climb Mount Adams, the state's largest mountain.

And today the Wilson campaign came within eight balls of the original target of 100 one World Futbols to be raised as part of our training regimen to prepare for climbing Adams. The purchaser of ball No. 92 was Joe Colgan, who was featured in this blog on March 17, when we met him during the Madison Street Marathon. Joe and his colleagues were standing outside Seattle's federal building, where they stand every Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. asking motorists to honk if they support opposition to war. (One particular motorist executed some particularly loud honks -- he was driving a garbage truck.)

Joe Colgan rings a bell in memory of a Washingtonian killed in war.

I was supposed to be hiking Mount Si today, but my hiking buddy fell ill, so I used this Tuesday to check in with Joe. I found him ringing a bell while a colleague read the names of Washington men who had died in war. When the reading was over I advised him that, in Valle Chota, Ecuador, there was a one world futbol bouncing around that bore the name of his son, Ben, who had died in Baghdad. Ben's death led Colgan to start his peace vigil, which has been drawing attention at Second and Madison for years.

You know, statistically, a One World Futbol serves about 30 children. It only costs $25. According to Wikipedia, the United States defense budget for 2010 was $663.7 billion. According to the folks who manufacture the One World Futbol, the number of people who could benefit from these toys is about 2 billion. The project says each ball serves 30 people, but let's be conservative and say that a ball serves 20. That pencils out to 100 million balls. Multiply that by $25 per ball, and you end up with an expenditure of $2.5 billion dollars to provide One World Futbols for all the people in the world who could use them.

Let's get crazy for a second. What if our Predator drones fired One World Futbols instead of Hellfire missiles? Since the Hellfire weighs more than 100 pounds, there might be a significant fuel savings due to the lighter payload. If the ball went off target, maybe a child who wasn't killed through collateral damage would have a really rugged toy to play with. And what does a Hellfire cost? How many One World Futbols might we deliver to a battlefield if we bought the balls instead of the bombs?

And can you imagine the amazed looks on the faces of the enemy soldiers when they peeked up out of their foxholes and found themselvse surrounded by a sea of blue spheres? Their first reaction might be to shoot the spheres, and then they would be further amazed to find out their bullets didn't seem to do any good.  Pretty soon, during the breaks between airstrikes, they might form a soccer league and think of something more positive than killing everyone in sight.

Well, OK, it's a crazy notion. But you gotta dream occasionally.

Drop balls, not bombs!

Victory Flag: By the way--are there any seamstresses out there who would know how to make a triangular or rectangular sports flag? What I'm looking for is something that would say "Team Wilson," and might have the image of a One world Futbol on it. I was thinking that when Roger, Wilson and I summit Adams, we ought to plant a flag at the top for the photo op. I would sure appreciate anyone who could help us with this little project. And Wilson will deserve the recognition, having made it up a long, steep slope without arms or legs.

Love,

Robert, and
Wilson

The Mount Adams Surprise

My hiking buddy, Roger Matthews, has presented me with some rather disconcerting news. Three days ago he sent me this e-mail message:

Holy Moley, Batman, the road to the Cold Springs Campground is already melted out! This means we can go anytime, excepting, I don't really feel ready yet.

Translation: If the road to the campground where we launch our climb to Mount Adams is already melted out, we may have to move our hike up into June. The climb on snow is three hours up and 10 minutes down, because we slide down the snowfield on our backsides. But if the sun does its work, that's going to be a bumpy descent on rocks, and that is not going to happen!

That got us accelerating our hiking training. Yesterday we scaled Rattleshake Ledge just outside of North Bend, an 1,160-foot elevation gain. The day was misty and there was no view to take in as indicated immediately below.

Wilson came along for the scenery, but there wasn't any . . .

. . . unless you count the chipmunks that were nibbling up the cashews and craisens we laid out as photo bait. Wilson watched the rodent thoughtfully, but deep inside the indestructible is concerned that the lack of snow will keep the mortals from trying the climb. Having neither arms nor legs, he can't make the climb without them.

The hike put me within 9,000 feet of our fifth Rainier, and the 70,000 foot elevation gain I established as a goal last September when I committed to climb this mountain.

But, wait, there's more! After today's hike Roger checked the weather for Trout Lake near Mount Adams, and it looks like nothing but sunshine for the next couple weeks. Now he has new advice:

If you believe this, then we should shoot for the 10th of June as a departure date.

The last time we had a run at Adams it was the first week in August, 2011, and there was plenty of snow. What Roger is suggesting is that if we don't hike by June 10, two months earlier, the snow will be gone, and this climb may not take place.

That leaves me with three objectives to accomplish in roughly 25 days:

• Ascend another 9,000 feet to reach my goal of 70,000 feet gained prior to Adams.
• Be in shape to climb to the Mount Adams summit, 12,300 feet above sea level.
• Raise an additional 13 One World Futbols by the time I make the climb -- in order to reach the Wilson Campaign objective of 100 indestructible soccer balls.

Times-a-wastin'. I'll keep you posted.

Love,

Robert, and
Wilson

The Castle Builders--Parting Shots

Consider the fact that the volunteers who travel from Seattle to Tijuana to build homes are restricted to one-minute showers.

I knew this, and yet I only yesterday asked what kind of showers are taken by the people for whom we build tiny homes? And where do they throw their used toilet tissue?

In our focus on laying foundations and building walls for those rising castles, it was easy for me not to consider such basic details. Maybe someday these people will be able to take a luxurious two-minute shower.

In the illustration immediately below we have the blueprint for one of those magnificent new homes. An entire family will have approximately 450 square feet to spread out in--that's more than half the space of my cramped condo! There will be two spacious bedrooms (recamara), a kitchen (cocina) and another room we would probably call the living room (estancia).

These final scenes capture a bit of the spirit of  the two dozen volunteers who flew to Tijuana to help raise castles for two families. There's not a lot of text this time -- the photos tell a good share of the story all by themselves.

(By the way, sorry about the inconsistent type faces in this dispatch. Blogger can be a bit difficult at times and I'm on deadline.)

Floor plan for the house rising at the mobile home site.

Highlights of our headquarters

Drinking water

In the kitchen: Wash, rinse, bleach, dry, use again

The men's steel drum had only one note

At the demolition site:

Rip, tear.

The shirt on the lady with the hammer says "faith," "hope," and "love."

Persuasion

The persuader

The persuadesse

Uber-persuasion

Surgery unit

Leadership

The land

At the construction site:

Wire for tying rebar

Straightening rebar

 Eduardo Zavala Reyes, Esperanza volunteer coordinator, translates eulogies for an athlete, dying young* memoralized in the new home's foundation.

Checking out free samples at Costco while shopping for grub.

A late night run to the taqueria

Outcomes

This is how a finished home looked last year from the outside. . .

. . . and this is how it looked this year. You are viewing the end of a new wall that was added, because the castle is gaining a new wing. The lady of the house is caring for three disabled siblings, and the government assisted in the expansion.

What!? You were expecting a caption? Does this photo need a caption?

Well, that's a bit of what home building is about in Tijuana. Esperanza, the organization that coordinates these building projects, held a 25th anniversary celebration fiesta on May 7 at the Posada where the volunteers stayed. Photo below.

If any of you readers gets a hankerin to do the same thing, the folks at St. John Vianney Parish in Kirkland will be sending another team to Tijuana about this time next year, and they would gladly welcome more volunteers. And if you want to know more about Esperanza, the organization the volunteers support, here's their Web site: esperanzaint.org.

Love,

Robert, and

Wilson

Afterword:

The following is in honor of Chris Dubé, a hero to volunteers from St. John Vianney Parish in Kirkland, WA:

*To an Athlete Dying Young

BY A. E. HOUSMAN

The time you won your town the race

We chaired you through the market-place;

Man and boy stood cheering by,

And home we brought you shoulder-high.

Today, the road all runners come,

Shoulder-high we bring you home,

And set you at your threshold down,

Townsman of a stiller town.

Smart lad, to slip betimes away

From fields where glory does not stay,

And early though the laurel grows

It withers quicker than the rose.

Eyes the shady night has shut

Cannot see the record cut,

And silence sounds no worse than cheers

After earth has stopped the ears.

Now you will not swell the rout

Of lads that wore their honours out,

Runners whom renown outran

And the name died before the man.

So set, before its echoes fade,

The fleet foot on the sill of shade,

And hold to the low lintel up

The still-defended challenge-cup.

And round that early-laurelled head

Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead,

And find unwithered on its curls

The garland briefer than a girl’s.

Mud, death, memorials, tears and joy -- the final day

It rains and it rains all day
and this red dirt I'm workin' turns to clay
And clay ain't nothin' but a fancy name for mud,
red mud.
--from "Red Mud," 1950's-60's song by Sonny James

After a night of heavy rain, Friday started out as a "stick-to-your-shoes" day. The mud was slick and clingy.

Thursday night was miserably cold in my bed, due to heavy rain that continued into the morning. While we waited in hope for drier weather, some of us waited for our final volunteer work day by decorating One World Futbols with names, in the hopes of donating them.

Karen Maxell, a futbol donor (ball # 87) assigned several names of her choice. The ball with red lettering was named "Shrek," at my suggestion, which likely is a name familiar to most Mexican children.

Steve Ellis applied the name of a soccer star.

 After our late start to wait out the rain, the day lightened up, and after a bout of light rain the sun made a brief appearance.And that was helpful, because Friday was a chain-gang day, with cement being hauled in a bucket brigade. The drier weather meant less slipping and sliding on slick, sticky clay, over which the new home was being constructed.

The cement was poured inside the blocks, making a solid wall, and into the trenches for the footings.

As the work wound down toward day's end, another priority emerged -- the memorializing of a young man well loved by the long-time volunteers from St. John Vianney Parish in Kirkland. He was Chris Dubé, a Seattle resident who volunteered several times in Tijuana and twice in Ghana.

Chris seems to have been a bit of a contradiction--shy, and at the same time impossible to discourage. He was eulogized for finding swift solutions to the thorniest problems. His indomitable spirit led him to take risks, and he died in a rafting accident.

The Esperanza volunteers gathered at the construction site to pay homage to the young man lost.

Volunteer coordinator Jan Kline holds a photo of Chris Dubé. To her right is Emma Lidia Lara Reynoso, for whom the new home is being constructed.

Construction of the new home is dedicated to the memory of the young man.

Encased in a plastic sleeve, the photo of Chris Dubé is sealed in the cornerstone of Emma's new home.

The memorial was accompanied by a companion ceremony -- the gifting of a One World Futbol to the family for whom this group of volunteers had built a home last year. (See http://tjposada.blogspot.mx/2014/05/tijuana-skyline.html.) The ama de casa is Nico Bracomonto, pictured at the right, with her children. The daughter holds Wilson, while her son is holding Shrek, a ball named for my favorite Airedale.

Shrek was named for a movie character this family immediately recognized. The name was selected in the belief that all North American children probably know Shrek regardless of what side of the border they live on.

Roberto, the son, is on a team with a dozen players, and he demonstrated his dribbling ability by taking the ball to the street, where he was joined by some friends.

Shrek was a success, as attested by the inset closeups of the children's faces.

Three other balls, two of them bearing the Esperanza (hope) name, were provided to Emma. Two days before she had directed us to a local school and to a soccer mom who had a connection with 45 soccer youngsters divided into three age groups. Wilson and I would have liked to distribute more, but we were out of time. On Saturday there's a border to cross and a return flight to Seattle.

More to come, once Wilson and I are home.

Love,

Robert,
and Wilson

Mis Zapatos! (My shoes!)