This afternoon, I got the call from Henry that I had been anticipating. It has, after all, already been two long weeks since this year’s successful parade, and it was Saturday, and he knew the shop was empty enough to begin actual construction on next year’s parade float. There was absolutely no time to waste!

As soon as Henry arrived, we dug out an old garden tractor trailer and hooked it to the ride-on lawnmower to tow it into the shop. It didn’t take long for us to unbolt the plywood sides with the power drills and strip the dirty old homemade trailer down to the frame. Henry then measured and helped cut the steel we needed to extend the hitch appropriately, and I welded it into place while he watched with a welding helmet of his own.

Our electric Ryobe riding mower will be pressed into service to act as a ‘spaceport tug’ to tow the sleek craft in the parade. We had a long discussion and planning session about what Henry wanted his spaceship to include. A smoke machine to ‘power‘ the engine (preferably with a remote control in the cockpit) from one end of the parade to the other was a must, along with some powerful lights for the front. The spacecraft will definitely require a loud sound system for jet engine noises, of course, ( with a remote control in the cockpit). We did some online research to determine the specifications and availability of that equipment. We then discussed how high the cockpit needed to be off the ground and searched our storage area for a ‘cockpit’ seat that had been tucked away for a special project. We bolted some steel plates to the bottom of the seat to mount it into the spacecraft.

More steel was measured and cut to begin actual construction. Sadly, at that point, just when meaningful construction had truly begun, his dad arrived to take Henry home. Before Henry left, we quickly created a mockup using some plywood and a shop stool to size up how high the seat would be, and Henry posed for a picture in the ‘cockpit’ of his spacecraft. To be continued very soon…