Dean Mitchell, with his wife Susi, are just one of several grandparent couples helping raise children at the Big Springs Ranch for Children. A couple whose guidance to our children has provided them with support, and a loving touch many of them never had. For Dean, that has meant sharing his love of putting hand to rock to create something of lasting beauty.

As Dean knows, there are always kids waiting in the shadows for an opportunity to excel at something, anything. Kids, meet Dean Mitchell, who built his own house on the BSRC property by hand, and that’s just the tip of a building iceberg. His most recent project was a pair of columns erected near the school, supporting a swing. Enlisting nine boys who live at BSRC, Dean set to work teaching them the ins and outs of his rock-masonry trade.

"All the boys were volunteers," Dean said. "They gave up their afternoon recreation to build this. These three were some of my main men," he said introducing Dammond, Jesse and Kyle. Jesse, who has the longest Ranch tenure of the trio, "was with me from coast to coast, often extra hours, just to get the work done."

The boys worked two to three hours a day, over five weeks to complete the project, which involved a set pattern of planning and construction so that the structure is both sturdy and safe.

First, it was laid out with pull strings in a measured area. The boys then dug the foundation into the hill country limestone rocky soil. Steel rebar was tied, a mixer was set up, and the concrete was poured by hand. A concrete block was laid up the middle of each column, reinforced with rebar.

A cedar post from the ranch "was stripped of its bark by Jesse, who also assembled the swing," Mitchell said.

Then they took a tractor and a dump truck and scoured the river banks and cuts for the right stones. The final burst of construction had the boys setting the cedar beam on top of the blocked columns, drilled and pinned, followed by marking the column corners with string. And then came the laying of the rock. Once it was all set, hooks were placed in the beam and the swing was hung.

Said Dammond, "It was fun for me. It was my first time working with something like this and making this, working with someone on my work crew, who was a mentor to me, was great," said Dammond, referring specifically to co-worker Jesse.

"We all horsed around a little bit, but we managed to put it together and make it look good. I learned a lot from my mistakes," said Kyle. "I spilled an entire bucket of concrete . . . had it all over my pants and my arm. It splattered everywhere!"

Jesse said, "I really enjoyed it a lot – working with new folks like Dammond. But it was greatest working for Dean. He made everybody laugh."

"It really was a good deal," said Dean. "Those boys worked their tails off on this. They were hungry to learn, and hungry to do the work. Their contribution will be around for a long time."

Here’s betting there’ll be a much larger crew for next summer’s project.