I'm way too proud of this...

When you're an outdoor professional, you tend to need & collect a lot of gear for work & personal pursuits. My own personal collection is not fully pictured here (as much of it is still strewn around my room or stuffed into various closets or drawers). For a long time, I've just been hanging my gear in a rough & ready triangle of rope that I'd set up between several jacket hangers on my walls.

It's been time for a change, & I've had the idea for this project for several months. Yesterday, after work, I started measuring the wall across from my bed & sketching up this image:

I grabbed some scrap wood that sits out back behind my house & ripped it down into 2x4s, cutting it to the right lengths & assembling the frame (mostly) in the shop.

I had this cool idea to hang my climbing gear off sectioned out cord running running through the shelf. I drilled holes through the side and bottom of my frame & knotted the cord as tightly as I could with the frame already assembled. If I were to do it again, I'd measure a perfect length of cord & set it in my two side pieces before assembling the shelf. It would make it tighter.

I found some random hangers to attach it to my wall (they're definitely overkill, but whatever, use what you got). I finished it off by attaching some hangers for my helmets, mittens, gloves, & first aid kit.

This scratched an itch for me I didn't know I had. While I love leading people on outdoor adventures & inspiring them to know Jesus, I don't get to activate my creative talents much anymore. Building this shelf was a creatively rewarding project. I'm really happy I was able to bring an idea in my head to life, pretty much exactly as I initially envisioned, if not even better.

I really miss working on a creative team, making videos. It was so fun lighting projects, solving camera problems together. I miss taking photos for the meaning hidden behind it, rather than as simple documentary. I miss watching creative & unique films - it's hard to find people that have similar tastes and are willing to experiment.

I don't have anything profound to share, except that creativity can be found in the unlikeliest place. I guess I should keep looking for these little opportunities.