Today’s challenge? To find something on the ground, take it home, and use it for an interesting new purpose.

Here is what I found on the ground near Famous Dave’s BBQ, once I had hauled my sluggish self around the lake in pea soup-like humidity and gone to the Y, where I watched in awe as this lanky guy did the pull your arms together weight machine, the same machine that I load with a mere four bars, with every single weight loaded.

I was so impressed that I actually told him I was impressed, which I never do at the Y. Kudos to you, nameless giant-weight-lifting guy.

But, back to the thing I found on the ground near Famous Dave’s.

I had no idea what this thing could be. It’s made of what looks like bamboo, with what looks like bbq skewers threaded horizontally through tiny holes in the vertical, larger pieces. There are two large black rubber bands strung on one of the poles.

Some kind of weird homemade sling shot? That was the only thing I could come up with. It looked like nothing I’d ever seen, and I felt so lucky to have found such a great thing so early in the day. I plucked it up and took it home, where I showed it to the youthful companion.

Me: What in the world is this thing, do you think? It’s so strange! So interesting!

YC: It’s one of those things that hold up flowers. You stick it in the ground.

Oh.

Of course it is.

The minute the words were out of her mouth, I looked at it and realized that I’ve seen a thousand of these things, stuck in gardens all over the city. All over the country, no doubt. They probably sell them 10/$10 at a giant store like Menard’s.

So my incredibly unusual possibly-homemade-slingshot-thing is not unusual at all. It’s still a thing on the ground that I found, however, so I forged on with the challenge and created the jewelry holder below.

Maybe I’ll start wearing jewelry now.