Tee-ball tees

Yesterday my son informed me I needed to make him a tee so he could practice tee-ball. They've been playing in PE at school, I think. At first I had no clue how I would do it, but then it hit me. We already had the perfect tee.

We bought a whiffle-bat and ball set a few years ago, and the bat, being plastic, is getting old. The end of the handle came off recently, which provides a nice cupped end that, if the bat were set on end, might be big enough to hold a whiffle-ball steady.

The next problem was how to get it to stand on end. My first idea was to place the bat in a bucket and fill in around it with gravel. One small problem. I forgot that my son would be hitting the tee more often than the ball. The gravel wouldn't hold it in and, once out, was hard to put back. Back to the drawing board.

My next attempt was to drive three stakes into the ground close enough to hold the bat erect. That worked, but it was essentially the same problem. Every time my son hit the tee it would push the front post loose. Scratch Idea #2.

I then realized I didn't really need that front post if I could just keep the tee upright. I grabbed a couple of rubber bands left over from the newspaper and rubber-banded the tee to the back two stakes. Yes, the tee would move when he hit it, but the rubber bands would pull it right back into place. Voila! I present you Thom's Cheapo Tee-ball Stand!