Pretty slick

Idle hands may be the devil’s handiwork, but for the Patrick sisters the shutdown of schools due to COVID-19 led to a business venture that will help fund their college educations.

Ellie, a 16-year-old junior at Granbury High School, and Alexie, 13, an eighthgrader at Acton Middle School, are the founders of Grease Buddy, a company that sells powder-coated metal enclosures that attach to boat lift mechanisms and protect docks and boat covers from oil spatter.

No, they didn’t do it all by themselves. Their engineer dad, Shad Patrick, came up with the design in a dream. He and the girls made a wooden prototype, then took it to Lopper Welding and Construction Co. in Weatherford for Waylon Lopper to create a metal version.

The girls pretty much took it from there. They have a Grease Buddy Facebook page and a website (www.greasebuddy.net) through which orders can be placed. They researched permits and how to get a tax license. Their grandfather helped them make flyers.

Grease Buddys sell for $197 each and are hand-delivered to residents of Hood County.

The sisters have been sell-ing their product for about three weeks. By Wednesday they had sold about three dozen units, according to Ellie.

Grease Buddy’s founders already have their first paid employee: one of Ellie’s best friends. The teen is helping the sisters go door to door to let their neighbors know about the easy-to-install contraption that can allow them to finally take their turkey roaster back into the house.

After becoming frustrated that their own dock and boat cover were constantly being stained by lubricant, the family began noticing that their neighbors were dealing with the same issue.

Shad said that it is not uncommon for him to see a problem and then come up with a solution in his dreams.

Once he formed the idea for the product, his “very driven” girls set about making the product available to the public.

Shad said that he viewed the business venture as a good learning experience for his daughters while the family was forced to stay at home because of COVID-19.

Ellie said that for now profits are being used to repay her parents, who funded Grease Buddy’s start-up. Both she and her sister said that once those debts are repaid, they will start saving for college.

“Our parents have raised us that you work hard for the things you want,” said Ellie, who will be junior dass president next school year.

Both girls are avid wakeboarders and participate in competitions all over the country.

The Patricks moved to Hood County from Portland, Oregon about a year ago.

Ellie researched lake communities in Texas, and the family visited Granbury when they made a trip to Seguin for a wakeboarding competition. The family dreamed of living on a lake.

Ellie and Shad said that the family fell in love with Granbury immediately and knew that they wanted to move here.

Ellie said that her mom Jennifer, a mortgage consultant, cried when they drove through the Granbury square. Jennifer now works in an office at Granbury Plaza.

“My family has never felt more at home,” Ellie said.

Alexie echoed that sentiment.

“I love it here,” she said. Shad said that he is “super proud” of his daughters.

“They’ve worked very hard,” he said of their Grease Buddy venture.

“They point the direction, and we help them get to where they want to go. Our parenting technique is to kind of move obstacles when they want to do something so that they can learn from it.”

kcruz@hcnews.com 1 817-573-7066, ext 258