Busy at Home

First dip in their home-made pool.

The boys didn't want to wear their
water shoes in the new pool they dug, but I insisted.  The guy in the hardware store said the plastic would be as slippery as h-e-double hockey sticks, and I wasn't taking any chances.  Most people might imagine you'd sit in the pool on a hot day, but that just doesn't happen in our house, and the nearest hospital is more than an hour away.

Plus, we have learned time and time again that going barefoot around here is NOT the same as going barefoot around Virginia.  In the desert, or near desert, the plants and insects are survivors.  They are alive because they fight for their space on this earth with a vengeance.  There is limited water, and everyone is going for  it whether it is in the stem of plant or the goo of insect.  The pricker here is not like the pricker at home, and I don't even know the extent of what lives in the dirt.

Nope, there would be no chances today.

The weather has broken, and temperatures are rising.  It has been sunshiny and warm most of this week and promises to be so into the indefinite future.  It didn't take too many days of sunshine and weather pushing into the 70's somebody to say, "I know, let's dig a pool!"

"Kristine said," they continued, "we could dig as many holes as we want!"  (Kristine, the person who owns the home, who understands the ways of the heart and graciously encourages the desire to create -- even through digging.)

The work began.

And so the work began.  It was slow going at first.  The ground is hard packed under the top layer of dust and stubbornly resisted the shovel.  So the boys brought in the hose.  It was a muddy day, and they worked happily until sunset.

They worked into the next day.

Jumping on the shovel to add umph.

Going for the deepest cut.

By the third day, they woke up ready to go to the hardware store for plastic.  When there is a carrot as sweet as a trip to the hardware store for plastic for the pool, the boys sail through a morning of school.

The boys were told that it was only 4mm
thick and would be best to double it.

They chose black plastic from the hardware store in order to absorb the sun's warmth and make for a heated pool.

The pool fills.

After that, they found weights for the edges and turned on the hose.

Triumph!  They had a pool!  Another great brainchild had come to fruition.

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