The New Pool

My oldest daughter, Dottie (who now prefers to be called by her middle name, Elizabeth), with her daughter, Cailey, will be coming for a three-week visit starting Thursday. We're very excited about that, but are also concerned that she will be hit like a brick by the 100+ temperatures out here. (She lives in Virginia.) So the rumblings of getting a pool have grown louder.

My spouse, Michael, first started talking about getting an above-ground pool when we moved into the new house in April. Actually, he first started talking about an in-ground pool; but after I repeatedly pointed out how that wasn't practical when one rents one's home, he relented and began pricing above-ground units at Costco and Sam's Club.

However it was my son, John, who actually bought the thing and came home with it yesterday afternoon. At that point all of us contributed to its assembly, John and Michael and my daughter Karen and ex-wife Mary and grandson Zachary.

What's really nice is that Zachary, at 7, is actually old enough to be a real help putting something like this together. He fetched parts and even connected some of the tubing that is the pool's frame.

Amber, John's dog, supervised. (Astro and Cirrus, Michael's and my dogs, ran inside and wouldn't come out until the construction was completed.)

Michael threw himself into the assembly work as well.

I mostly watched the "How-To" video that came with the pool, and took pictures; but I did pause to create the illusion of "helping" for the camera.

Mary got the job of assembling the stairs for the 4-foot-tall monstrosity.

By the time the sun had set, we were ready to actually fill the assembled pool. Zachary was happy to start this job.

He also assisted Mary and Karen with assembling the ladder…

…and was the first to try it out.

When I left my room at 6:15 this morning, I found Zachary had already risen and was waiting for the last two inches of water to be added.

So now, we have a pool. And, no doubt, new friends on the way!