The Saga Of The Dunking Tank ....

Okay, I did not mow Bugs Bunny down!! I just eliminated his home. He hopped to another of my many gardens, far away from my vegetable garden. He is definitely in no danger of starving, in fact, just today he was lurking near the front of the building and we had a stare down before he hopped off.

I am an animal lover and probably made his life easier, since Martha, the boy cat does love to hunt. I doubt Martha would try to tackle Bugs, though, since he is as big as Martha, thanks to my green beans!

The pool is a not lovely shade of green again. It was pristine on Saturday. Saturday was a really nice day, not too hot and not too cold. A birthday swimming party was being held here and unbeknownst to me, the person in charge, the person who can foresee disaster and nip it in the bud, HeWho had given the okay for a dunking tank to be brought to our park.

My first objection was that the ground was already saturated, making it hard to mow with the heavy mower. I had just mowed the area closest to the pool with a push mower and was loathe to be forced to mow even more because of the water that would be set free on the grounds.

But, once the permission is given it is hard to take away. I spoke briefly with the mother of the birthday child and told her to wait until after the party to pay for the people who showed up. She looked appalled when I told her there was a fee for the use of the site, plus the fee for the pool. In lieu of that, it would be $5 person. I got the feeling that this was not what she had in mind, that perhaps the person who told her it would be okay to bring along a dunk tank had quoted a much lower price. I gave her a break on the swimming price. This was before I knew about the dunk tank.

The people began arriving and they all chose to check in with me, as directed by the giver of the party. I was busy on the phone all day confirming reservations for Labor Day and the in and out of parents with squealing youngsters just made my tasks difficult. Then, the grandmother (I assume that is who she was, since she was with the grandfather) came in to ask where they were supposed to set up the dunk tank. Say what? This was the first I knew about it.

I had interrogated HeWho should never make arrangements for anything, what he had discussed with the birthday party. He denied ever having talked to the woman, saying he did not know anything about the birthday party. Now that the people are here, he admits that he did give the okay for the dunk tank. Then he makes himself scarce, finding any excuse not to be in my line of vision.

Next time the grandmother comes in is to ask me when I will be filling the dunk tank and to tell me that they would like a couple of trashcans, lined, of course at their disposal ....... I squelched the urge to ask if I would also have to cut the cake and told her that I would be sending the manservant right over.

I looked out to see this large dunk tank set up in the freshly mown field of dreams grass. My second objection was already being fulfilled as I was I watched a stream of children being dunked, then racing through the cut grass to the pool and jumping in. I texted the permission giver and informed him of the grass entering the pool on the feet of many children.

He texted back asking me what I wanted him to do. I can't tell you my answer ...... just use your imagination. The running and jumping in the pool went on all afternoon and now we have spent a lot of time and money to get the pool back to blue. We made a whopping $46 and have spent 3 times that much on chemicals. Not to mention that someone either jumped or fell into my plants around the fence perimeter and crushed them.

He Who should be out there vacuuming the pool has left the property. He mouthed something to me while I was mowing the dog park, but I have no idea what it was. I just came in for a short break and a Power Ade to replenish the sweat that has me soaked. I let the grass get out of hand in the dog park and had to mow it with the blade up, rake it and now I need to finish mowing it with blade down. He Who vacuums pools is not on my happy list!