Summer Begins

The kids have been out of school for almost two weeks now, and there is one thing I am thankful for.

 The pool.

Honestly, having an above-ground pool is not something I would prefer. There is nothing beautiful about them.  It kills any sense of aesthetic I had for our new back yard, and I see it as a big, ugly blight I am already looking forward to getting rid of someday. But for now, there are some good reasons to be glad we have it. There is nothing like a pool to keep the kids happy for long stretches of time. They (we) are getting some good exercise. They are not so anxious to be snacking on something all the time. And it has worn them out enough that Z has been sleeping in until 7  instead of the dreaded 6 a.m. she had been waking at.

As I watch the kids swim, I have been sweating it out on the deck, trying to get it sealed.

Sealing the deck is one of those things I hardly want to spend time on, since it doesn't seem necessary to achieve the prime goal of moving into the new house, but it (kind of) is. It would be wise to stain it before we moved the patio furniture from the trailer porch to the deck. And the patio furniture needs to be moved before we can tear down the porch. The porch needs to be torn down before we can dig the trench for the main electrical line to the house. We can't move in until we have electricity to the house. So sealing the deck, it is.

Once the deck is sealed and the patio furniture moved, there isn't a lot I can do while keeping an eye on the kids in the water, so if anyone wants to come sit in the shade and drink mint juleps (or something) with me, feel free to come on over.

In other news, Finley was standing out side in her bare feet when something stung or bit her. I didn't pay much attention to the fact until two days later, when she woke up with her foot looking like this:

The picture doesn't do it justice, but the underside was all swollen with a raised line extending from the sting site up through the arch of her foot. She is now on antibiotics that make her more sensitive to the sun. (Just what she needs with the new pool.)